Miles Davis - Bitches Brew Live

There's been a fair amount of activity over the past several months surrounding the 40th anniversary of the release of Miles' seminal 'Bitches Brew'.  Columbia released two different 40th Anniversary box sets, and also this single disc live album.

The material on this release come from two different shows.  The first 3 songs, totaling about 25 minutes, are from the Newport Jazz Festival in July 1969 - shortly before the band headed into the studio to record 'Bitches Brew'.  The remainder of the disc is the 35 minute set from the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival in August 1970, a few months after Brew hit the shelves.  The differences between the two sets are fascinating.

The 1969 band is Miles' "lost quintet" minus Wayne Shorter who missed the gig due to being stuck in a traffic jam.  Dave Holland is on acoustic bass here, and is lost in the mix to a certain extent.  Jack DeJohnette on the other hand is drumming like a madman, particularly on the opening 'Miles Runs the Voodoo Down'.  Without Wayne's sax, Miles takes the lead more than he otherwise would, and Chick Corea adds some nice keyboard work.  This brief set offers a glimpse into where the band was heading, although the destination was not yet fully in focus.

By the Isle of Wight gig in 1970, the music had been given a chance to stew a bit.  This set is a lot more dense, owing in part to the addition to a 2nd electric keyboardist in Keith Jarrett and additional percussionist Airto Moreira.  Wayne Shorter had left the band by this time, with Gary Bartz holding down the sax here.  Listening to the intensity of this set it's easy to understand why jazz purists hated 'Bitches Brew' and what it led to so vehemently, and also why Phil Lesh has spoken about how brutal it was to watch Miles' Brew band when they opened for the Grateful Dead in April 1970, knowing he and the rest of the Dead had to follow *that*.  (That lineup is represented on the 'Live at the Fillmore East: It's About That Time' double CD).  Corea and Jarrett play off each other very well here, with aggressive voicings almost sounding like electric guitar at times.  Holland is a much more present force, now on electric bass.  And Jack DeJohnette is, well, he's Jack DeJohnette!  Bartz offers some nice soprano sax, and Miles pulls it all together into a very intoxicating mix before a crowd of 600,000.

The Isle of Wight set has been available before, having appeared as a single 35-minute filler track on the 3 disc "Munich Concert", but the mix & mastering here is superior.

All in all this is an excellent CD, especially given it can be had new for about $10.  If you hate 'Bitches Brew', this isn't going to change your mind.  But for those of us who have been touched by 'Brew' (and I've said before that album changed the way I think about music) this is a nice document of the music Miles was playing live at the time.