Bitches Brew

I know that he is meant to be brilliant but I can't get into it. It sounds like a random jam session that doesn't go anywhere.

Jazz is not my thing, didn't finish it. Won't ruin the ratings

I just can’t do the improvisational jazz.

Jazzy

good ambient music, instrumental, long

this was excellent miles davis is an enigma

Its so well known as a cool album, I was desperate to like it. I dont and Im sad.

Very long, but very good

Sorry no

Not a fan of this one, incredibly experimental and a tough listen

A 20 minute song to start the album is insane. 7 songs that run an hour and 45 is even more insane. Luckily, it’s from one of the greatest Jazz Musicians of all time.

Ahhh the lost quintet. Still comprised of the greats like Joe Z, Chick Corea, and Wayne Shorter but now and then we added that delightful spice of John McLaughlin's buttery electric guitar. Bitches Brew is udder fusion perfection. Incredible production value and depth, melodic themes and elements and yet catatonic, anxiety inducing, improvisational and out of key instrumentation. I'm very partial to the deep cuts on BB, but title track and Pharoah's dance are both killer tracks.

It literally doesn't matter what this is as long as it's different from the last fucking album. What is this lad on about. Holy shit two hours with 7 songs?? Ok. Interesting. It's instrumental it's a little devious it's study music. Not much else to say unfortunately. He's doing some really interesting stuff but I am not the right person to appreciate it unfortunately. So this does sorta just feel like noise. Idk. I've always loved Spain. Wait John don't hurt em now. Miles I'm ready. It is kinda sanctuary. Fee fi fo fum baby. Favourite: Spanish Key Least favourite: Bitches Brew

Never heard Miles Davis before, very experimental at times but overall a nice music to work along

I first listened to this album in the early 90's. I was into jazz fusion and progressive rock, and it felt like I had discovered the swirling maelstrom from which all of that was born. It's obviously a masterpiece, the musicianship is stellar. I can see how a bunch of 20 minute atonal, unstructured songs would be pretty daunting to casual listeners. Nearly every player on this album would be the best musician in any band they were in. Invest some time listening, it's worth it. 5⭐️

Miles has to be considered among the greatest and most important musicians of the 2oth century, and this is one of his dramatic left turns in creative direction.....and yet, I can't shake my feeling that this is an album that people pretend to like. The art work is beautiful, the ambition is evident, the sounds are revolutionary, and its quite possibly the greatest assembly of musicians ever, yet every time I've tried to revisit it, I find much of it an abrasive and often unenjoyable or amelodic listen. A lot of it sounds cool, but I'm just too much of a sucker for melody and hooks to really fully sink in. I kind of prefer "In A Silent Way" or "On the Corner" from Miles' electric period.

I’ve listened to Miles Davis before and he is a master at his craft. To jazz enthusiasts I’m sure this is a masterpiece, but it just sounds like a bunch of musicians who hit “record” and played for nearly two hours.

Miles Davis defined the sound of jazz for a decade with his effortlessly cool album Kind of Blue. In 1970 he evolved his sound again, adding electric instruments to the mix and moving from hard bop to the fusion sound that was to revolutionise jazz in the 70s. He included some of the finest musicians of the time on this recording, giving them chords to improvise around a basic musical sketch and letting the music flow. In one memorable section Joe Zawinul, Larry Young and Chick Corea are all playing electric pianos and bouncing off each other in different parts of the sound stage (left, centre and right, respectively) - this really benefits from being heard on headphones and it feels like you are in the room with them. Nice. The only thing that I really don’t like about this album is the title, but you can’t have everything

Far too abstract to be enjoyable, this record is allergic to the notion of musical hooks, resulting in a swirling mass of seemingly chaotic sound with very little to latch on to. Its abandonment of conventional tonality is so severe that it's frankly unpleasant to listen to.

Great Album

Apparently i was served up jazz week this week. I'm sure it's good and technically proficient and all that, but it's just way too much.

The GOAT

Know he's iconic but not my jam.

Puts me in psychosis. 5 stars.

well, that was interesting. i thought at times Joe was playing trumpet. when i think i understand music, especially jazz, this album pops up, and i am lost on why this album so great. it's not the first time i heard it, and every time i hear it, i am like, "what the hell".

This wasn't quite up to par with the other instrumental stuff we have heard. It sounded like mostly meandering improv that didn't really go anywhere. I could do that myself for 40 minutes.

Not my type of Jazz. I can appreciate the trumpet talent but doesn't mean I enjoy it. Album is not offensive.

I like listening to jazz, but 30 minutes is my max.

I was waiting for this so much, such a brilliant and inventive work. Makes me laugh at reading some other reviews here and one guy said it best - do not be fuming if you get something out of an ordinary like this is, this should be the point of the list anyway. I guess some people are just happy listening to tons of mediocre indie rock albums on the list, well that's not me and I don't really give a ****. Clearly 5 stars, how can it be any less? Well 4.5 on RYM, but I could not give it anywhere less than 5

"Jazz double album" would normally be a death sentence for an album. But I've always liked this one. Pharaoh's Dance feels like the soundtrack to a 70s detective movie. It's probably my favorite jazz piece ever. The title track is not as good, a lot weirder. I like this album for completely unknown reasons. I generally like funk and this album is funky...but I also generally dislike freeform jazz and this is maybe the most famous (popular?) freeform jazz album ever. The second album is not as good as the first.

I didn't actively hate this. That's an improvement on Davis's other stuff.

I was wondering what Birth of the Cool Miles listening to this would say; same sh*t, different background. A masterpiece in exploratory evolution.

Jazz and definately experimental jazz as this album is an aquired taste. I enjoyed the listen but am sure those with a more musical background appreciated it much more.

While I wasn't in the right mood to listen to 2 hours of experimental jazz, it still was really good. I mean Miles is a legend for a reason, and even though it was a little disconnected at times, I think that's more on me not listening to this type of music more often. Still love the electronic synth and jazz rock components.

Hab ich leider nicht reingefunden.

Löst Ehrfurcht bei mir aus. Bin überwältigt.

Good

No gloom here. That’s the thing with Miles — it just flows. Energy moving, shifting shape, never sitting still, never getting heavy. Evening. Warm light from a desk lamp. Marshall humming somewhere behind you. City lights far below the window, like they belong to someone else’s life. You’re in your own little bubble. Gaba tea. Notebook open. A few thoughts waiting, not in a rush. And then it starts to happen. The room kind of… wakes up. Fills with these invisible flashes of sound — bits of instruments drifting around, bumping into each other, fading out again. Not really songs. More like something alive, just unfolding around you.

Pharaoh's Dance 4.4 Bitches Brew 4.3 Spanish Key 4.3 John McLaughlin 4 Miles Runs the Voodoo Down 4.1 Sanctuary 3.8 Score: 4.15

kinda stressful to listen to, sounds just like any other jazz music, not for me

Great background/lounge music but for me not really for active listening.

I really hoped I would like this album more, especially because it stands out from the crowd of boring guitar‑pop that dominates this list. But I'm afraid I don’t like experimental-ass jazz.

Not the easiest listen, but definitely a milestone in music history.

hard to listen to in full

brilliant. musically just out of this world

Some Jazz-ass Jazz. Driving, frantic, chaotic, yet musical and still super fresh. I have listened to this before and I will listen to it again. Am I always in the mood for an album like this? No. But when I am, it scratches an itch nothing else can reach.

Always hard to rate jazz. Got to be in the right mood. But I liked it. Quite liked the franticness. Could have done we 40min of it however.

Not great miles, should be ashamed of yourself

Another masterpiece from miles! My favourite jazz album from him So cool!

Preferred Kind of Blue of the two Miles albums. was more chilled and cool. This was abrasive and echoey. Not enjoyable. I tried. Not my bag. At all. I mean the 2nd side was more enjoyable. But the 1st side had already ruined things.

Don’t care who it is. Fuck jazz. There’s only so many notes you can hit with a trumpet. Just fuck off man 20 minutes for the first song and 26 for the other. Get a grip man. I’m pissed at the guy who decided this list, stop shoving jazz down my throat Negative stars if I could

He’s got to catch you on the right day. Every now and again he’ll hit you with something where you are thinking ooh I wonder where this goes and then he rips it up entirely, what a tinker. Sprawling, cosmic jazz.

This is my fourth Miles Davis album and they have progressed in scores from 2 to 4 and then most recently to a 5 with 'In a Silent Way'. I felt like this might be a sign of my improved musical understanding, perhaps in part because of this journey and that I was embracing jazz in a new way, but 'Bitches Brew' has thrown a curveball to proceedings. It contains a lot of brilliance, mainly in the middle of the album, but I don't feel unjust in saying that it's too long and perhaps too obscure. 'In a Silent Way' was obviously more compact and more singular, this perhaps more adventurous but it was almost too complex for me. Going to go 3. Which leaves only a 1 vacant for Miles. I hope there isn't an album where he went really left field that comes up for him that I absolutely hate.

Very interesting jazz album. Not my jam, but I can appreciate the style and complexity

Clocking it at nearly 2 hours of experimental jazz, this album is a tough inclusion on a daily listening list. It's difficult to approach music like this inorganically, but this record deserves the accolades its earned over the years and I'll need to find time to sit down with it again. From what I was able to digest I really enjoyed.

It’s oddly satisfying, I’m just happy listening but don’t know exactly why 😂

No me gustó mucho. Prefiero otros discos de Miles Davis

Innovative and breaking with the traditional jazz format of the time, this is a pioneering album by a young jazz giant just getting started.

An absolute masterpiece. Miles' continued experiments with electric jazz and collaboration with Teo Macero paid off in a big way here. It is a flawless journey through creative expression and a perfect album. This is widely recognized as one of the greatest jazz records of all-time. Who am I to disagree? It's a landmark recording that influenced both jazz and rock in the 70's. It defined and popularized jazz fusion.

Weirdly got this back to back with In a Silent Way, and this is a much longer album with a more expansive sonic palette.

Heard of miles Davis Heard of Bitches Brew Not heard any songs off Bitches Brew I completely accept I won't like all of the 1001 albums even if they are worthy of being on the lift. I can see why this is here. I don't get it. Like the other comments it's too loose, too random, too long for my taste. But I'm glad I listened to it and can see why it's here.

I like jazz but this is very long and meandering.

I don't understand jazz. There's just too much going on at once, it really amps up my ADHD and I shutdown. I tried but I just can't. Also, Miles Davis abused women. I'll give it a 2 because it's not the worst thing I've ever heard, but I know I don't ever want to listen to this again. Perhaps if it wasn't 90 minutes long, it would be more accommodating.

Not my cup of tea, it's fine

Druk wel vet

I would usually listen to Miles Davis but enjoyed this!

À Classic…but really hard for me to listen to

Wow. Such a lush recording!

More like Bitches Poo, am I right?

alright he got time!

Jakby to na pewno jest dobry album i to jest me problem, ale na się czuje jakby to był eksperyment społeczny

Non è brutto ma mi ha stra rotto il cazzo dura troppo

The only downside to this album is that the length keeps me from getting quality time with it. It was weird and inventive but still rooted in the jazz you love Miles for.

1001 Albums Generator 253 (3/23/2026) Ah, Davis' fusion era. When I listened through his discography, the run from In A Silent Way through Get Up With It, was by far my favorite. All six of those albums are at least 4.5/5, and Bitches Brew is a crown jewel. While In A Silent Way saw Miles approaching fusion from a much more ambient angle, Bitches Brew is when he started to let all the walls down. It's more controlled and structured than the free jazz that had been coming out of Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders for the past few years, but for Miles, this is about as weird as it gets. Maybe Get Up With It is slightly stranger, but Bitches Brew is up there for sure. The opening two songs, which comprise the whole first disc of vinyl, are two of Davis' finest songs, with Pharaoh's Dance being a much more psychedelic, restrained piece of jazz fusion built on pretty much a one chord vamp, and the title track being more funky and free, with much of it built on this great bassline that comes in around 3 minutes into the piece. Disc two features more of the same, albeit shorter, with Spanish Key and Miles Runs The Voodoo Down (a personal favorite), and has two (relatively) shorter compositions in the rock song John McLaughlin and the most normal song on the album, Sanctuary. Feio is a fine bonus track, but it's not as strong as the material on the original album. Side note, the credits on this thing are incredible. Jack DeJohnette, Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, John McLaughlin, Bennie Maupin, and Joe Zawinul all on the same recording. Insane. Additionally, you have Teo Macero's masterful, creative production, where he literally mashed tapes together, added delays and reverbs, and was just fooling around with the great material that Miles gave him. A great example of this is around 8:55 on Pharaoh's Dance, where he loops the same 1-2 second clip a few times, but this technique is all over this thing, especially on the two longer compositions. Also that whole intro part of Pharaoh's Dance was a result of these studio shenanigans. Bitches Brew is a total creative tour de force and an easy 5/5, although it wasn't for me when I first heard it. Definitely an album that is hurt, rather than helped, by experiencing it for the first time through this challenge. Favs: Pharoah's Dance Bitches Brew Miles Runs The Voodoo Down Least Fav: Sanctuary

This was a little heady for me. I liked it a lot, but it isn't the kind of music I can put on in the background; I need to focus on it to enjoy it. I guess it's not his most listenable album, although it's excellent.

No song should be 20 minutes long.

No jazz thank u

Bitches Brew is a fancy album. I like jazz, but this was too complex for a casual listener. It’s interesting and fantastic but difficult to get through.

As immaculate as it is exhausting, Bitches Brew is, in my (not unpopular) opinion, Miles Davis' magnum opus. It is a feat of improvisation, it is a showcase of emerging recording and editing technology, and it only works because it was assembled with an incredibly discerning curatorial ear. Jazz is dragged into utterly new territory here; our instrumental palette here consists of trumpet, sax, electric guitar, electric piano, bass clarinet, as many as two simultaneous drumsets, as many as two simultaneous bass guitars, and much more. The songs are edited together in a way that was kind of unprecedented (I'd advise you just look into the process instead of counting on me to describe it). And the rock influence on the compositions was trailblazing. Bitches Brew consists largely of lengthy, dense compositions upon which psychedelic, organic, funky, and often beautiful sounds abound. The pacing and assembly and composition of these songs is remarkable. This has a unique mix of tuneful and abstract that makes Bitches Brew incredibly easy to listen to passively, and *incredibly* hard to really digest. While rock influence comes through on a moment to moment basis, the free-flowing, organic nature of these songs is something that I think only jazz could have properly conveyed. I've listened to this a few times, and I still feel like I'm only at the tip of the iceberg. I think the most accessible songs here like Sanctuary, Spanish Key and Miles Runs The Voodoo Down can be enjoyed by those who are not true believers, and they convey a lot of what is so incredible about this. But also, this album would *absolutely* not be the same if not for the ultra-epics here. We kick off with Pharaoh's Dance, and it's immediately clear during the song's 20 minutes that this album exists on it's own terms. And the 27 minute long title track doubles down *hard*. And while I do think the fact that this album is exhausting is kind of important to it's identity, leading with the two longest songs does at least make you feel like you can easily tackle anything else it throws at you. Anyways, while this is probably not my favorite ever jazz album, it *is* kind of a perfect jazz album to me, and I am giving it a 5.

Exceptional and expansive

3.50

This is a very experimental side of Miles Davis. I love the push and pull between chaos and order. The fact that John McLaughlin is featured is a bonus. Great album to sit back and take it all in.

This is it.

2 Hours of my life i’m not getting back. Don’t remember a single thing that happened in this album. AWFUL

Overhyped improv

Niet mijn kindof jazz

I find this style of jazz too discordant and scattered. The lack of structure puts me on edge.

It does occasionally dissolve into pure jazz madness but it’s also surprisingly comprehensible

Entiendo que es el 🐐, pero... jazz en auriculares... 🥱

Everything I've ever said about jazz is true.

Is this what they call free jazz? These guys are all masters of their craft. I wonder how much actual structure there is to these songs, because there are distinct sections, but many of those could very likely be a result of coordinated improvisation rather than a compositional framework. In that sense, it is almost impossible to replicate this kind of music; if another group of jazz musicians tried to cover of any of these, it would surely come out different to the extent of being unrecognizable. I like how the tunes ebb and flow between chaotic and calm sections, and it's very cool to see how each member plays off of each other. This music would be 10 times better live, It's one of those things that the more attention you give it, the more it gives back. Without it being live, you have to really concentrate your ear on individual parts and visualize them playing it to fully appreciate the music. I also sensed some of the time period, hints of Herbie Hancock, and not just because of the electric base and keyboard. There's nothing quite like this, which means it requires a certain state of mind, but it also means that it can reach you in a way unlike any other music. Tough to rate though

3 stars (and I might have done 2.5, if that had been an option). I liked the bass clarinet, a couple of times, anyway. And some other stuff, too - some percussion, and some bass here and there, and Miles's trumpet. I'd probably like other specific things if I continued to listen, but something about this keeps me from paying attention to it (or wanting to listen to it again). I remember telling my mom that I didn't really like jazz (like this) where it sounded like they were all just noodling about, and (to me) it didn't add up to much that I could like or enjoy or relate to or make sense of. I do remember this striking album cover, anyway, growing up. I guess props to Miles for experimenting, and/or trying to stay relevant, to change with the times. But I would SO much rather hear his earlier stuff than this. For me, in terms of how much I liked/enjoyed it, even 3 stars is a little generous.

high quality jamming

good background musıc ı guess 6/10

Accurate title

need to have time to get into it.

I think jazz has become synonymous with elevator music and grocery store white noise. So it's hard to realize how innovative the sounds and patterns and rhythms that came out of these players in their prime. You can hear them develop and test and move through the sounds so seemlessly, tempting each other to take their efforts to the next phase. Just imagine this statement: sounds like this didn't exist prior to these folks. It's so new that it feels like it has always been there.

Another one of those album's that I like but would never really return to unless I put it on in the background. In order to fully appreciate this you need to really pay attention and that's not something I want to do all the time while listening to music. The musicality on display here is otherworldly and there are a number of songs here that I found to be quite hypnotising but I think because of it's length and quite demanding nature, this isn't going to be something I'll fully re-listen to again even though I do think this is pretty great. Fav Songs: Miles Runs The Voodoo Down, Pharaoh's Dance, Spanish Key Least Fav: John McLaughlin 8.1/10

Hell yeah, great album! Definite classic.

Y'know, I'll give it this: it wasn't too bad to listen to. Experimental Jazz is not my thing, but, I tolerated it. Took a while for me to muster up the courage to it, though.

My god the length of this. Honestly, the first two songs (all of the first disk) felt like it was wasting my time. With 2 minute structureless intros on songs that already seem to meander to nowhere. The second disk redeems the album somewhat by being more accessible, but it was still a slog.

I know this is good, because so many who understand it have said how good it is. But it just isn't for me. I've tried. I've really tried, just cant get into it, for the most part. To me it sounds like a planned and rehearsed cacophony of sounds and its the point. But its not entertaining to me. and an hour 45 mins, is a long time with something not entertaining.

Experimental jazz/jazz fusion can be incredibly fun to listen to.

Kind of Blue is your brain. Bitches Brew is your brain on drugs.

While I can appreciate it for what it is and did enjoy parts, I do think it went on for longer than necessary

A bold experiment in music. So many have tried to recreate it. Miles himself never recaptured it quite perfectly.

I’m surprised how much I enjoyed this, I’ve never really listened to Jazz and wasn’t looking forward to trying this. I can see how this was considered revolutionary at the time, the musicianship here is top notch, I would say my favourite track is either Spanish key or Miles runs the voodoo down. It misses out on one star for the fact that it’s not something I’ll be adding to my regular rotation at this point, but if I’m in the mood for Jazz, I’d definitely give this another play.

Eclectic and experimental

10/5. next

I did not finish it. I am sure it is genius, but it is too contemporary with no discernable melody or beat. One star

Halt scho tuff

Entspannt

Groundbreaking

actually fuck this album, this was so bad

Ich mag Jazz eigentlich, aber das war streckenweise schon sehr anstrengend. Und eindeutig zu lang.

Einfach nur brutal anstrengend und viel zu lang. Kann ich leider wirklich nichts mit anfangen.

Dann zieh ich hier mal den Schnitt hoch. Habs früher schon mal mit der Platte probiert und bin nicht wirklich reingekommen, aber das fand ich jetzt schon ziemlich geil! Kann ich definitiv nicht immer und definitiv auch nicht am Stück hören, aber mir gefällt, dass die Songs hier so schön freidrehen. Man muss diesen Jazz-Fusion-Sound schon mögen, das ist nix zur Hintergrundbeschallung, aber gerade in seinen experimenellen Phasen trumpft das hier richtig auf. Alleine das Intro des Titeltracks... wow!

Ich habs nicht zuende gehört. Es ging nicht, war mir zu anstrengend.

Was ich bei diesen Jazz-Alben regelmäßig ganz schlimm finde und hier ganz besonders, ist, dass ich persönlich damit überhaupt nichts anfangen kann, wohlwissend, dass es dennoch astreines Handwerk ist, das wahrscheinlich den Musiklehrern Pipi in die Augen treibt. Aber für mich einfach nur Tortur, ganz besonders bei einer solchen Länge der Stücke wie hier.

Hui das war lang und anstrengend aber auch irgendwie gar nicht sooo schlecht. Ist halt nicht so direkt mein Ding, aber ich weiß das zu schätzen

94 minut?! Ta podatek izvem, glih po tem, ko 5 minut berem, kako je bil basically do vseh svojih partnerk nasilen? Fuck me, an. Glede na to, da sm v preteklosti že poudarjala, da se grem objektivnost in ločevanje of the art and the artist, me čaka napornih 94 minut. Ugh... Ja. Jazz is not my thing. Neki cajta zveni kul. Neko cajta zveni k ropot. Predolgo je čist. I guess sm zj na polovici, po dveh komadih. Prou zmatrana sm. Mi je pa zj ta druga polovica bolj prebavljiva za sledit/poslušat. Ampak z veseljem nikol več ne poslušam tole. Naslovnica je huda.

An awful, messy composition of jazz that gave me an actual headache. Easily one of the worst album I’ve gotten on here.

The best jazz album Ive listened to yet. Its long but Its really good. I hate seing more experimental album getting bad reviews on this site... Open your mind people.

Wow what a ride, especially when listening through headphones. This is my second Miles Davis experience. The first was “Birth of That Cool,” which was good and felt like something you could hear in the background of a dinner party. But this album was not that kind of music, unless people tend to drop acid at your dinner parties. Psychedelic, strange, intense, blending different music styles like jazz, rock, funk. I will definitely revise this one.

Album jazzowy i co ja mam na to powiedziec?

What the fuck

More jazz. Second jazz record in a row. The good thing is that this one is actually GOOD! Can’t beat Miles Davis… cooler than cool. This album sounds much more improvisational and less structured than other Miles Davis I’ve listened to. But I don’t know much about jazz. I hear more electric music (guitar, keyboards) than I would’ve expected. Also, a lot of rock influence in there. Almost a a jazz/rock fusion especially on disc two. Really like what I hear.

09/03/2026 In no way could I give this more than 2 stars. I found it boring and it dragged. I understand however, the spread that other people have given it. Spotify listeners: 3 million

Long album, completely instrumental. It was good to work to, but nothing really caught my attention.

*1970. *The album has 4 sides, with only 1-2 songs on each side that range from about 10-27 minutes. *As much as I like the trumpet, this is a lot... There just aren't many settings where you can listen to this. In a jazz club? Yes. Otherwise, it gets old fast in the car, it's not great background music, and I just couldn't find a space where it made since to listen. *It's definitely well done and I like it, but I just don't need 94 minutes of it. RATING - 6.5/10

Tried first 2 tracks Very unsettling sound

Gostoso, mas me pegou em um dia errado. Com certeza vale revisitar

Et av favorittene

Boy oh boy can this man play a trumpet. Loved the long songs with different acts blended seamlessly so that the whole album sounds like a continuous jam session. Loved it

It’s good for what it is but i’m not listening ts on daily basis

I didn't get in to it at all. An incredible amount of ideas and great players, but as a musical piece, it bored me

Miles, man, Miles....

Some of the songs made me feel anxious

It would have hit so much different if I was either drunk or high.

i don't know much about jazz; i'm finding it a little hard to write an interesting review, so i'm going to keep it short. this album is a masterpiece -- even a novice like me can notice that. the musical palette on this thing is complex and layered, and generally he is able to transport you in space and time, unlike many others. i had a great time listening to this. that album cover is bad ass, too.

Not quite my tempo relative to birth of a cool

Tough one. Not a fan of jazz without a discernible theme or melody, so this was a struggle. Probaby liked Spanish Key the best

Long and multi-layered, with lots of instruments and star performers joining. My ear just isn't attuned to most jazz, so this came off as disjointed and kind of boring. The repetitive "bum-bum-bum" bassline with assorted tunes laid over it on the final tune, "Feio," left me glad when it ended.

honk....shooo... 3/5

Way too long but good. Just a jam with some of the best jazz musicians of the time.

fine

Maybe a little too dissonant and random for my taste? I enjoy jazz but the trumpet noodling was honestly too much

Not my thing, but know it’s good.

I dont get jazz, it does not have a structure, clearly marked motiff/melody, each instrument sounds like playing independently from the rest. Maybe diving deeper into understanding jazz will change my mind, but for now im not interested in it. 3/10

Not even close to my favorite Miles album but BB earns its place on this list for causing the best corporate memo in the history of business correspondence: https://www.milesdavis.com/milesphotos/teo-macero-letter-about-miles-davis-bitches-brew-please-advise/

The last of the four Miles Davis albums in this collection--both for me and chronologically--and a nice way to hear him out, knowing that he still had another couple of decades of albums and output after this curious discordant experiment. I'm not at all familiar with Davis' large corpus of work, nor really with jazz in general, but I'm impressed with how eclectic and freeform this sounds. It also definitely helped to wear headphones for the experience, and even then I had a hard time discretely hearing all of the simultaneous pianos and drums/percussion on some tracks. The main fault I'd say of this album is how long it is, both temporally and musically. I really enjoyed the beginnings of nearly every track, and also loved at times the utter cacophony of multiple instruments all cascading over each other (plus the occasional whispered directions by Davis at various points), but eventually I lost both focus and interest at some point in each song, usually well before the 10-minute mark. This is probably more of a limitation of my attention span and lack of jazz-oriented appreciation, but it still made this album come in a bit lower than the other Davis compositions. I'm definitely glad for having gotten even more exposure to a towering jazz figure, though.

I know this is supposed to be a great album but it doesn't capture my attention or stick with me--I'm missing some signature moments, which is maybe why it's great and the birth of cool? I don't know. I'm just making shit up.

вооще не мое к сожалению

Such a brilliant and challenging album. Improvised and the electric elements are outstanding. Genius to think he guided them by just given some quick guidance and letting the players explore the sounds and where the mind and soul would take them. Just amazing

Serious vibes.

тотальный балдеж. ниче не понятно. ещё непонятно как этому альбому можно поставить 1

I like jazz, but this didn’t connect with me. Sorry, Miles.

Love Miles Davis! Thought the album was brilliant. Really got me grooving. Long album though so took longer than I wanted to get through it all. Time and place would make this even better.

Outstanding LP.

My head is spinning. This is a challenging listen that's like a feverish nightmare at times. But I mean that in the best way possible, because I absolutely loved it. The electric piano, reverb, and dissonant, fragmented melodies leave you feeling dizzy. This isn't a collection of songs, it's artistic sonic experimentation. The improvisation is obvious, but what isn't as obvious is the post-production editing. It's freeform improv mixed with careful post-production assembly, building up to peaks, and giving breathing room through troughs. The percussion section gets into a proper groove. There's definitely improv happening here, but it's also the driving force that allows the other instruments to fly wildly all over the place. The electric guitar and bass lines bring these pieces out of what you'd traditionally associate with jazz, and more into the world of avant-garde. At times it feels like Can, at other times it has a "Kid A" vibe to it. This isn't music you put on in the background as you're doing household chores. This is music you put headphones on for, and let it engulf you until your head is spinning.

only got one full song in; i liked the last miles davis album i listened to but this just did not do it for me at all

Wow, nothing could have prepared me for this, sounded like they were warming up the whole way through 😮

Stuck in traffic on the way home and didn't even finish the first track. Nope.

Sorry but everyone crying this is “too experimental” might be a baby and an uninteresting person

Already loved this

I mean, what can I say? If you like jazz then you’ll probably love it. If you don’t it’ll just breeze by.

Not my cup of tea

Really Really not for me - don't see the appeal. Although I spoke with Alex at the podcast and he mentioned that it's not his best work but the appeal of Miles was that he was there for it all, through every generation - so maybe some context would make me enjoy it more..

I maybe don't like jazz.

My top five Miles albums are all from the bebop/ cool jazz phase, but this noodley (but compelling) offering might be number eight or nine.

it was actually so obnoxious i could barely listen to it

Mais um grande álbum de Miles Davis. Mas demasiado longo, para mim. É um forte 3/5.

langweilig und nervig, 20 minuten songs und sie sind nur instrumental jazzy aber meh

Initial thoughts are quite good. Not my usual listening but I think repeat listens would be good.

Idk how much I like jazz Edit: I get it now

Growing up, I didn't particularly like jazz. My grampy was really into it, but my only real exposure to the genre before adulthood was playing trumpet in my middle school jazz band, which my parents made me join. I dreaded going to the practices because none of my close friends were in the ensemble and the director was kind of a jerk (he ended up getting arrested for operating under the influence and assaulting a police officer – true story). Ironically, Haywyre and Kendrick Lamar (two artists who could have only barely been considered jazz at the time) were more accurately my gateway into the genre. Not to say that their work had me itching to dive into jazz proper, but Two Fold Pt. 1 and To Pimp a Butterfly were both really important albums in my journey to figuring out my music taste after listening to basically nothing but Christian rock for half my life. That said, I was more more susceptible to the genre's allure by the time I had to take a History of Jazz course during my sophomore year of college and there was one artist my professor couldn't stop praising: Miles Davis. He painted Davis as not only a generationally-talented trumpeter, but an innovator at the forefront of almost every major jazz movement. When it was time to learn about jazz fusion, I was intrigued by an album he referred to as "Mm-itches Brew" (if it wasn't already obvious, I went to a Pentecostal school), which was apparently a landmark release for the genre. I got even more interested in it once I heard the title track – I had never heard a jazz record so uniquely psychedelic before and it instantly clicked with me. Once the semester ended and I had some disposable income from working full-time, a B**ches Brew CD was one of the first purchases I made (along with Kind of Blue and Heavy Weather). I listened to the full album for the first time in my friend Hunter's car while we ventured out to pick up a new commute bicycle for me. He listened to music in a really intrigued and nonjudgmental way, so he really was the perfect person to consume this sort of album with. Although I'm not into jazz to quite the same degree as I was back then, my opinions on B**ches Brew haven't changed all that much in the years since – it's still one of the most unique, entrancing and avant-garde fusion albums I've ever heard. It's an absolute must-listen for anyone looking to take the plunge into the world of jazz, especially for folks who want an album that feels cutting-edge and experimental (even today). Admittedly, its excessive song lengths prevent it from being the kind of thing I can pick up and play any time. The title track alone is longer than a lot of albums are and I rarely ever have the time/attention an album like this requires to be fully appreciated. It doesn't help that the two shortest songs are also the weakest of the bunch (in my opinion), so putting one of those on to quickly scratch my Miles Davis itch is basically out of the question. All things considered, I'd give B**ches Brew four stars based on my own rating criteria. I'd love it if the album were just a smidge more approachable and if the two shortest cuts were slightly more memorable, but it's a near-perfect jazz experience that I'm happy to sit down with every few years. Please give this one a fair shot – you're not going to find another Book Album like it! Highlights: Pharaoh's Dance, B**ches Brew, Spanish Key, Miles Runs the Voodoo Down

This is a beast of an album. It takes you places. That's all I gotta say.

Listening session: february 27th, while getting ready in the morning Listened to before: no Thoughts: so this is quite an album for someone who’s not really into jazz. I’m trying to get more into it though and while I can appreciate the musicality, this was a bit intense and long to listen to Favourite tracks: Spanish Key & Miles Runs the Voodoo Down

Er gebeurd ontzettend veel op dit album. Een aaneenschakeling van vage solo's, één drummer links, de andere drummer rechts, etc. Voor mij bestaan er grofweg 2 categorieën jazz, mooie jazz en jazz die meer de grenzen opzoekt van wat mogelijk is om samen goed te laten klinken. Dit valt toch meer in de laatste categorie. Neemt niet weg dat ik me vermaakt heb, maar waarschijnlijk blijft het bij deze keer.

the album people that say that they hate jazz love. what else to say?

nu migdebt 7 simgerian albomebs 2 saati rom grdzelfeba nuuuuuuu!!!!! rasqvia erti dimgera 20 wutiania

i already listened to this album

Just amazing Jazz.

Alles één samengesmolten klont, dus favo track kan ik niet zeggen. Wel heerlijk plaatje voor een dag thuis.

Echt geen jazz fan

now *here* we go. this was the album that really blew my lid open in 7th grade. it must have been when I was reading through the myriad of different music that influenced Radiohead when they made Kid A. I guess I expected something along the lines of "The National Anthem", but there's no deep drum pockets or big brass band freakouts to be had with Bitches Brew. this was certainly an interesting place for me to have begun the process of getting acquainted with the music of trumpeter, composer and conceptualist Miles Davis, one of the most important musicians of the past century. when Davis (alongside producer Teo Macero, whose contributions during this period of Davis's career cannot go overlooked) recorded this album, he was in the process of both (1) alienating nearly all of his fans with a radical shift in his musical thinking and (2) changing music forever. his embrace of straight (as in, not swung) eighth notes and electric instruments on In a Silent Way was derided by purists; it's hard not to see this, the double-LP set that was his next album, as him doubling the hell down. Davis's touring band at this time was a quintet (Chick Corea on keys, Wayne Shorter on saxophone, Dave Holland on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums); Bitches Brew retains this lineup, but builds ensembles around it that are often more than twice as large! In a Silent Way was notable for its use of multiple keyboardists playing simultaneously; Bitches Brew retains this aesthetic, with Corea, Joe Zawinul (who started Weather Report the year this came out) and Larry Young (most famous for his work as an organist) all playing electric pianos that weave in and out of each other with aplomb on "Pharoah's Dance" and "Spanish Key". the other tracks only feature them in combinations of two at a time, but Davis makes up for that by adding even more chaos in the form of Shorter (soprano sax) and Bennie Maupin (bass clarinet) completing the horn section; Holland and Harvey Brooks on double bass and bass guitar, respectively; and a massive percussion section with DeJohnette and Lenny White on drum kits, alongside Don Alias and Jumma Santos on congas and the like. at any given time, there's at least 10 (usually more than a dozen) bodies in the room making this music, and you can really feel the communal vibe. notably, there's only one six-string guitarist here: John McLaughlin. if you know his playing (especially with the Mahavishnu Orchestra), you know that he can make more than enough noise for two or three, although he spends quite a lot of time here playing more of a support role. Davis, known mostly for his even-tempered, delicate trumpet phrasing, spends much of this album going for the jugular in a way that would define the electric era he was firmly entering. also, the aforementioned Macero might be considered another player here, but in a more abstract sense. his presence is felt mainly through editing; there's multiple moments where you can hear him loop portions of tape, apply effects like echo and reverb, and splice parts of totally different sessions together for unexpected results. for pop and rock records, these sorts of "studio as an instrument" techniques are par for the course, but for a jazz album, you bet your ass it caused a huge stir! these edits are most prominent on the first LP, especially "Pharoah's Dance", which basically starts over once it reaches about the 1:45 mark. you can also hear multiple, shorter loops of materials at around 8:35. the "time, no [chord] changes" aesthetic of Davis's Second Great Quintet is very much at play here; although many of these tracks are based around a single chord vamp, Davis and co. are coloring far outside the lines. if it's too much to deal with, just try and listen to how everyone is coming together on the rhythmic front; the pockets the various bands here fall into are jaw-dropping, and their excursions into playing more "free", when a steady pulse falls away, are mesmerizing. it's interesting to think that jazz critics saw this music as Davis selling out; drop the needle anywhere in the middle of any of these tracks for just 30 seconds, and tell me with a straight face that he was trying to land on the pop charts with this. (he did reach #35 on the Billboard 200!) rock and pop artists were allowed to push the boundaries of recorded sound all they liked, but it's verboten for a jazz musician to do it, for some reason. jazz fusion, as it came to be known, started out as some of the most contentious new music around, but by the end of this decade it would represent a sizeable portion of the genre's mainstream, as artists found ways to make the combination of jazz with rock, funk and R&B more palatable to a mainstream audience. if I had to guess, Davis's work here was appealing mainly to the psych and prog sets; but I think it's multifaceted enough as a sonic and artistic expression that, here in 2026, it'll likely appeal to anyone that's looking for something out of left-field (if they somehow haven't heard it yet!). 10/10.

Not actually going to give this five stars on account of being great ambient jazz; it did what it needed to but felt a little too repetitive, monotonous, and dull for the length

Another example of how this does not seem to be randomly generated as I had “In A Silent Way”yesterday. I’m kinda stoked to get these two back to back but also bummed tbat I won’t hear anything else like this ever again for the rest of the journey which will be for at least a couple more years. It would have been great to get these two spread out so that I could get another amazing ‘70s Miles Davis album later, probably after another string of crappy albums. What a big ask it would have been for the average listener to make them sit through those two albums back to back! Fortunately for me I completely understand the genius of this period of Miles so these last two days were a highlight of this project. Oh how I wish we could get some albums removed from the list so that we can add all the Miles Davis albums from 1970-1975. But alas I’ll enjoy them later on my own time, maybe after I have to listen to another shitty album from the 2000s to clean my palette!

I don't like jazz. I appreciate that they're amazing instrument players but I can't get on with it at all

Simplesmente espetacualar

I had to force myself to listen to this one all the way through. I like and have owned Kind of Blue but this one is just too experimental for me. Maybe he's a genius and maybe it's way over my head but that was a rough listen.

Time to officially come to terms with the fact that I’ll never like this kind of jazz. I tried! The long meandering stuff is not for me. I liked ‘birth of cool’ but I couldn’t get into this.

Classic

I'm definitely a Kind of Blue kind of person. This one is a mood and in the last few busy days I didn't have the space to fully appreciate this album. It's rough around the edges, it's noisy, it's uncomfortable (as all art should be). Will give this one a relisten in a few years, but right now this is two stars for me.

not my genre

A little bit all over the place, but in a good way

I know there are people who will love this album, but sadly I'm not one of them. I enjoy jazz but this was too much, long tracks with free-form arrangements that had me begging for it to end. I suspect this is exactly the reason why a lot of people don't like jazz, and that's a shame but musically each performance was very good, but as a whole it had me banging my head against a brick wall!

Background ahh music

I was both overstimulated and bored

Pharoah's Dance 3/5 Bitches Brew 3/5 Spanish Key 3/5 John McLaughlin 3/5 Miles Runs the Voodoo Down 3/5 Sanctuary 3/5 Feio 3/5 Overall Album 3

I love Kind of Blue, but Bitches Brew has always been a bit manic for my taste.

Dense and soupy. I think I would have to live with this album for a long time for it to fully click.

Background music while pottering around the kitchen. It’s obviously very good but it is not something I am likely to listen to often. 1.5 for me.

Love this, right towards the top of the three stars. Tom.

I like jazz and Miles Davis is brilliant, but I found this a bit of a difficult listen. Spanish key was probably the track I liked the most.

Very moody and strange jazz. Not pleasant to listen to.

I want to like this, but it’s too long and too weird. I was right the first time around.

This was nothing like I expected but in a really good way

This is the second time I’ve listened to this album and whilst it is undoubtedly a great piece of work I just don’t love Jazz.

Excellent artistry at work. The musicians stretch their creative muscles without ever losing the song’s backbone. Plenty of weirdness that reminded me of Zappa. I will be able to list to this many times without hearing the same thing twice.

Certain tracks in here really worked for me, but overall I don’t think I have a sophisticated enough jazz palate to love this album.

a lot longer and not as interesting as other albums.

An old friend and a perfect jazz album I feel nervous saying that because sometime after high school I decided that exploring jazz was kind of a poseur thing to do and gave up. I think it's part of an unfortunate acculturation process that happened to a lot of us white kids in college in the 2000s, the tastemakers of the time steering us toward whiter and whiter things as signs of cultural sophistication. I wish I had listened to my friends in high school who loved reggae and hip hop just because of how it sounded, not because of what it signified. But my time with Miles came before all that. This was a category of music I loved that made some of the people around me think I was a stoner when I was way too socially timid to do drugs. But I was confident in the setting of school, so when we pasted up the school paper late at night I usually put on jazz. I had no idea what jazz fusion was so this and albums like Herbie Hancock's Headhunters were just a part of the exploration. And that's what I especially associate this album with: going on a mental journey that you can't quite control. I could probably hum along with most of Kind of Blue even now, but I get completely lost in the world of Miles and John McLaughlin and Chick Corea. These days I need to get lost more than ever, so I'm happy to have this in my life again.

What a tour de force of sound

I thought this was an interesting album, but Rachel made me turn it off part way through cause it was stressing her out.

I understand the importance, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. LP1 isn't for me at all - 45+ minutes of chaos isn't music to me. LP2 is quite good until it gets to the last track which feels closer to a fit for LP1. It kinda makes me sad when stuff 'this important' isn't something I ever really want to revisit. I'm supposed to like it, to value it, to oooo and ahhh at it...but I don't.

great music for studying, i spent the whole day yesterday with this on repeat

This is some wild shit

Absolute dogwater. For no reason songs are 17 minutes. And it’s not even good. It sounds like every other jazz album ever.

this is just background music... 20 min songs?

Pretty solid. Not my favorite.

A couple days ago my family was at one of those aquariums with moving sidewalks where you can watch sharks swim over top of you. We couldn't tell if the sound we were hearing was jazz music from the aquarium sound system or something rubbing in the sidewalk mechanism. That said, this album might be my gateway drug to jazz. While listening I felt mostly just puzzled.

A bunch of goats jamming for almost two hours Not songs I’d go back to often cause of the length but I’m glad I listened to this One of the first jazz fusion albums — cool funk grooves

Very 70s cop show music vibe. First time I heard Davis.

if the 70s film soundtrack doesn’t sound like this i don’t want it

Shit

Relaxing

Miles goes electric!

Tough listen, very self-indulgent

I love Miles Davis now Edit Mar 27 2026: 5 --> 4. I haven't played this album *as* much. Maybe if I play it more in the future I will bump it up more

I'm sure Miles Davis is a master at what he does but I don't think I'm the right type of person to appreciate this

Man, how high were people in 1970? Just a lot of extremely talented musicians getting all random and "experimental" with the instruments, resulting in the types who look at a banana duct taped to the wall and declare the plight of struggling Tibetan dental assistants being represented by the contrast of the bruises and the colour yellow... It's extremely pretentious, yet is still decent enough to enjoy on some weird levels. I hated this type of jazz as a kid. The album name and art is really good.

No puedo ser imparcial

Dejligt at lytte til i dyrehaven :) men tog også headset ud for at lytte til fuglesang i stedet, nothing beats that

An all star, beautiful chaos, have to be in the right mood, but when you are... 5 - a near-perfect album

I understand that t his album was important, but its hard for me to listen to

I can say with confidence, I’ve never enjoyed listening to an album less than this.

Didn't even need to listen to know this is a 5-star album that I've loved for years. Blasted it regardless.

If I was hosting a cool cocktail party in my slick NYC studio apartment that was retro-modern, I would put this album on in the background to signal to my guests that I'm cultured and sophisticated. I don't hate this at all, it sounds nice (at least the parts I listened to because it's very long) but it's just not really my thing. I think it could be really great under very specific circumstances, but I'm not listening to this in everyday life.

No consequences music. giving me some whacky vibes to write this email to a contractor.

Bro is a great musician, but this one was too experimental with barely anything I enjoyed

Awesomely uniform

ermmmm

I love jazz!!!!! Ik hou nog meer van moeilijke jazz!!!! Laat het vreemd klinken heerlijk. Wel had ik migraine vandaag, dus echt deep listening werd het niet hihi.

Ya like Jazz?

normale albumlengte geluisterd. best leuke jazz maar is niet echt mijn ding (en wel gw veel te lang)

intens lang album, maar miles davis kan lekker jazzen. eigenlijk vier sterren maar het deed me niet zoveel als andere jazz

Not nearly as enjoyable or relaxing is his other albums, but still interesting and very experimental. I don't think I particularly liked every fusion element, but it worked sometimes. Won't be revisiting this album anytime soon though. 4/10

I mean... one of the greatest jazz albums of all time. Although tbh, not my current taste in jazz!

couldnt get through it, im so sorry miles davis

Yeah dude high as fuck jazz I love it

This was chaotic and wild and I probably won’t listen to it again but it deserves some love

Free jazz by the best

One of my favourite albums of all time. Bitches Brew had a part in changing my outlook on music. It’s a whole different world. Every time I listen to it I get something different from it. There’s no need to go into detail because it’s hard to put into words to make it relatable. But it’s always such a pleasure and has been a constant for me for most of my life. In my opinion, there should be at least another two or three Miles albums on this list. He changed music several times, but it is his 70s records that resonate and continue to astound me the most. FYI, Feio was an extra track added for the cd reissue so wasn’t part of the original album. Still a good track, but fits better elsewhere rather than as part of Bitches Brew itself in my opinion. Still an absolute joy, and the biggest 5.

This music teaches you how to listen to it as it’s happening. Ear following one instrument for awhile then on to the next through a musical maze anchored by an undeniable groove (except for the song Bitches Brew itself, which is totally insane). This is one that’s grown hugely through the repeated listens over the years, so that will impact my rating. Not an every day album, but one of my favourite listens to pop up on here yet.

This is probably the yazz album I am most familiar with. Playing it this time, I was curious as to how the 2 and 4 year olds would react. Would they dig it? There wasn’t much feedback from them in the end, but I believe they played with their blocks faster, with more intensity and focus.

i dont think i like jazz which is a shame since this album fucks :(

Songs were too long, clearly amazing musicians. 3.

Personal enjoyment: 3/5 Relevance to this list: 5/5

whatever Miles was on (hard drugs), I want it.

really long but i can see how influential this is. not sure how often i’d gravitate to it tho to play regularly

Adding to the list of albums to return to later

One of the pinnacles of Miles Davis's career (and therefore, of 20th century music) this was both the birth and the peak of fusion music. The idea that it was "experimental" or that it came out of nowhere is wrong. The process of Miles giving the players a few chords or scales, saying what he wanted and then letting them improvise goes back 10 years to "Kind of Blue". He'd been increasingly electrifying his band over his previous two or three albums and the editing together of several takes first appears on the studio album before this, "In a Silent Way". The word "experimental" suggests that he was just putting things together to see what he got. The band recorded hours of material over three days and then this was edited down to form the final 90 minutes of music. Tapes were looped, effects were applied, takes were cut and spliced. "Pharaohs Dance" has 19 edits in its 20 minute run time, which cause quite the backlash amongst the jazz crowd. Only one track ("Miles Runs the Voodoo Down") appears on the album as it was played in the studio. Far from being improvised accidents, these things were meant to sound - were built to sound - exactly that way. When the album appeared it received mixed reviews. It topped some Record of the Year polls and was sneered at by jazz purists. "Too jazz for rock, too rock for jazz." Really, it's best to think of it as neither, but rather as a thing all to itself: expansive and twisting on the first two, long form, tracks and becoming tighter and more rhythmically focussed in the second half. Expansive, explosive, one of the albums that changed music. Give it ALL the 5s.

I had this playing on my laptop on the end of the sofa. My cat wanted to jump on me to have a sleep, but when it heard this album playing it jumped back down and flicked the dirtiest glance you've ever seen, over and over, between the laptop and me.

I really like Miles Davis but I am not exactly sure the point of this record. The length does not really lend itself well to the non-melodic nature of the sounds contributed. The instrumentalists are giving 110 tho, and the production is so ahead of its time. I would feel remiss without giving those aspects some credit.

bitchez gonna bru..... bitchez gonna bru.

I have a lot of affection for this album because the first time I listened to it was the first time I really enjoyed weirdo jazz. I like to listen to other Miles Davis records more than this one, but I think this one opened a lot of avenues in my music taste.

not for me. never again.

This is a very experimental sound for Miles Davis, and marks a shift towards fusion and other types of jazz adjacent music that he came to be known for at this point in his career. It’s a long album, but I enjoyed it and definitely want to give it additional listens.

I’m not in the mood for a 2h jazz album. I liked some of Miles songs that I’ve heard before, but I’m not in the mood right now. Maybe later.

Not a big jazz head but found this very motivating while working

if peeing your pants is cool, then consider me miles davis. I'm enjoying this, but I am not in the right headspace for it. I also don't think I'm musically inclined enough to be blown away by any technical craftsmanship.

look, i love jazz and this is technically impeccable. but it is also an insufferable elitists' prog horror trip on acid

I do not really know how to judge this. To me this is a collection of very long fusion-y tunes that are the right sort of nice dischordant to feel thoroughly cool enjoying this. The introduction of electric elements is really cool and a step for the genre, but I don't know how to judge this, needs more listens

- I listened to this while cooking a semi-swanky dinner, hoping it would put me in a cocktail-dress/underground-speakeasy-type of mood, but I just found myself tuning out while waiting on the onions to sautée - I did have to restart the first track when it sounded like it started over at around 1:30, and I guess that was a newer technique in jazz at the time -- using the studio as an instrument to give a certain effect - catching a couple of Davis' spoken cues to the other musicians in the background on a track or two was enjoyable ("keep it tight"), and really drove home that this was a performance being created in real time, with no one knowing beforehand what the outcome was going to be - it's unfair to judge this album on what it is not: organized sound. but if you asked me to take an instrument I know well and create chords, melodies, and harmonies out of thin air at a fast pace for 20 minutes without either overshadowing the other musicians at different points or tripping over my own fingers, that would be a monumentally difficult task very few would be able to execute. I fully appreciate the musicianship of all the musicians on this album, even thought I don't find what they created entirely pleasing to the ears (and in postmodern society, perhaps that's the point) - jazz as purely a live performance among clearly talented musicians is probably spectacular and incredibly memorable, but listening to it in my kitchen over headphones is not the right environment in which appreciate this fully (I'd even argue that jazz recordings are like diet soda; you only get an unsatisfying taste of the real thing, so why even drink it at all?). for that reason, I have to go with a 2 -- I appreciate what's going on, but I need a little help in "getting" this recording (maybe listening to a universally panned jazz album by a different musician next would give some much-needed context as to why this is on this list?)

Background music

Listened to this on my morning commute and felt like I was a gonna crash. 5/5 No notes.

Ok minus. kjedelig, orket ikke å høre ferdig

Mais c'est long sa mère 😳

Feio was especially unpleasant. This album was such a slog to get through. I definitely expected something much better from the creator of cool jazz.

I don't know. I am nuetral. It's hard to see a song that is 20min long and essentially just ping pongs around. It doesn't sound bad but I am just into it. I bet if I were at a swanky bar with an ice cold cocktail, I'd be really into this - live. It's not bad working background but I still somehow got bored. Not a knock on Mr Mile Davis but perhaps I am not cool enough to appreciate it all.

It's jazz, so I'm automatically not a huge fan. But it is Miles, so it's some great jazz. I think with jazz especially it is easy to get lost in the notes. They are melodic but flying at you a million times a second. It's a well done composition but it's hard for me to really say I enjoy it. It is, for me, very good background noise.

Joya!

He’s the goat, no doubt about that! Miles kills it every time and Bitches Brew is no exception.

Not my favourite

psychedelic jazz might be where i draw the line

1/5

Interesting compositions, felt a little disjointed, however I can see how it could be appealing to some. The main detraction is the length of each piece with what felt like a lack of motif (with my untrained ears)

Absolute classic and staple for a reason

very nice

Difficult

I skipped this album when I first saw because I think I was worried it’d be too challenging to listen to on a Wednesday. But on Saturday I was making a cake and listening to radio 6. There was a comedian on there, who I couldn’t remember the name of, who said jazz was like comedy. It’s about pushing something to the extreme for the purpose of fun. That alone made me turn that off and listen to this. It was challenging, but in a way that was exciting; I didn’t know what was going to come next. I am not well versed in jazz by any means, and I kind of thought that was exciting. I listened to this and was excited by what was coming next. I know miles Davis is a kind of master of jazz, but I am unsure it would have made a difference who it was. I was excited by this as an album, and the length of it didn’t make a difference because of the mind set I was in. Would listen again and I look forward to listening to more jazz. Thank you radio 6 comedic guest, you pushed me to listen to this in a positive way.

Took me a minute but I really liked this. One to have on and drift in an out of for me, a bit like a set that’s just happening in your ears. There were moments where I found myself singing along spontaneously which I was really surprised at. The only Davis I know is ‘In A Silent Way’ and this is almost its sonic opposite which I found impressive. Halfway through ‘Sanctuary’ the whole thing felt like such an achievement and I was won over. Sort of loved the expansiveness by the end. Worth the time invested.

I know this is supposed to be a seminal jazz album. I know Miles Davis is one of the High Priests of Jazz. But I’m not a big fan of this album. Love the title but that’s about it.

really interesting, lots of cool idea in there but for my tastes it really needed a producer to disect it, trim the fat and leave the good bits, it's just too long and unwieldy for me. I do kind of like how it meanders along doing it's own weird thing and then every now and then a more structured section with a stronger melody and groove appears, also kudos to the bass and drums for holding everything down and remaining consistent while everyone is doing their own thing. I did enjoy it, and it definitely creates a mood, but I think if it was like 15% less weird and had a bit more structure I'd be way more into it, very glad I listened to it though and I could see how you would get a lot out of repeated listens and studying it.

So long

(Internal monologue): I want to be cool… I want to be cool… Just, be… Cool… Just say it - say it out loud - “Bitches Brew is good”. The critics love it, therefore you love it… “B-Brew is the shizzz, ya dig?” Shit, what the hell was that? Gah, shit, don’t distract from the point - you L.O.V.E. Myles, and you LOOOOVE… This. C’mon, c’mon… Just say it… Say… It… (Screams in record store, holding Lady Gaga’s The Fame Monster): DAMN IT I DONT THINK ITS THAT GOOD - BITCH ISNT THAT GOOD, DAMN IT!!! (I am promptly escorted out of HMV by mall security)

good enough ig

I've never really listened to an album like this before. I sat back, and let it take the lead.

Damn... How time changes things! When I was 16 my friends recommended me that album and I thought that it's the worst thing ever. It sounded so pretentious, so overplayed, so purposeless. I listened to a lot of prog rock and to a bit of jazz, so I dug technical and long music with a lot of improvisations, but I just felt there is no reason for it to exist. Now, 17 later... I can't believe I could ever hate that thing. The whole album kept me focused and amused. I especially hated title track and now I really love it. That set up is magical. And that groove... it's 27 minutes long, but when it ends, you don't want it to end. Spanish Key is intense and everything else here is great too. Probably the most dramatic change in attitude towards the album in my whole music listening history?