MILES DAVIS – BITCHES BREW LIVE

While it does feature an hour of Bitches Brew-era live material, the value in Bitches Brew Live is in the first three, previously unissued tracks. They make up Davis’ set at the 1969’s Newport Jazz Festival, which not only saw the jazz legend road-testing tracks for his historic fusion album (a rare move in itself), but their one-off execution by an improvised four-piece (more on that later). An inexorable Jack DeJohnette – arguably at his energetic peak here – rumbles ferociously to life for Miles Runs the Voodoo Down and barely abates for the short, Shorter-less set, with bassist Dave Holland hot on his heels. Saxophinst Wayne Shorter was caught in heavy traffic and missed the gig, which included his own composition, Sanctuary – but the result is something special. Miles, who would later become increasingly sparse in his stage interactions, takes the lead and keeps it, driving the accidental quartet through a blistering twenty-four minutes that must have rocked even the likes of Led Zeppelin and John Mayall, who shared the unusually heavy bill at Newport that year. The rest of the album revisits an expanded Miles septet at 1970’s Isle of Wight, after Bitches Brew’s release earlier that year. While that dynamic and explosive set is as fine as ever, it’s filler compared to the rare gem that precedes it. What a treat.

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