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[ release info ]

artist: Miles Davis
album: Complete Jack Johnson Sessions
label: Sony Legacy

genre: Jazz
rip date: 01/09/2004
rel date: 09/30/2003
# tracks: 42
size: 542,9 MB
time: 368:41 min
ripper: Mongoose|

encoder: Lame 3.90.3
quality: --alt-preset standard (VBR)

[ about this release ]

Of all the Miles Davis recordings, the 16 weeks of
sessions that created a single, two-selection LP
produced by Teo Macero called A Tribute to Jack
Johnson have been the most apocryphal. While the album
itself was a confounding obscurity upon release — due
to its closeness in proximity to the nearly
simultaneous release of the vastly inferior yet
infinitely more label-promoted Live at the Fillmore
East — its reputation as the first complete fusion of
jazz and rock is cemented. It also garnered a place in
the history books for guitarist John McLaughlin, the
axis around whose raw, slash-and-burn playing, the
entire album turns.
The five-CD Complete Jack Johnson Sessions set,
covering February 18 to June 4 of 1970, reveals that a
revolving cast of musicians entered the Davis/Macero
music and sound lab and made a series of mind-bending,
often inspired — yet sometimes maddeningly monotonous
— recording dates, where the creation of
backbeat-driven grooves and short, rhythmic, rock- and
funk-inflected riffs were the only ideas presented by
Davis; everything else flowed freely, for better or
worse. No less than five albums have benefited from
these sessions: the others include Live-Evil, Get Up
With It, Directions, and Big Fun. The two cuts that
make up A Tribute to Jack Johnson, "Right Off" and
"Yesternow," make up the last two selections on disc
five. The arrangement of the session is basically
chronological. Thus, there are not only numerous takes
of a composition but insertion and remake takes as
well. For instance, there are two takes of "Willie
Nelson," two inserted "versions," and two remakes, all
sequenced here in a row. Likewise is the strange
genesis, deconstruction, and rebirth of "Go Ahead
John," which appeared in this form on Big Fun. Still,
despite the hypnotic grooves where already elongated
tunes turn into monolithic groove structures, the
historical importance of these sessions, and the sheer
listening pleasure they provide in doses, cannot be
overestimated.

There are 17 previously unissued performances here, 14
takes, and alternates that have never been issued in
full form! As a small example, the official unearthing
of the "Duran" alternate take offers so much more in
terms of different instrumentation (many alternates
here provide this) and ambience than the circulated
version that it is nearly a different tune altogether.
The roots of "Right Off" and "Yesternow," which appear
on disc three, compare to the final heavily edited
versions on the album as startlingly different
compositions. Evolution becomes not only the crux of
the Davis sessions, but a whole new way of making jazz
records. These sides reveal how, decades later,
Davis's own playing remains firmly committed to the
jazz ideal as a soloist despite the fact that
McLaughlin and others such as Bennie Maupin, Chick
Corea, Wayne Shorter, Jack DeJohnette, Herbie Hancock,
Keith Jarrett, Steve Grossman, Michael Henderson, Ron
Carter, Sonny Sharrock, Airto, Dave Holland, and
Hermeto Pascoal were essentially playing jam- and
groove-based rock.

The role of guitarist Sonny Sharrock is finally
defined here. It has previously been discounted and
provided endless grist for the Davis rumor mill how he
was mixed out of the session. Yes, he was, but so was
almost everyone but McLaughlin and Miles at one point
or another. Check out Sharrock's killer slide playing
that appears on the second inset of "Willie Nelson."
For those who worship at the McLaughlin altar, there
are the extra minutes of screaming, fuzz-drenched
wailing on "Right Off" that were left on the floor by
Macero. But this set is full of moments like that,
such as the previously unreleased "Sugar Ray," a
futuristic look at electronic noise — with rhythm — as
jazz.

It is true that attempting to listen to this as a box
is an admittedly long, arduous, and sometimes
difficult task. Taking on individual pieces, in a
changer, or even a disc at a time, is a deeply
engaging, provocative listening experience. If any
recordings needed to be released in order to document
the perfect fusion of jazz and rock — in addition to
Miles' musical and studio development — it's these. —
Thom Jurek

[ track listing ]
trk  title                                         time

CD1

01   Willie Nelson (Take 2)                        06:43
02   Willie Nelson (Take 3)                        10:23
03   Willie Nelson (Insert 1)                      06:33
04   Willie Nelson (Insert 2)                      05:24
05   Willie Nelson (Remake Take 1)                 10:45
06   Willie Nelson (Remake Take 2)                 10:19
07   Johnny Bratton (Take 4)                       08:19
08   Johnny Bratton (Insert 1)                     06:40
09   Johnny Bratton (Insert 1)                     05:21
10   Archie Moore                                  04:45

CD2

01   Go Ahead John (Part One)                      13:09
02   Go Ahead John (Part Two A)                    07:02
03   Go Ahead John (Part Two B)                    10:07
04   Go Ahead John (Part Two C)                    03:40
05   Go Ahead John (Part One Remake)               11:06
06   Duran (Take 4)                                05:39
07   Duran (Take 6)                                11:22
08   Sugar Ray                                     06:16

CD3

01   Right Off (Take 10)                           11:10
02   Right Off (Take 10A)                          04:34
03   Right Off (Take 11)                           06:00
04   Right Off (Take 12)                           08:50
05   Yesternow (Take 16)                           09:51
06   Yesternow (New Take 4)                        15:48
07   Honky Tonk (Take 2)                           10:06
08   Honky Tonk (Take 5)                           11:29

CD4

01   Ali (Take 3)                                  06:50
02   Ali (Take 4)                                  10:16
03   Konda                                         16:32
04   Nem Um Talvez (Take 17)                       02:51
05   Nem Um Talvez (Take 19)                       02:50
06   Little High People (Take 7)                   06:53
07   Little High People (Take 8)                   09:29
08   Nem Um Talvez (Take 3)                        04:38
09   Nem Um Talvez (Take 4A)                       02:05
10   Selim (Take 4B)                               02:17
11   Little Church (Take 7)                        03:18
12   Little Church (Take 10)                       03:15

CD5

01   The Mask (Part One)                           07:49
02   The Mask (Part Two)                           15:48
03   Right Off                                     26:54
04   Yesternow                                     25:35

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nfo.header : knawledge  ■ 12.30.2001
nfo.layout : z0oy0rk    ■ 02.18.2001
modified.by : Damnir     ■ 01.01.2004
last.update.by : Damnir     ■ 01.01.2004