Miles Davis: Bitches Brew (2LP) [COLUMBIA / LEGACY]

Why you'll love it

Bitches Brew blew up the rules of jazz and kicked off the fusion era. It won a Grammy, became Miles Davis' first gold record, and still sounds like nothing else.

This edition

• 2LP set, 6 tracks
• Columbia / Legacy pressing, US
• Produced by Teo Macero

About the album

In August 1969, just days after Woodstock, Miles Davis gathered a huge band in Columbia's Studio B in New York: two or three keyboardists (including Chick Corea, Joe Zawinul and Larry Young), two bassists, multiple drummers, John McLaughlin on guitar, Wayne Shorter on soprano sax and Bennie Maupin on bass clarinet. He gave them sketches, moods and a few chords, and let the tapes roll.

Producer Teo Macero then cut, looped and edited the jams into long, hypnotic, electric pieces. "Pharaoh's Dance" and the title track sprawl across whole sides, "Spanish Key" grooves, and "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down" is deep, slinky funk. Rock fans and jazz fans alike were floored, and fusion was born.

Also at Kops: more Miles Davis on vinyl · browse Modern Jazz

Tracklist

Listen

On Columbia / Legacy, a reissue of the 1970 album.