Miles Davis's Bitches Brew is one of the most iconic albums in American music, the preeminent landmark and fertile seedbed of jazz-fusion. Fans have been fortunate in the past few years to gain access to Davis's live recordings from this time, when he was working with an ensemble that has come to be known as the Lost Quintet. In this book, jazz historian and musician Bob Gluck explores the performances of this revolutionary group – Davis's first electric band – to illuminate the thinking of one of our rarest geniuses and, by extension, the extraordinary transition in American music that he and his fellow players ushered in. Gluck listens deeply to the uneasy tension between this group's driving rhythmic groove and the sonic and structural openness, surprise, and experimentation they were always pushing toward. There he hears – and outlines – a fascinating web of musical interconnection that brings Davis's funk-inflected sensibilities into conversation with the avant-garde worlds that players like Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane were developing. Going on to analyze the little-known experimental groups Circle and the Revolutionary Ensemble, Gluck traces deep resonances across a commercial gap between the celebrity Miles Davis and his less famous but profoundly innovative peers. The result is a deeply attuned look at a pivotal moment when once-disparate worlds of American music came together in explosively creative combinations.
About the Author
Bob Gluck is a pianist, composer, and jazz historian, as well as associate professor of music and director of the Electronic Music Studio at the State University of New York, Albany. He is the author of "You'll Know When You Get There: Herbie Hancock and the Mwandishi Band", also published by the University of Chicago Press.
Reviews
"Replete with anecdotes, published quotes, reviews, plus documentation, this is a very readable, honest, informed – even scholarly – effort by Gluck in chronicling the influences, motives, and participants circa 1960 through early '75 of Miles Davis and... 'Other Revolutionary Bands'. This will be an important contribution to music literature and study" – Stanley Cowell, pianist and composer
"Gluck's 'The Miles Davis Lost Quintet and Other Revolutionary Ensembles' goes the distance to dispel the simplistic notion that the '70s was the decade of fusion and funk. Focusing on three ensembles whose innovations and influence exceeded their popularity is a brilliant move. While I could quibble with a few conclusions, Gluck expertly analyzes the music without ignoring the all-important political, cultural, social, and economic contexts in which the music was created – making this book invaluable" – Michael Cuscuna, co-founder of Mosaic Records
"This book presents a radical challenge to accepted portrayals of the networks that animated experimental music-making in the crucial decade of the 1970s. Moving beyond stereotypes of genre, Gluck lays out a compelling, cosmopolitan, yet intimate vision of the relationships among a set of highly innovative musicians who shaped the future of music itself" – George E. Lewis, author of "A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music"
