(‘Albums You Should Know’ is a column where I highlight an amazing album that I believe deserves more attention and awareness)
Yesterday, it was announced that film director George Tillman Jr. has been hired to develop and direct a biopic of Miles Davis, simply called, “Miles Davis”. He is collaborating with Gregory Davis, Miles’ eldest son, and using his biography “Dark Magus: the Jekyll and Hyde Life of Miles Davis” as the starting point to show the good and not-so-great side of his father in a realistic fashion. After hearing this announcement, I thought it would be a great jump off point for my new column, ‘Albums You Should Know’.
Miles Davis has had a long and illustrious career and I highly doubt that he is unheard of to anyone reading this blog. Even people who have never listened to his music know who he is. He had a career lasting roughly 50 years, pushing and evolving jazz each step of the way with his personal, expressive trumpet playing. Growing up in East St. Louis, he began taking trumpet lessons at age 12, playing local bars in high school and taking out of town trips to play at non-regional venues before he celebrated his 17th birthday.
Miles has such an amazingly strong catalog of music that I could have just as easily picked from a dozen other classic titles, such as ‘Round Bout Midnight, Birth of the Cool, Kind of Blue, Sketches of Spain, In a Silent Way, and On the Corner. I chose to focus on Bitches Brew simply because it is my favorite of his and it is one of my favorite albums of all time. This album is one of the most revolutionary albums in jazz history and it is easy to understand why after the first listen. As soon as ‘Pharaoh’s Dance’ begins, you soon realize that something amazing is happening here. Each time I listen to this album, I am amazed at the amazing quality of musicianship, not just from Miles but from the band. Miles always knew that trumpet playing was only one piece of the puzzle and always aimed at surrounding himself with cutting edge, forward thinking musicians who can each carry their own weight while complementing the sound overall without being too domineering. Up to 12 musicians at a time can be heard across these 6 songs and all are at the top of their game.
John McLaughlin’s electric guitar dances across the rhythm; the electric keyboards of Chick Corea and Joe Zawinul sound eerie, moody, and can puncture the space that it helps create. The use of these instruments show the influence of rock music on Miles (he was said to have been heavily influenced by Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone when this album came out in 1970) and it’s all the better because of it. It simply sounds like nothing else out there, whether you put it up against jazz, rock, or avant-garde genres. His trumpet playing is explosive and reckless like any psychedelic axe slinger of the day.
The promotional materials of the album heralded it as “A Novel by Miles Davis” and after listening, you realize that is not a marketing gimmick. It truly sounds like a novel; it’s lush, deep and has space to go on little runs that develop some of it’s remote characteristics, not to mention the run time of 105 minutes. It’s dense and you never want it to end.
All in all, this is an album that blew my mind wide open when I first heard it. Every time I listen, I have no idea how they accomplished what they did. I am in awe of the way the songs, moods, and melodies twist and turn. It sounds like it came from space. If you have not heard it yet, this is definitely an album you should know.