Miles Davis
Miles Davis, ‘Bitches Brew’, 1970. Jazz. Nice. Except it’s not. It’s jazz, Jim, but not as we know it. This is the jazz equivalent of Lou Reed’s ‘Metal Machine Music’ or Captain Beefheart’s ‘Trout Mask Replica’. Miles Davis was the giant of the Jazz world but by the late Sixties everything went Rock. Davis started appearing with bands like the Grateful Dead, playing to a young white audience, seeing the possibilities of electricity and free form jamming. Thus, he went in the studio and, in three 3-hour sessions of live takes with no overdubs, laid down the tracks on this monster double.
It’s free jazz, jazz rock, improvisation, extended riffing, rock blast, atonality, noodling, aggressive, using modern sounds of electric guitars and piano along with his fierce trumpet. He told the band to play what they felt and not some ‘prearranged shit’, though in some quieter passages you can hear Miles giving instructions to the band. It’s out there and in your face. Musos love it for the ensemble playing. I’m not a musician but you don’t have to be one to appreciate what they’re doing, even if it’s not exactly easy listening, ahem. Carve out some time and listen to the whole thing, like a classical music concert. A different world. The Santana-esque cover adds to magic. Nice…
Miles Davis
Miles Davis, ‘Bitches Brew’, 1970. Jazz. Nice. Except it’s not. It’s jazz, Jim, but not as we know it. This is the jazz equivalent of Lou Reed’s ‘Metal Machine Music’ or Captain Beefheart’s ‘Trout Mask Replica’. Miles Davis was the giant of the Jazz world but by the late Sixties everything went Rock. Davis started appearing with bands like the Grateful Dead, playing to a young white audience, seeing the possibilities of electricity and free form jamming. Thus, he went in the studio and, in three 3-hour sessions of live takes with no overdubs, laid down the tracks on this monster double.
It’s free jazz, jazz rock, improvisation, extended riffing, rock blast, atonality, noodling, aggressive, using modern sounds of electric guitars and piano along with his fierce trumpet. He told the band to play what they felt and not some ‘prearranged shit’, though in some quieter passages you can hear Miles giving instructions to the band. It’s out there and in your face. Musos love it for the ensemble playing. I’m not a musician but you don’t have to be one to appreciate what they’re doing, even if it’s not exactly easy listening, ahem. Carve out some time and listen to the whole thing, like a classical music concert. A different world. The Santana-esque cover adds to magic. Nice…