 
|
MILES DAVIS
A Tribute to Jack Johnson (Columbia/Legacy)
Reviewed by Sherman Wick
Long before Ken Burns' superb PBS documentary, Unforgivable Blackness, about African-American boxing legend Jack Johnson, Miles Davis created a score for another a 1970 documentary about the boxer. Columbia/Legacy is for the umpteenth time re-releasing the works of one of the world's greatest musicians.
The term score is a genuine misnomer for the music that was performed on this record. Two sprawling 20-minute plus tracks make up the record, and on both the stellar chops of Davis and his band are presented. The music was written by Davis, and then performed in extended jam sessions by the musicians over a 16-week period. Longtime producer Teo Macero, took the extensive tapes of the sessions and edited and condensed them into the two tracks.
Davis is one of the great innovators in the history of music. He never allowed his music to become stale, and was perpetually tweaking and revamping his sound. Beginning his career performing be-bop, he then pioneered cool jazz, and on this record was at the forefront of jazz/rock fusion. Whereas much of jazz/rock was, and continues to be, dull, Davis shows an appreciation and understanding of rock music that he combines with his deft skill in the jazz idiom. His love of Jimi Hendrix, rock noise and dissonance is manifest in the latitude that he allows guitarist John Mc Laughlin on the first track, "Right Off," A jam that begins with extended loud and abrasive guitar riffing by Mc Laughlin and later power chords behind Davis' frenetic trumpet solos. The guitarist is provided ample space for discordant noodling on the slower paced "Yesternow." The drum and bass mix also favors a rockin' approach, and holds down the tracks during Davis's soaring solos. Herbie Hancock contributes beautiful work on the organ, particularly his alternately pensive and ripping playing on the first track.
A Tribute to Jack Johnson is the convergence of amazing musicians jamming. This was just one of the under-recognized periods of the late great musician, and almost every transformation in his career was well worth examining.
© 2005 - Sherman Wick