For the first time in a while, we come back to jazz, with a familiar face being jazz trumpet legend Miles Davis. Like all genres of music, jazz and Miles specifically continued to evolve through the 1960s and early 1970s, and his highly rated album “Bitches Brew”, which is the #87 rated album on Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, incorporates a new ensemble of highly regarded musicians to include Chick Corea on electric piano and John McLaughlin on electric guitar.
Like many of his prior albums, this double album is a collection of extended pieces, with several sides of the album covered by a single extended track. The music continues to be very free-form, and in most cases, is very high energy. I found it to be a great soundtrack for finishing the last two hours of a long evening drive last night, and it was energizing and appealing without being overtly distracting or jarring. Like prior albums, Miles does a great job of sharing the spotlight with his talented peers, and while his trumpet is a key component of the music, it blends in well and does not overshadow the others, particularly the consistent piano work from Corea. The sound of this album has an exotic, almost tribal feel at times on the first two tracks, and as we reached the end of the album and our long drive last night, my jazz sage son and I agreed that “Sanctuary” was the perfect “wind-down” track to prepare us for the end of our journey and the highly awaited long night of sleep that came as a reward for a high-paced day and long weekend.
I will never be a jazz expert and it will always be a genre I’m stretching myself to keep pace with, but I have really enjoyed all I have encountered so far, and this diverse and unique album was another great stop along the way from an artist who impressively stayed relevant and impactful for a long and extended career.
A Lifetime-Plus of Music 