Miles Davis – Bitches Brew 40th Anniversary Tribute
Austin Convention Center, Thursday, March 18“If there was one event on the modern jazz timeline that’s most divisive, it would be the coming of jazz-rock fusion at the close of the Sixties,” began veteran music journalist Ashley Kahn. “And if there is one album that most represents this pivotal moment, it would have to be Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew.” It’s no coincidence that members of what Davis called “the best damn rock & roll band in the world” went on to form seminal fusion bands Return to Forever, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and Weather Report. “With Miles it was different,” explained Bitches Brew and Return to Forever drummer Lenny White. “We didn’t just want to play with Miles Davis. We wanted to be Miles Davis.” Vincent Wilburn Jr., Davis’ nephew, played with Davis in the 1980s. “Not knowing what you were going to do, and at the end of the session seeing what it evolved into, that was the beauty of playing with Miles,” he said. Producer Steve Berkowitz, who is helping release a 3-CD Sony Legacy edition of the landmark album, added, “Who else but Miles and his band would have the balls to just show up at CBS and say, ‘We’re gonna make a record today,’ then do it and it’s Bitches Brew.”
This article appears in March 19 • 2010.
