Customer Reviews

Complete Bitches Brew Sessions

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A word of warning: the set does not contain the "complete" album sessions, as the title indicates. Nothing extra from the August '69 sessions that produced the album is included here, although the liner notes refer to rehearsal tapes that still exist.

All of the extra material included is from unrelated sessions led by Miles in the following winter, when Miles introduced a sitar into his band and worked mostly on open-ended, spacey slow jams, which people today would call "ambient" music.

Apparently, most reviewers here are not put off by this fact. After all, the music from the original album is incredible and now sounds better than ever; and you may find the later ambient experiments involving the sitar as fascinating as they do.

I just can't help feeling disappointed that the box does not deliver what the title promises. The tape was rolling for everything, the notes say, and yet... we get to hear nothing but the masters from the sessions that actually produced the album. I was hoping for insight into how the music of B*Brew came together (as Box 5 in the series does for In A Silent Way), and the notes tease us with stories about key little moments in the studio; but, although Bob Belden and Michael Cuscuna apparently thought these moments were interesting enough to discuss in the notes, they share none of these tapes with us.

Five stars for the music from the original album. Take away one star for the misleading title, and another because the extra material is less interesting to me. Unless you're a fanatic for Miles, and must hear everything he did, then the 2-CD reissue of the original album is probably a better bang for your buck. It has the same great remastered sound, and even comes with "Feio" as a bonus track. If you got that and the reissue of Big Fun, you'd have all the major cuts from this set except for "Corrado" and "Guinevere."

Yes, you should get this rather than the 2CD version. I'll admit there is a little stuff on here that's "filler", where not much is happening. But not very much. The tracks which were issued on subsequent releases over the years (when Miles was still alive by the way) namely "Guenniviere", "Great Expectations", "Lonely Fire", "Orange Lady" demand to be heard. They are actually a bit heavier than the tracks on "Bitches Brew", which were the first tracks cut. Now, you could buy them as part of "Directions", "Circle In The Round", and "Big Fun", but I think you're better served getting them in this package. That way you get the previously unreleased pieces - which are rather heavy also! The fact that they stayed unreleased all that time, that there were more secret treasures to be unearthed from those sessions, is amazing. To dig something up unheard in 30 years and for it to sound fresh and gripping ... The newly released tracks are generally skeletal and/or spacey. Some of them, written by Zawinul & Shorter, clearly serve as the ancestor to Weather Report.

Much of modern music aspires to the sense of etherial groove present in this music. It's beautiful and perfect. I've been listening to it for 15 years now and I'm as into the music today as I ever was. Miles was an artist of the highest caliber, and this is a peak era of his.

I remember buying this in high school. Miles wasn't particularly popular at the time, and my brother gave me a look and said "why did you buy this crap?". My brother, ironically, would get into jazz when he got into college, yet, never apologised for this insult. As for this music, it's truly outstanding. It's incredibly complicated stuff, sometimes with 3 keyboardists, 2 drummers, 2 bassists all playing at once, with Miles on top of it all. The initial 6 tracks are some of the greatest stuff I've ever heard, with Spanish Key being my favorite. I remember being put off by it a bit at the time. The only Davis albums I had at the time were the mediocre The Man with the Horn, and the better We Want Miles, so I wasn't up on the great Miles. I have around 28 Miles CD's now, and this is definitely top five. I like Big Fun better, but the music there was from these sessions, so it's a bit confusing. The remastering is light years superior to the vinyl, and is definitely worth the upgrade. It also has superlative liner notes, detailing the sessions and some good historical background. As for the bonus tracks, most of this material was released on other albums. The songs Great Expectations, Orange Lady, and Lonely Fire ended up on the original release of Big Fun. Recollections, Trevere, The Little Blue Frog (master take), and Yaphet were also released on the remastered version of Big Fun. Guiniverre ended up on Circle in the Round (in a slightly shorter version), and Double Image (the short version) ended up on Live Evil. So there are only 6 actual new tracks (Corrado, The Big Green Serpent, an alternate take of The Little Blue Frog, Feio, a slightly longer version of Double Image, and Take It or Leave It). These 6 are good, but unless you really adore Miles, you may be able to do without them, even though I think this is a good set to have.

In addition to this 4 disc box set, I own the 2cd original. There are many reasons why owning this box set is important, even if you have the original.

Most importantly: THE SOUND. The overall sound of the music on the set is almost 100% better. It is no longer murky, the drums and bass are actually audible(!), and you can hear things that you simply can't hear on the original.The music breathes at last!.

Almost as important as the sound, are the un-released tracks. As a guitar player, I don't feel that the original Bitches Brew displays (guitarist)John's chaotic and beautifull guitar playing as well as it should. With the new tracks that is definitely not the case! They are full of skillfull Fuzz-tone guitar that would make Hendrix proud! Now, don't get me wrong, the musicianship of everyone else on the album's un-released tracks is beautifully executed as well.

Keep in mind that this is one of the most controversial albums there has ever been(In Jazz especially!). It's a piece of history and this set helps to put Miles' puzzle together(through the new sound and tracks).

Last but not least, the amazing and stunning packaging doesn't hurt it one bit. The new liner notes are insightfull and shed new light on the music.

So if you are a fan of Miles(and have some extra cash), get this, it won't dissapoint!

*Oh yeah, anybody who loves this as much as me, please e-mail me so we can talk about it

The release of Bitches Brew in late Spring of 1970 marked the end of an era - not only for Miles - but for jazz as a genre. Jazz would never again revel in the melancholy splendor of bluesy isolation, or the somewhat self-absorbed innocence of groove or `avant-garde'. At the time, I was a devout fan, and I can remember the first time I heard "Miles runs the Voodoo Down" which was the first track I heard - before many, many others would. Jazz would never quite return to the large ensemble swing mix, although Qunicy Jones and Grover Washington did carry on for some years, with albeit muted electricity - but the McLauglin/Miles collaboration - in the final analysis, perhaps more historically significant and impacting for jazz than Miles/Trane, was and remains an extraordinary listening experience. What is more pervasive is Miles' tortured revelation of the apocalyptic sound that is first achieved here and continues notably through Live/Evil and Dark Magus and less stellar moments through the early and mid 1970's. These are the new classics of jazz in which its leading exponent deals with this universally acknowledged feeling of world dissolution - our lives spinning out of presumptions to and pursuit of control - the return to chaos - inexorable and inevitable. The recordings of the initial flowering of Mile's post-modern period collected here en totem for the first time give us an insight into the tension between Miles' supremely rigorous and complex sense of order and the recognition of the endless flux of electricity and being, all too overwhelming in the totality of its energy to be channeled or directed for long. The previously unreleased material here, such as 'Yaphet' and 'Corrado' which followed the original sessions is most welcome in that it presages the future, in which the electric and fusion elements would gain dominion over spent, traditional forms. Simply put, these sessions stake profound claim to being among the greatest of all time, and the extras which are included, regardless of their being more of a coda or an afterthought to the recording dates for Bitches Brew, make the package that much better.

...for the part about "alternate takes." There are no alternate takes from the original album sessions included here. There are, however, many tracks laid down in subsequent sessions throughout 1969 and into 1970, arranged chronologically from the last half of Disc Two onward.

Just wanted to make sure no-one buys this set thinking there will be alternate takes from the original album sessions.

There's not much I can say about this album that hasn't been said already. Put simply, it's just a really incredible masterwork of improvisation. It's also Miles Davis' most controversial and enigmatic album. No other Miles Davis album divides his fans more. There are so many dichotomies to explore: it's bizarre and beautiful, weird and wonderful, fascinating and frightening, and that's a lot to say about an album that was just Miles Davis and friends getting together and jamming. I don't recommend this record lightly, nor do I recommend that you take this record lightly. It's not pop, and it's not meant to be. It's probably not good background music, though you might be able to listen to it on a long drive after you've plumbed the depths of its mysteries. It might scare your kids or annoy your co-workers or neighbors, that is, unless you live or work next to beatniks or jazz enthusiasts. One thing's for sure, it will definitely annoy jazz purists! In a nutshell, I envy your first journey through this particular dimension of Miles' unique and chaotic universe. To help you on your travels, the best advice I can give is: turn on your brain and open your mind, listen to it once, then turn off your brain and listen to it many times more.

You simply must get the November 1998 Sony re-release of this album, The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions. It is one of the best boxed sets I've ever seen. The packaging is amazingly well done with 148 pages of liner notes by several stars, music critics, and admirers. The text reveals the influence that artists like Jimi Hendrix and Sly and the Family Stone had on Miles, inspiring him to move in the directions that eventually resulted in Bitches Brew. Little known is the great friendship that Miles and Jimi developed during this period, and the two had plans to record together when Jimi's tragic death occurred. The set also contains 15 additional tracks not on the original album, 9 of which have never been released before. Many of these tracks are every bit as good as the original tracks, and some of them have a strong Indian flavor to them, with a sitar and tabla adding to the unique, innovative sound of the album. Most of these tracks don't have the same driving energy of the original tracks, but they're all interesting. The sound quality is a vast improvement over earlier releases with stunning clarity and rich bass. The whole set is nicely bound in a wallet-sized case with a metal spine. The only nit-pick is that the great cover artwork is reduced to a tiny rectangle on the back inside cover, quite a shame. Still, it's an absolute must-have for any Miles Davis fan.

I have been a true believer in Miles' music since High School in the 60s...when a teacher introduced him along with Trane and Monk. I recall buying the vinyl Bitches Brew as a college freshman...and playing it to impress a young lady with my white-bread cool. She didn't get it...she left me in the dust shortly thereafter. Nor did any of my music-appreciating buddies. I think many of my them are now listening mostly to the vapid Kenny G and New Age CDs their spouses bring home. It makes me wince.

But Miles...he lives and breathes in the new issue. My nephew -- an accomplished musician himself -- gave me this spectacularly blue-metal packaged set for Christmas. That boy understands.

You may not get into every track like I do. You may actually find some of it too abstract. But you WILL hear something close to genius throughout.

What's more, the entire ensemble comes through in new and surprising ways on the out-takes as well as the re-issues. Fine remastering.

This is work that placed Jazz on a new plane. It was experimental...and daring. But in it's most fundamental essence, it is a truly musical experience.

Get it. Let it breath a bit. Introduce your kids to it.

Miles lives.

I have also been slightly cynical about so called "new" Miles Davis material, as since his death in 1991 there was an initial tidal wave of compilation albums that were really just out to make a fast buck. Anyhow I finally decided to order this from amazon (mainly due to it being far cheaper this way than in the UK), a decision which was based on the love of this period of Miles music and this album in particular. What I have received has dispelled my earlier misgivings. The new material is excellent!................it has a strong ethnic feel to it, which may be down to Miles use of a Sitar player on these sessions. The original tracks from the album have been incredibly enhanced by some brilliant production by the Columbia/Legacy team. The bass and Miles horn are supreme and it makes the original sound as though it was recorded under water. The only down side is that there seems to be a certain amount of hiss on the CD, but this is a small price to pay for such clarity.............even my 3 year old son was listening to "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down" with me, dancing along with the bass line!!!!!. According to Miles autobiography and the book by Ian Carr, Miles and Teo Macero recorded these sessions while in the midst of blazing rows and disagreements. There is a flavour of this at the end of CD2 where Teo asks what part of the particular piece they are playing only for miles to snap back "what difference does it make!!" in his distinctive husky tones!!! This box set is a must for any fan of this period and whilst I don't expect any of the "be -bop" era to agree this is surely Miles in his finest hour!!!

Conventional wisdom seems to be that the Complete Bitches Brew Sessions is weak and uneven, and possibly even dishonest in its title; and that one should instead go for the Complete In A Silent Way Sessions or the Jack Johnson Sessions.

However, in my opinion exactly the reverse is true. The In A Silent Way Sessions are terrific, but they suffer from an ungodly amount of noodling. It is very true what they say, that some of the tracks in the Silent Way box set were probably intended for later editing, but that Teo never got around to it. Further, many of the tracks (only one of which, Frelon Brun, was released at the time) consist of some really cheesy experimentation with boogaloo fusion which Miles abandoned later on.

As for the Jack Johnson sessions, they are the weakest of all, with very loud, very repetitious tracks making great use of electric instruments, but strangely lacking in interest.

To me, the Bitches Brew box set is the best. True, the title is perhaps less apt than for the other two box sets. But remember, this box set came FIRST. The fact that the original cuts of the Silent Way and Jack Johnson material were put on to the other two box sets (with little resultant insight of the original cuts, I might add) was BECAUSE of complaints over this box set. So those who call the title of this box set a "scam" or whatever are forgetting which box set came first.

With that out of the way, to me this box set is the best of the three. Certainly, the sound is not quite as good, and there is also an enormous amount of dead wood here too. But the music is, to me, more interesting.

DISC ONE

The original Bitches Brew material might seem chaotic and arbitrary at first, but multiple listenings confirm what a musical genius Miles Davis was.

Pharaoh's Dance: This tune, by the late Joe Zawinul, is an unlikely album-opener, as it is a meandering and formless piece that is possibly the most avant garde on the album. An atmosphere similar to "Shh/Peaceful" from In A Silent Way pervades this recording. The track is heavily edited, with many chunks being only a couple of seconds long. The main melody is not stated directly but is merely hinted at until close to the end of the recording.

Bitches Brew: Miles Davis' fusion classic begins with a rubato thumping in the bass, matched by Miles' screeching Echoplexed trumpet. Then an evil sounding ostinato bass line starts up, with all the improvisation occurring on top, reminiscent of Bach's organ Passacaglia. At the end the rubato segment comes back. Like Pharaoh's Dance, this track is heavily edited.

Spanish Key: The best track on the album is also an unedited performance. This piece had been performed by Miles in live situations before the studio recording. The signature of this piece is the modal changes, with occur with an electric shock whenever Miles plays a pre-determined code phrase on his trumpet.

DISC TWO

Miles Runs the Voodoo Down: Another live staple by this time, but heavily modified by Miles. The drum beat is very unusual, and on this track Miles has stripped down the original melody (which you may only find on bootlegs) until it is just a skeleton. A very funky track.

Great Expectations/Orange Lady: This track, released on Big Fun, is another in a long line of Miles experiments in repeated horn ostinatos (Nefertiti, Sanctuary, Two Faced). Here, however, there is precious little to listen to under the repeated horn figures, and those thumping chord changes get very dull after the twentieth time.

Corrado: Really funky stuff, with some great soloing.

DISC THREE

Trevere/Big Green Serpent: Both perfect examples of scraps of music that should really have been left in the archives! What on earth is going on?

Lonely Fire: My favourite track of the box set outside the original Bitches Brew album. Another experiment in repeated horn ostinatos, but this time with really beautiful soloing to look forward to, along with some funky bass.

Guinnevere: Crosby, Stills and Nash tune given a truly weird workout here, with a mysterious Sitar-laden atmosphere and yet another experiment with repeated horn ostinatos. Very atmospheric.

DISC FOUR

Feio: Wayne Shorter's tune is a slow, shapeless, mysterious bass figure that sounds like a nightmare come to life. Airto Moreira's cuica squawks plaintively like a vulture waiting for someone to die.

Double Image: This track points the way forward to future developments. Yet another repeated horn ostinato experiment, but this time with John McLaughlin's distorted electric guitar sounding really raunchy. No soloing, but plenty of atmosphere.

Recollections: A long, meandering track like Lonely Fire, with many wonderful solos.