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Miles Davis - Bitches Brew Audio CD

A fair review of the Miles Davis "Bitches Brew" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Miles Davis reviews here, or go back to the Miles Davis tabs.

Miles Davis Band: Miles Davis
Title: Bitches Brew
Rating:
Release Date: 1999-06-08
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Pharaoh's Dance 2: Bitches Brew 3: Spanish Key 4: John McLaughlin 5: Miles Runs the Voodoo Down 6: Sanctuary 7: Feio [*]

Give me a break
Even saying that this "music" reflects the mental state of a drunk is a stretch, drunkenness still maintains a better sense of consciousness and purpose. If you want to be annoyed by incoherent instrumental notes that never amount to absolutely anything, this is for you. Finding the fortitude needed to endure this tedious absurdity in its entirety is no easy task and one sure to provoke a headache and anger; because if this album achieves anything, it is being incessantly annoying by having no emotion, energy, melody, or anything that constitutes any musical value. At the end, this is nothing but trash recorded with good audio equipment, over-rated pretentious trash that is; and the claim of many that this album has elements of rock, funk, and soul is more absurd than the album itself. However, if you are a pretentious fool who likes to pretend to "get it" or an individual intrigued by random abstract noise to the beat of an overly monotonous percussion then this is also for you.

Here rather are various instrumental recordings that indeed deserve a look. Dave Brubeck - Time Out, Ruben Gonzalez - Introducing. . . , Cachaito, Herb Alpert - South of the Border, The Ventures, Ry Cooder & Manuel Galban, Beastie Boys - Mix up (you'll be surprised), Augustus Pablo - East of the River Nile, Jan Hammer - Escape From Television, etc.

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Brew
Mine, Miles - all of us

He changed MUSIC. Changed everyone's life.


Roots of 70's Progressive Rock Era
I think that bands like King Crimson, Emerson Lake and Palmer, and Pink Floyd might very well have been influenced by this album. Obviously, I am coming to this from a Progressive Rock perspective. I think this album is kind of like Milestones meets King Crimson's Starless And Bible Black (the song). It wouldn't surprise me at all if King Crimson's improvisations from the mid 70's were inspired by Bitches Brew. Anyway, this is a great album in spite of the fact that it might not be representative of "typical" Miles Davis. I would strongly urge any Jazz fans who like this album and are not familiar with 70's Progressive Rock to pick up albums such as King Crimson's Larks' Tongues In Aspic, Starless And Bible Black, and Red as well as Emerson Lake and Palmer's self-titled album, Tarkus, Trilogy, and Brain Salad Surgery. Like Bitches Brew, the music on these albums dives headlong into the future. They are a great combination of Rock 'n' Roll with heavy Jazz and Classical influences. If you're really brave, pick up King Crimson's Projekcts (sic) boxed set. This is 90's King Crimson featuring Adrian Belew and the legendary Tony Levin. Don't forget to pick up Bitches Brew too if you don't already own it!.


Hard to consume all at once, unless you have time
However, it's still pretty long. It's not as long as any of his Complete Sessions albums. I don't think Davis released any other albums in his life that were double albums. However, this album is a great album. It's probably his most psychedelic album, but In A Silent Way is also pretty psychedelic, but that one is a little bit more mellow. Some fans might have complained that he was going commercial to appeal to a younger audience, other fans may have not thought in that way but been upset that he wasn't doing anything like what he did on Kind of Blue. However, the true fans realized that he was doing something completely different from anything he had done before.

This album is simply jam sessions, not to structured tunes, but free improvisation mixed and edited together. The result is one of the wildest albums ever done. Miles Davis was a genius, and this album is evidence of that. Also, I have to mention all of the musicians that he had. Miles Davis being Miles Davis has always been able to get the best musicians. Paul Chambers, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and for this album Chick Corea and John McLaughlin have all had the privilege of playing with Miles Davis.

This album showed him moving into a direction that showed him going beyond Kind of Blue and 'Round About Midnight.


late at night, wearing headphones or....

The easy one, but very rewarding at that: put your headphones on and go and sit in the dark preferably late at night. Two ways of opening up to this big tidal wave of an album. If this doesn't send shivers down your spine, well then this just isn't your kind of album.
The alternative, admittedly a little bit harder to pull off: have it played really loud somewhere in a concert hall or theatre near you, through a big pile of speakers, while a group of incredible dancers are really bringing the voodoo down.
In 2003, the famed Rosas dance company (choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker) came out with their amazing Bitches Brew / Tacoma Narrows production. If you ever get the chance of seeing this ensemble of role-related improvisations with each dancer impersonating an instrument, don't hesitate.
And if you don't like "modern dance", go anyway, close your eyes and let the waves roll over you, over and over again. . .

ps Tacoma Narrows after a bridge in Washington state which started to "dance" and fell to pieces. The idea: how much disorder can a system bear before it collapses.


You can see a complete list of all Miles Davis discography, or go back to the Miles Davis tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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