IASPM UK and Ireland Biennial Conference: Popular Music: Cre-

ativity, Practice and Praxis

Paper

Susanne Anders (s.anders1310@icloud.com), University of Salzburg

Teo’s Brew — The Re-composition of Bitches Brew in

the Studio

Table of Contents

1. Brief introduction to the album Bitches Brew

2. Pharaoh’s Dance example

3. Bitches Brew — structured through edits

4. Some remarks on the live versions of Bitches Brew

But firstly I want to give some remarks on the title of my paper. Jack DeJohnette

stated in a feature in German Jazz Magazine JAZZthing & blue rhythm that after the

sessions for the album Bitches Brew — which took place at Columbia Studio B in

New York City from the 19th until the 21st of August 1969 — Teo Macero (who was

the producer) took the tapes and cut out the parts he did not like. He then mixed

the songs and sent them to Miles to listen to them. DeJohnette continues — and I
1
quote: Miles was not patient enough for this kind of work […] Those statements

1
Jack DeJohnette, cited after: Reimer, Arne, ‘American Jazz Heroes, Staffel 2, Teil 6. Jack De-
Johnette’, JAZZthing & blue rhythm, May 2015, p. 56, translation: mine.

1
led me to the conclusion that Teo Macero decided where and what kinds of edits

were made. Thus the title “Teo’s Brew”. — As I was told recently that Miles wrote a

letter to Teo Macero indicating the changes he wanted to have made to the materi-

al, the statement by DeJohnette was obviously misleading. This corresponds to

Harvey Brooks remembering that Miles knew what he wanted to do — he had a plan

before he went into the studio. I heard him argue with Teo over where an edit
2
should be when they were assembling the album.

As I said in my abstract Miles Davis’s double LP Bitches Brew — which was pub-

lished on the 30th of March 1970 — does not only take a special position in Miles’s

own discography but is said to be a starting point for the so-called “Jazz Rock” or

“Fusion Jazz”. Like the previous Album In a Silent Way (published one year earlier) it

combines Jazz with Rock elements.

But compared to In a Silent Way there were some changes regarding the musi-

cians on Bitches Brew: Although most of the musicians stayed the same — namely

Wayne Shorter on saxophone, Chick Corea and Joe Zawinul on piano, John

McLaughlin on guitar, and Dave Holland on bass — Herbie Hancock was replaced

by Larry Young on piano and Jack DeJohnette entered instead of Tony Williams on

the drums. Additionally a number of musicians was added to the group: Harvey

Brooks —  who also played bass on Bob Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone —  played the

electric bass, with Don Alias and Lenny White two additional drummers came in,

Jumma Santos joined for percussion, and Bennie Maupin played the bass clarinet
3
which added — to quote DeJohnette again — the mysterious sounds .

The recording sessions for this album are said to have been three days of im-

provisation in the studio. Or as Harvey Brooks has pointed out — and I quote: Miles

2
Harvey Brooks, cited after: Belden, Bob. ‘Miles Davis: The Bitches Brew Sessions’, in Booklet of:
Davis, Miles. The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions (1998), 4 CDs ([New York]: Columbia/Lega-
cy, COL 516251 2, 2004), p. 82.
3
Jack DeJohnette, cited after: Reimer, Arne, ‘American Jazz Heroes, Staffel 2, Teil 6. Jack De-
Johnette’, JAZZthing & blue rhythm, May 2015, p. 56, translation: mine.

2
was recording like the way we would write songs. You know, you just jam until you

find something and that becomes part of the song. He would have us play and we

would finish a section and he would say ‘Go on, Go on!‘ and we would keep playing.
4
However, the edits in the studio — especially in the case of Pharaoh’s Dance and

Bitches Brew — are obvious.

As one example I want to pick out a part of Pharaoh’s Dance. It starts at 8’29’’

and ends at 8’40’’.

spectrogram 1: Pharaoh's Dance (8’27''155—9'00''887).

This phrase begins with a piano accord which is followed by a short solo motive by

Miles which also includes the characteristic half tone glissando Miles used since

the 1965 album E.S.P.. Then you can hear a short piano motive which Bob Belden

4
Harvey Brooks, cited after: Belden, Bob. ‘Miles Davis: The Bitches Brew Sessions’, in Booklet of:
Davis, Miles. The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions (1998), 4 CDs ([New York]: Columbia/Lega-
cy, COL 516251 2, 2004), p. 82.

3
calls “2-beat phrase” in his remarks discussing the recording and post-production

of the album in the booklet of The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions (which were

published in 1998). In the middle of this motive you can hear someone talking in

the background. Unfortunately one cannot understand what is said, maybe it is an

instruction or something similar. The small yellow markers above the waveform

show where the voice can be heard. The whole phrase can be heard again some

seconds later — right after those loops which Bob Belden calls “echo trumpet”. As

you can see, this second phrase is an exact repetition of the first one — including

the voice. At the end there are added four loops of the “2-beat phrase” — also in-

cluding the voice. Since in the loops the voice is barely hearable I assume that Teo

Macero tried to eliminate it.

Now for the title song of the album, Bitches Brew. Belden offers a brief descrip-

tion of the “original” and of the final structure in his before mentioned liner notes.

Since I have no access to the original tapes I have to believe him when he writes

that — and I quote: The rubato section (part 2) was assembled to a length of 6:00

from two takes. Then, for reasons unknown, the back half […] begins the perfor-
5
mance. I put all edits Belden mentions in his notes into this spectrogram of the

whole song:

5
Belden, Bob. ‘Miles Davis: The Bitches Brew Sessions’, in Booklet of: Davis, Miles. The Com-
plete Bitches Brew Sessions (1998), 4 CDs ([New York]: Columbia/Legacy, COL 516251 2,
2004), p. 82.

4
 

spectrogram 2: Bitches Brew.

The song starts and ends with the “back half” of the “original part 2”. In the middle

of the piece the first half of this second part can be heard (14’36). The “original part

1” follows the starting “back half” (2’50) and the first half (17’20). Additionally it can

be heard at about 13’28. At about 10’31 starts a two-bar phrase played by Miles I

want to show closer:

5
 

spectrogram 3: “two-bar phrase”.

As you can see this phrase is looped three times — and I quote Belden again: to
6
create the sensation of melody, a phrase that is organized by editing.

Four of the six songs of the album were performed live as well — namely Bitch-

es Brew itself, Spanish Key, Miles Runs the Voodoo Down, and Sanctuary. All of

those —  except Bitches Brew —  could be heard in performances which took place

before the album sessions took place in August 1969.

6
Belden, Bob. ‘Miles Davis: The Bitches Brew Sessions’, in Booklet of: Davis, Miles. The Com-
plete Bitches Brew Sessions (1998), 4 CDs ([New York]: Columbia/Legacy, COL 516251 2,
2004), p. 82.

6
Since of the two songs I talked about only Bitches Brew was performed live I want

to give some short remarks on those performances of the piece I was able to listen

to — which are the bold ones on this list:

- 04-11-1969, Tivoli, Copenhagen

- 05-11-1969, Folkets Hus, Stockholm

- 07-11-1969, Berliner Jazztage

- 07-03-1970, Fillmore East

- 10-04-1970, Fillmore West

- 17-06-1970, Fillmore East

- 18-06-1970, Fillmore East

- 19-06-1970, Fillmore East

- 20-06-1970, Fillmore East

- 18-08-1970, Tanglewood, Lenox, MA

- 29-08-1970, Isle of Wright

- 15-10-1970, Fillmore West

- 22-10-1971, Newport Jazz Festival in Europe, Neue Stadthalle, Dieti-

kon, Switzerland

Since at latest the 5th of November 1969 the live performances of Bitches Brew

start with the same bass notes as the recorded and edited piece — which is, if I may

say this again, the “back half” of the second part of the song on the master take.

The concerts in autumn 1969 were played by the Second Miles Davis Quintet —

which consisted of Wayne Shorter on Saxophone, Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron

Carter on bass, and Tony Williams on drums. Whereas the performance at Fillmore

West on the 15th of October 1970 starts with the “groovier” part 1. Miles now plays

live performances with electric instead of double bass and additional percussion-

ists. The presumably latest live performance of this song on the 22nd of October

7
1971 starts with some Wah-Wah effects from Miles — he used to amplify his trumpet

since around December 1970. At about 2’00 the bass of the first part enters.

Franz Kerschbaumer writes in his book Miles Davis: Stilkritische Untersuchun-

gen zur musikalischen Entwicklung seines Personalstils —  which was released in

1978 as part 5 of the Studies in Jazz Research — that the style Miles uses during his

concerts in 1969 is very much the same as from 1965 onwards. This means the mu-

sicians played as a “classical” quintet and Free Jazz elements —  which were quite

common with other Jazz musicians of that time such as Ornette Coleman — did not

occur at the concerts until 1970. This corresponds to my “feeling” that the later live

recordings of the song Bitches Brew are somewhat “funkier” than the earlier ones.

And with the fact that for the concerts in the late 70s at least one additional percus-

sionist was hired, Dave Holland on double bass was replaced by Michael Hender-

son on electric bass, and very often Keith Jarrett — who played the organ then —

joined in too.

Jack DeJohnette — who played live shows with Miles from summer 1969 until

1970 — said in the interview mentioned before that — and I quote: With Miles the

music changed in every concert we played. He never gave instructions but lead the
7
group through his playing.

I have to investigate further how the live performances which took place before

the recording sessions in August 1969 differ from the album versions and the later

live performances. Sanctuary even was recorded in the studio before: at the 15th of

February 1968 a first version of the song was played by the Second Miles Davis

Quintet. On this recording George Benson joined the quintet for the guitar part.

This early version can be found on the compilation Circle in the Round which was

released in November 1979 and surely needs a closer look at.

7
Jack DeJohnette, cited after: Reimer, Arne, ‘American Jazz Heroes, Staffel 2, Teil 6. Jack De-
Johnette’, JAZZthing & blue rhythm, May 2015, p. 55, translation: mine.

8
References

- Davis, Miles. In a Silent Way (1969), CD ([New York]: Columbia/Legacy,

86556, 2002).

- Davis, Miles. Bitches Brew (1970), 2 CDs ([New York]: Columbia/Legacy,

C2K 065774 2, 1999).

- Davis, Miles. The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions (1998), 4 CDs ([New

York]: Columbia/Legacy, COL 516251 2, 2004).

- Davis, Miles. Bitches Brew. 40th Anniversary, 2 LPs + 3 CDs + DVD ([New

York]: Columbia/Legacy, 88697 70274 2, 2010).

- Davis, Miles. Bitches Brew Live, CD ([New York]: Columbia/Legacy,

88697 81485 2, 2011).

- Davis, Miles. Miles Davis Quintet — Live in Europe 1969: The Bootleg Se-

ries Vol. 2, 3 CDs + DVD ([New York]: Columbia/Legacy, 88725 41853 2,

2013).

- Davis, Miles. Miles at the Fillmore — Miles Davis 1970: The Bootleg Series

Vol. 3, 4 CDs ([New York]: Columbia/Legacy, 8 87654 33812, 2014).

- Davis, Miles. Live at the Fillmore West 15-10-70, CD (Hi Hat, HHCD001,

2015).

- Davis, Miles. Miles Davis at Newport 1955–1975: The Bootleg Series Vol.

4, 4 CDs ([New York]: Columbia/Legacy, 8 88750 8 1952, 2015).

- Kerschbaumer, Franz, Miles Davis: Stilkritische Untersuchungen zur musi-

kalischen Entwicklung seines Personalstils (Graz: Akademische Druck- u.

Verlagsanstalt, 1978).

- Reimer, Arne, ‘American Jazz Heroes, Staffel 2, Teil 6. Jack DeJohnette’,

JAZZthing & blue rhythm, May 2015, pp. 54–56.