Bitches Brew – Miles Davis

Bitches Brew was recorded over three days in August 1969 at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York and released by Columbia Records in March 1970. Producer Teo Macero used extensive tape splicing and looping techniques to assemble the final tracks from hours of improvised material.

The album features a large ensemble including Wayne Shorter on soprano saxophone, John McLaughlin on guitar, Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock on electric piano, Dave Holland and Harvey Brooks on bass, Jack DeJohnette and Lenny White on drums, and Don Alias on percussion. Many of these musicians went on to found major fusion groups in the 1970s.

Bitches Brew is widely classified as jazz fusion, blending jazz improvisation with electric instruments, rock rhythms, and funk grooves. It is considered one of the foundational records of the fusion movement, alongside albums by the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Weather Report, and Return to Forever.

The album inspired a wave of electric jazz that dominated the 1970s, with alumni John McLaughlin forming the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Chick Corea founding Return to Forever, and Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul creating Weather Report. It also influenced rock artists like Carlos Santana, whose 1970 album Caravanserai reflected the record's open-ended improvisational approach.