{"id":255,"date":"2020-03-23T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-23T05:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/?p=255"},"modified":"2020-08-10T23:55:27","modified_gmt":"2020-08-11T04:55:27","slug":"bitches-brew-50th-compositions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/bitches-brew-50th-compositions\/","title":{"rendered":"Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew 50th Anniversary Celebration- Part One: The Compositions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On March 30, 1970, Miles Davis shocked the world with his groundbreaking Bitches Brew<\/em> (Columbia Records, 1970). Although the trumpeter had been increasingly trending towards merging jazz with rock since at least Miles in The Sky <\/em>(Columbia Records, 1968), Brew<\/em> destroyed any divide between the two. At the time, some close-minded critics accused him of \u201cselling out.\u201d  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 \u201cthe way to the future\u201d and a \u201cnecessary\u2026 change of course.\u201d 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.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the first of our four-part series celebrating the landmark release\u2019s legacy on its Fiftieth Anniversary. Follow-up pieces will showcase the production techniques utilized, its influence on music some would put in the \u201cjazz\u201d realm, and on those outside of that category. Each adopts the list format and follows two general guidelines: that the artist presented still performs today, and that they never collaborated with Miles. The latter of these limitations is not to minimize the brilliant continued contributions of his bandmates – Wayne Shorter, Bennie Maupin, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, Dave Holland, Lenny White, Jack Dejohnette, Billy Cobham, Harvey Brooks, and Airto Moreira – but rather to emphasize the recording\u2019s impact outside of his direct sphere of influence.
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This Chapter examines subsequent artists\u2019 tributes or \u201ccovers\u201d of the six songs on Brew<\/em>. Its purpose is to both further appreciation of the underlying compositions as well as show their openness to fit other stylistic approaches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPharaoh’s Dance\u201d – <\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>Charles Pillow Large Ensemble, <\/strong>Electric Miles <\/em><\/strong>(Summit Records, 2018)<\/strong>
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Penned by keyboardist Joe Zawinul, \u201cPharoah\u2019s Dance\u201d is one of two songs on the album not composed by the bandleader. Even so, it was still effectively rewritten by Miles through the arrangement by him and producer Teo Macero. Their changes were so significant that Zawinul later remarked that the final version \u201c sounded like a new piece of music.\u201d Among the revisions was heavy – seventeen – tape edits, including its famous stop-start opening theme, which was entirely constructed during postproduction. They also added many effects then uncommon to the recorded trumpet – echo, reverb and slap delays. The result is the sound of desolation among chaotic surroundings.
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