{"id":598,"date":"2020-03-25T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T05:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/?p=598"},"modified":"2020-08-10T23:55:04","modified_gmt":"2020-08-11T04:55:04","slug":"miles-davis-bitches-brew-50th-anniversary-celebration-part-two-the-influence-of-production","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/miles-davis-bitches-brew-50th-anniversary-celebration-part-two-the-influence-of-production\/","title":{"rendered":"Miles Davis\u2019 Bitches Brew 50th Anniversary Celebration- Part Two: Production"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is the second of our four-part series of lists celebrating the legacy of the landmark Bitches Brew<\/em> on its Fiftieth Anniversary. Our first piece focused on the compositions while forthcoming ones will emphasize the album’s influence on subsequent “jazz” and “non-jazz” artists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each list 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 who still produce incredible music – 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This chapter examines the groundbreaking production techniques utilized on Brew<\/em> and selects five contemporary counterparts. While many brilliant artists can be heard on Brew<\/em>, one of the critically important though lesser-heard voices is that of producer Teo Macero. While Miles retained ultimate veto power over what would and would not appear on his recordings, the task was often left to Macero to edit and mix taped pieces into a cohesive whole. Some have likened his contributions to that of George Martin with the Beatles.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macero\u2019s production work was particularly significant on Brew<\/em>, as it adopts many techniques then infrequently used in music such as the use of echo, reverb, and loops. Macero and his team spent long hours to determine the parts of each song they wanted to modify, and how they would do so. Then they would undertake a three-machine splice. Under this method, they would first use a razor blade to cut the recorded tape at the specified time and feed it into a machine. They then fed a second tape into a different one. The two tapes would then be combined on yet a third machine. The process was extremely time consuming and required significant creativity and patience. Of course, today, many of these techniques are fairly easily done through computer software. Technology has in many ways only proliferated the number of artists who, like Miles and Macero, use production as an additional musical instrument. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Armen Nalbandian<\/a>, Young Kings Get Their Heads Cut Off<\/em> (self-released, <\/a>2007)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The experimental pianist’s first solo outing builds off of composer John Cage’s concept of the prepared piano – placing items on its strings to change timbre- and applies it to the Fender Rhodes. Nalbandian treats the keyed instrument as a percussion tool, modifying hammers with keys, mallets, wrenches, snare drum heads, and drum cymbals. He further adds to the sound by feeding the modified instrument through both a delay and a wah-wah pedal. Although comfortably within the avant-garde, it also evinces an atmosphere common to Brew<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n