Always musically restless – and always with an eye on the box office – he was acutely aware that rock had changed the commercial landscape and, typically, alive to the aesthetic potential for jazz. While his landmark quintets had helped to nurture the careers of giants like John Coltrane, Davis remained unsatisfied, commercially and artistically. After early years under the auspices of be-bop revolutionaries including Charlie Parker, his own stylistic development pulled the music in his wake, with the “cool jazz” of the 1950s, and then the innovation of “ modal jazz” exemplified by the hugely successful Kind of Blue. Davis, by the end of the 1960s, had already been at the forefront of key developments in jazz. Not many artists in any medium get to recalibrate their field. It also reflects the balance between chaos and precision, past and present, in the album itself – released 50 years ago this week – that helped to redefine jazz and had an enormous impact on popular music at large. The trumpeter had a prickly reputation and although they would develop a successful working relationship, he had got off to a shaky start with new label president Clive Davis in a clash over his royalty agreement. The uneasy terseness of that brief statement encapsulates the tension in Davis’s career that lay behind the recording. Miles just called and said that he wants this album to be titled: Bitches Brew. While recording with Miles Davis, Columbia Records jazz producer Teo Macero sent a memo to the label’s executives that read simply:
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