Bitches Brew 50th Anniversary Celebration

On March 30, 1970, Miles Davis shocked the world with his groundbreaking Bitches Brew (Columbia Records, 1970). Although the trumpeter had been increasingly trending towards merging jazz with rock since at least Miles in The Sky (Columbia Records, 1968), Brew destroyed any divide between the two. At the time, some close-minded critics accused him of “selling out.”  While it would prove commercially fruitful, going platinum by 2003, substantively it is so much more than just commercial appeal. As Davis noted in his autobiography, the work was “the way to the future” and a “necessary… change of course.” It ultimately laid the groundwork for innumerable developments in music to come, including that categorized by some as progressive rock, psychedelic, trip-hop, ambient, and jazz. 

Here is our series celebrating the 50th anniversary of the album’s release, exploring it’s influence on multiple forms of music to come.