In August of 1969, Miles Davis and a throng of dynamic jazz musicians recorded an album that changed not just jazz music, but popular music too. In the wake of discovering the joys of Jimi Hendrix and Sly And The Family Stone (thanks to his wife and fellow music legend Betty Davis), Miles Davis fully embraced electronic instrumentation and created an era-defining album in the shape of Bitches Brew (1970).
Jazzwise magazine recently ranked the album at #9 in their list of “jazz albums that shook the world,” but not all critics at the time of its release found much to love about it. Davis didn’t care much for critics at the best of times, but it had sold 400,000 copies by the end of 1970 and won the GRAMMY Award for Best Jazz Album the same year. Its impact was felt both in jazz and pop and rock music, giving rise to the notion of “fusion music.”
Given its enormous power and renown, it is hardly surprising to hear of a new album inspired by its boundary-pushing influence. London Brew gathers together the cream of London’s thriving jazz world to create a reflection of Davis’ masterpiece as seen through a post-pandemic eye. Much of the album was recorded after the sustained period of isolation the whole world endured and as such represents a burst of intense creativity and freedom through improvisation.
The first sample of its wares is the Nubya Garcia featuring “Miles Chases New Voodoo In The Church” which interprets Davis’ ode to Hendrix, “Miles Runs The Voodoo Down.” But the talent featured on the album is not limited to the ever-magnificent Garcia. Shabaka Hutchings, Dave Okumu, Theon Cross, Benji B and Tom Skinner form the basis of the collective—also known as London Brew—paying experimental homage to Davis’ masterpiece.
The album will be released via Concord Jazz on March 31st and the single can be heard below.
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