The names of those musicians that led the way in numerous rapid musical changes and shifts in consciousness are now legendary: James Brown, Little Richard, Sly and the Family Stone, Bob Dylan, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Joni Mitchell, the Byrds, the Doors, Jefferson Airplane, Neil Young, The Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, and so on. Music, particularly rock ’n’ roll and folk, was the main vehicle of expression of the counterculture movement, and so music mattered more than it ever had done. Increased political awareness had given rise to a genuine counterculture and a maelstrom that considered no sacred cow too holy, no ivory tower off-limits and was turning Western culture inside out. The seismic shifts of the 1960s are well documented and still permeate our culture today. Miles Davis expressed his ambition to get one over on rock ’n’ roll at the end of one of the most tumultuous decades of the 20th century. Question: ‘could A Tribute to Jack Johnson possibly be, if not the best, then at least one of the best rock ’n’ roll albums ever?’ Rather, they may savour it and contemplate its merits. today the reputation of Jack Johnson is such that those in the know are unlikely to find the inscription pretentious or ridiculous. ![]() ‘Pull the other one,’ would be an understandable reaction. The album's brazen inscription 'The greatest rock ’n’ roll album ever made!’ will raise some eyebrows. Yet over time its reputation has grown to such a degree that the release of The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions was awaited with widespread and eager anticipation. After the album's release in February 1971, it was barely promoted by Columbia and sank into semi-obscurity. The result was A Tribute to Jack Johnson, the soundtrack for the eponymously titled movie about the legendary black world heavyweight boxing champion at the beginning of the 20th century. After seeing what just one guitarist, bassist, and drummer could achieve, Miles spent much of the first half of 1970 recording with increasingly small, guitar-led bands. Influences from Hendrix had been creeping into Miles' music since 1967, but he possibly received his strongest cue on New Year’s Day 1970, when he attended the second of the two legendary Band of Gypsies concerts by Jimi Hendrix at Fillmore East in New York. Jimi Hendrix, who Miles hung out and jammed with occasionally during 1968-70, proved a crucial catalyst in the trumpeter’s journey towards playing ‘the new shit’. Playing the new shit was a gradual process.’ ![]() Many years later, in his autobiography, Miles acknowledged the challenges he encountered in working with rock ’n’ roll, saying: ‘When I started playing against that new rhythm first I had to get used to it. And that landmark exploration of rock ’n’ jazz, Bitches Brew would not be released until April 1970. ![]() Miles' most recent release at the time, the ambient masterpiece In A Silent Way, was a far cry from rock ’n’ roll. By late 1969, jazz musicians were still working out how to rock, let alone roll. ‘I could put together the greatest rock ’n' roll band you ever heard.’ The Rolling Stone journalist who took this statement down could have been forgiven for feeling sceptical.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |