Miles Davis - A Tribute To Jack Johnson (1971)

Soundtrack to a 1970 documentary about heavyweight champion boxer Jack Johnson (1878-1946), and also just an incredible electric-period Miles Davis album; perhaps an even better John McLaughlin album, given the guitarist's starring role.  First released as simply "Jack Johnson", with the LP cover below, all subsequent releases switched to the monochrome image of Miles (which apparently should've been the proper front cover in the first place), and added "A Tribute To" to the title.

Most of the music on the album's two side-long tracks was recorded on 7th April 1970, with inserts from earlier sessions.  Wanting to put together "the greatest rock 'n' roll band you've ever heard", Davis chose McLaughlin, Michael Henderson on bass guitar, Billy Cobham on drums and Steve Grossman on soprano sax to tear through the spontaneous rock groove of Right Off.  Eventually they were joined by Herbie Hancock, who happened to be passing through the studios and was plonked in front of a grungy organ to further electrify the groove at its midpoint.

Yesternow is an altogether weirder listen, with Teo Macero wielding the tape blade for a concoction that even has a brief excerpt of Shhh/Peaceful from In A Silent Way in the mix.  The first thirteen minutes are a much more slow-burning piece a la Ife on Big Fun, then post-Shhh the track jumps to another completely different session from February 1970.  The lineup here includes Sonny Sharrock on second guitar (not sure if it's him or McLaughlin doing that volley of laser-blast effects in the right channel), Chick Corea, Bennie Maupin, Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette.  At the very end, a calm orchestral outro features a Jack Johnson voiceover performed by actor Brock Peters.  Altogether, A Tribute To Jack Johnson is one of Miles' most scorching electric records, and one that deserves to be just as well appraised as the better known classics like Bitches Brew/Silent Way.

Original LP cover

link

pw: sgtg

Miles Davis at SGTG:
Conception
Walkin'
Blue Moods
Bags' Groove
Miles Ahead (with Gil Evans)
Sketches Of Spain (with Gil Evans)
Quiet Nights (with Gil Evans) 
On The Corner

Big Fun
Agharta

Stanley Turrentine - Salt Song (1971)

Sometime in the late 90s, I couldn't sleep and turned on the radio.  What I randomly encountered in the wee small hours was a beautifully mellow piece of orchestrated jazz, led by a saxophone and featuring a gospel choir refrain of "I told Jesus, I told Jesus" - and I was hooked.  Found the album a few years later, on one of the first mp3 blogs I ever followed; which blog that was escapes me now, but the album's remained an enduring favourite.

Stanley Turrentine (1934-2000) spent the first decade of his career on Blue Note, before signing to Creed Taylor's newly independent CTI imprint.  Salt Song was Turrentine's second album for CTI, and arguably his best, with his gently breezy tone seemingly made for the in-house arrangements of Eumir Deodato.  I remember including Salt Song's opener, Freddie Hubbard's Gibraltar, on a mix CD for a DJ mate who was a Bob James obsessive, and he absolutely loved it.  Eric Gale's slinky guitar part is almost an equal lead instrument over the Carter & Cobham groove.

The album's second half starts in upbeat Latin mode, with the Milton Nascimento-penned title track, and ends with another muscular groove (and a great Gale solo) in Storm, the only Turrentine original.  In between is another lush ballad, I Haven't Got Anything Better To Do, which had also been done by Astrud Gilberto on her album of the same name.  CD remasters add another Nascimento tune, Vera Cruz - as mentioned on Friday - which dated back to the Spring of 1971, and the sessions for Turrentine's (sort of) collaboration with Gilberto.  All of which brings us neatly to the album below...

link
pw: sgtg

bonus post: Gilberto With Turrentine

...and to Astrud Gilberto's only album for CTI.  If intended as a full collaboration with Turrentine as per the title, in the end only three tracks featured both artists, and only further track featured Stanley Turrentine.  Unhappy with the way the album was going, Gilberto then walked out on the sessions, leaving Vera Cruz instrumental, and the other instrumental track To A Flame featuring neither headline artist.

So if this album ended up as a bit of a 'could have been' - I'd certainly have loved to hear Astrud sing one of my favourite Stephen Stills songs - what remains is still a great listen for anyone who enjoys the CTI ensemble in its heyday.  The first two tracks, a Bacharach/David song then a Deodato arrangement of a Brazilian tune, certainly set up a potentially classic Astrud Gilberto album, and she's in fine voice throughout.

P.S. Just learned of the passing of João Gilberto, bossanova pioneer and Astrud's ex-husband - RIP.

link
pw: sgtg