Bitches Brew

pmg

I like it but much prefer Kind Of Blue

relic245

When I was a software developer there was a time when this was my favourite album to code to.

been enjoying running to it recently.

benecol

Trick with Miles is always to follow the bassline, IMO. Lock onto the bassline and let everything else fill around it.

bencowling81

I’ve always considered Bitches Brew to be the official musical segway from the 60’s to the 70’s, in much the same way as Kind of Blue heralded the transition from the 50’s to the 60’s. Both pioneering albums.

jdgm

bencowling81 said:

I’ve always considered Bitches Brew to be the official musical segway from the 60’s to the 70’s, in much the same way as Kind of Blue heralded the transition from the 50’s to the 60’s. Both pioneering albums.

Indeed. And then there was Tutu.

Harvey Brooks is on electric bass. 

It is one of the great musical signposts of the time, it nothing else; 2 years later there was Weather Report, Return To Forever, Mahavishnu and Herbie. 

Miles Davis could only do that once and there is nothing else quite like it. 

axisus

axisus said:

OK, now you guys have done it. I'm gonna stick it on at work. Lets see how much I can genuinely take today ....

I did get through the first track, which was admittedly about 20 mins long, but I was kind of concentrating on work in the end so not that engaged. 

Keefy

pmg said:

I like it but much prefer Kind Of Blue

The fact that Miles Davis created both is a testament to the man's genius.

Jalapeno

Keefy said:

pmg said:

I like it but much prefer Kind Of Blue

The fact that Miles Davis created both is a testament to the man's genius.

True, I'm a Miles fan but I still find disc 1 of Bitches Brew hard going - lots of aimless and non-melodic noodling. The second disc of BB is mich more listenable (IMHO) - tight, funky and identifiable melodies.

CaseOfAce

relic245 said:

When I was a software developer there was a time when this was my favourite album to code to.

been enjoying running to it recently.

I thought it was just me - I love putting on "heavy" music when I need to focus on a piece of repetitive work... there's a great double live King Crimson on spotify I currently "use" as well.

With things like Bitches Brew I think you have to let them soak in ... repeated listens - and then you start to grasp the structures, flow....

UnclePsychosis

Haven't listened to it in ages. From memory I prefer In A Silent Way but tastes change... 

Greatape

Big fan of electric Miles but it's not a casual listen for me. 

There is a lot of great live stuff from that era - 'Live:Evil', 'Dark Magus,' ,'Agharta' etc etc

brojangles

Yeah it's hard going. I can listen to In a Silent Way over and over again. Ditto Jack Johnson - the Echoplex'd trumpet at the end is one of the greatest sounds ever. (The second part of the record is basically a remix of one side of In a Silent Way, but that's okay.) The first half of Jack Johnson is a good driving tune too if you like imagining you're a  detective in a slightly tripped out 70s movie. Big Fun, Live Evil and On the Corner are good in a similar way. But Bitches' Brew... I think it's something about the combination of groove-based repetition and extreme busy-ness, on top of the extremely way out harmonic language. I think I made it all the way through once while doing something like housepainting, but I don't usually have the staying power for it. 

Redlester

Bitches Brew has to be listened to by concentrating on it. It will drive you spare as 'background' music. 

I had it years ago, and made precisely that mistake- this from a person who literally has/ has had all the Miles Davis records at some point and has heard pretty much everything he did.

I then bought the 4 disc box set a couple of years ago and finally 'got it'. It is an incredibly sophisticated listen, so as I say you have to focus on it. There's some great stuff on there- e.g. Spanish Key has a fabulous groove- but I love the title track.  
Credit has to go to producer Teo Macero, who in many ways is the co-compositor of this album. He took all those fragments and jams and imposed an order, which Davis didn't necessarily have too much technical or practical input into, but which was okayed and largely directed by him. 

I'd say it is every inch a modern work of musical art- much in common with Stockhausen and modern composers, clearly massively influenced by emerging funk rhythms in American pop, shot through with this vaguely 'African' sensibility. It's sort of got a classical head, a jazz heart and an African sprit. So much stuff comes together on this. 

Some of Davis's cleanest and strongest playing is on this record too- the call and response motif on the title track is so pure and strong. He blew equally well on Jack Johnson. He was a very fit and healthy man at that stage. Clearly driven and inspired by McLaughlin too. They were such a great pairing. 

If you want a great overview of this whole 68-75 period- but from a slightly different POV- take a listen to the 'Panthalassa' album, a collection of tracks spanning the whole period rejigged by Bill Laswell.

The Live Evil album is great too. But I think for me the zenith of what he was doing live around the Bitches Brew period is the Isle of Wight live performance.

One note of caution: the On the Corner period is often lumped in with this whole 'electric Miles' period, but in my view it's almost a standalone piece. And then by 74-75 he's not recording very much but the live shows have gone in a totally new direction. Dark Magus, Pangea, Agahrta- phenomenal and intense records. 

Anyway, if you sit and focus on BB it'll save you time in the long run- you'll either love it and become a convert, or you'll hate it and won't have to bother again. 

horse

Thank you everyone btw. I have given Jack Johnson a listen, and indeed found it far easier going. Also tried and enjoyed Live Evil - think that was the one with the really nuts long fast electric piano solo on one track, which was pretty mind blowing.

DefaultM

I used to put it on in the car with my wife. You can't really hear the first bits over the engine, so after a bit she'd ask if I'd put anything on, then hear PARRRP and say oh ffs not again.

Redlester

DefaultM said:

I used to put it on in the car with my wife. You can't really hear the first bits over the engine, so after a bit she'd ask if I'd put anything on, then hear PARRRP and say oh ffs not again.

You listen to Bitches Brew in the car?! Bloody hell, that's like trying to drive blindfold after half a bottle of whiskey while the kids have a party in the back. 

CaseOfAce

horse said:

Thank you everyone btw. I have given Jack Johnson a listen, and indeed found it far easier going. Also tried and enjoyed Live Evil - think that was the one with the really nuts long fast electric piano solo on one track, which was pretty mind blowing.

I'm not surprised - Banana Pancakes is a cracking song.

DefaultM

Redlester said:

DefaultM said:

I used to put it on in the car with my wife. You can't really hear the first bits over the engine, so after a bit she'd ask if I'd put anything on, then hear PARRRP and say oh ffs not again.

You listen to Bitches Brew in the car?! Bloody hell, that's like trying to drive blindfold after half a bottle of whiskey while the kids have a party in the back. 

Haha I don't really get to use my headphones at home because any time I put them on a child suddenly wants me, and the only CD player I have is in the car. Sounds shit though.

Redlester

DefaultM said:

Redlester said:

DefaultM said:

I used to put it on in the car with my wife. You can't really hear the first bits over the engine, so after a bit she'd ask if I'd put anything on, then hear PARRRP and say oh ffs not again.

You listen to Bitches Brew in the car?! Bloody hell, that's like trying to drive blindfold after half a bottle of whiskey while the kids have a party in the back. 

Haha I don't really get to use my headphones at home because any time I put them on a child suddenly wants me, and the only CD player I have is in the car. Sounds shit though.

I love jazz of all kinds, but I would seriously never have it on in the car. There's simply too much going on in the music and I'd get distracted to hell. 

I can't even have Jazz FM on the car radio. My attention instantly latches on to what the soloists are doing, the rhythm and everything else. It's odd, but it doesn't really happen with other music half as much. 

But yes, the dynamic range of Bitches Brew is very marked at times, so in the car it'd be a really tough listen. 

Basher

Funny but although I'd consider myself to be a Miles fan, I've never really "got" Bitches Brew. I absolutely adore In a Silent Way though. Similarly I'm not mad on Live Evil but love that one's predecessor, Jack Johnson.
From On The Corner until his hiatus in the mid-70s it's all pretty good stuff with Agharta and Pangaea being real favourites. I like Dark Magus too but that one divides opinion.
The 80s stuff isn't as good to me but I have a soft spot for the hard funk of Decoy, particularly John Scofield's playing.