Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Pharaoh's Dance
2. Bitches Brew

Disc 2:

1. Spanish Key
2. John McLaughlin
3. Miles Runs The Voodoo Down
4. Sanctuary
5. Feio

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2622 in Music
• Released on: 1999-06-08
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Original recording remastered, Extra tracks, Original recording reissued

Amazon.com essential recording
The revolution was recorded: in 1969 Bitches Brew sent a shiver through a country already quaking. It was a recording whose very sound, production methods, album-cover art, and two-LP length all signaled that jazz could never be the same. Over three days anger, confusion, and exhilaration had reigned in the studio, and the sonic themes, scraps, grooves, and sheer will and emotion that resulted were percolated and edited into an astonishingly organic work. This Miles Davis wasn't merely presenting a simple hybrid like jazz-rock, but a new way of thinking about improvisation and the studio. And with this two-CD reissue (actually, this set is a reissue of the original set plus one track, perfect for the fan who's not so overwhelmed as to need the four-CD Complete Bitches Brew box), the murk of the original recording is lifted. The instruments newly defined and brightened, the dark energy of the original comes through as if it were all fresh. Joe Zawinul and Bennie Maupin's roles in the mix have been especially clarified. With a bonus track of "Feio"--a Wayne Shorter composition recorded five months later that serves both as a warm-down for Bitches Brew and a promise of Weather Report to come--this is crucial listening. --John F. Szwed

Customer Reviews

Roses are red, violets are blue, Miles reinvents music with Brew
Miles always had a way of turning the musical world on its ear when reinventing and redefining the confines of what music was supposed to be. This album is one of the best examples of what an innovator he was. It's hard to imagine what he had in mind when he took music in this direction. The world was immersed in a time of "the thinking man's art", when abstract art was meant to lead people to get what they wanted to draw from an artist's perception. In the visual arts, it was easy to create in the abstract. Miles seemed to take this concept into the world of music in a way that nobody else could have dreamed. "Organized abstraction" is a good way to describe this very original music. I probably don't have to mention that this album has often been called 'the invention of fusion' or the beginning of the fusion movement, although it bears little resemblance of what fusion evolved into in the '70s. Of course, a number of the kings of fusion, such as John McLaughlin, Benny Maupin, (Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter left this ensemble shortly after this to create Weather Report) etc. came from this experiment. Despite the abstract nature of this album, it somehow comes together as an incredibly cohesive entity, complete unto itself and surprisingly pleasant to the ears. This is definitely a musicians' album. It's difficult to not be impressed by the grand talent exhibited by all those who contributed to this album. From an artist's standpoint, this is a work of pure genius! I only gave it 4 stars because, due to the abstract nature of this work, you need to be in a certain mood to listen to this album all the way through.....but when you're in those certain moods, there is nothing like this album! Indeed, there really is nothing like this album!

One day, this album just clicked ...
I will start by saying that I don't know much about jazz--it's theory, styles, history, etc. I always liked older jazz/blues and discovered Miles Davis from Kind of Blue, which I first heard as background music at a party that drew my attention away from my friends and toward the music.

A friend suggested this disc as another classic Miles Davis CD so I bought it without ever having heard a track. I hated it. Then, one day, I was riding the subway home and Pharoah's Dance came up randomly on my ipod and it was as if a light had gone off and everything in the music and in the city made perfect sense (it's hard to describe).

I went on to explore the other tracks and have really grown to love and appreciate this album. It is very gritty and urban and, like a group of graffiti-covered tenement buildings, is so "ugly" that it's beautiful. If that makes any sense to you, then you will come to love this album, but expect to hate it at first.

Miles Davis
Excellent; very different track almost like a jam session! You will either love it or hate it.