€ 34.95 (USD 41.56)

Columbia GP-26

Box Set Back

The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions (4-cd Box Set)

Miles Davis

Without question one of the most groundbreaking and influential recordings ever, Bitches Brew single-handedly revolutionized the music world. Miles Davis's radical jazz/funk milestone of 1969 changed the sound of modern music.

Although Miles had touched on fusing jazz and rock music, here a new music form is created, with one of the most impressive rosters of musicians ever assembled creating a wickedly fresh and intensely interactive blend.

Now all of these historic sessions are newly remixed with exquisite clarity. This 4-CD Grammy-Winning Deluxe box Set collector's edition adds to the original double album tracks from "Big Fun", "Live-Evil" and "Circle In The Round" and nine previously unissued selections (1/3 of the music here is new).

The box includes a lavish 96-page color book and memorabilia containing a hertfelt introduction by Carlos Santana, essays by Quincy Troupe (co-author of Miles' autobiography), producers Michael Cuscuna and Bob Belden. Detailed discography, many rare and previously-unpublished photos.


Tracklisting:

CD 1
01. Pharoah's Dance (Zawinul) 20:05
02. Bitches Brew (Davis) 26:58
03. Spanish Key (Davis) 17:32
04. John McLaughlin (Davis) 4:22

CD 2
01. Miles Runs The Voodoo Down (Davis) 14:01
02. Sanctuary (Shorter-Davis) 10:56
03. Great Expectations (Davis) 13:45
04. Orange Lady (Mulher Laranja) (Zawinul) 13:50
05. Yaphet (Zawinul) 9:39 (*) Previously Unissued
06. Corrado (Zawinul) 13:11 (*) Previously Unissued

CD 3
01. Trevere (Davis) [Take 5] 5:55 (*) Unissued
02. The Big Green Serpent (Davis) 3:35 (*) Unissued
03. The Little Blue Frog (Davis) [Take 2] 12:13 (*) Unissued
04. The Little Blue Frog (Davis)
[Take 4 - Master] 9:09
05. Lonely Fire (Davis) 21:09
06. Guinnevere (Crosby) 21:07

CD 4
01. Feio (Shorter) [Take 1] 11:49 (*) Unissued
02. Double Image (Zawinul) [Take 3] 8:25 (*) Unissued
03. REcollections (Zawinul) [Take 4] 18:54 (*) Unissued
04. Take it or Leave It (Zawinul) [Take 6] 2:13 (*) Unissued
05. Double Image (Zawinul) 5:52


Tracks #1-4 (CD 1), and #1-2 (CD 2)
originally issued in 1970 as Columbia GP-26.



Personnel & recording dates:

CD 1, tracks #2 & 4, and CD 2, track #2 recorded on August 19, 1969:
Miles Davis (tp), Wayne Shorter (ss), Bennie Maupin (b-cl), John McLaughlin (g), Chick Corea, Josef Zawinul (el-p), Dave Holland (b), Harvey Brooks (el-b), Jack DeJohnette, Lenny White (d), Charles Don Alias and Jumma Santos (perc).

CD 2, track #1 recorded on August 20, 1969:
Miles Davis (tp), Wayne Shorter (ss), Bennie Maupin (b-cl), John McLaughlin (g), Chick Corea, Josef Zawinul (el-p), Dave Holland (b), Harvey Brooks (el-b), Jack DeJohnette (d) and Jumma Santos (perc)

CD 1, tracks #1 & 3 recorded on August 21, 1969:
Miles Davis (tp), Wayne Shorter (ss), Bennie Maupin (b-cl), John McLaughlin (g), Chick Corea, Josef Zawinul, Larry Young (el-p), Dave Holland (b), Harvey Brooks (el-b), Jack DeJohnette, Lenny White (d), Charles Don Alias (d, perc) and Jumma Santos (perc).

CD 2, tracks #3-6 recorded on November 19, 1969:
Miles Davis (tp), Steve Grossman (ss), Bennie Maupin (b-cl), Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea (el-p), John McLaughlin (g), Khalil Balakrishna (sitar), Bihari Sharma (sitar, tamboura), Ron Carter (b), Harvey Brooks (el-b), Billy Cobham (d, perc) and Airto Moreira (perc).

CD 3, tracks #1-4 recorded on November 28, 1969:
Miles Davis (tp), Steve Grossman (ss), Bennie Maupin (b-cl), Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea (el-p), Larry Young (org, celeste), John McLaughlin (g), Khalil Balakrishna (sitar), Bihari Sharma (sitar, tamboura), Dave Holland (b), Harvey Brooks (el-b), Jack DeJohnette (d), Billy Cobham (d, perc) and Airto Moreira (perc).

CD 3, tracks #5-6 recorded on January 27, 1970:
Miles Davis (tp), Wayne Shorter (ss), Bennie Maupin (b-cl), Chick Corea, Josef Zawinul (el-p), John McLaughlin (g), Khalil Balakrishna (sitar), Dave Holland (el-b), Billy Cobham, Jack DeJohnette (d) and Airto Moreira (perc).

CD 4, tracks #1 & 2 recorded on January 28, 1970:
Miles Davis (tp), Wayne Shorter (ss), Bennie Maupin (b-cl), Chick Corea, Josef Zawinul (el-p), John McLaughlin (g), Dave Holland (el-b), Billy Cobham, Jack DeJohnette (d) and Airto Moreira (perc).

CD 4, tracks #3-5 recorded on February 6, 1970:
Miles Davis (tp), Wayne Shorter (ss), Chick Corea, Josef Zawinul (el-p), John McLaughlin (g), Dave Holland (el-b), Jack DeJohnette (d), Billy Cobham and Airto Moreira (perc).


Originally produced by Teo Macero.
Engineers: Frank Laico & Stan Tonkel

24-Bit Digitally Remastered

------------------------------------------

Notes:

"Thought by many to be among the most revolutionary albums in jazz history, Miles Davis' Bitches Brew solidified the genre known as jazz-rock fusion. The original double LP included only six cuts and featured up to 12 musicians at any given time, some of whom were already established while others would become high-profile players later, Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter, Airto, John McLaughlin, Chick Corea, Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland, Don Alias, Bennie Maupin, Larry Young, and Lenny White among them. Originally thought to be a series of long jams locked into grooves around keyboard, bass, or guitar vamps, Bitches Brew is actually a recording that producer Teo Macero assembled from various jams and takes by razor blade, splice to splice, section to section.

"Pharaoh's Dance" opens the set with its slippery trumpet lines, McLaughlin's snaky guitar figures skirting the edge of the rhythm section and Don Alias' conga slipping through the middle. Corea and Zawinul's keyboards create a haunted, riffing modal groove, echoed and accented by the basses of Harvey Brooks and Holland. The title cut was originally composed as a five-part suite, though only three were used. Here the keyboards punch through the mix and big chords ring up distorted harmonics for Davis to solo rhythmically over, outside the mode. McLaughlin's comping creates a vamp, and the bass and drums carry the rest. It's a small taste of the deep voodoo funk to appear on Davis' later records. Side three opens with McLaughlin and Davis trading fours and eights over a lockstep hypnotic vamp on "Spanish Key." Zawinul's lyric sensibility provides a near chorus for Corea to flit around in; the congas and drummers juxtapose themselves against the basslines. It nearly segues into the brief "John McLaughlin," featuring an organ playing modes below arpeggiated blues guitar runs. The end of Bitches Brew, signified by the stellar "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down," reflects the influence of Jimi Hendrix with its chunky, slipped chords and Davis playing a ghostly melody through the funkiness of the rhythm section. It seemingly dances, becoming increasingly more chaotic until it nearly disintegrates before shimmering into a loose foggy nadir. The disc closes with "Sanctuary," completely redone here as a moody electric ballad that was reworked for this band while keeping enough of its integrity to be recognizable.

Bitches Brew is so forward-thinking that it retains its freshness and mystery in the 21st century."

Thom Jurek -All Music Guide

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