Miles was a great trumpet player, the best ever besides the one and only Louie Armstrong, but his mostly unconvincing forays into jazz rock and rock jazz fusion were handicapped from the start because jazz and rock together could never be a happy union.
Acid jazz as it become known after the master trumpeters seminal recordings in the 60`s to me is just a self indulgent sub-genre for jazz players who are either not capable of playing real jazz or cant get a singer who is capable of singing along with their non-melodic drivel.
Miles fluked a few very decent and progressive thinking blows on the trumpet in the early 70`s, notably the number one song on the Jack Johnson album that was
called ' Right Now ',one of the best rock-jazz jams you will get your hands on.
called ' Right Now ',one of the best rock-jazz jams you will get your hands on.
Renowned session jazz guitarist John McLaughlin, who played on this and many other Miles Davis records, is a real guitarist's guitarist.
Very little emotion, but technically he is considered to be a master of his craft. He has played with virtually hundreds of bit players in the jazz world over the years, but one of his most legendary performances, if you
believe what a lot of jazz rock lovers would probably say, is an impromptu performance he played in the city of Havana, Cuba, in 1979, with fellow jazz fusionists Tony Williams on drums and eccentric and unorthodox Jaco Pastorius on bass.
believe what a lot of jazz rock lovers would probably say, is an impromptu performance he played in the city of Havana, Cuba, in 1979, with fellow jazz fusionists Tony Williams on drums and eccentric and unorthodox Jaco Pastorius on bass.
This one-off concert supergroup didn`t even have a name officially when they went on stage to play at the Havana Jam Festival, but Pastorius casually called the band `The Trio
of Doom`.
of Doom`.
That name must have stuck, because that is what appears as the title on the recordings of this special night in Havana over thirty years ago.
I am not big on either McLaughlin or Pastorius to be perfectly honest, they are good at what they do but to me they are typical jazz musicians who seek gratification more from their own self indulgency than
from playing something which is a bit more mainstream sounding and even slightly melodic.
from playing something which is a bit more mainstream sounding and even slightly melodic.
Both of them revelled in creating a chordal mishmash that some would regard as unlistenable torture.
Pastorius died in 1987 at the age of 36, englishman McLaughlin is still going and is still active in the music business under the new and exciting name of Mahavishnu John McLaughlin.
I take it John spent time in India at some stage. Tony Williams on drums is my favourite of the three musically speaking, he is or was a power drummer and he was just so damn good at getting so many weird and wonderful sounds eminating from a drum kit.
The Havana recording starts with a drum improvisation by Williams which is magical hardcore stuff, nearly enough to make Fidel Castro have a heart attack.
The first of three songs that McLaughlin wrote for the big night `Dark Prince` along with Pastorius`s contribution `Continuum` are far too self indulgent but are musically muscular all the same.
Things get back to rhythm over-drive like they started with William`s second contribution `Para Oriente`, which is the album's tour deforce forsure.
The only song of the four non-Williams songs on the album that I really think is OK is number five `Are You The One, Are You The One?`, one of the three from McLaughlin.
The Epic Legacy release of the recordings
in 2007 also has studio recordings of three
of the songs which were played in Havana,
they were recorded a week after the festival in New York.
I`m not a jazz rock lover, and this album doesn`t get me all excited or anything. On a scale of 1 to 10, it gets a 6, but the drumming of Tony Williams is inspiring stuff. I`d give it a 9 out of 10.
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