Monday, January 26, 2004
THE COMPLETE BITCHES BREW SESSIONS
I've been listening a lot to Miles Davis's Complete Bitches Brew Sessions recently, courtesy of my local public library. While I'm a big fan of the later electric Miles, I was never that fond of Bitches Brew. For some reason, listening to the music in this form I'm getting into it a lot more. (Actually, the title of the set is a bit of a misnomer: more than half the music on these four CDs comes from sessions which took place after all the music that would become Bitches Brew was recorded.)
It's occurred to me before, when listening to electric Miles, that there's a structural similarity between some of his performances and the Velvet Underground's more experimental stuff: both "Sister Ray" (both studio and live versions) and the various other long, largely instrumental "songs" they did (which, except for a couple of severely truncated versions, are only available on bootlegs). But "The Little Blue Frog," on disc three of this set, really sounds like the Velvets at times. The alternate take in particular has some real "Velvets moments," particularly Larry Young"s organ, and the parts where Hancock is banging atonal chords on the piano (beginning about 8:15 into the track), and where the band fades back, leaving the bass in front (beginning about 9:56). But the master take also sounds like the Velvets after the bass clarinet solo ends, when the group quiets down (beginning about 4:00).
I'm not claiming that there was any influence, direct or indirect, of the Velvets on Davis. The Velvets were themselves influenced by jazz, particularly Coltrane's Ascension iirc. And I suspect they were also influenced by Indian music, which was of course an influence on Miles as well. I'm basically suggesting a case of "convergent evolution." But if you like the Velvets' experimental side, you should definitely check out electric Miles. And if you like electric Miles, you might try listening to "Sister Ray" (on White Light/White Heat), though I make this suggestion with more trepidation, as the Velvets definitely did not have the chops that Davis and his musicians did.
I've been listening a lot to Miles Davis's Complete Bitches Brew Sessions recently, courtesy of my local public library. While I'm a big fan of the later electric Miles, I was never that fond of Bitches Brew. For some reason, listening to the music in this form I'm getting into it a lot more. (Actually, the title of the set is a bit of a misnomer: more than half the music on these four CDs comes from sessions which took place after all the music that would become Bitches Brew was recorded.)
It's occurred to me before, when listening to electric Miles, that there's a structural similarity between some of his performances and the Velvet Underground's more experimental stuff: both "Sister Ray" (both studio and live versions) and the various other long, largely instrumental "songs" they did (which, except for a couple of severely truncated versions, are only available on bootlegs). But "The Little Blue Frog," on disc three of this set, really sounds like the Velvets at times. The alternate take in particular has some real "Velvets moments," particularly Larry Young"s organ, and the parts where Hancock is banging atonal chords on the piano (beginning about 8:15 into the track), and where the band fades back, leaving the bass in front (beginning about 9:56). But the master take also sounds like the Velvets after the bass clarinet solo ends, when the group quiets down (beginning about 4:00).
I'm not claiming that there was any influence, direct or indirect, of the Velvets on Davis. The Velvets were themselves influenced by jazz, particularly Coltrane's Ascension iirc. And I suspect they were also influenced by Indian music, which was of course an influence on Miles as well. I'm basically suggesting a case of "convergent evolution." But if you like the Velvets' experimental side, you should definitely check out electric Miles. And if you like electric Miles, you might try listening to "Sister Ray" (on White Light/White Heat), though I make this suggestion with more trepidation, as the Velvets definitely did not have the chops that Davis and his musicians did.
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