Bitches Brew

[Joseph K]

Possibly my all-time favourite album, here's a decent essay (albeit that I only have yet glanced at) originally published in 2001, but recently reappeared online.

https://jazztimes.com/features/profiles/miles-davis-and-the-making-of-bitches-brew-sorcerers-brew/

[burning dog]

Possibly my all-time favourite album, here's a decent essay (albeit that I only have yet glanced at) originally published in 2001, but recently reappeared online.

https://jazztimes.com/features/profi...orcerers-brew/

Thanks for that I heard it first in 72 aged 14. I liked the Bitches Brew track, Voodoo even more and Sanctuary, but didnt care much for the other tracks at that time, but when I head the same stuff later on live albums loved them too. Interesting to konw how younger people dicscovered it and what they had been listening to before.

[Joseph K]

Thanks for that I heard it first in 72 aged 14. I liked the Bitches Brew track, Voodoo even more and Sanctuary, but didnt care much for the other tracks but when I head the same stuff later on live albums loved them to.o

I first heard it aged probably 16 (2003/4). My favourite track's probably 'Pharaoh's Dance', though the whole thing is incredible.

[burning dog]

I guess Bitches Brew - Blood Sweat and Tears connection and Voodoo- funky Blues ,Pharoahs dance/Spanish key a bit unusual for the time .

I was into Stevie Wonder Marvin Gaye, Reggae and earlier Stones (and their Amercan inspirations) plus some other Pop of the time, as well as Jazz and Classical. (Big fan of both Chopin and French music even then )

Probably ESP was the most recent Miles I'd heard from my Father's collection

Bitches Brew was loaned by a neighbour, alongside Electric Bath by Don Ellis and a recent MJQ record. Couldnt afford LPs at the time mostly listening on Radio

[Serial_Apologist]

I first heard the opening track of Bitches Brew in a record shop soon after its first release over here. I wasn't then into jazz-rock and didn't like what I considered the rigid rhythms and paucity of improvisation. Subsequently (around 1974) I heard "Live-Evil". It was my baptism into "free jazz", an unusual entry point probably, and I decided maybe I'd been a bit harsh and there might have been more to Bitches Brew than I'd realised. But I've never owned a copy. In the early 1980s I had the privilege of being invited back for a post-gig meal at the house of someone who had just hosted Mark Murphy. I don't know if Mark Murphy was known to be irascible, but I persuaded our host to let me put on his copy of Bitches Brew, and, after a few minutes, Murphy bellowed out, "TAKE THAT GODDAM STUFF OFF!" and, once this wish was granted, he added, "Music to do your hooverin' to"! I think I've heard most of it: I have it in bits, on a compilation CD and on various taped broadcasts about Miles, and I think the Longest (?) track, "Pharaoh's Dance", is the one I like best.

When Miles died the BBC asked Ian Carr to make a broadcast tribute, for which he played tracks that included "PD", and phoned up Miles acolytes, including Dave Holland and John Scofield. Ian later told me he got the call from the BBC almost at the same time he received the tragic news, from which he was still reeling, and in view of that he made a remarkable job of it. If anybody wants to come over for a listen, should they be In Town, I still have it and they'd be welcome.

[Joseph K]

and I think the Longest (?) track, "Pharaoh's Dance", is the one I like best.

The longest is the title tack.

When Miles died the BBC asked Ian Carr to make a broadcast tribute, for which he played tracks that included "PD", and phoned up Miles acolytes, including Dave Holland and John Scofield. Ian later told me he got the call from the BBC almost at the same time he received the tragic news, from which he was still reeling, and in view of that he made a remarkable job of it. If anybody wants to come over for a listen, should they be In Town, I still have it and they'd be welcome.

[Serial_Apologist]

Thanks for the correction, Joseph.

[Ian Thumwood]

I first heard the opening track of Bitches Brew in a record shop soon after its first release over here. I wasn't then into jazz-rock and didn't like what I considered the rigid rhythms and paucity of improvisation. Subsequently (around 1974) I heard "Live-Evil". It was my baptism into "free jazz", an unusual entry point probably, and I decided maybe I'd been a bit harsh and there might have been more to Bitches Brew than I'd realised. But I've never owned a copy. In the early 1980s I had the privilege of being invited back for a post-gig meal at the house of someone who had just hosted Mark Murphy. I don't know if Mark Murphy was known to be irascible, but I persuaded our host to let me put on his copy of Bitches Brew, and, after a few minutes, Murphy bellowed out, "TAKE THAT GODDAM STUFF OFF!" and, once this wish was granted, he added, "Music to do your hooverin' to"! I think I've heard most of it: I have it in bits, on a compilation CD and on various taped broadcasts about Miles, and I think the Longest (?) track, "Pharaoh's Dance", is the one I like best.

When Miles died the BBC asked Ian Carr to make a broadcast tribute, for which he played tracks that included "PD", and phoned up Miles acolytes, including Dave Holland and John Scofield. Ian later told me he got the call from the BBC almost at the same time he received the tragic news, from which he was still reeling, and in view of that he made a remarkable job of it. If anybody wants to come over for a listen, should they be In Town, I still have it and they'd be welcome.

I remember that broadcast but largely for the comment from John Scofield that Miles could be a pain in the ar*e. It is quite funny how some of the musicians who worked with him in the 1980s were less than reverential about him. I can appreciate that Murphy might not have liked "Bitches Brew" and I am sure that this album was the cut off point for many of his fans. The intriguing thing about the whole album is that is was stitched together in the studio to the extent that Teo Macero effectively produced a new piece of music in a scrapbook like fashion from numerous edits. When I heard it originally, it did seem like an endless studio jam and I had no idea that what was created effectively was fabricated in post-production. Miles has a reputation as a boundless creator yet I feel a bit uncomfortable about this record because it is a distortion of what actually happened in the studio. I think CBS were pretty much fascinated by studio edits as is witnessed by something like Ellington's live Newport album from about 14 years earlier. It makes a difficult to have that much empathy for a disc like "Bitches Brew" where jazz should really be all about the "moment."
By the time Miles had produced something like "Tutu", all the life had been sucked out of his recorded output. I don't mind tracks which might fade out or are otherwise incomplete but fabricating something in the studio like "Bitches Brew" is almost a conceit.

[muzzer]

That wasn’t the first Miles record edited together. Iirc In A Silent Way, either the track or the whole record, ends with a repeat of part of the very first section. Personally I think what Teo Macero did is fascinating, and let’s face it Miles surely had a big say in the final version. The box sets of the sessions from that era are really interesting. If you like that sort of thing

[Joseph K]

I remember that broadcast but largely for the comment from John Scofield that Miles could be a pain in the ar*e. It is quite funny how some of the musicians who worked with him in the 1980s were less than reverential about him. I can appreciate that Murphy might not have liked "Bitches Brew" and I am sure that this album was the cut off point for many of his fans. The intriguing thing about the whole album is that is was stitched together in the studio to the extent that Teo Macero effectively produced a new piece of music in a scrapbook like fashion from numerous edits. When I heard it originally, it did seem like an endless studio jam and I had no idea that what was created effectively was fabricated in post-production. Miles has a reputation as a boundless creator yet I feel a bit uncomfortable about this record because it is a distortion of what actually happened in the studio. I think CBS were pretty much fascinated by studio edits as is witnessed by something like Ellington's live Newport album from about 14 years earlier. It makes a difficult to have that much empathy for a disc like "Bitches Brew" where jazz should really be all about the "moment."
By the time Miles had produced something like "Tutu", all the life had been sucked out of his recorded output. I don't mind tracks which might fade out or are otherwise incomplete but fabricating something in the studio like "Bitches Brew" is almost a conceit.

I think this posts over-states the role of Teo Macero, the producer. It's also wrong to claim that it distorts what happened in the studio; we hear what happened in the studio, only some sections are repeated, and things like Miles' trumpet had some effects added, I believe. It's just that the jams were stitched together through more than one take, though of course they all sound coherent because each piece is based on the same ideas, the same harmonies/modes/riffs - so I think it's wrong to say it was 'fabricated' - I'm not sure what you mean by that anyway.

[Joseph K]

That wasn’t the first Miles record edited together. Iirc In A Silent Way, either the track or the whole record, ends with a repeat of part of the very first section. Personally I think what Teo Macero did is fascinating, and let’s face it Miles surely had a big say in the final version. The box sets of the sessions from that era are really interesting. If you like that sort of thing

I think Miles even used editing as far back as 'Ah-leu-cha' from Round Midnight!

[Serial_Apologist]

I think this posts over-states the role of Teo Macero, the producer. It's also wrong to claim that it distorts what happened in the studio; we hear what happened in the studio, only some sections are repeated, and things like Miles' trumpet had some effects added, I believe. It's just that the jams were stitched together through more than one take, though of course they all sound coherent because each piece is based on the same ideas, the same harmonies/modes/riffs - so I think it's wrong to say it was 'fabricated' - I'm not sure what you mean by that anyway.

In a way the partnership amounted to a new way of creating composition - it was not so different from Elgar dreaming up the music he used in his two symphonies by stitching them together from notepad ideas he's thought up separately, keeping them for possible future use. This was how Anthony Payne described Elgar's procedures, at any rate.

[Ian Thumwood]

This article outlines some of the post-production work carried out on the album and mentioned that Macero's work went well beyond simple stitching sections of the music together.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitches_Brew

[Richard Barrett]

I think it's wrong to say it was 'fabricated'

Composition is "fabrication" though, plus it's only a matter of degree between choosing one take among various alternatives and combining takes to create something which wasn't played as such in the studio. The studio is an instrument too, something which had been pretty clear in pop/rock music since earlier in the 1960s but which with Davis/Macero finds its way into jazz. In other words,"what actually happened in the studio", to use Ian's words, includes the production.

[Joseph K]

This article outlines some of the post-production work carried out on the album and mentioned that Macero's work went well beyond simple stitching sections of the music together.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitches_Brew

This sums it up:

Significant editing was made to the recorded music. Short sections were spliced together to create longer pieces, and various effects were applied to the recordings

Which is exactly what I'd said:

we hear what happened in the studio, only some sections are repeated, and things like Miles' trumpet had some effects added, I believe. It's just that the jams were stitched together through more than one take...

Interesting that Miles in his autobiography compares these sessions to jam sessions at Minton's.