Bitches Brew: 40th Anniversary

This refers to the 2015 European reissue of the 40th Anniversary set; it has the Tanglewood CD and the Copenhagen DVD, but not the vinyl. The package is bound like a book, 44 pages of notes and photos, discs stored on each side. Instead of a traditional disc storage tray, the design holds the discs in place, one overlapping another, with little plastic tabs at the edges. I think I scratched Disc 1 the first time I tried to secure it back into the tray. It still plays fine, but now I'm wary of storing the discs in the book. Be careful, anyway. The album master is the 1998 remix by Mark Wilder from the "Complete Bitches Brew Sessions" box; the other tracks were mastered by Wilder and Maria Triana. The DVD in my set, purchased from a seller in England, is region-free and plays fine in my DVD/Blu-Ray machines bought in the US. For some reason the cover has a Parental Guidance warning for "Mild bad language," although nobody speaks on the DVD or CDs, at all. Does Miles' reputation precede him here, or what? Or maybe it's the title. Don't say that word in front of your mother, kids.I've lived with the music from the original album for more than 20 years. It can be challenging, but also very rewarding. Sometimes I'm in awe of its achievements, sometimes I feel like it's fine but rates way down on the list of favorites from the '69-75 period, but every time I come back to it feels like a fresh experience. I didn't get it right away, though, not until I discovered that it works best when listening with headphones or in the car. It's immersive music, suited for travel. Not really meant to be left playing in the corner. If you do play it on the old home stereo, it really should be loud enough to fill the room.The alternate takes of "Spanish Key" and "John McLaughlin" are good, but not remarkably different than the master takes. Don Alias has told a story of how the band couldn't quite get the feeling of "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down" until he worked up the courage to suggest a certain rhythm to Miles. Meanwhile, the notes here say that Lenny White had been trying to do his best Tony Williams impression on that tune, but Miles told him, "Naw, naw man you ain't getting the chicken." And so Alias got to play his rhythm on the master take. Seems like an outtake that you'd like to hear, doesn't it? Well, too bad. Sony has left us hanging again. If there's a particular reason why the producers chose the "Spanish Key" and "John McLaughlin" outtakes, it's not mentioned in the notes. There isn't any commentary on them, or studio chatter on the recordings, to shed some light.If you already have earlier editions of the album, you'll probably want this set mainly for the live shows.The Copenhagen DVD may surprise you if you're not familiar with the Fall '69 tour and come into it expecting "jazz-rock." Instead, you get to witness the battle between Miles' desire to get up with it and reach a younger audience, and the interest of his younger sidemen in free-floating improvisation. (In fact, Chick Corea and Dave Holland left Miles the next year, after the Isle of Wight Festival, to form Circle.) And in this show, Miles lets them have their heads quite a bit. I've seen a review online that accuses Chick of letting down the side on this date (Miles even apparently glares at him for a moment at the end of the set!), but it seems to me that his playing is in line with his partners in the rhythm section. The one thing notably lacking is that Chick hadn't yet figured out how to get the psycho-distorted effects out of his electric piano with the ring modulator, as you can hear him do in 1970. You'll get plenty of that noise from the August 1970 Tanglewood show here, anyway, where there's still some tension between the esoteric and the earthy, but the rawk and funk are getting more play. If you're familiar with the Isle of Wight and June 1970 Fillmore East performances, then you know.Recommended.

This is a Masterpiece. It's far ahead of the curve in Jazz Music a must have in any Record Collection.

i heard Bitches Brew for the first time in a friends garage, probably 1970...(I was 19) hanging out in the evening looking out over the bay area from up near the skyline ridges south of san francisco...and of course....the music coming from the LOW end of the FM dial...and I need to stop here and thank the DJ who decided to play this music...as you probably know the cuts on this album are from 10 to 26 minutes long...Well, I was spellbound...I never heard such intuitive stuff in my life, and if you've never heard this music, it has a PULSE...it's not just some outside playing or riffing...it's a soundtrack to an exotic safari of the senses....it's captivating stuff. I remember not knowing which album of Miles to look for, but when I saw that cover...there was no choice. So now, what the heck, I just bought this box set, 40 years later and it's like manna from heaven, It's loaded with treasures...a facsimile of the famous Rolling stone issue with Miles on the cover and a great picture loaded article and interview with him...facsimile tickets to the early Fillmore shows, beautiful copies of the memos and letters written to and from Miles about the production, a grand book on the making of the album with lots of art from Abdul mati Klarwein, plus an interview with Klarwein and musicians....But the KILLER is the DVD of the Copenhagen 1969 concert....in fabulous condition....what's going to hit you is that Jack DeJohnette is unbelievably fabulous....the true heartbeat of all this material...I've never seen a drummer play like this in my life. Corea is mind blowingly nimble and brilliant on keyboards...but as you may know, he loves to take it way, way out. I stuck with him for every solo but one....and did a bit of fast forwarding to an astonishing closing where everything gets upbeat, funky, and powerful like nothing I've seen before...Miles will blow your mind....Wayne Shorter is totally gone...Dave Holland is one with DeJohnette which is saying alot....But there's more...and I think it may be the standout...It's the CD of Tanglewood Live 1970. I think it's the most exciting recording of anything Miles Davis has ever done. It has the cross-over elements of the later Live Evil material, but maintaining the powerful Bitches Brew material's strengths...which means....it's been funked! It drives and kicks like nothing I've ever heard before.and I've got bootlegs, the Miles Davis Radio broadcast (In eight parts)...Dark Magus, you name it. This one CD of music is worth the price of the whole box set. I played all this on a 5 channel theatre setup, selecting not the pro logic, which comes up as a default,but switched my amp to five channel stereo.....I gigantic sound difference...thrilling.I used to play a reel to reel Bitches Brew copy when I was in Vietnam, (1972) on a four channel quad setup, (you never want to go back to two channel after that) and finally, this is even better. Do not play this stuff on some small computer speakers....It all comes back....having this box set is a reaffirmation of all I was coming to be in my late teens...it's all a big YES.

Jazz. Some love it, some hate it. I try to love it, and sometimes I do. I've always loved music, so I try to love jazz. I try to love Miles Davis, but hell he makes it difficult sometimes.I shall try to review this box set dispassionately:-"Well presented good quality sturdy book housing four discs and something to read for those with any interest".There. Got that over with. --------------------o----------------------The following is my personal reaction to the offense this 'music' can engender.Had heard this album many years ago, kind of liked but then forgot about it. On a whim, thought I'd give it a second chance. It still holds some sort of appeal but shouts "f-off" to any pre-conceptions of musicality. It's uncompromising in its insistence to disturb you. Don't listen if you are of a fragile disposition. There are extra tracks to push you over the edge.Then there is a live CD from 1970. I believe that at one point during the performance I heard two notes that actually sounded as though one should follow the other --- surely some mistake and I hope Mr Davis fined the errant muso for his laxity.Then the piece de resistance. A DVD of a live performance from Copenhagen 1969. Did you ever see a comedy sketch show from the 1990s called "The Fast Show"? They had a regular piece called "Jaaazz Club". The music was diabolical but was always described as "Grrreat" or "Niiice". Well, this is worse than anything that I heard on "Jaaazz Club".I think that Miles Davis was some kind of Devil deliberately let loose on the world by God to test mortals' appreciation of beauty and their intrinsic grasp of the purpose and structure of reality, but ho-hum, maybe it's just me.Having said all of the above, I'm glad I bought this set and I enjoyed listening to it, but it won't be at the top of my playlist.If I've offended any jazz purists with this review then so be it. Just my honest opinion.

The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions box was an anomaly in the excellent retrospective series, featuring no alternative versions to those released on the groundbreaking album but, as usual, covering more than just the notional period of the title as it included work from Live Evil too. Part of that was due to producer Teo Macero's different to normal working practice - he cut into the master tapes to piece the album together rather than use safety copies on this occasion only. However, here is a new box set especially put together for the 40th anniversary of that masterwork. The two box sets are identical for the first six tracks, taking up a disc and a half, which are that original album. But after that they differ. Here disc two is completed with alternate takes of Spanish Key and John McLaughlin have been found to show earlier works in progress. There are also fascinating single edits of Miles Runs The Voodoo Down and Spanish Key, both reduced to 2:49; and still more a mono single of Great Expectations and Little Blue Frog both recorded just a few months after the Bitches Brew Sessions. Great Expectations didn't appear until 1974 on Big Fun, whilst Little Blue Frog initially appeared on the Complete Bitches Brew in 1998 before being added in 2000 as a bonus track to Big Fun. Both in their full length incarnations. So here you have half a CD of exclusive stuff. There is known to be more in the vaults however, evidenced by the bootlegs "Deep Brew volumes 1 & 2", but not much.Moving on to disc 3 this is a great, clear concert from Tanglewood on August 18th, 1970. This has previously been available on a very muddy bootleg and again in "On The Crest Of The Airwaves" unofficial box set but is cleaned up beautifully for this official Sony release. Although four Bitches Brew tracks are the centrepiece of this concert it kicks off with Directions, not released in studio form until the eponymous album of 1981 and intriguingly features The Mask, recorded in the Jack Johnson sessions of April 1970 but not seeing the light of day in studio form until "The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions" of September 2003. Here there's a missing link between Parts 1 & 2, which despite being just 3:55 in length put a new piece of the jigsaw in place. It's a great concert, unique to this release officially.Disc 4 is a DVD, a 70 minute colour concert from Denmark on November 4th, 1969. Again, exclusive to this release its a mix of Miles playing parts of Bitches Brew but still looking back with Agitation from the great ESP album, even further back to "Seven Steps To Heaven" for I Fall In Love Too Easily, as well as It's About That Time from "In A Silent Way". Throughout the only electric instrument is Chick Corea's electric piano. This is a fine concert and worth the purchase at this bargain price alone.An informative booklet also adds more background to this major album, with photos of private correspondence included. All in all a fine package, worth it even if you own the complete version.

Uploading the box reverse. Amazon version is illegible.

Though having experienced jazz rock, in the form of Bruford, Earthworks, Brand X etc I hadn't experience of fusion. I had put off listening to Bitches Brew, after watching Ken Burns documentary 'Jazz', and the clip of Miles playing fusion. It did seem to be a situation of men not really playing together, and not listening to what the others were doing. However, in the case of something new & demanding, the listener has to travel to the place where the artists inhabit. On first play, I initially found that my first reaction (in my case) may have been correct. However, subsequent listening has opened my ears somewhat. There is always something new, that is noticed. So open your ears daddy-o, and dig it man.

Great product, although the 'jazz' language style notes can be irritating to read. Nonetheless the quality of the music, recording and alternate takes make for a fabulous listening experience. I am almost tempted in making a controversial statement that this album could be better than Kind of Blue. But then I would be comparing two completely different talented musical ensembles and that would not be fair to either. One thing that is common knowledge...Betty Davis' creative influence on Miles. Without her spark Bitches Brew would not have happened. Now that is controversial!