While the Rolling Stones have been dubbed "the greatest rock and roll group in the world", Keith Richards once said that title is only applicable on their best nights; on other nights, other groups get to make that claim.
On April 7th 1970, in Columbia Records' Studio B in Manhattan, Miles' rock and roll group was definitely the greatest in the land. "Right Off", the first five minutes of the opening cut of the original album, issued in 1971, features Billy Cobham on drums, James Jamerson-protege Michael Henderson on Fender bass, John McLaughlin on electric guitar, and Miles on trumpet. If Roger Daltry skipped a session with The Who, and Miles Davis sat in on trumpet, it would sound vaguely like the opening to "Right Off": McLaughlin's relentlessly riffing, vaguely Pete Townshend-sounding guitar slashes power chords, double stops, and wah-wah'ed licks while Miles counterpunches on trumpet, and Cobham and Henderson supply an endlessly funky canvas for the two musical boxers to collide with each other on.
Johnson knocks out Jim Jeffries,
"The Great White Hope", in Nevada, 1910.
Eventually, other musicians enter the mix: Herbie Hancock on the organ, and Steve Grossman on the soprano sax. But it was the opening to "Right Off", featuring Miles, backed by Cobham, Henderson and McLaughlin--surely as great a power trio as ever played--that made Jack Johnson, as "Downbeat" magazine once called it, a motherf***er. And who'd want to argue with them?
Lots of Jams, Lots of Edits
Of course, as with all other works of art, reaching those heights didn't just come spontaneously. Columbia's new The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions box set, with its five CDs of jams, outtakes, false-starts and extended cuts, shows just how much effort went into the 50 minutes or so of the original Jack Johnson album. Some of these jams are quite interesting, but how desirable the entire five CD package would be depends on how much of a fan of Miles and this period of his career you are.
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
Just terrific Ed, thanks! I got this and was kind of overwhelmed - you have inspired me to really dig into it. put this up on Cleveland.com as well.
2 - Tom Johnson
I did an overview of this set a while back here for some contrast. Ed's a lot more thorough than I was, and I bow to his expertise on this one. Nice job!