MILES DAVIS — Bitches Brew (review)

Album · 1970 · Fusion

5/5 · 2013-02-01
Cannonball With Hat

Historical context is everything.

Yes, when this album was first was released I'm sure it was incendiary, controversial, heart stopping, interesting, engrossing, fascinating, and completely out of left field. Unfortunately, in 2009 (when I first heard the album) none of those adjectives seem to apply. I've read many reviews of this album (and Miles' albums in general) and am astounded by the undying praise. All the things people say...powerful, jaw dropping, earth moving, mind exploding, unyielding...and I find that I can not agree with any of these words. The music is so...lifeless, meandering, unfocused, uninteresting. As if it is just occurring in the background, not meant to be focused on, just existing in some form for some time and then stopping. Occasionally, things do get interesting, get worthy of spending time to listen to, but they are soon replaced with something else, usually less interesting. However, for that point, this isn't a complete failure. Pharaoh's Dance is probably the best (or perhaps most interesting) track here. The inclusion of multiple drummers and bass clarinet, certain gives Bitches Brew some brownie points as well, as I'm a fan of both of those things. (Though as a fan of percussions I do wish the drums were given more room to breathe and more involvement to the proceedings. I fully recognize this as a personal sentiment and I weight it as such.)

This review may seem alarming. Or may give the impression that I'm a 'jazz snob' or something sinister like that. I can assure you I'm not. I love most types of jazz, I love avant-garde, I love things that don't have structure, I love improvs, and I love things that just sound strange. This fits most of those criteria. And yet...it falls almost completely flat to my ears. Certainly the players have talent. Some of the biggest names in jazz play on this record. Yet, for me, this talent doesn't shine through enough to give it that certain pizazz, even though I can see the appeal of having all this talent in one place and that same time. But judging it just on name recognition would be disingenuous, in my humble opinion. And on a musical level, things fall apart too quickly and meander far too long. I think the most important thing about this album is the groundwork it laid out for the fusion 'community' (even though I hear this album as much more of a heady electric jazz album). Which is grand in the overview, but not so much on a microcosm level.

All in all, this is one of the most important albums in jazz. From this historical context, it set the gridlines on the map much more than any other album in it's time. However, for me, this formula has been done better (by Davis and others) since then. But, this is also a pillar of jazz music. No serious jazz collection should be without Bitches Brew. For this reason, I'm awarding BB five stars. It is essential. I don't not consider it a masterpiece of jazz music, just an important one. Miles did it better.