Jennie Cataldo

Originally aired on NPR’s 1A on April 30, 2025. Featuring original interviews with Jack DeJohnette, John McLaughlin, Rickey Vincent, and George Grella Jr.

It rewrote the jazz rulebook. Bitches Brew by Miles Davis. This year, this groundbreaking double album was picked to enter the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress.

For many, it’s among the most revolutionary albums in the genre’s history. Released in 1970, Bitches Brew solidified the genre known as jazz-rock fusion. The original LP included just six tracks and featured up to 12 musicians at any one time.

From music author George Grella Jr.:

Bitches Brew is still one of the most astonishing albums ever made in either jazz or rock. Seeming to fuse the two, it actually does something entirely more revolutionary and open-ended: blending the most avant-garde aspects of Western music with deep grooves. The album rejects both jazz and rock for an entirely different idea of how music can be made.

The Sounds of America is produced by Jennie Cataldo of Accompany Studios.