Rolling Stones 500 best - #94.....

I admit, I never "got" Miles Davis at all until recently. In fact, I still don't think I fully "get" his music now. However, his influence on modern music in indisputable. And with a boatload of albums of all styles of jazz music, it's easy to get lost in trying to dive into listening to anything from his career. But Davis' true legacy starts with two albums, albums as different as anything in jazz, the cool-mood Kind Of Blue from 1959 and Bitches Brew, his groundbreaking foray into jazz-rock in 1969.
Now, Bitches Brew is not an easy record. The shortest "song" on here is four and a half minutes long ("John McLaughlin") and Miles doesn't even play on that. In fact, you really can't call these "songs" per say, but musical fugues, like classical music filtered through the electric guitar based rock that inspired groups like Santana and King Crimson. The first two numbers originally held an album side apiece. "Pharoah's Dance" is a blend of African rhythms and snake-like horn parts that build and build to a frenzied pace to give way to a keyboard groove that then gives way back to the horns to finish the "dance". "Bitches Brew" brings the keyboards again to the forefront, the the bass and Miles' trumpet battling it out as well. "Spanish Key" is a clear omen for Santana's experimentation with guitar sounds in the early 70s, and "John McLaughlin" is a short, throwaway interlude to bring you to the final punch. "Miles Runs The Voodoo Down" is probably the most straightforward track on the album, with a funky groove belying the trumpet's playful banter throughout the song. Finally Wayne Shorter's "Sanctary" closes out the original album, with Miles' using sparse instrumentation to build to a crescendo of cool. The CD release also includes another Shorter number, "Feio", a subtle reworking of the old jazz-bop to accomodate rock instruments like guitar and keyboard.

Now I'm not gonna tell you this is gonna be all well and good for the Britney set. However, it does pay off in repeated listenings, and especially on a rainy day with nothing to do but relax. Personally, Kind of Blue is more my kind of Miles, but Bitches Brew is a more relevant listen, and with changing the form that rock music can go in terms of timing and structure, along with James Brown changed all we know about about rock music, and paved the way for everyone from Led Zeppelin to Metallica.

Grade: B-
Best Cuts: "Pharoah's Dance", "Miles Runs The Voodoo Down"
Weakest Link: "John McLaughlin"

Bitches Brew hit #35 pop albums, #1 Jazz Albums, and #4 R&B albums.

You can pick up Bitches Brew at sites like here or here.

and here's Miles at Montreux converting his "Miles Runs The Voodoo Down" into a jazz-rock experiment.