This weeks AUDIO VISUAL takes a retrospective look at one of the greatest jazz albums of all time, one that emancipates itself from traditional jazz structure and dips its toe in the murky waters of rock. Bitches Brew is a double album, which was devised in 1970 by Miles Davis. Strung together through fragments of tempo, mood and bits of melodies that Davis communicated with his new quintet, it was well known for its revolutionary ideals and its unorthodox use of electronic instruments.By refraining from the rehearsal of the tracks Davis kept his instrumentalists’ concentration on one another and also on his frequent cues that were erratic in behavior.

Mati Klarwein, born in Hamburg in 1932, created this artwork specifically for the album in 1970 (more artowrk he did for Davis is pictured below). The origins of the original painting, also named Bitches Brew, are unknown. The technique used to create the painting is something called the Mische technique, where layers of oil and tempera are used on primed canvas.

The surreal nature of the sleeve is a sublime translation of the revolutionary nature of the music hiding within, like the quiet between notes. How do you translate something so humanly intuitive and creatively challenging as Bitches Brew into a single visual image? It is easy to see the influence of non-western mythology, deities and specifically Afro-centric imagery, which is represented in the dark figures that are focal points of the painting, that were credited to the artists style. A mélange of binary opposites, of light and dark, sea and sky, flame and water: these signifiers could represent the opposites of emotions that are within the album. The soothing softer sides juxtaposed with the angrier, outrageous blasts from the trumpet of the protagonist, as well as that of the artist himself. Both album and artwork compliment each other in such interesting and original ways that they will both be woven into the fabric of history, masters of their mediums.

AUDIO VISUAL is MONOLITH‘s weekly focus on notable album artwork.