 Cover art for Bitches Brew Miles Davis's Bitches Brew, released in 1970, is one of the first recordings for jazz fusion. Cover of the Miles Davis album Bitches Brew. ...
Miles Davis (May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991), one of the most influential and innovative musicians of the twentieth century, was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. ...
1970 was a common year starting on Thursday. ...
Jazz fusion (sometimes referred to simply as fusion) is a musical genre that loosely encompasses the merging of jazz with other styles, particularly rock, funk, R&B, and world music. ...
Recorded mostly in three days (August 19 to 21, 1969) it incorporated electric instruments, such as electric piano and guitar, and mostly rejected traditional jazz rhythms in favor of a looser, funk influenced improvisational style. Davis's recording was an unusual contribution to jazz. The article on electrical energy is located elsewhere. ...
An electric piano (e-piano) is an electric musical instrument of the 1960s or 1970s, which was built to replace a (heavy) piano on stage. ...
Jazz is a musical art form characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythms, and improvisation. ...
Funk is a distinct style of music originated by African-Americans, e. ...
The 2 LP/CD set contains mostly very long tracks, improvisations on pieces that were largely written on the spot. Instead of the largely diatonic style of cool jazz, Bitches Brew often favored dissonance. In Music theory, the diatonic major scale (also known as the Guido scale), from the Greek diatonikos or to stretch out, is a fundamental building block of the European-influenced musical tradition. ...
Along with the bebop movement developed during the 1940s, the 1950s ushered in a lighter, more romantic style of jazz called cool. ...
In poetry, dissonance is the deliberate avoidance of patterns of repeated vowel sounds (see assonance). ...
Some jazz fans and musicians felt the album was crossing the limits: "Davis drew a line in the sand that some jazz fans have never crossed, or even forgiven Davis for drawing." [1] (http://www.inkblotmagazine.com/rev-archive/Miles_Davis_Bitches_Complete.htm) In a 1997 interview, drummer Bobby Previte sums up his feelings about Bitches Brew thus: "Well, it was groundbreaking, for one. How much groundbreaking music do you hear now? It was music that you had that feeling you never heard quite before. It came from another place. How much music do you hear now like that?" [2] (http://users.bestweb.net/~msnyder/writings/previte.htm) A drummer is a musician who plays the drums, particularly the drum kit, marching percussion, or hand drums. ...
Robert Previte (born July 16, 1954, Niagara Falls, New York) is a jazz drummer, composer and bandleader. ...
Bitches Brew is often called the best-selling jazz record. Such sales figures have been disputed, but it was Davis's first gold record, selling more than half a million copies. However Davis had 11 years earlier released Kind of Blue, another groundbreaking record that has been cited as perhaps the best-selling jazz release. Kind of Blue is a 1959 (see 1959 in music) album by jazz musician Miles Davis. ...
In 2003 the TV network VH1 named Bitches Brew the 64th greatest album of all time, and it was ranked #94 on the List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, and also: The International Year of Freshwater The European Disability Year Events January January 1 - Luíz Inácio Lula Da Silva becomes the 37th President of Brazil. ...
A television network is a distribution network for television content whereby a central operation provides programming for many television stations. ...
VH1 (which stands for Video Hits 1) is an American cable television channel that was created in 1985. ...
In 2002, Rolling Stone published an article describing what it considered to be the top 500 albums of all time. ...
Track list - Pharaoh's Dance
- Bitches Brew
- Spanish Key
- John McLaughlin
- Miles Runs The Voodoo Down
- Sanctuary
- Feio
(The original two disc vinyl album does not include a track titled "Feio".)
Overview The Miles Davis recording, Bitches Brew was a turning point in modern jazz. Davis had already spearheaded two major jazz movements—cool and modal jazz—and was about to instigate another major change. Along with the bebop movement developed during the 1940s, the 1950s ushered in a lighter, more romantic style of jazz called cool. ...
Modal jazz is jazz played using musical modes rather than chord progressions. ...
It is perhaps easy for today's audience to forget how astonishing it was in 1969 to have a major label—Columbia Records—release a major album by a important jazz artist with the term "bitches" in its title. The use of the word on the album cover may be a factor in certain fans' and critics' dismissive or even hostile responses to the record. Columbia Records is the oldest continually used brand name in recorded sound, dating back to 1888. ...
The word bitch — originally used for the female members of the canid species, specially dogs — is more often employed in a figurative sense as an insult for a promiscuous woman, or a malicious, spiteful, domineering, intrusive, and/or mean person. ...
Some have criticized Bitches Brew by saying the album was more rock than jazz, and that it was overtly commercial. Fans counter that while Davis was explicitly seeking younger audiences—he took significant cuts in his usual fees to open concerts for Santana and Steve Miller Band—nothing heard on the two discs indicates that by incorporating elements of funk and rock Davis was diluting the power of his music. Fans assert that Bitches Brew is more abstract, challenging and less restrained than music found on the preceding several years of Miles Davis recordings. Rock and roll (also spelled Rock n Roll, especially in its first decade), also called rock, is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as the saxophone, are common in some styles. ...
Santana during concert in Barcelona 2003 Carlos Santana (born July 20, 1947) is a famous Mexican rock and roll guitarist, originally from Autlan de Navarro, Jalisco. ...
Steve Miller is a blues and rock and roll guitarist and performer. ...
Funk is a distinct style of music originated by African-Americans, e. ...
Rock and roll (also spelled Rock n Roll, especially in its first decade), also called rock, is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as the saxophone, are common in some styles. ...
The Abdul Mati Klarwein painting featured on the cover—though striking and memorable—was perhaps an artifact of the "psychedelic" era, and may demonstrate Davis's desire to reach a different audience; for example, Klarwein's work is also prominently featured on the cover art of Santana's (1970) Abraxas, released by the same label. This entry pertains to the word psychedelic, its origin and uses. ...
Santana during concert in Barcelona 2003 Carlos Santana (born July 20, 1947) is a famous Mexican rock and roll guitarist, originally from Autlan de Navarro, Jalisco. ...
Abraxas is the second album by psychedelic rock band Santana, released in September of 1970 (see 1970 in music). ...
The "Who's Who" level of musicianship among the participants involved in the Bitches Brew recording is indicative of the excellence demanded and the collaborative organizational abilities of Miles Davis. Some critics at the time characterized this music as simply obtuse and "outside", which recalls Duke Ellington's description of Davis as "the Picasso of jazz." Edward Kennedy Duke Ellington (Born: April 29, 1899 in Washington, DC – Died: May 24, 1974 in New York City) was an American jazz composer, pianist and bandleader. ...
A young Pablo Picasso Pablo Picasso, formally Pablo Ruiz Picasso, (October 25, 1881 - April 8, 1973) was one of the recognized masters of 20th century art. ...
Recording sessions As was Davis's practice, he called musicians to the recording studio on very short notice. A few songs on Bitches Brew were rehearsed before the recording sessions, but other times the musicians had little or no idea what they were to record.
Once in the recording studio, the players were typically given only a few instructions: a tempo count, a few chords or a hint of melody, and suggestions as to mood or tone. In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for time) is the speed or pace of a given piece. ...
A chord is a geometric figure. ...
}} Wiktionary has a definition of: Melody In music, a melody is a series of linear events or a succession, not a simultaneity as in a chord. ...
Davis liked to work this way; he thought it forced musicians to pay close attention to one another, to their own performances, or to Davis's cues, which could change at any moment. On the quieter moments of "Bitches Brew," for example, Davis's voice is audible, giving instructions to the musicians: snapping his fingers to indicate tempo, or, in his distinctive whisper, saying, "Keep it tight" or telling individuals when to solo.
The bulk of what would become Bitches Brew was recorded in three days.
Post-production Some might argue Teo Macero deserves much of the credit for Bitches Brew. His contributions were sometimes controversial, certainly important, and perhaps invaluable. Teo Macero is a jazz saxophonist and record producer. ...
There was significant editing done to the recorded music. Short sections were spliced together to create longer pieces, and various effects were applied to the recordings. One source worth quoting at length reports:
"Bitches Brew also pioneered the application of the studio as a musical instrument, featuring stacks of edits and studio effects that were an integral part of the music. Even though it sounded like an old-style studio registration of a bunch of guys playing some amazing stuff, large sections of it relied heavily on studio technology to create a fantasy that never was. Miles and his producer, the legendary Teo Macero, used the recording studio in radical new ways, especially in the title track and the opening track, "Pharaoh's Dance". There were many special effects, like tape loops, tape delays, reverb chambers and echo effects. And, through intensive tape editing, Macero concocted many totally new musical structures that were later imitated by the band in live concerts. Macero, who has a classical education and was most likely inspired by the '30s and '40s musique concrete experiments, used tape editing as a form of arranging and composition. "Pharaoh's Dance" contains 19 edits — its famous stop-start opening is entirely constructed in the studio, using repeat loops of certain sections. Later on in the track there are several micro-edits: for example, a one-second-long fragment that first appears at 8:39 is repeated five times between 8:54 and 8:59. The title track contains 15 edits, again with several short tape loops of, in this case, five seconds (at 3:01, 3:07 and 3:12). Therefore, Bitches Brew not only became a controversial classic of musical innovation, it also became renowned for its pioneering use of studio technology." [3] (http://www.audiomedia.com/archive/features/uk-0599/uk-0599-brew/uk-0599-brew.htm) Teo Macero is a jazz saxophonist and record producer. ...
Tape loops are loops of prerecorded magnetic tape used to create repetitive, rhythmic musical patterns. ...
Tape delay, also often referred to as analog delay, is an audio effect whereby an echo can be introduced to an audio signal by mixing it with a delayed version of itself. ...
When sound is produced in an enclosed space multiple reflections build up and blend together creating reverberation or reverb. ...
Classical music is music considered classical, as sophisticated and refined, in a regional tradition. ...
Musique concrète is the name given to a class of electronic music produced from editing together fragments of natural and industrial sounds. ...
This extensive editing was sometimes controversial in jazz circles as purists and detractors argued that jazz should be "spontaneous." But decades earlier trumpeter Louis Armstrong had quickly perceived the photographic nature of the audio recording, becoming the first musician to assemble a band solely for the purpose of recording it live in the studio. Louis Armstrongs stage personality matched his flashy trumpet as captured in this photo by William P. Gottlieb. ...
A new type of jazz Though Bitches Brew was in many ways revolutionary, perhaps its most important innovation was rhythmic. Rhythm (Greek ρυθμός = tempo) is the variation of the duration of sounds or other events over time. ...
In fact, the innovative harmonic and melodic explorations heard on Bitches Brew, coupled with the absence of familiar, accepted bossa nova, swing or jazz-waltz rhythmic templates seems to be a source of much of the malevolence directed toward the album on the part of its critics. This article is about musical harmony. ...
}} Wiktionary has a definition of: Melody In music, a melody is a series of linear events or a succession, not a simultaneity as in a chord. ...
Bossa nova is a style of Brazilian music invented in the late 1950s by a group of middle-class students and musicians living in the Copacabana and Ipanema beachside districts of Rio de Janeiro. ...
Musically, swing can be either: (written with small s), refers to swung notes, the rhythmic feeling evoked by swinging music, esp. ...
There were no jazz standards on Bitches Brew; there were no "walking bass lines"—a traditional, old-school "swing" reference benchmark—there was, in fact, no swing in the traditional sense at all on Bitches Brew. The essential jazz element referred to as "swing" had been basically unchallenged for years before the widely used Latin rhythms employed by Dizzy Gillespie in the bop era. Bitches Brew ignored both swing and the then recently absorbed "Latin" grooves of bossa nova, drawing heavily instead on the nascent funk music of James Brown, Sly Stone, and rock-solid backbeats heard in R&B. Davis didn't simply borrow Brown or Stone's riffs, rather, he incorporated funk and related beats into an expanded vocabulary within the rhythm section as a vital element of his music. Jazz standard refers to a tune that is widely known, performed, and recorded among jazz musicians. ...
The term Swing has several meanings: Swing (dance), a kind of dance, including West Coast Swing and East Coast Swing. ...
Latin jazz is the general term given to music that combines rhythms from African and Latin American countries with jazz harmonies from the United States. ...
Bossa nova is a style of Brazilian music invented in the late 1950s by a group of middle-class students and musicians living in the Copacabana and Ipanema beachside districts of Rio de Janeiro. ...
Funk is a distinct style of music originated by African-Americans, e. ...
James Brown is the name of several notable people: James Brown, soul and funk singer and bandleader, born 1933 James Brown, American TV personality, born 1955 James Brown, U.S. Senator from Louisiana (1766-1835) James Brown, British music journalist and magazine editor Jim Brown, né James Nathaniel Brown, American...
Sly Stone (born Sylvester Stewart in Dallas, Texas on March 15, 1944) is a pivotal American musician, producer, and record producer, most famous for his role as frontman for Sly & the Family Stone, a band which was pivotal in the development of soul, funk and psychedelia in the 1960s and...
Riff is also an alternate spelling of Rif, a region of Morocco. ...
Rhythm section refers to the musicians whose primary jobs in a jazz or popular music band or ensemble is to establish the rhythm of a song or musical piece, often repeated riffs or ostinatos. ...
Previous large jazz ensembles—such as the big bands—had featured several trumpets or woodwind ensembles playing as "sections" supported by an anchoring platform rhythm section often composed of piano, double bass and drums. A big bang, also known as a jazz orchestra, is a large musical ensemble that plays jazz music, especially Swing. ...
Trumpeter performing with the United States Air Forces in Europe Band The trumpet is a brass instrument. ...
A woodwind instrument is a musical instrument in which sound is produced by blowing through a mouthpiece against an edge or by a vibrating reed, and in which the pitch is varied by opening or closing holes in the body of the instrument. ...
Rhythm section refers to the musicians whose primary jobs in a jazz or popular music band or ensemble is to establish the rhythm of a song or musical piece, often repeated riffs or ostinatos. ...
This article is about the modern musical instrument. ...
Side and front views of a modern double bass with a French bow. ...
For other kinds of drums, see drum (disambiguation). ...
Bitches Brew, however, diverged from traditional jazz instrumentation and featured several "rhythm section" instruments forming currents of live counter-rhythms atop which the soloist navigated. For example, two basses, two or even three drummers, or two piano players, all playing at the same time is in many ways the foundation of the entire ensemble recorded on Bitches Brew. Rhythm section refers to the musicians whose primary jobs in a jazz or popular music band or ensemble is to establish the rhythm of a song or musical piece, often repeated riffs or ostinatos. ...
Fender Precision Bass Bass Guitar is a commonly spoken phrase used to refer to the electric bass and horizontal acoustic basses, a stringed instrument similar in design to the electric guitar, but larger in size, commonly fretted and sometimes fretless and with a lower range. ...
A drummer is a musician who plays the drums, particularly the drum kit, marching percussion, or hand drums. ...
This article is about the modern musical instrument. ...
Also expanding the enhanced rhythm section ensembles on Bitches Brew are electric guitar, bass clarinet, soprano saxophone, and additional percussionists. Bitches Brew also diverged from standard jazz practice by incorporating the Fender Rhodes electric piano and the electric bass, which were not yet recognized as legitimate jazz instruments at the time. An electric guitar is a type of guitar with a solid or semi-solid body that utilizes electromagnetic pickups to convert the vibration of the steel-cored strings into electrical current. ...
A typical Bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. ...
The soprano saxophone is a variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument. ...
Percussion instruments are played by being struck, shaken, rubbed or scraped. ...
A Rhodes piano is a musical instrument. ...
Fender Precision Bass Bass Guitar is a commonly spoken phrase used to refer to the electric bass and horizontal acoustic basses, a stringed instrument similar in design to the electric guitar, but larger in size, commonly fretted and sometimes fretless and with a lower range. ...
The solo voices heard most prominently on this album are the trumpet and the soprano saxophone, respectively of Miles and Wayne Shorter. Notable also is Bennie Maupin's ghostly bass clarinet, which was perhaps the first use of the instrument in jazz not heavily indebted to pioneer Eric Dolphy. The soprano saxophone is a variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument. ...
Wayne Shorter (born August 25, 1933) is an American jazz composer and saxophonist. ...
Bennie Maupin is a Detroit jazz multireedist. ...
A typical Bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. ...
Eric Allan Dolphy (June 20, 1928 - June 29, 1964) was a jazz musician who played alto saxophone, flute and clarinet. ...
Also worth noting is the length of several pieces on Bitches Brew. Very few jazz musicians, excepting Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane—a former Davis associate—had released such long recordings, where a single song would be played for an entire side of an LP disc. Ornette Coleman (born March 19, 1930) was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s, and one of the more notable figures in jazz history. ...
John Coltrane (September 23, 1926 - July 17, 1967) was a famous jazz saxophonist. ...
The technology of recording, analog tape, disc mastering and inherent recording time constraints (i.e., bandwidth) had, in the late sixties expanded beyond previous limitations and sonic range for the stereo, vinyl album and Bitches Brew reflects this. In it are found long form performances which encompass entire improvised suites with rubato sections, tempo changes or the long, slow crescendo more common to a symphonic orchestral piece or Indian raga form than the three-minute rock song. This article will be merged with Italian musical terms at some point in the near future. ...
In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for time) is the speed or pace of a given piece. ...
The Republic of India is the second most populous country in the world, with a population of more than one billion, and is the seventh largest country by geographical area. ...
Raga (राग) (rāg /राग (Hindi), raga (Anglicised from rāgaḥ/रागः (Sanskrit)) or rāgam /ராகம் (Tamil)) are the very detailed melodic modes used in Indian classical music. ...
Personnel Miles Davis (May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991), one of the most influential and innovative musicians of the twentieth century, was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. ...
Trumpeter performing with the United States Air Forces in Europe Band The trumpet is a brass instrument. ...
Wayne Shorter (born August 25, 1933) is an American jazz composer and saxophonist. ...
The soprano saxophone is a variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument. ...
Bennie Maupin is a Detroit jazz multireedist. ...
A typical Bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. ...
Categories: Musician stubs | 1932 births | Austrian musicians | Jazz musicians | Jazz pianists ...
An electric piano (e-piano) is an electric musical instrument of the 1960s or 1970s, which was built to replace a (heavy) piano on stage. ...
An electric piano (e-piano) is an electric musical instrument of the 1960s or 1970s, which was built to replace a (heavy) piano on stage. ...
Armando Anthony Chick Corea (born June 12, American jazz pianist/keyboardist and composer who is arguably best known for his work during the 1970s in the genre of jazz fusion, although his contributions to straight-ahead jazz have been tremendous. ...
An electric piano (e-piano) is an electric musical instrument of the 1960s or 1970s, which was built to replace a (heavy) piano on stage. ...
John McLaughlin (born January 4, 1942), also Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is a jazz fusion guitar player from Yorkshire in England. ...
The classical guitar typically has 3 nylon and 3 nickel-wound strings. ...
Dave Holland (born October 1, 1946) is a jazz bassist and composer. ...
Fender Precision Bass Bass Guitar is a commonly spoken phrase used to refer to the electric bass and horizontal acoustic basses, a stringed instrument similar in design to the electric guitar, but larger in size, commonly fretted and sometimes fretless and with a lower range. ...
Fender Precision Bass Bass Guitar is a commonly spoken phrase used to refer to the electric bass and horizontal acoustic basses, a stringed instrument similar in design to the electric guitar, but larger in size, commonly fretted and sometimes fretless and with a lower range. ...
Lenny White (born 1949) is a great American jazz-rock drummer, who is most famous for participating as one of the multiple drummers on Miles Daviss Bitches Brew sessions, and making himself well known as a member of Chick Coreas Return To Forever band. ...
For other kinds of drums, see drum (disambiguation). ...
Jack DeJohnette (born 1942) is a drummer and pianist, recognized as one of the foremost jazz musicians since the 1960s. ...
For other kinds of drums, see drum (disambiguation). ...
Don Alias is a jazz percussionist. ...
For other kinds of drums, see drum (disambiguation). ...
Conga is a drum, a type of music, and a type of dance (Conga Line). ...
Conga is a drum, a type of music, and a type of dance (Conga Line). ...
See also Jazz is a musical art form characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythms, and improvisation. ...
Along with the bebop movement developed during the 1940s, the 1950s ushered in a lighter, more romantic style of jazz called cool. ...
Jazz fusion (sometimes referred to simply as fusion) is a musical genre that loosely encompasses the merging of jazz with other styles, particularly rock, funk, R&B, and world music. ...
See Weather forecasting. ...
Return to Forever was a jazz fusion quartet founded and led by Chick Corea. ...
The Mahavishnu Orchestra is an epic jazz-rock fusion group that debuted in 1971 and dissolved in 1976. ...
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