Miles Davis "Bitches Brew"

Eetu Pellonpää wrote:   http://www.columbiajazz.com/newsletter2/brew.html   As it's has been impossible for me to check out all classics in my youth, I got just yesterday my first listenings of this album, and got seriosly interested of it instantly!   I think it has adopted back the psychdedlic influences of jazz music to the more respected genre, and stands as a wonderful record being instrumental psychedelia and fine jazz simultaneously, creating a bridge between acid rock and free jazz.

Since hearing a long track from this on the radio back in 1970 or 71, I've never thought there was any psychedelic element in BB. Iin fact you have to go back 3 or so years to earlier fusion of the likes of Charles Lloyd to get an idea of what serious psychedelic jazz was. WEA Records issued a couple of  psychedelic jazz samplers of tracks taken from the period, in the last 5 years, I  recommend you check these to give some idea of the difference.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Psychedelic-Jazz-Soul-Atlantic-Warner/dp/B00005RG5M/sr=1-3/qid=1158406988/ref=sr_1_3/026-5072121-7091607?ie=UTF8&s=music

salmacis wrote: I rather felt 'Bitches Brew' always bore the influence of funk as played by Sly and the Family Stone than psychedelia. .

One of the ideas developed in the book  Miles Beyond

Eetu Pellonpää wrote: Dick Heath wrote: Since hearing a long track from this on the radio back in 1970 or 71, I've never thought there was any psychedelic element in BB.   I'll bet this is beause we probably comprehend different things with a term "psychedelic"? I associate it with free jamming, like the stuff PINK FLOYD did on stage during late 60's. In my opinion also KING CRIMSON's dark free improvisations are very psyhedelic. This kind of feeling is strongly present also on this fabulous album with these iprovised long tracks! These coloured gentlemen are casting some old African magic, but there's also a hint of late 60's rock aestethics in the sound texture of their instrumentations.   Chop, I did a search with the album's title, but it didin't bring that thread up.

That's because the title was misspelt. It took me a while to find it again when I wanted to check something in it.

chopper wrote: That's because the title was misspelt.

Edited by Eetu Pellonpää - September 16 2006 at 17:52

Eetu Pellonpää wrote: [QUOTE=chopper]   Was this also the line-up performing at the Isle of Wight 1970?

According to one source:

I lent my time from The Black Arts to the liner notes of the remastered CD inlay booklet, and thus realized that even those tracks which don't sound as being edited, are edited from the material recorded at the jam sessions. I first felt bit uncomfortable with this, but this was due my expectations. Actually most of the studio recordings by psychedelic jam bands, f.ex. THE SPACIOUS MIND have constructed their studio albums in this manner. After all, what else it is than a certain way of working in the studio? The music has the real playing interactions of the musicians, and the songs can be constructed to have more complex structures than 100% freeform improvisations, which I still respect most. All three ways of producing music (composing, improvising & editing improvisations) create different kind of end results!

Bitches Brew seems insipid and contrived to me.  I listned to it anticipating fusion workout with such venerated jazz legends like McGlaughlin, Zaniwul, and Corea and got unending diplay of abandoned ideas. 

Eetu Pellonpää wrote:   I guess I'll have to hunt down some live recordings from 1969 and early 70's to hear this kind of stuff from Miles and his group of talented musicians. I'll find them with time from the web, but if anybody wishes to recommend some releases, I would be grateful.