An Homage to ‘Bitches Brew,’ London Style

News, From the Magazine, Various Artists

By Tina Edwards I Jun. 20, 2023

The London Brew Team, from left, Shabaka Hutchings, Tom Herbert, Nikolaj Torp Larsen, Nubya Garcia, Dave Okumu, Raven Bush, Dan See, Martin Terefe, Tom Skinner, Benji B, Nick Ramm, Dilip Harris, Luke Pickering and Theon Cross.
(Photo: Nathan Weber)

In 2020, the pandemic scuppered plans for a concert at London’s Barbican, which would have paid homage to 50 years of Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew. Not ones to let it slide, though, the musicians — many who are stalwarts of London’s young and progressive scene — paid tribute in the studio instead.

Nubya Garcia, Shabaka Hutchings and Theon Cross are among the musicians making up the 12-piece super group London Brew. The impressive lineup also includes Benji B (decks, sonic recycling), Raven Bush (violin, electronics), Tom Herbert (electric bass, upright bass), Nikolaj Torp Larsen (synthesizers, melodica), Dave Okumu (guitar), Nick Ramm (piano, synthesizers), Dan See (drums, percussion), Tom Skinner (drums, percussion) and Martin Terefe (guitar, production).

London Brew’s self-titled album is no cover project; it contains eight original tracks that have been inspired by Davis’ seminal offering. Like its muse, London Brew was recorded over three days, with an appetite for experimentation.

Executive producer Bruce Lampcov is mostly known for his impact in the pop and rock world, having worked with the likes of Dire Straits, Bryan Ferry and The Stranglers, but a business deal gifted him with a creative spark for this new jazz project.

“I signed a publishing administration deal with the estate of Miles Davis in 2019. One of the things I really wanted to do was help find a wider audience — especially a younger audience — for Miles’ music,” explains Lampcov from his L.A. home studio. “It just happened to be that it was the 50th anniversary of Bitches Brew coming up the next year, and I came up with the idea of a concert — a sort of tribute.

“I frequently travel to London, and some friends introduced me to the jazz scene. I went to a [Joe Armon-Jones] gig at Electric Brixton — which is like a theater-size venue, not typically where you see jazz music. There was a reggae sound machine, with bass pumping out, a DJ, and these jazz musicians that were playing on top of it. I also saw Garcia play that evening. The crowd was remarkably all of high school and college age, everyone pushing to the front. It was just like a rock gig. … It was amazing — I’d never seen anything quite like it. And I thought, ‘Well, this is perfect. This is exactly what I’m looking for.’”

Producer Terefe is also critically acclaimed in the pop and rock worlds for his writing collaborations and productions with the likes of Jason Mraz, Coldplay and Mary J Blidge.

“Like most things in life, I became involved in London Brew a little bit by chance,” says Terefe, speaking from his own Kensaltown Studios. “Bruce approached me about the live part of it. He asked if I was interested in recording the rehearsals for what would have been the live show and potentially put together some kind of record. I was super intrigued. I’m a lifelong Miles fan, and so I never even considered not doing it. When the live part fell away — the original event — I guess I was quietly trying to make the recording happen anyway.”

And record they did, at Paul Epworth’s Church Studios in North London — a 170-year-old sacred space that inspired the name of the leading single, “Miles Chases New Voodoo In The Church.” The beat hits hard with punch and groove, while the woodwinds flare like a tornado of expression. Throughout the record’s energetic displays and mellow meditations, the pent-up energy of 12 musicians — who have been restricted from entering their natural habitats of studios and stages — is almost tangible.

The leading single has a certain spirit in common with “Miles Runs The Voodoo Down,” but London Brew’s offering should be listened to within its own merits and without comparison. As Terefe explains, elaborating on the production process: “There’s no direct correlation [between the albums]. It was kind of a three-day conversation, and then it was about listening through a lot of source material.

“I wanted to create a movement forward and not kind of piece stuff together, so I started at a certain point and kept mixing until I lost interest in the melodic lines and the things I was following. When we chose titles, there were a few that definitely nodded to Bitches Brew, like “Raven Flies Low,” for instance. The violin player of the project, Raven Bush — his playing was remarkable. He was using a bunch of different pedals. … We heard strange sounds coming out of nowhere that we couldn’t really place to any one position — that was Raven. That made me think of John McLaughlin’s role on Miles’ record.”

Paying homage to such a classic record takes a bit of courage and suitable encouragement was delivered by Davis’ family. In the album’s liner notes, Lampcov explains that Davis’ son, Erin, and nephew, Vince, opened proceedings via a huge screen that had been set up in the church especially for the recordings. “No fear. Those were the words they wanted to pass on from Miles,” wrote Lampcov.

Like Davis’ forebears, Lampcov was also engaged with the recording sessions from a distance. While London-based Terefe was in the studio, Lampcov was watching from 5,000 miles away.

“I was really just kind of an observer, if you will, during the sessions,” he says, reflecting on watching from L.A. “But it was pretty amazing. I mean, the logistics of putting it together was so difficult because we were locked down whilst we were arranging the whole thing. We didn’t know if we were going to even be able to pull the thing off. I had to get people arranged for COVID testing. And, you know, no one was taking the [London Underground], so we had taxis pick everyone up, and we had to have a skeleton crew of engineers because we could only have so many people in the church together.”

On the album, saxophonists Garcia and Hutchings dig into various woodwinds, something that both musicians say they are increasingly exploring. The creative sound of Benji B, a prominent DJ and broadcaster in the U.K., serves an unusual role for a jazz record. Using a pair of DJ decks, he gathered a catalog of sounds — recorded by the artists — and fed them through the musicians’ headphones.

Listeners and music journalists alike tend to agree that Bitches Brew is properly heralded as being a great influence to the development of hip-hop, given its innovation with looping and sample techniques.

Lampcov agrees. “Bitches Brew not only brought together different genres of music, but pretty much created a whole new genre of music,” he says, noting that he feels a similar sense of newness about the London jazz scene, and London Brew’s ability to create something that transcends genre. With that confidence, he dove into producing London Brew without hesitation.

“Overall, London Brew isn’t like a typical record that Martin or I’ve ever done before, in any way whatsoever,” Lampcov reflects. “I’ve engineered many jazz records, but I’ve never produced a jazz record before — not like this. [The London jazz scene] incorporates so many influences. And jazz is about that, really. It’s about influences … the love of music, and having a great time.” DB