Donald Fagen on Miles' Bitches Brew

Yup.
He's welcome to dislike it all he wants. Lots of people hate it. But it is kind of astounding, that he thinks he's hearing musicians trying to make a funk record.

 

If you don't like BB because it's too out there then fine that is a legit reason...but to dislike it because you think it was trying to be funk and failed is a perfect example of someone just not understanding what Miles was trying to do.

 

Then for the record....you have no idea what Miles was trying to do with BB. Here's a hint: it wasn't funk.

 

I'm still wondering where he got Funk from. Is he confusing the album with "On the Corner"?

 

Fagen is definitely confused, that's for sure.

jeff

 

Fagen's free to voice whatever opinion he wants, but I have no idea what "not steady enough for funk" means.

 

At least you don't fall asleep with Bitches Brew. Miles wasn't interested on being sophisticated for white people trying hard to listen to jazz; he wanted to be revolutionary.

 

Based on what I've read Donald Fagen is too cranky, sardonic, biting, cynical, caustic and gloomy for even my tastes, but he can be funny and I sure do like most of his musical output.

I'm a noob on Bitches Brew. I've owned it for almost a year now and I've yet to listen to more than one track (which I recall being impressed with). One of the hazards of having a music library as opposed to a collection.

 

Fagen's quotes in interviews are about as reliable as Dylan's. You never know when he's just putting the interviewer on. Remember Bob's "Who's the greatest American poet today?" answer? "Smokey Robinson".

 

A very polarizing album.
To paraphrase Louis Armstrong, "Man, if you have to ask what it is, you’ll never get it."

I get it, I dig it. Heck, I love it.
I understand how some don't. Listening to it actually makes my wife angry.
"That's not music!"
I have the same reaction when she puts on Boston ...

 

Miles is laughing his head off....

 

A funk album?!?!

Sure, I've listened to Miles Davis way more than Steely Dan but this seems like a weird idea even if you don't like the album.

 

Somehow I'm not surprised that Mr Anal would criticize the album for not being "steady".

 

I grew up listening to Steely Dan and loving them, and still do listen to Aja once in awhile. The other albums kind of sound stuck in their time.

Bitches Brew was an album I started taking out of the Library when I was 15, and was totally puzzled. I could not believe people considered it music. Still, I borrowed it about every two years. When I was 25, it snapped in. I loved it. It actually helped lead me into In a Silent Way. After Bitches Brew, through 1975, Miles music got very dense. I like all Miles music, but the later stuff in smaller doses. I still listen to In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew relatively frequently considering how many records I have.

 

Man, the Nighfly has trolled nearly every poster in this thread. Hard. Dude's probably sipping on a Tab somewhere and laughing his ass of.

 

Might as well say "I hate Steely Dan because they were trying to play funk but got the wrong guys. They were TOO steady"

 

I've never seen Bitches Brew as a jazz funk album. It's more jazz rock. From interviews I've seen of Fagen, he often uses sarcasm. Think about how there is so much talk about Steely Dan not being real rock or real jazz. Fagen must laugh at what people think Steely Dan should be or were trying to be. Maybe Fagen found out that Miles Davis said something like that about them. There would have to be a source that the book used.

 

Of course it's the total opposite of the somewhat sterile sounds mr. Fagen produces on his albums. I lóve most of the SD/DF-albums, but I need some late Tom Waits-album or other raw sounds after that.

 

The studio album Bitches Brew is one thing: yes, a little bit sloppy/jammy, but quite cool.

On the other hand, the live band from that time ('69/'70), featuring Chick Corea, Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland, Airto, a few killer sax players, was, well, as Miles put: "they played like mother******s". See Bootleg Vol 2 & 3, Black Beauty, and Filmore East, March '70 for the evidence.

 

I was wondering how long it would take for someone to invoke racial matters...

 

I appreciate Donald's honesty - but I don't agree with him at all - I enjoy his music though and listening to it maybe I can understand his opinion a bit

 

Huh? What the hay! Bitches Brew was a natural progression from In a Silent Way . Great period for Miles-atmospheric interesting stuff.

 

This is almost exactly what I was thinking. I would hardly expect someone who is such a perfectionist in the studio, taking hours and hours over a single chord change to appreciate the "just follow my lead and play, Teo will edit it later" approach Miles took.

 

Happen to like both Electric Miles [all Miles, really] and Steely Dan. Don't really care for Bitches Brew all that much but really like Pangea, On The Corner, Jack Johnson, Agartha. In any case, Fagen has long been the King of Snark. I suspect his feeling about Electric Miles are a lot more complicated than this single soundbite.

 

Bought Brew, sold Brew.