Complete Bitches Brew Sessions (August 1969-February 1970) [Box set] [Extra tracks] [Original recording remastered]

Complete Bitches Brew Sessions (August 1969-February 1970) [Box set] [Extra tracks] [Original recording remastered]

ASIN: B0002199HC

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
These historic sessions, recorded between 1969 and 1970 and originally released as a 90-minute double LP, merged jazz and rock into the hybrid genre known as fusion. They remain Miles Davis's most controversial recordings. Davis, along with pianists Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and Joe Zawinul; bassist Dave Holland; soprano saxophonist Wayne Shorter; bass clarinetist Benny Maupin; drummers Jack DeJohnette, Billy Cobham, and Lenny White; and percussionist Airto Moreira, went electric with rock rhythms, and the rest, as they say, is history, or as some feel, the end of jazz history.

Now, all of the sessions' 265 minutes are contained on this four-CD set, compiled from alternate takes, nine unreleased tracks, and selections from previously released LPs. The superb remastering reveals the spectral power of Davis's amplified, muted, and open trumpet painting on a swirling harmonic canvas created by Hancock, Corea, and Zawinul, especially on Zawinul's impressionistic "Pharoah's Dance," Shorter's elliptical "Sanctuary," and Davis's rocking "John McLaughlin."

The previously unreleased tracks, including "Yaphet," "Corrado," "Tevere," "The Big Green Serpent," and Zawinul's "Double Image," contain some interesting East Indian motifs and inventive arrangements but will probably not change anyone's mind about this well-debated period of Miles Davis's career. --Eugene Holley Jr.

Complete Bitches Brew Sessions (August 1969-February 1970),Miles Davis,Sony,Box Sets (Audio Only),Fusion,Jazz,Jazz-Rock,Pop

Average customer rating:

Bitches Brew rocks

Fascinating groove

Simply Miles....

Very nice...

the apocalyptic moment for jazz revisted

Complete Bitches Brew Sessions (August 1969-February 1970)
Miles Davis
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Jazz | Styles | Music
Jazz Fusion | Jazz | Styles | Music
Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions

The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions

The Miles Davis Quintet, 1965-68: The Complete Columbia Studio

The Complete Columbia Recordings: Miles Davis & John Coltrane

In Person Friday and Saturday Nights at the Blackhawk, Complete

ASIN: B0002199HC
Release Date: 2004-05-11

Tracks:

Pharaoh's Dance
Bitches Brew
Spanish Key
John McLaughlin

Tracks:

Miles Run The Voodoo Down
Sanctuary
Great Expectations
Orange Lady
Yaphet
Corrado

Tracks:

Trevere
The Big Green Serpent
The Little Blue Frog (Alt)
The Little Blue Frog (Mst)
Lonely Fire
Guinnevere

Tracks:

Feio
Double Image
Recollections
Take It Or Leave It
Double Image

Amazon.com

These historic sessions, recorded between 1969 and 1970 and originally released as a 90-minute double LP, merged jazz and rock into the hybrid genre known as fusion. They remain Miles Davis's most controversial recordings. Davis, along with pianists Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and Joe Zawinul; bassist Dave Holland; soprano saxophonist Wayne Shorter; bass clarinetist Benny Maupin; drummers Jack DeJohnette, Billy Cobham, and Lenny White; and percussionist Airto Moreira, went electric with rock rhythms, and the rest, as they say, is history, or as some feel, the end of jazz history.

Customer Reviews:

Bitches Brew rocks.......2007-03-09

This box set is absolutely amazing. Totally innovating, and did it ever revolutionize music!

Fascinating groove.......2007-02-25

I have enjoyed listening to this music both intently and as background. At times it all seemed like so much musical doodling but when I considered the calibre of the musicians playing I became much more appreciative of its musical integrity. Excellent production.

Simply Miles...........2007-01-12

Miles finalmente apre le danze macabre del voodoo (Miles Runs the Voodoo Down); non ci sono più scuse, l'Africa è presente in tutto il suo terribile splendore. Il ritmo, le melodie, quel groviglio che solo un incosciente chiamerebbe armonia, esplodono senza ritegno. Adesso tutto diventa dannatamente chiaro: Miles stava solo mescolando e rimescolando in una fetida brodaglia l'Africa americana, quella dei neri spacciatori, dei giocatori di basket, quelli delle sit-com, con l'Africa dei nonni e dei bisnonni che, scesi dalle galee come schiavi in Virginia e nel Mississipi, esorcizzavano la paura del nuovo ignoto con la nostalgia del passato ancestrale in quelle danze demoniache.Miles, maledetto genio, alla fine sei riuscito a riportare i fratelli neri in seno a mamma Africa; sei riuscito a ripulirli dalla "bastardaggine metropolitana" che ne deformava l'anima da un centinaio d'anni.

Very nice..........2006-12-04

I remember buying this in high school. Miles wasn't particularly popular at the time, and my brother gave me a look and said "why did you buy this crap?". My brother, ironically, would get into jazz when he got into college, yet, never apologised for this insult. As for this music, it's truly outstanding. It's incredibly complicated stuff, sometimes with 3 keyboardists, 2 drummers, 2 bassists all playing at once, with Miles on top of it all. The initial 6 tracks are some of the greatest stuff I've ever heard, with Spanish Key being my favorite. I remember being put off by it a bit at the time. The only Davis albums I had at the time were the mediocre The Man with the Horn, and the better We Want Miles, so I wasn't up on the great Miles. I have around 28 Miles CD's now, and this is definitely top five. I like Big Fun better, but the music there was from these sessions, so it's a bit confusing. The remastering is light years superior to the vinyl, and is definitely worth the upgrade. It also has superlative liner notes, detailing the sessions and some good historical background. As for the bonus tracks, most of this material was released on other albums. The songs Great Expectations, Orange Lady, and Lonely Fire ended up on the original release of Big Fun. Recollections, Trevere, The Little Blue Frog (master take), and Yaphet were also released on the remastered version of Big Fun. Guiniverre ended up on Circle in the Round (in a slightly shorter version), and Double Image (the short version) ended up on Live Evil. So there are only 6 actual new tracks (Corrado, The Big Green Serpent, an alternate take of The Little Blue Frog, Feio, a slightly longer version of Double Image, and Take It or Leave It). These 6 are good, but unless you really adore Miles, you may be able to do without them, even though I think this is a good set to have.

the apocalyptic moment for jazz revisted.......2006-08-03

The release of Bitches Brew in late Spring of 1970 marked the end of an era - not only for Miles - but for jazz as a genre. Jazz would never again revel in the melancholy splendor of bluesy isolation, or the somewhat self-absorbed innocence of groove or `avant-garde'. At the time, I was a devout fan, and I can remember the first time I heard "Miles runs the Voodoo Down" which was the first track I heard - before many, many others would. Jazz would never quite return to the large ensemble swing mix, although Qunicy Jones and Grover Washington did carry on for some years, with albeit muted electricity - but the McLauglin/Miles collaboration - in the final analysis, perhaps more historically significant and impacting for jazz than Miles/Trane, was and remains an extraordinary listening experience. What is more pervasive is Miles' tortured revelation of the apocalyptic sound that is first achieved here and continues notably through Live/Evil and Dark Magus and less stellar moments through the early and mid 1970's. These are the new classics of jazz in which its leading exponent deals with this universally acknowledged feeling of world dissolution - our lives spinning out of presumptions to and pursuit of control - the return to chaos - inexorable and inevitable. The recordings of the initial flowering of Mile's post-modern period collected here en totem for the first time give us an insight into the tension between Miles' supremely rigorous and complex sense of order and the recognition of the endless flux of electricity and being, all too overwhelming in the totality of its energy to be channeled or directed for long. The previously unreleased material here, such as 'Yaphet' and 'Corrado' which followed the original sessions is most welcome in that it presages the future, in which the electric and fusion elements would gain dominion over spent, traditional forms. Simply put, these sessions stake profound claim to being among the greatest of all time, and the extras which are included, regardless of their being more of a coda or an afterthought to the recording dates for Bitches Brew, make the package that much better.

Average customer rating:

A fascinating document
Cemented in History
Nothing Much to Add...
Bitches Brew never sounded better, but many of the extras are non-essential
the apocalyptic moment for jazz revisited

The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions
Miles Davis
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

Jazz Fusion | Jazz | Styles | Music

General | Jazz | Box Sets | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Complete In a Silent Way Sessions
The Complete Columbia Studio Sessions, 1965-68
The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions
The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings
The Complete Columbia Recordings: Miles Davis & John Coltrane

ASIN: B00000FC7S
Release Date: 1998-11-24

Tracks:

Pharaoh's Dance
Bitches Brew
Spanish Key
John McLaughlin

Tracks:

Miles Runs The Voodoo Down
Sanctuary
Great Expectations
Orange Lady
Yaphet
Corrado

Tracks:

Trevere
The Big Green Serpent
The Little Blue Frog (Alt.)
The Little Blue Frog (Mst.)
Lonely Fire
Guinnevere

Tracks:

Feio
Double Image
Recollections
Take It Or Leave It
Double Image

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

A fascinating document.......2006-09-11

It is agreed: the title of this CD Box-set is misleading. There are complaints that it does not deliver more of the actual Bitches Brew sessions of August 1969.(the liner notes do indicate, however, that a rehearsal track of Pharaoh's Dance has been rejected) Others, like Cook & Morton in their Penguin guide, take the title for granted and conclude that all the material included here gives a lesser picture of the original album.
Let's forget the title and think of it as the Miles Davis story from August 1969 to February 1970. As such, it is a great document which sheds much light on a period that is fascinating, but hitherto a little confusing.
I remember well listening to Great Expectations/Mulher Laranja for the very first time, having bought the Big Fun CD some years ago. I was instantly amazed and wondered when this music would have been recorded. The notes said "between 1969 and 1972". Oh well...
The Bitches Brew box-set tells you exactly what you need to know in every detail, and as it turns out, Great Expectations/Mulher Laranja was recorded only 3 months after Biches Brew. What a dramatic stylistic turn ! This new material, along with the early 1970 recordings of "Guinevere" and "Recollections", is as chilled and floating as Bitches Brew was hot and fiery. It is also much less abstract, relies on drones and incantations, using indian- as well as Brazilian- instruments.
In the 4 tracks of Great Expectations/Orange Lady, Guinnevere, Recollections and Lonely Fire; Davis and Macero already possessed all 4 sides of a potential suberb double vinyl, which would have been a chilled and meditative sibling of Bitches Brew. It leaves me wondering why they didn't publish it. Was it too fashionnable, too hippie? too repetitive? not jazzy enough, too easy? did it go against the real path of Miles Davis who was looking towards a more guitar-dominated, harder sound? It wasn't until 1974 that the two strongest tracks, Great Expectations/Mulher Laranja and Lonely Fire got eventually released, and Guinnevere didn't see the vinyl until 1979.
A harder guitar sound on Double-Image is heard again in early 1970, for a later inclusion in "live-evil" .And the First Jack Johnson session is only 2 months away !!
This box-set reminds us just how much happened in 6 months. Of the 4 and a half hours recorded here, a good 3 is very commendable music.
Which leads us to the question of the previously unreleased material: there is some good in theses tracks, but you can forgive Davis and Macero for "forgetting" them. Much of it sounds like recreational, a tad vacuous music intended to entertain the musicians, but perhaps not a large public. Even so, it remains interesting and some of it is entertaining. The wonderful miniature "Take it or Leave it" , just over 2 minutes in lenght, is my star unreleased track. The playing on the alternate take of "little Blue Frog" links back to In A Silent Way, as does the theme of "Recollections". A piece like "Trevere", however, points at the cliches of psychedelic/progressive rock of the time and you can guess why it took it 3 decades to get out of the can.
You learn so much from this box-set, and the presentation is irresistible. Bitches Brew sounds better, Lonely Fire sounds better, and much exciting , precise information - for example the editing process of Pharaoh's Dance - is made available.

Cemented in History.......2006-08-15

It's the classic story. A highly reputable artist with a following suddenly decides it's time for a change. To his loyal followers and admirers, he has ruined everything! WTF was Miles thinking? The same can be said for Bob Dylan.
In retrospect, Bitches Brew was a very bold move artistically (duh). Even in alienating himself from old fans, he brought in a whole slew of younger, hipper people.
Go electric, amplify the horn, add weird effects to it, jam out with a dozen guys for half an hour, and call the track "Bitches Brew".
Actually, upon hearing that title track the first time, I found it kind of scary. Dark, forboding organ chords pounding in free time. Suddenly, a burst of drums, organ and bass. This happens a couple of times. Then Miles' trumpet, laced with delay, creeps in, and adds to this gigantic sound.
After about 3 minutes, everything stops. A steady bass line ensues, accompanied by bassoon and finger snaps(?!) Eventually everybody else comes back, and jams the rest of this monstrous, half hour track.
It's quite a hard listen, to say the least. I fell asleep the first time. It was pretty disheartening.
Approach it with an open mind, give it a listen.

Other than that, my favorite track is "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down". Don Alias and Jack Dejohnette lay down a very sexy groove, to which John McLaughlin tastefully complements. It, too, grows to be an enormous jam session.

Another aside. Once, by accident, two CD players were going in my house. I don't know when we started the second one, but here's the deal. "Pharaoh's Dance" was playing at the same time as "Cowboys" by Portishead. Same Tempo, same hectic feel. I believe once, when the vocals cut out in "Cowboys", Miles seemed to come out of nowhere in "Pharao's". You might check that out. It was pretty trippy.

Overall, one of the strangest musical experiences I can recall. But, in retrospect, most people can agree on the lasting power that is Bitches Brew.

Nothing Much to Add..........2006-04-29

This boxed set has been unusually well-served by its prior reviewers, so I'll limit myself to running down the essential details in brief. THE COMPLETE BITCHES BREW sessions is not what it claims, alas, but rather a coupling of the original BITCHES BREW album as released (though with infinitely better sound) and Miles' various studio exercises of the subsequent six months. Many of these jams were clearly never intended for release (although some would be issued during the trumpeter's period of hibernation in the mid- and late seventies), and they really bear no musical relation to BITCHES BREW despite their largely overlapping personnel and chronological proximity. There are a few highlights - Joe Zawinul's brief, lovely "Take It or Leave It" and the relatively energetic workouts on "Lonely Fire" and "Corrado" are worth hearing - but much of the material is, like any rehearsal, monotonous and half-formed. Were it all from the actual August 1969 BREW sessions (which would, apparently, take up far more than the four discs included here), there'd be no problem. As it stands, however, this is clearly Columbia's way of assembling unrelated material in the most convenient form possible, and only fanatics should consider it a necessary purchase. For the rest of you, the magnificently remastered BITCHES BREW double CD will certainly suffice.

Bitches Brew never sounded better, but many of the extras are non-essential.......2006-04-07

This release features a great new re-mastering of Bitches Brew. Compared with the old Columbia CD I had from about 10 years ago, it definitely sounds better...clearer, better spatial separation, really very nice. Still, I give it a 4 star rating due to false advertising, as others here have noted. The "extras" were simply not recorded by the same band that laid down Bitches Brew. The liner notes elaborate on who played for which track, but it seems most of the other pieces were recorded about a year later. On top of that, some of the extras are totally unnecessary unless you are a Miles completist. The best cuts come from the original Bitches Brew release. Still, you will find a couple of nice nuggets here: "Corrado", "Orange Lady" (which Weather Report fans will recognize), "Recollections", which recalls In A Silent Way, and "Guinnevere", my favorite extra, which is essentially a 25-minute cover of Crosby, Stills & Nash's same-titled song. Other than the main theme, this track obviously doesn't resemble CSN's version, and is extremely laid-back in its approach, with a nice use of the sitar and some additional percussion to give the track an organic ambient feel.
For me, these tracks make it worth it; but then again, I own tons of Miles Davis recordings, everything from his work with Gil Evans, to the Birth of Cool, to his work with the original quintet as well as the "new" quintet, and all the way through his fusion period. For those that don't need *that* much Miles, I would suggest you go with the standard Bitches Brew release, which has also been remastered and sounds just as good as this set. If you're a nut like me, and can't get enough of his early electric work, then you will want to get this, as well as the complete Jack Johnson sessions, and you may even want to check out the Cellar Door sessions (the sessions from which 'Live-Evil' was extracted.)
All in all for an expanded set it's not the greatest, but it's still pretty good based on the strength of the original album's material and a few very nice extras. Miles nuts (like me) will enjoy it.

the apocalyptic moment for jazz revisited.......2006-03-14

The release of Bitches Brew in late Spring of 1970 marked the end of an era - not only for Miles - but for jazz as a genre. Jazz would never again revel in the melancholy splendor of bluesy isolation, or the somewhat self-absorbed innocence of groove or `avant-garde'. At the time, I was a devout fan, and I can remember the first time I heard "Miles runs the Voodoo Down" which was the first track I heard - before many, many others would. Jazz would never quite return to the large ensemble swing mix, although Qunicy Jones and Grover Washington did carry on for some years, with albeit muted electricity - but the McLauglin/Miles collaboration - in the final analysis, perhaps more historically significant and impacting for jazz than Miles/Trane, was and remains an extraordinary listening experience. What is more pervasive is Miles' tortured revelation of the apocalyptic sound that is first achieved here and continues notably through Live/Evil and Dark Magus and other less stellar recordings in the early and mid 1970's. These are the new classics of jazz in which its leading exponent deals with this universally acknowledged feeling of world dissolution - our lives spinning out of presumptions to and pursuit of control - the return to chaos - inexorable and inevitable. The recordings of the initial flowering of Mile's post-modern period collected here en totem for the first time give us an insight into the tension between Miles' supremely rigorous and complex sense of order and the recognition of the endless flux of electricity and being, all too overwhelming in the totality of its energy to be channeled or directed for long. The previously unreleased material here, such as 'Yaphet' and 'Corrado' which followed the original sessions is most welcome in that it presages the future, in which the electric and fusion elements would gain dominion over spent, traditional forms. Simply put, these sessions stake profound claim to being among the greatest of all time, and the extras which are included, regardless of their being more of a coda or an afterthought to the recording dates for Bitches Brew, make the package that much better.

Jazz Music:

Jazz Music

Jazz Music