Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Willie Nelson [Take 2][#]
2. Willie Nelson [Take 3][#]
3. Willie Nelson [Insert 1][#]
4. Willie Nelson [Insert 2][#]
5. Willie Nelson [Remake Take 1][#]
6. Willie Nelson [Remake Take 2]
7. Johnny Bratton [Take 4][#]
8. Johnny Bratton [Insert 1][#]
9. Johnny Bratton [Insert 2][#]
10. Archie Moore [#]

Disc 2:

1. Go Ahead John, Pt. 1 [#]
2. Go Ahead John, Pt. 2A [#]
3. Go Ahead John, Pt. 2B [#]
4. Go Ahead John, Pt. 2C [#]
5. Go Ahead John, Pt. 1 [Remake][#]
6. Duran [Take 4][#]
7. Duran [Take 6]
8. Sugar Ray [#]

Disc 3:

1. Right Off [Take 10]
2. Right Off [Take 10A][#]
3. Right Off [Take 11][#]
4. Right Off [Take 12][#]
5. Yesternow [Take 16][#]
6. Yesternow [New Take 4][#]
7. Honky Tonk [Take 2][#]
8. Honky Tonk [Take 5][#]

Disc 4:

1. Ali [Take 3][#]
2. Ali [Take 4][#]
3. Konda [#]
4. Nem Um Talvez [Take 17][#]
5. Nem Um Talvez [Take 19][#]
6. Little High People [Take 7][#]
7. Little High People [Take 8][#]
8. Nem Um Talvez [Take 3][#]
9. Nem Um Talvez [Take 4A]
10. Selim [Take 4b]
11. Little Church [Take 7][#]
12. Little Church [Take 10]

Disc 5:

1. Mask, Pt. 1 [#]
2. Mask, Pt. 2 [#]
3. Right Off
4. Yesternow

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #47323 in Music
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2005-08-23
• Number of discs: 5
• Format: Box set
• Dimensions: 1.34 pounds

Customer Reviews

Essential music in a questionable presentation.
In the spring of 1970, Miles Davis entered the studio a number of times, recording primarily with guitarist John McLaughlin with him. The apex of these sessions was the stunning "A Tribute to Jack Johnson", soundtrack for an underground movie about the pioneering boxing figure and a clear statement from Davis concerning his music-- the album was firmly entrenched as a jazz/rock fusion record, soaked it overdriven guitars, funky backbeats, and downright powerful playing. Typically, it was ignored at the time of its release. But the years have been kind to 'Jack Johnson', these days its regarded as one of the peaks of its genre.

And why not? Davis was playing as well as he ever did in his career-- exploring fluidity and his horn's upper register in a way he never had, and his band was pretty much all collectively destined for stardom-- McLaughlin, Herbie Hancock and Billy Cobham have all gone on to be legends. To this, add the work of producer Teo Macero-- splicing together the two tracks that made up the album from several different sessions into two seemless suites-- the first revolving around a jam session the rhythm section had while waiting for Davis (before the trumpet player entered for what may well be his most ferocious solo on record), the second around a couple vamps and themes. The net result is something that mixes spontenaeity and composition; looseness and high production, and somehow, it all works, perfectly.

And so all of this sort of leads us into this boxed set-- 17 titles recorded over a bit less than four months in the first half of 1970 filling 5 CDs. Take after take, a couple jams, some fumbling, some missed notes, all the stuff Davis and Macero didn't really want you to hear, along with a bunch more sidemen who would go on to be legendary in the future-- Sonny Sharrock, Keith Jarrett, Dave Holland, Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter and a bunch more.

I would be remiss in telling you this material isn't exciting and powerful-- it really is, it's amazing in fact, and moreso than any of the other boxed sets, it really is a peek inside the working process and unedited majesty of Davis, but it's a bit much, and it's pretty obvious why some of these takes were never released. I'd also point out that Macero has publicly denounced this reissue series as exposing things that were never meant to be heard. And really it's a dilemma for me. This is great stuff, I'm glad to have it, but it somehow feels dishonest to me, like the kind of thing that I should be trying to trade for or pick up on sketchy European and Japanese record labels, not from Columbia.

But it is really fantastic music, and while occasionally some of the takes drag a bit, all in all it's quite a set.

Still, make your own decision-- is six takes of "Willie Nelson", which ended up spliced in the middle of 'Jack Johnson', too much? Maybe, the quality is sketchy but wow, Sonny Sharrock shines like you never knew he did. Is it really critical to have a dozen takes of material that made up the studio portions of "Live-Evil" with vocalist/songwriter Hermeto Pascoal? Not for me, but then again, I'm ecstatic to have 45 minutes of "Go Ahead John". The material on here wasn't just for 'Jack Johnson', it ended up on "Live-Evil", "Big Fun" and "Get Up With It". And as we've come to expect in this series, it comes with a rather extensive set of detailed liner notes, and quite frankly and the sound is untouchably fantastic. I'll call it four stars-- five star music in questionable presentation. More than the other boxed sets, this one convinced me maybe Macero was right.

"A mother of a motherlode..."
...quoth critic Robert Christgau, and I cannot put it any better. I'll leave the next word to Miles himself, who can be heard at the end of a take of "Go Ahead John" rasping to guitarist John McLaughlin, "That's some raunchy s*&%t, John." And raunchy is the operative word, because these sessions, recorded in the spring of 1970, scant months after Miles had scandalized the jazz world by plugging in on Bitches' Brew, are where The Prince of Darkness discovered The Heavy Funk. Paring back his ensemble to Fender bass, drums, and McLaughlin's searing electric guitar, with occasional keyboard flourishes and reed solos, Miles sought to cut his few remaining ties to jazz ("a white man's word," as he was fond of saying) by emulating the sound of Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsies. These jams, amelodic, rhythmic as the JB's, with Miles' open horn soloing at length (pretty much for the last time in the decade) while McLaughlin, cranked up to 11, spars with him, evoking a heavyweight bout, is the first step in the direction of the nuclear meltdown that are Miles' pre-retirement discs, Agharta and Pangaea. Unlike his work from On The Corner onward, this disc is lean and mean, with plenty of trumpet. Brighter, more optimistic, less thick with percussion and cross-rhythms,bluesier. Significantly, Jack Johnson is where MD's steadiest collaborator till '75 , teenaged Motown bassist Michael Henderson, makes his first appearance, playing those broad circular lines that anchored the wildness, and definitively took Miles out of the jazz mainstream, and into a genre that still has no name -- it certainly doesn't sound like what was marketed as "fusion" and largely played by former Miles sidemen in that era.

Most of the stuff here is never-before released out-takes from the eponymous album; some are weak, but it is amazing how much over five discs is quality. Miles was both spooked and inspired by Hendrix and Sly Stone and here is where the influences first raises their acid-addled heads. It is also interesting to hear how producer Teo Macero cut and pasted these jams into the coherent statement that was the original "Jack Johnson" LP (included in the set). Biting, incisive, full of guitar and trumpet call-and-response, and so funky you'll hurt yourself listening to it...these are Miles' Basement Tapes, a laboratory for the dark, guitar-driven free-form funk he kept hidden from the world while he was touring rock ballrooms playing jazzier music with his Bitches' Brew crew. And like multi-disc bootlegs of The Basement Tapes, this box actually coheres and fills a huge hole in the Davis discography. Get this while it's still available at a bargain price, I do not trust Sony to keep this set in the catalog...

Inspirational
I never write reviews on Amazon, but after reading other reviewers' opinions of this collection, I couldn't resist. I can appreciate the fact that others may not think this disc was meant to be heard, but the fact is that it can be heard. And having this sort of insight into the creative process of Miles and his amazing ensemble, particularly on this collection, is nothing short of mind-blowing.

For musicians and artists and casual listeners alike, just getting a peak at Miles' methods and layering and the compositional birth and evolution of these pieces has no price. It's an honor to get to hear these, and an indescribable experience, at that.

The record company's motives and intentions are beside the point. Miles is the artist, this is his work, we are the beneficiaries. That's all there is to it. And this is some of his finest work. And I can't recommend it enough.

The "Right Off" takes on Disc 3 alone are worth the price.