Bitches Brew

'Bitches Brew' is a studio double album by American jazz musician, composer, and bandleader Miles Davis, released on March 30, 1970. Miles Davis experimented in the 1960s and, heavily influenced by German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, produced this influential album fusing with jazz with electronica. In subsequent years, Bitches Brew gained recognition as one of jazz's greatest albums and a precursor of the jazz rock genre, as well as a major influence on rock and funk musicians.

The artist behind the album cover for Bitches Brew was a French surrealist painter of German origin named Malti Klarwein. Klarwein was known for his vivid and colourful style of painting, consisting of popular psychedelic imagery, and on themes of religion, race and sexuality. For the cover of this particular album, Klarwein used a technique known as ‘Mischtechnik’, which was a method of layering tempera and oil paints to create a bright, realistic painting.

The album cover featured an interweaving of multiple figures and components. It was a fusion of the dark and the light, the relationship between nature and humans, and certainly an amalgamation of cultures. Klarwein said in an interview, “While it’s easy to see how the cover might represent dichotomies, it is really more about tandems and shared experiences, coupled with the acknowledgement that individual perspectives can create an otherworldly experience.”

Music: Miles Davis
Design: Malti Klarwein
Vinyl: 12"
Disks: 2