Listen to This

Miles Davis and Bitches Brew

Victor Svorinich

Narrated by John Gagnepain

Available from Audible

Book published by University Press of Mississippi

The first close critical treatment of the album that shook jazz with its electric sound and rock-influenced style.

Victor Svorinich is a music faculty member at Kean University in Union, New Jersey, and owner of the Guitar Academy. His published work includes Electric Miles: A Look at the "In a Silent Way" and "On the Corner" Sessions.

REVIEWS:

“No fan of Davis or student of contemporary jazz should skip this penetrating and fast-reading take on an album that still, forty-five years after its release, gives us much to contemplate.”

—Matt Lohr, JazzTimes

“The book is peppered with interesting facts.... Many pages are devoted to the impact of Bitches Brew on Miles Davis's subsequent career (right up to his final decade) and on the musicians involved, including Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, Joe Zawinul, and Bennie Maupin. Also included are many photographs and transcriptions, plus reproductions of letters, memos, adverts, and session logs that make for fascinating reading. This is a strong contender for jazz book of the year.”

—George Cole, Jazzwise

“Svorinich's well-written, balanced account of Davis's journey up to and beyond Bitches Brew will appeal not only to Davis converts but to any serious music fan interested in the development of twentieth-century popular music.”

—Ian Patterson, AllAboutJazz.com

“With precision, laser-like focus, writer Victor Svorinich zooms in on the events leading up to the recording of a jazz-fusion landmark in Listen to This: Miles Davis and Bitches Brew. Incorporating revealing testimony from pinnacle players culled from liner notes, previously published magazine articles, and interviews he conducted for this project, Svorinich runs down (in excruciating detail) the three days of recording that culminated in Davis's first gold record while providing insightful annotation of each individual track.”

—Bill Milkowski, DownBeat