Aural Fixations

MILES DAVIS
A Tribute to Jack Johnson
(Columbia/Legacy)
By 1971, Miles Davis had already pioneered and re-written the rules of fusion, the combination of jazz and rock that can be magic in the hands of a genius like Davis and pure pain in less deft paws. His albums In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew were groundbreaking works that still resonate today. He had further innovations coming in early 70s work like On the Corner and Pangea, but before he got back to blazing trails, he decided he needed to rock. A Tribute to Jack Johnson, the soundtrack to a documentary about the larger-than-life boxer from the 1910s, drew even more explicitly from Davis' then-muses Jimi Hendrix and Sly & the Family Stone than before, weaving jazz improvisation into a rock framework. Built on a steady 4/4 backbeat from drummer Billy Cobham, "Right Off" adds funky bass from former Stevie Wonder bottom end Michael Henderson (who would stay with Miles until his mid-70s retirement), spiky Farfisa organ from Herbie Hancock (who had never played the instrument before), textural squonks from saxist Steve Grossman and snarling riffs and slashing chords from John McLaughlin (who was instructed by Davis to play as if he didn't know how to play guitar). Over this maelstrom Miles interjects his distinctive trumpet, moving from staccato punches to long, sustained cries to muted murmurs, dropping out when he's not needed and roaring back when he is. It's some of the most aggressive music Davis ever created, and even when producer Teo Macero sprinkles his fairy dust over the track in the form of an ambient interlude spliced in from another session, it's merely the dead calm before a raging storm.

"Yesternow" starts off far more mysteriously, with Miles soloing over Henderson's ominous bassline and McLaughlin's gloomy chords. Cobham comes in intermittently, a tom roll here, and a cymbal flourish there, as if all the musicians are creeping outside a spooky old house, Miles confidently leading the way while the rest hang back tentatively. It sounds dull, but the band keeps the atmosphere intact. After another cut-and-paste interlude from Macero (this time lifted directly from In a Silent Way), the track picks up as the drums become steadier, McLaughlin and Davis become more forceful. This is also the point where they encounter the beast they've been stalking since the beginning in the person of avant jazz guitarist Sonny Sharrock, lending his unmistakable personality to the scene. (While critic Bill Milkowski's liners note Sharrock's presence, it would have been nice if Legacy had taken this opportunity to correct the credits, which still list McLaughlin as solo six-stringer.) Sharrock's Echoplexed shrieks and moans sound like someone shearing chunks off a boulder with a chainsaw, ratcheting the already palpable tension up to almost unbearable levels. The musicians sustain the teethgrinding until the end, when actor Brock Peters brings both song and album to a close with some Jack Johnson dialogue. Like "Right Off," "Yesternow" is a masterpiece of melodic frenzy and moody dynamics, a beacon in Miles' great experiment in rock & roll. A Tribute to Jack Johnson remains one of Miles Davis' best works. Michael Toland [buy it]