Much as Ornette Coleman's THE SHAPE OF JAZZ TO COME set a new standard for harmonic and melodic freedom a decade before, BITCHES BREW signaled a sea change in jazz.
![bitches brew miles davis discography bitches brew miles davis discography](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/LtkAAOSwX7BahxFc/s-l1600.jpg)
It launched the next generation of jazz leaders from what previous alumnus – saxophonist Jackie Mclean – had called “the university of Miles Davis”, uncovering new paths for rock and studio practitioners of all stripes as it did so.Among the most controversial recordings in the history of jazz, BITCHES BREW was Miles Davis' shot across the bow of jazz insularity, a bold statement about jazz's ability to draw upon elements of popular culture, without mitigating its spirit of spontaneous invention. Bitches Brew reinvigorated jazz as a commercial and artistic force, propelling fusion into the musical bloodstream of the 1970s. Davis’s signal achievement was to remain consistent in his search for new sounds, reshaping the musical world around him each time. The 20th century contained many icons who reinvented themselves multiple times. But the longer-term influence of Bitches Brew stretched far beyond its home genre, with the likes of Radiohead citing the precarious mixture of precision and collapse as an inspiration. Jazz and rock may have ultimately pursued different trajectories.
![bitches brew miles davis discography bitches brew miles davis discography](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/FRUF3N3S3AU/hqdefault.jpg)
It sold half a million copies by 1976 (compared to Davis’s usual sales of around 60,000) and was his highest entry on the Billboard charts. Its refusal to resolve these into an easily digestible form was ultimately what made it a lynchpin of progress for jazz. The tautness in the music derived from Davis trying to combine these variegated strands in both a product and a reflection of the turbulent times. Its dissonance was as much a response to the burgeoning Black Power movement as an appeal to the white rock audience. Black Power and politicsįrom the title to the music itself and the distinctive cover art, the album also acknowledged the surrounding political situation of the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, and black consciousness in America. Macero’s editorial role shaped the hours of jamming, bringing focus to the project, moving, cutting and splicing the raw materials, making the studio itself the final ingredient and adding punch to the sprawling improvisations.
![bitches brew miles davis discography bitches brew miles davis discography](https://images.tokopedia.net/img/cache/200-square/VqbcmM/2021/9/1/3e3928a6-42bd-49d7-89fd-c920036816da.jpg)
Davis and his band created layered textures of sound, bringing in rock distortion, funk and Latin rhythms to create a melange that hadn’t been heard before in either jazz or rock. Davis instructed Macero to “just let the tapes run and get everything we played… Just stay in the booth and worry about getting the down the sound”. The use of the studio was central to the innovation at play. JPRoche via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-NC-SA Musical chameleon: Miles Davis performing in 1971. The music thus evolved organically across the sessions, driven by the musicians’ individual virtuosity, corralled by the force of Davis’s vision. Rather than entering the studio with scores, Davis gave his band sketches, scribbled chord sequences, and proceeded, in his own words, to “direct, like a conductor”.
![bitches brew miles davis discography bitches brew miles davis discography](https://i1.wp.com/boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Miles-Just-Called.jpg)
The album also pioneered jazz compositional practice. She introduced Davis to psychedelia and Hendrix, and inspired the album’s title, noting that “there was nothing derogatory about it” (not a foregone conclusion, given Davis’s relationship history). Inspired by the funk of Sly and the Family Stone, and the psychedelically infused blues of Jimi Hendrix, Davis accelerated the use of electric instruments he had already pioneered on, Filles de Killmanjaro and In A Silent Way.Ī key influence was his then partner, Betty – who had her own recording career). There were over 400,000 people at the concert… And jazz music seemed to be withering on the vine. Nineteen sixty-nine was the year rock and funk were selling like hotcakes and all this was put on display at Woodstock. He described the situation in his autobiography: Always musically restless – and always with an eye on the box office – he was acutely aware that rock had changed the commercial landscape and, typically, alive to the aesthetic potential for jazz. While his landmark quintets had helped to nurture the careers of giants like John Coltrane, Davis remained unsatisfied, commercially and artistically.