Listen to This: Miles Davis and Bitches Brew

by Victor Svorinich

Listen to This stands out as the first book exclusively dedicated to Davis's watershed 1969 album, Bitches Brew. Victor Svorinich traces its incarnations and inspirations for ten-plus years before its release. The album arrived as the jazz scene waned beneath the rise of rock and roll and as Davis (1926-1991) faced large changes in social conditions affecting the African-American consciousness. This new climate served as a catalyst for an experiment that many considered a major departure. Davis's new music projected rock and roll sensibilities, the experimental essence of 1960s' counterculture, yet also harsh dissonances of African-American reality. Many listeners embraced it, while others misunderstood and rejected the concoction.Listen to This is not just the story of Bitches Brew. It reveals much of the legend of Miles Davis--his attitude and will, his grace under pressure, his bands, his relationship to the masses, his business and personal etiquette, and his response to extraordinary social conditions seemingly aligned to bring him down. Svorinich revisits the mystery and skepticism surrounding the album, and places it into both a historical and musical context using new interviews, original analysis, recently found recordings, unearthed session data sheets, memoranda, letters, musical transcriptions, scores, and a wealth of other material. Additionally, Listen to This encompasses a thorough examination of producer Teo Macero's archives and Bitches Brew's original session reels in order to provide the only complete day-to-day account of the sessions.

Genres: Music, Jazz, Criticism, History, Biography

176 pages, ebook

First published February 1, 2015

About the author

Victor Svorinich (D.Litt, Drew), Whippany, New Jersey, is a music faculty member at Kean University in Union, New Jersey, and owner of The Guitar Academy. His published work includes Listen to This: Miles Davis and Bitches Brew (University Press of Mississippi).

Reviews

[Victor · Rating 5 out of 5]

What the hell, I've earned it ;-)

[Bakari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. I hardly new Miles or Bitches Brew when I was a kid in high school, but by my mid-fifties, I have been listen and trying to study all of his works.

Listen to This provides a wholesome appreciation of Bitches Brew and the context of out which it was produced. I have read two other biographies of Miles Davis, as well as Ashley Kahn's "Kind of Blue: The Making of Miles Davis Masterpiece."

Like Kahn's book, “Listen to This” is half biography and half music analysis of a ground breaking work. Svorinich explains why the release of Bitches Brew was controversial at the time, and probably still is today. I fall into the camp that appreciates and applauds Mile's change of direction, because that's what great artists should do. They shouldn't get boxed into and held to their prior works, and they shouldn't have to spend their life re-producing their art over and over again to satisfy critics.

Miles has a huge body of work, and if you don't like Bitches Brew, you don't have to listen to it. For me, the album goes beyond the cool genre, but the improvisation, electric instruments, and the sheer funk of the cords are still guided by jazz tradition.

Svorinich helps readers understand how Bitches Brew came together with a collection of a highly skilled and experience jazz intellectuals: Joe Zawinul (Electric Piano), Wayne Shorter (Soprano Sax), Jack DeJonette (Drums), Chick Corea (Electric piano), Harvey Brooks (Fender Bass), Dave Holland (Bass), John McLaughlin (Electric Guitar), Benny Maupin (Bass Calarinet), Leonard White (Drums), Larry Young (Electric Piano), Charles Alias (Drums), and Jim Riley (Percussion)

Svorinich talks explains the influences of Sly Stone, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown and other on the direction of Miles was going with with Bitches. The music cuts deep and and goes in so many paths. If you're not in a mindset to receive it, you'll totally be turned off.

Svorinich also reminds us of the role of post production of the album led by Teo Macero. This was the days long Pro Tools when editors had to literally splice recording tape with a razor blade. I learned that it took over a month to edit and produce all the recordings that was done in I think three days.

Of course no book can really help you appreciate and fully understand what went on in the studio making of Bitches, but the artists seriously had to be in serious mindset with the ability to speak to one another in ways that are probably difficult for many artists to do today. Miles, as all biographers tell us, was difficult to get along with. He was a man of few words, and he wanted shit his way most of the time. I'm not sure anyone could produced an album like Bitches Brew and not be an enigma that Miles was.

Though I have listened to Bitches many times before reading this book, it was great to pull up songs in my iTunes library as I read about this in Listen to This, for it gave me greater appreciation of how the songs were put together.

I definitely recommend Listen to This for all serious students and jazz aficionados of Miles Davis.

[Devina Boughton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although pretty dense, I feel like I understand a lot more about Miles's different phases and I also enjoyed hearing about the history happening at the time.
I didn't as much care for the chapters about each individual song.
Overall it was worthit though

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the content, but hated the tone.

[Slow Culture Magazine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had the book been half the pages, it would have gotten 6 stars from me.

[Girard Bowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative & entertaining book about one of my favorite Miles Davis albums. I heard this at the right time, in my mid-teens, just as I was getting into jazz. Unlike the old heads who disparaged this album, my jazz preferences hadn't hardened then. Even though rock music has always been lower on my list, Bitches Brew hit me just right as eerie and otherworldly - the rock influence didn't deter me. I remember many late nights listening to this with friends while shrouded in smoke. BB is still a great late-night go-to.

Svorinich does a good job detailing the musicians and sessions, even noting the timing of some of the many cuts-and-pastes Teo Macero made in crafting these pieces. The interviews with some of the musicians on those sessions add to the flavor.

[Kurt Wallinger · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting if you're a fan of Miles Davis and history of electronic rock/jazz. It seemed to jump around a lot and was hard to follow the timeline. It would have been a better audio book if it included clips or samples of the music the author was describing.

[Jason Comely · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're at all curious about Miles Davis and his creative process, don't hesitate to pick this up.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly illuminating, though loses focus towards the end.

[Djll · Rating 1 out of 5]

The writing is high-school level. I tried to return it to the bookstore but they didn't want it.

[Malcolm Gorman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gets better and better.

Be sure to read it with access to Miles Davis tracks, to (at the very least) sample them. This includes not only the obvious tracks (Shhh, In A Silent Way, Bitches Brew, etc.) but the many other tracks cited as well.