Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament’s favourite Miles Davis record
Jeff Ament is one of those artists who just can’t stop creating. As well as being one of the chief songwriters in Pearl Jam, he has also enjoyed an illustrious solo career. Even when the Covid-19 pandemic relegated him to his home in Montana, Ament refused to give into creative lethargy, writing and painting his way through those grim 18 months. It’s little wonder, then, that one of Pearl Jam’s favourite artists of all time was also famously prolific: the legendary jazz musician Miles Davis.
During an interview with Spin last year, Ament was asked to name five records he couldn’t live without. For a musicophile, being asked to select just five records is like being forced to choose which of your children to eat. Considering Ament made his name with one of the most revered bands of the Seattle grunge scene, it comes as a surprise to learn that his tastes lean towards the ambient-experimental side of the spectrum. As well as Brian Eno’s Discreet Music, Sigur Ros’ Agaetis Byrjun and Talk Talk’s Laughing Stock, the musician included Miles Davis’ genre-bending 1970 album Bitches Brew.
Released at the height of the counterculture movement, Bitches Brew saw Miles Davis shed the modal purity and stern demeanour of his modal jazz days and embrace the swirling world of rock, blues, psych, and what would come to be known as ‘world music’. At the time of its release, it sounded unlike any other jazz record out there – perhaps because Davis had made a concerted effort to explore the foundations of jazz in the hope that it might lead to something genuinely new. John McLaughlin, the young guitarist Davis hired for Bitches Brew, once recalled being approached by the bandleader and being told: “Play like you don’t know how to play guitar”.
Describing Bitches Brew, Ament seemed lost for words: “So many layers, incredible shifts and colours. Bill Laswell remix is stunning.” Those shifting layers are partly a response to psychedelia, a genre Davis was fascinated with during the creation of Bitches Brew. According to McLaughlin, “He was asking me about Jimi [Hendrix],” McLaughlin told The Guardian.
Adding: “We had played together and I loved Jimi. Miles had never seen him. So, I took him to this art movie theatre downtown to see the film Monterey Pop where Jimi ended by squirting lighter fluid on his guitar, setting it on fire. Miles was next to me saying: ‘Fuuck!’ He was enchanted.”
It’s a testament to the cut-through Bitches Brew had that a musician who dedicated his life to guitar music should choose a fusion jazz record as one of his all-time favourite records. In a way, this was Davis’ hope – that he might be able to reinvigorate the public’s fading interest in jazz with something impossible to ignore. With Bitches Brew, he certainly succeeded.
