by Miles Davis
Released March 30, 1970 via Columbia Records
Originally reviewed April 2, 2020
Top tracks (based on community voting)
Bitches Brew (45%), Pharaoh’s Dance (43%), Spanish Key (26%)
Miles Davis pushed music to its furthest extent with his experimental masterwork, Bitches Brew. A two-hour long opus filled to the brim with fresh, groundbreaking, and genre-bending ideas that would change the course of music forever. Psychedelia, rock, soul, and jazz are thrown into a kaleidoscope where every second is an ever-shifting narrative that bleeds in and out itself aimlessly. The compositions are massive undertakings and the jamming from the band creates a release that only gets better with every single listen. Over a half century later, it still remains one of the most combative records in the jazz canon. – Jared (10/10)
Bitches Brew represents the importance and influence of jazz fusion in one magnificently monumental work. Introducing electric instruments and post-production effects into the standard improvisational jazz structure, Miles Davis created an album that sounds decades ahead of its contemporaries. The rhythmic depth is incredible, with every track sounding so awe-inspiringly full. Yet, the musicians never seem to step on each other's toes or over insert themselves. True craftsmanship that remains a formative showing even to this day, 50 years later. – Enth (9.5/10)
Unifying modern curiosities with reliable tradition always sounds enticing in theory. However, in practice, the boundaries of each idea have a tendency to butt up against each other rather than succumb to an undemanding osmosis. Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew is one of the unusual instances of the two binaries blending rather than colliding. The application of new-age jazz fusion elements among the old-world, classical rules of the art mingle seamlessly as electric instruments, psych-rock inspired riffs, and even early post-production splicing make up the foundation of the airy, open faced structure typical of the genre. Bitches Brew is a stimulating journey and a treat to listen to, but its significance is majorly as an indication of Davis’ unending scrutiny of sound and how he can manipulate it (which he does very well). – Pax (9.3/10)
DeVán: 10/10 | Cam: 9.5/10 | Enth: 9.5/10 | Hadley: 9.5/10
Dominick: 9.4/10 | Pax: 9.3/10 | Daniel: 9/10
