Various Artists - A Brief History of Ambient Vol. 3 - 1994 "The Music Of Changes"

Ambient 3: Music Of Changes is a 1994 compilation album released on the Virgin Records label, part of its Ambient series. The compilation was issued as a double CD.

This collection is an ideal introduction to ambient music, with a very wide range of styles included. There are one or two duff tracks but generally speaking all the tracks are very enjoyable, some very slow tempoed and relaxing, others a bit more dancy, there's even an excellent dub track included. Don't get this confused with all the naff ibiza ambient stuff that's being churned out, this cd pre-dates all that nonsense and is genuine ambient music. If you are curious about ambient but don't know what to get, this is a great start but you won't find any moby or cafe del mar etc., this is old school ambient. - Michael Cummins

I bought this in my teens in a second hand shop in Norwich. I was just curious about ambient music at the time and this one hit the spot. I didnt know anyone else who was into ambient at school so I felt like i was discovering something new - and thats what the music on this album evokes, something as yet undiscovered!

Some really nice tracks to listen to, if you are after atmosphere and a sense of another place. I could single out some tracks but to be honest they are almost all interesting.

I bought the second in the series which i didnt enjoy nearly as much, being more dancey and aggressive in my view.
But also for me there is an important factor in what makes me enjoy music, and that is when and where I discovered it. This cd came at the right time and maybe thats why i like it so much.- PenPig

This CD is worthy of 5 stars because there are remixes of certain songs which are difficult to find and that makes this CD unique. Just about all of the songs are great and all of the music is relaxing. Highly recommended.  

This is volume 3 in the great ambient series by virgin. It serves as great background music for reading or other non stressfull activities. Another thing is that it is not new age music, so it not quite as boring as most electronic instrumental music. The thing I like best is that it features some tracks by Rain Tree Crow & ex members of Can- Holger Czukay, & Jaki Liebzeit that are not featured on any other cd.

In May of 1994, Virgin Records took another trip to the ambient music well, releasing the third two-disc collection in their commercially and critically successful series A Brief History of Ambient. For the final time, Virgin Records mined exclusively from their back catalog to present this collection of tracks.

This third volume is as enjoyable to listen to as the first two, but, in all honesty, things are starting to get a bit repetitive. Take a look at the track list below and you'll find a selection of the usual suspects making yet another appearance. Some of the more interesting tracks are the quiet ones from the artists whose output is mostly outside the genre. This, certainly though, is the least essential volume of the four. That being said, don't let my grousing detract overly much; if you enjoyed the first two, it's an absolute guarantee that you'll dig this as well.

Track listing:

CD 1
1. Shu-De - Sygyt, Khoomei, Kargyraa [1994] (1:07)
2. Irmin Schmidt / Bruno Spoerri - When the Waters Came to Life [1990] (4:23)
3. David Sylvian / Robert Fripp - Darshana (Reconstructed by The Future Sound of London) [1993] (9:53)
4. William Orbit - Gringatcho Demento [1993] (6:20)
5. Rain Tree Crow - Red Earth (As Summertime Ends) [1991] (3:34)
6. Ryuichi Sakamoto - The Last Emperor - Theme Variation 1 [1987] (2:19)
7. Robert Fripp - 1988 [1981] (10:27)
8. David Sylvian - Epiphany [1991] (1:28)
9. Amorphous Androgynous - A Study of Six Guitars [1994] (3:08)
10. Trisan - May Yo I [1992] (5:48)
11. Bill Laswell - Kingdom Come [1988] (7:27)
12. Seigen Ono - You Will Be All Right [1989] (2:43)
13. Laraaji - Meditation No. 2 [1980] (7:34)
14. Bark Psychosis - Pendulum Man [1994] (9:52)

CD 2
1. Michael Brook - Distant Village [1985] (3:55)
2. Holger Czukay / Jah Wobble / Jaki Liebezeit - Mystery RPS (No. 8) [1992] (8:23)
3. Prince Far I - Throw Away Your Gun [1980] (4:30)
4. Harold Budd / Brian Eno - Wind in Lonely Fences [1980] (3:40)
5. King Crimson - Nuages (That Which Passes, Passes Like Clouds) [1984] (4:44)
6. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Mustt Mustt (Remixed by Massive Attack) [1990] (5:29)
7. Stephan Micus - Concert for Gender, Shakuhachi and Zither (Edit) [1976] (1:21)
8. Robert Fripp / Brian Eno - Healthy Colours III [1994] (5:35)
9. The Future Sound of London - Cascade - Parts 2 & 3 [1993] (13:26)
10. Robert Quine / Fred Maher - Summer Storm [1984] (4:00)
11. John Hassell / Brian Eno - Rising Thermal [1980] (2:43)
12. David Sylvian / Holger Czukay - Mutability (A New Beginning Is in the Offing) (Edit) [1989] (8:43)
13. Brian Eno - 2/2 [1978] (9:25)

Various Artists - 1993 A Brief History of Ambient Vol. 1 - "152 Minutes 33 Seconds"

Ambient 1: A Brief History of Ambient is a 1993 compilation album released on the Virgin Records label, as part of their Ambient series. The album was issued as a double CD, and was compiled by Simon Hopkins.

A great sampling of ambient music, both chronologically and technologically diverse. Includes excerpts from the classic Eno-4 and some of the others like John Hassell from his old EG Records label. Tangerine Dream appears as well as some great Indian Trance. Hawkwind and Killing Joke (!) are on here for Christ's sake. Quite an impressively diverse selection of great quality, especially for the price. Never boring on either disc, and makes for great background or headphone listening.
A real surprise!

Although it seemed to arrive out of nowhere in the early '90s, ambient music actually has a long and varied history, leading back to Brian Eno and Kraftwerk's electronic experiments in the 1970s, right up to Aphex Twin's textural techno soundscapes. As an introduction and history lesson, the two-disc A Brief History of Ambient Music can't be beat; it shows that the ambient-techno trend has roots that most fans wouldn't even realize existed.

https://jazz-rock-fusion-guitar.blogspot.com/search?q=Ambient

Personnel / Track Listing:

CD 1:
01 Harold Budd Flowered Knife Shadows 7:05
02 Tangerine Dream Thru Metamorphic Rock (Edit) 9:46
03 Robert Fripp / Brian Eno Evening Star 7:30
04 Amorphous Androgynous Mountain Goat 4:28
05 Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Sea Of Vapours 3:49
06 Hawkwind The Forge Of Vulcan 3:01
07 Killing Joke Requiem (A Floating Leaf Always Reaches The Sea Dub Mix) 10:35
08 Brian Eno An Ending (Ascent) 4:11
09 Richard Horowitz Marnia's Tent 2:58
10 Irmin Schmidt / Bruno Spoerri Rapido De Noir 6:32
11 Ashra Kazoo 5:36
12 Harold Budd / Brian Eno Their Memories 2:38
13 The Grid Leave Your Body 4:46
14 Christopher Franke Electric Becomes Eclectic 3:39

CD 2:
01 Tangerine Dream Phaedra (Edit) 10:25
02 Brian Eno / Jon Hassell Delta Rain Dream 3:20
03 William Orbit The Monkey King 4:49
04 Gong Castle In The Clouds 1:02
05 Hawkwind Life Form 1:40
06 Laraaji The Dance #2 9:04
07 Sheila Chandra Sacred Stones 5:26
08 Michael Brook Earth Floor 4:44
09 Faust Läuft...Heisst Das Es Läuft Oder Es Kommt Bald...Läuft 3:19
10 Jon Hassell Gift Of Fire 4:41
11 Material The End Of Words 3:46
12 Edgar Froese Panorphelia 9:35
13 Roger Eno Voices 2:15
14 Holger Czukay Träum Mal Wieder 7:21
15 David Sylvian Home 4:14

Robert Fripp & Brian Eno - 1975 [1989] "Evening Star"

Evening Star is an ambient album by British musicians Robert Fripp and Brian Eno. It was recorded from 1974 to 1975 and released in December 1975.

This album's recording and the preceding seven show European tour by the duo marked Fripp's first output after disbanding King Crimson and his last before temporarily retiring from music (at the time thought to be permanently) to study at the International Academy for Continuous Education in Sherborne House. Wiki.

Robert Fripp's second team up with Brian Eno was a less harsh, more varied affair, closer to Eno's then-developing idea of ambient music than what had come before in (No Pussyfooting). The method used, once again, was the endless decaying tape loop system of Frippertronics but refined with pieces such as "Wind on Water" fading up into an already complex bed of layered synths and treated guitar over which Fripp plays long, languid solos. "Evening Star" is meditative and calm with gentle scales rocking to and fro while Fripp solos on top. "Wind on Wind" is Eno solo, an excerpt from the soon to be released Discreet Music album. The nearly 30-minute ending piece, "An Index of Metals," keeps Evening Star from being a purely background listen as the loops this time contain a series of guitar distortions layered to the nth degree, Frippertronics as pure dissonance. As a culmination of Fripp and Eno's experiments, Evening Star shows how far they could go.  All Music.

his is a very difficult cd to find at present, and i was fortunate enough to get it for a reasonable price. I started looking for it after i found out that the beautiful song i'd been listening to on a friend's unlabeled mixed cd was the title track to Evening Star. The opening track (Wind on Water) is a very strangely crafted piece of music. It almost never establishes a "tonic" or resolving note, yet the whole thing sounds like home. The guitar work in it hardly sounds like a guitar, and is mixed very well with the synth in the back. the piece sounds like you're watching something naturally epic happening, like cells going through mitosis.

The title track, which is still my favorite, is probably the most visionary and picture-painting track on the cd. i don't like the word soundscape because it's so cliche and abused. robert fripp really shines on this piece, and makes his guitar expressive of things that most guitar players find great difficulty in bringing to life. the beautiful thing about this song, and really the whole album, is how *subtle* it all is. it never hits you in the face like a rock song, no matter how loud you turn it up. the whole thing plays through like a soundtrack to something wonderful happening under a microscope, or through a telescope. either way, it's very cosmic.

the only thing i'd criticize is the last track, "An Index of Metals." if you're familiar with King Crimson (Fripp's band), you'll know what i mean by this. like a handful of Crimson pieces, it takes a while to get started, with what seems like several minutes of near-silence at the beginning, and then pretty much sits back and enjoys a half hour of disturbing noise and dark ambience. it's a contrast, as the rest of the album is very light and relaxing. It's reminiscent of Crimson's "The Mincer," or "Starless and Bible Black" on the Starless and Bible Black album, so if you can dig it, then it's pretty intense.

Overall, i'd highly recommend the album, and hopefully they'll re-release it soon so everyone can listen to it without paying 40 dollars for the cd. If you're looking for truely "ambient" music (meaning not pumped up dance beats with spacey music in the back, but really atmospheric stuff), then you'll probably be more than satisfied with it. on the other hand, it might not be fully appreciated by someone who expects something much more defined and typical of a newer generation, like house music or techno-ambient stuff like Orbital. By Alex H. Miller

I've always been an agnostic when it comes to remastered versions of classic albums. However, this brilliant album was remastered by Robert Fripp himself, along with Simon Heyworth. As a result, the integrity of the music is maintained while the quality of the recording stands head and shoulders above the remastering attempts of others.

"Wind on Water," which originally sounded more or less like solid chords, is revealed as an intricate network of looped sounds. "Evensong" likewise is exposed as having much greater depth than I ever suspected. As for "Evening Star," a piece of music so beautiful it seems as though it simply dropped out of heaven, it's even richer.

However, it is "An Index of Metals" that stands as a testament to the skill of Fripp and Heyworth. I've listened to this piece hundreds of times, and it never sounded like this. The depth, the clarity, and the dynamics that are present in this remastering are unparalleled in any remastered CD I've ever heard. By The Glass Guitar.

As the name implies, Fripp & Eno is a musical pairing of two highly prolific and influential musicians. Brian Eno has worked with and influenced countless musicians with his innovative production work and solo albums that pushed the boundaries of ambient/experimental music. On the other hand, Robert Fripp is best known as the guitarist of the legendary progressive rock band King Crimson. Together they released two ambient albums in the 1970s, entitled ‘(No Pussyfooting)’ and ‘Evening Star’.

‘Evening Star’ is the album that opened my eyes to the potential beauty and purpose of ambient. The album is filled with bubbling electronics and beautifully sparse guitar melodies that intertwine with one another to make some of the most gorgeous, but subtle music I’ve ever heard. The title track, which is my personal favorite, begins with a guitar loop panned to one side with accompanying electronic keys panned to the other. As the the piece progresses, soaring waves of sound are added into the mix, resulting in an almost overwhelming sense of exquisiteness. The last half of the album is dedicated to a 28 minute sound experiment entitled “An Index Of Metals”. Layers upon layers of guitar and effects are piled upon one another, as the droning sounds slowly enter different stages of distortion. Despite its length, this track is an ultimately rewarding experience and laid the groundwork for many artists in the field of sound experimentation.

‘Evening Star’ should be one of the stepping stones for anyone who is interested in ambient music. The arrangements on the first half of the album are accessible enough for anyone with a love of music to enjoy. The carefully placed layers of sound reveal new details with every listen, which always makes for a rewarding experience. Check out this album for its innovation and pairing of two musical geniuses at the height of their game. by Kyle

Track listing

All tracks written by Brian Eno and Robert Fripp, except "Wind on Wind" by Eno.

1.  "Wind on Water" – 5:30
2.  "Evening Star" – 7:48
3.  "Evensong" – 2:53
4.  "Wind on Wind" – 2:56
5.  "An Index of Metals" – 28:36

Personnel:

Robert Fripp – guitar
Brian Eno – tape loops, synthesizer, piano
 

Various Artists - A Brief History of Ambient Volume 2: 1993 "Imaginary Landscapes" (1974-1993)

Ambient 2: Imaginary Landscapes is a 1993 compilation album released on the Virgin Records label, part of its Ambient series. The compilation was issued as a double CD.

In December of 1993, Virgin Records released a second two-disc collection of ambient music as a follow-up to the commercially and critically successful first volume in the series A Brief History of Ambient. Interestingly, the liner notes state that the series title is "an affectionate nod in the direction of Stephen Hawking."

Once again culled exclusively from the Virgin vaults, this second collection is a bit more narrowly focused than its predecessor. On some level, though, it is mostly "more of the same," with many of the same artists (Brian Eno, Amorphous Androgynous, Tangerine Dream, David Sylvian, The Grid, Robert Fripp, Gong, Edgar Froese and Holger Czukay) making another appearance. 'Course, "more of the same" with artists of this caliber isn't really a bad thing. While Volume 1 did feature a track by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, it is Volume 2 that sports a more international roster, with tracks by Baaba Maal [Senegal], Ryuichi Sakamoto [Japan], The Guo Brothers [China], Prince Far I [Jamaica], The Dmitri Pokrovski Ensemble [Russia] and The Tsinandali Choir [Georgia]. Fans of the bands Gong and Soft Cell will be interested to note the solo track by founding member Daevid Allen. Also of probable interest to some is a track by U2's guitarist The Edge from the soundtrack to the obscure Euro thriller Captive.

Track listing / Artist:

Disc One    
01.     "Call to Prayer"       Baaba Maal     3:52
02.     "Tal Coat"       Brian Eno     5:06
03.     "In Mind"       Amorphorous Androgynous     5:26
04.     "Rubycon, Pt. 2" (Edit)     Tangerine Dream     6:32
05.     "The Healing Place"       David Sylvian     5:16
06.     "Crystal Clear" (The Orb Remix: Clear, Like An Unmuddied Lake)     The Grid     6:12
07.     "Nuages"       Ryuichi Sakamoto     2:08
08.     "Wind on Water"       Fripp/Eno     5:15
09.     "Wildlife"       Penguin Cafe Orchestra     8:11
10.     "When Things Dream"       Jansen/Barbieri     2:39
11.     "Magick Mother Invocation"       Allen, Gong     1:33
12.     "Bringing Down the Light"       Sylvian/Fripp     8:14
13.     "Not Another"       Jah Wobble     3:12
14.     "One Flower"       The Guo Brothers & Shung Tian     1:31
15.     "Black Jesus"       God     6:34
16.     "Mountain of Needles"       Eno/Byrne     2:33

Disc Two     
01.     "You Are Here"       Phil Manzanera     1:46
02.     "Bendel Dub"       Prince Far I     3:05
03.     "Slow Kaliuki" (Edit)     The Dimitri Pokrovsky Ensemble     0:29
04.     "Euterpe Gratitude Piece"       Daevid Allen     9:21
05.     "Water Music"       Fripp     1:16
06.     "New Moon at Red Deer Wallow"       Rain Tree Crow     5:01
07.     "Attack of the 50 Foot Drum Demon"       Bass-O-Matic     4:14
08.     "Mekong"       Jam Nation     5:09
09.     "Endless Life"       The Verve     5:15
10.     "Nachtmusik Schattenhaft"       Klaus Schulze     6:31
11.     "Arrival" (Edit)     Voyager     7:14
12.     "Specific Gravity of Smile"       Edgar Froese     9:29
13.     "Orovela"       The Tsinandali Choir     4:54
14.     "Dance #3"       Laraaji     3:02
15.     "Premonition (Giant Empty Iron Vessel)"       Sylvian/Czukay     6:37
16.     "Island"       The Edge     6:37

Robert Fripp - 1995 "A Blessing of Tears" - Soundscapes Vol. 2 - Live

When Robert Fripp's mother passed away in 1993, he chose the new age sounds of his soundscape series to serve as a tribute to her. The liner notes in the CD booklet contain a beautifully written eulogy (by Fripp himself) about the interesting life of his mother Edie. Fripp does an excellent job of conveying his grief in the eight selections that comprise A Blessing of Tears, while his sorrow is evident in some of the tracks' titles ("The Cathedral of Tears," "A Blessing of Tears," etc.). All of the tracks were recorded live during a week-long U.S. West Coast tour, and it differs from the preceding Soundscapes release, Radiophonics, because its sole purpose is obviously not to test his audience's "listening capabilities." Fripp has once again successfully put his most personal and heartfelt feelings into his music, the proof being heard throughout the beautiful A Blessing of Tears: 1995 Soundscapes, Vol. 2.

Robert Fripp's "A Blessing of Tears" consists of improvised live performances from Fripp's solo soundscapes tour in the beginning of 1995. Soundscapes is a form of digital guitar looping based on Frippertronics-- tape-based guitar looping that Brian Eno concocted. Fripp performs this in many contexts, in the case of this album, as a solo performer. The music on this album is entirely improvised, with only Fripp's guitar and processing in place. The result does not sound like a solo guitar record, but closer to electronic orchestral ambient music. It is fragile and often of stunning beauty, in particular on this album-- "A Blessing of Tears" is a reflection on the death of Fripp's mother, whose eulogy (by the guitarist) is included in the liner notes.

From the opening track ("The Cathedral of Tears"), the mood is set. The piece is achingly beautiful, suggestive of loss, prodding but in a gentle way, and overall mournful. This theme and feel is developed over the next two pieces ("First Light", whose loops hint at Fripp's solo line in 2003's "The Power To Believe II" and the album's standout track, "Midnight Blue", a piece of such a delicate nature it demands its listener to stop and listen) before sort of resetting on "Reflection I", whose gentle themes provide an openness not found on the previous tracks. Again,there seems to be a trilogy of pieces on this one, as "Second Light" and "A Blessing of Tears" build on this mood and establishment. The couplet at the end of the album, "Returning I" and "Returning II", is actually the same track, only the tape is played in reverse on one of them. It is interesting to contrast the two, as they are evocative in different manners.

This is certainly the best of the 1995 soundscapes series and likely the best of Fripp's ambient catalog. If you are a fan of ambient music, or of Robert Fripp, this is essential, if you are curious, this is where to start. Highly recommended.

The "Soundscapes" are more technologically sophisticated frippertronics and while the concept itself is not original, the effectiveness of tools is nonexistent without a good ear for sound. With _A Blessing of Tears_, Fripp has crafted an album of such beauty that you will wonder how it can even be real! All the pieces are taken from improvised, live solo performances. It is hard to describe what it sounds like, it is sort of like a rapturous form of guitar soloing... Fripp pensively constructs various levels of looped guitar synths through digital electronics (as opposed to the old frippertronics use of analog tapes), bearing no resemblance to usual guitar music, just a constantly shifting, alien voices that make your billions of individual cells quiver with ineffable emotions.

It is not like ambient new-age music for SISSIES that goes over you like moving water -- this gives most benefit to the active listener, rather than some passive-aggressive dingus trying to chill out. The way Fripp makes the different voices sort of "speak" to each other is very beautiful, and more engaging, like the solos from Crimson's "Walking on Air" but more complex. There is an emphasis on lots of minor and augmented harmonies, or harmony is strangely suspended altogether.

It is not like an ambient, textural wall of sound, it is about dialogue between different voices, a ravishing polyphony in the language of angels. There is no real structure so one is just lucky that this music was recorded and one can listen. That is part of why this music is a peaceful, mystical experience. _A Blessing of Tears_ is a meditation on sadness, dedicated as it is to the memory of Fripp's mother, but I find this album does not make me feel sad. As with the world, we see suffering and evil and we are distressed by how the world is apparently such a malevolent place. But past this veil of sadness, is a sense of reconciliation and recognition that all the instruments in the symphony of the Absolute meld into a perfectly coherent, beautiful whole. We think of pain and death, but we must also think of beauty, friendship, peace and love.

This is an excellent album!

https://jazz-rock-fusion-guitar.blogspot.com/search?q=Robert+Fripp

Track listing:

1 The Cathedral Of Tears 6:30
2 First Light 7:59
3 Midnight Blue 6:06
4 Reflection I 6:06
5 Second Light 7:25
6 A Blessing Of Tears 8:37
7 Returning I 4:00
8 Returning II 5:12

Personnel:

Guitar, Producer – Robert Fripp

Brian Eno - 1975 "Another Green World"

Another Green World is the third studio album by English musician Brian Eno. Produced by Eno and Rhett Davies, it was originally released by Island Records in September 1975. As he had done with previous solo albums, Eno worked with several guest musicians including Phil Collins, John Cale and Robert Fripp. The album marked a great musical change from Eno's previous albums. Using his instruction cards the Oblique Strategies for guidance, the album contained fewer lyric-based rock songs and had stronger emphasis on instrumental productions; many without the aid of guest musicians. The dark humour of the lyrics also changed to more dreamlike and obscure songs.
The album failed to chart in the United States or the United Kingdom. Another Green World met with high praise from several critics, while others suggested that the album was too great a departure from Eno's previous more rock-based material. Modern reception of Another Green World has been very positive; several critics and publications often place the album on lists of the top albums of all time. The title track was used as the theme music for BBC Two television's arts series Arena.

A universally acknowledged masterpiece, Another Green World represents a departure from song structure and toward a more ethereal, minimalistic approach to sound. Despite the stripped-down arrangements, the album's sumptuous tone quality reflects Eno's growing virtuosity at handling the recording studio as an instrument in itself (à la Brian Wilson). There are a few pop songs scattered here and there ("St. Elmo's Fire," "I'll Come Running," "Golden Hours"), but most of the album consists of deliberately paced instrumentals that, while often closer to ambient music than pop, are both melodic and rhythmic; many, like "Sky Saw," "In Dark Trees," and "Little Fishes," are highly imagistic, like paintings done in sound that actually resemble their titles. Lyrics are infrequent, but when they do pop up, they follow the free-associative style of albums past; this time, though, the humor seems less bizarre than gently whimsical and addled, fitting perfectly into the dreamlike mood of the rest of the album. Most of Another Green World is like experiencing a soothing, dream-filled slumber while awake, and even if some of the pieces have dark or threatening qualities, the moments of unease are temporary, like a passing nightmare whose feeling lingers briefly upon waking but whose content is forgotten. Unlike some of his later, full-fledged ambient work, Eno's gift for melodicism and tight focus here keep the entirety of the album in the forefront of the listener's consciousness, making it the perfect introduction to his achievements even for those who find ambient music difficult to enjoy. 

Track listing:

All songs written by Brian Eno.

   01 "Sky Saw"  – 3:25
   02 "Over Fire Island"  – 1:49
   03 "St. Elmo's Fire"  – 3:02
   04 "In Dark Trees"  – 2:29
   05 "The Big Ship"  – 3:01
   06 "I'll Come Running"  – 3:48
   07 "Another Green World"  – 1:38
   08 "Sombre Reptiles"  – 2:26
   09 "Little Fishes"  – 1:30
   10 "Golden Hours"  – 4:01
   11 "Becalmed"  – 3:56
   12 "Zawinul/Lava"  – 3:00
   13 "Everything Merges with the Night"  – 3:59
   14 "Spirits Drifting"  – 2:36

Personnel:

Credits adapted from Another Green World back cover.

"Sky Saw" Phil Collins – drums Percy Jones – fretless bass Paul Rudolph – anchor bass Rod Melvin – rhodes piano John Cale – viola section Eno - snake guitar, digital guitar "Over Fire Island" Phil Collins – drums Percy Jones – fretless bass Brian Eno – vocals, synthesizer, guitars, tapes "St. Elmo's Fire" Robert Fripp – wimshurst guitar Brian Eno – organ, piano, yamaha bass pedals, synthetic percussion, desert guitars "In Dark Trees" Brian Eno – guitars, synthesizer, electric percussion and treated rhythm generator "The Big Ship" Brian Eno – synthesizer, synthetic percussion and treated rhythm generator "I'll Come Running" Robert Fripp – restrained lead guitar Paul Rudolph – bass, snare drums, bass guitar, assistant castanet guitars Rod Melvin – lead piano Brian Eno – vocals, castanet guitars, chord piano, synthesizer, synthetic percussion "Another Green World" Brian Eno – desert guitars, farfisa organ, piano "Sombre Reptiles" Brian Eno – Hammond organ, guitars, synthetic and Peruvian percussion, electric elements and unnatural sounds "Little Fishes" Brian Eno – prepared piano, farfisa organ "Golden Hours" Robert Fripp – Wimborne guitar John Cale – viola Brian Eno – choppy organs, spasmodic percussion, club guitars, uncertain piano "Becalmed" Brian Eno – Leslie piano, synthesizer "Zawinul/Lava" Phil Collins – percussion Percy Jones – fretless bass Paul Rudolph – guitar Rod Melvin – rhodes piano Brian Eno – grand piano, synthesizer, organ and tape "Everything Merges with the Night" Brian Turrington – bass guitar, pianos Brian Eno – guitar "Spirits Drifting" Brian Eno – bass guitar, organ, synthesizer

Jack DeJohnette - 1978 [2000] "New Directions"

 

New Directions is an album by Jack DeJohnette released on the German ECM label. It was recorded June 1978 at Talent Studio in Oslo and released in 1978.

New Directions found drummer/pianist Jack DeJohnette reflecting on the multiple routes his musical life had taken and summarizing them in a single band. “My idea was to put together a cast of unlikely characters”. He’d worked with Eddie Gomez in the Bill Evans Trio, played extensively with John Abercrombie in the Gateway trio and a new alliance with Art Ensemble trumpeter Lester Bowie reconnected Jack to the experimental spirit of the early AACM. “With Lester added we had four strong and very different characters, could cover a lot of musical areas, and the chemistry was fantastic.” New Directions, recorded in 1978, won France’s Prix du Jazz Contemporain de L’Academie Charles Cros.

Jack DeJohnette's New Directions was a jazz supergroup (circa 1978) made up of Lester Bowie (of the Art Ensemble of Chicago), Eddie Gomez (known for his work with Chick Corea), John Abercrombie (an ECM guitarist whose previous work had been in the John McLaughlin vein) and, of course, DeJohnette himself on Drums. I would call this music ambient jazz, with an eery, yet beautiful, dreamlike quality.
The playing (of DeJohnette, Abercrombie, and particularly Lester Bowie) on this album is revelatory.
DeJohnette's cymbal and snare work, recorded here in ECM's pristine clarity, seems to flow directly out of the collective unconcious. He plays endless variations on rhythms, never ceasing to groove, oh so subtly. If you broke his beats down measure by measure, any given measure would be enough for another drummer to fill an entire song.
John Abercrombie lays back and plays atmospherics throughout most of the album. He displays very little of the Mahavishnu-esque pyrotechnics he was wont to spew previous to this album. The atmosphere's he creates remind me of Brian Eno's ambient music at times. Maybe he had been listening to Robert Fripp. I don't know. But his playing is beautiful and unique throughout most of the album. In fact, while I doubt many 1980's pop/rock guitarists ever listened to this album, Abercrombie's playing here is an ambient jazz precursor to the playing of people like the Edge (on Unforgettable Fire), or Johnny Marr, or the guitar work on Joy Divisions Closer album.
But it is the trumpet of Lester Bowie for which this album most deserves to be remembered. While Lester did much great work in his life, he would often interrupt his best work to express the clown spirit which was so much a part of his nature. Here, though, Lester seems on a mission to express the entirety of his spirit. There's clowning to be sure, but it's framed in the larger picture of "Great Black Music, Ancient to the Future" which the Art Ensemble set out to express.
This album contains two tracks which should go down in the history of jazz as classics.
Bayou Fever is an extended, almost formless, field-holler with a a humid and surreal atmosphere. On this track Bowie plays the Blues as if he were it's culmination. It's not a blues, but Bowie's feel embodies the blues while, at the same time, being something else entirely.
Jack DeJohnette's piano ballad Silver Hollow is exquisite; touching and sentimental, without being sappy. Once again, Lester Bowie steals the show. Who would have guessed he could play this tenderly? His work on this track rivals Miles Davis' playing on tracks such as Blue in Green, Round Midnight, or Someday My Prince Will Come.

Jack's playing is perpetually crisp and inventive. He really has no clichés in his playing, yet his touch and feel are unmistakable. The real gem on this set has no drums at all, but Jack plays the piano. Silver Hollow is one of my favorite DeJohnette compositions, and its treatment here in the hands of Jack, John Abercrombie, Eddie Gomez and MVP Lester Bowie goes above and beyond. Buy it for that track, the rest is merely outstanding.

This is a great record -- nearly an all-time jazz classic. From the very first chords of "Bayou Fever," you're in a dreamscape created by four brilliant musicians at the very peak of their abilities, and enmeshed in a telepathic quartet setting that brought out the best in them. Abercrombie never sounded better -- he's at his most subtle and oracular here; Lester Bowie sounds like he's infected with some kind of voodoo that Miles himself never came down with; DeJohnette sounds like three guys, but never too busy, always selflessly stoking the groove; and Gomez is perfect here, adding lead notes that haunt the melodies like a voice you can't get out of your head. This is the stuff. The acoustic "Silver Hollow" at the end, after all that swirling blackness, is so beautiful it's almost too much!  

Track listing:

All compositions by Jack DeJohnette except as indicated.

    "Bayou Fever" – 8:40
    "Where or Wayne" – 12:25
    "Dream Stalker" (Abercrombie, Bowie, DeJohnette, Gomez) – 5:55
    "One Handed Woman" (Abercrombie, Bowie, DeJohnette, Gomez) – 10:49
    "Silver Hollow" – 8:24

Personnel:

Jack DeJohnette – drums, piano
John Abercrombie – guitar, electric mandolin
Lester Bowie – trumpet
Eddie Gómez – double bass

Robert Fripp, Jeffrey Fayman - 2000 "Temple In The Clouds"

From 2000: A stunning album of looped Frippertronics and electronics, in the vein of the classic Fripp & Eno No Pussyfooting collaboration.

Recorded live from a past life. Awash in the hypnotic looping structures of Robert Fripp’s guitar soundscapes, Jeffrey Fayman adds an opulent cinematic brilliance to the proceedings, creating an intense and dramatic vision of a future rich in the heritage of Fripp’s past.

A Temple In The Clouds is a unique collaboration between one of rock’s most important and influential guitarists and a contemporary cinematic composer. Fripp’s contribution of two hours worth of treated guitar work (his trademark “Frippertronics”) formed the basis for Fayman’s layering of interwoven electronic soundscapes. Focusing on the subtleties and slight shifts in overtones and harmonics, Fayman & Fripp have created a dynamic musical kaleidoscope, ever changing and intrinsically radiant in each sonic fractal.

AmbientVisions: "A Temple in the Clouds is a spiritual and euphoric soundscape by Jeffrey Fayman and Robert Fripp(!). A glorious album of Frippertronics and contemplative sound sculptures. The sheer spirituality of their experiences shines in this ethereal ambience and insightful minimalism. The joy and beauty of the soul is touched. Piercing rays of bright and unfettered emotion overshadow the dark undertones. This disc is a spiritual journey."

Robert Fripp is like a box of chocolates. One minute he's the evil scientist pumping out some of the most intense and disturbing metal ever recorded with the boys in King Crimson, and the next minute he's a new age disciple using his guitar to create incredibly soothing and "healing" textures. A Temple in the Clouds - a collaboration with keyboardist Jeffrey Fayman - would fall in the latter camp as it is a collection of Fripp's patented "Soundscapes" mixed in with Fayman's keyboards stylings and some ambient outdoor sounds. If the goal of the music (actually, calling it music is a stretch - "ambient backgrounds" would be more appropriate) is to put the listener in almost a meditative trance-like state, A Temple in the Clouds succeeds on every level. After listening to this CD multiple times, I literally felt as if every muscle in my body had called out sick and gone to Tahiti.

According to the liner notes, in 1992 Fripp and Fayman took a pilgrimage to the Greek temple of Anapraxis (along with three tons of recording equipment) with the idea of hopefully capturing some of the mystique of ancient Greece on tape. The sounds captured there - along with some samples from Fripp's Let the Power Fall, - comprise the four tracks on A Temple in the Clouds. Musically speaking, the tracks are mostly exercises in patience and subtlety - the slow chord changes take you from Point A to Point B without really allowing you to remember how you got there. Fripp's guitar acts as the foundation for the CD, while Fayman colors in the spaces with sweeping synthesizers that lend an almost ominous tone to the tracks. The prime example of this eeriness is the 30-minute title track - by the time I was 10 minutes into the track I was definitely completely relaxed, but there was also a residual feeling of something not quite being right.

So if your interest lies in Fripp's guitar chops and "traditional" song structure, you won't be happy here. But, if you're looking for ambient sounds that patch directly into the very essence of what you are, then look no further than A Temple in the Clouds. I guarantee that no matter how stressed and anxious you may feel from the mundane day-to-day existence on planet Earth, spending an hour Fripp and Fayman will put your mind and body at ease - and in these hectic and fast-paced times an experience like A Temple in the Clouds is priceless.

https://jazz-rock-fusion-guitar.blogspot.com/search?q=Robert+Fripp

Tracks Listing:

1. The Pillars Of Hercules (15:23)
2. The Sky Below (4:32)
3. A Temple In The Clouds (30:59)
4. The Stars Below (3:30)

Total Time 50:28

Personnel:

- Robert Fripp / soundscapes
AND
- Jeffrey Fayman / tranceportation


Note: The actual instrumentation could not be fully confirmed at this moment

Robert Fripp & Brian Eno - 1994 "The Essential Fripp & Eno"

This compilation of the recorded collaborations between guitarist Robert Fripp and producer/conceptualist/musician Brian Eno is taken from two album-length recordings made for the Island subsidiary Antilles in 1974 and 1975, No Pussyfooting and Evening Star, with an unreleased 1979 session added on. "The Heavenly Music Corporation" and "Swastika Girls," totaling 39 minutes, make up the whole of No Pussyfooting. Both of these pieces are slowly evolving reel-to-reel tape experiences that are hypnotic and remain revelatory decades later. "Wind on Water" and "Evening Star" account for half of the latter album's first side; they are easily the two most beautiful and "melodic" cuts issued by the pair. The remaining 22 minutes are the previously unissued, four-part "Healthy Colours." These cuts are radically different from their predecessors -- they're more rhythmic, employing digital drum loops, a plethora of dynamic samples, and a wider array of sound effects and treatments. They also point at future projects: Eno's collaboration with David Byrne on My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, and King Crimson's reunion album, Discipline, thereby making them compelling listens, while the earlier material is still essential listening decades after its initial release.

"The first two tracks of this release are the complete "No Pussyfooting", which I have reviewed in its section for this web page. The following two tracks are taken from "Evening Star"; the final four tracks--Healthy Colours 1-4--are available only with this release. So put simply, this CD replaces "No Pussyfooting", but the rest of "Evening Star" is, I believe, still quite essential.

"All of that out of the way, I would refer the reader to my review of "No Pussyfooting" and add my comments on "Healthy Colours": This suite of tracks is certainly worth owning, but don't expect to find classic Fripp-Eno. The tracks are far more similar to the Eno-Byrne release, "My Life With Ghosts." An electronic rhythm sequence is played (very obviously by Eno) and over that we hear broadcasts from American talk-radio programs and the occassionally quirky guitar line from Mr. Fripp. All of this is, to my ears, more interesting than a description can possibly convey. Overall, if not classic Eno-Fripp, these tracks make for a nice addition to recorded careers of these two fine artists." 

This compilation includes ALL of the milestone (both tracks complete/unedited from the) 1973 No Pussyfooting album, the seminal ambient/non-ambient recording with guitar and loops, as well as 2 cuts from the 2nd album Evening Star. YOU REALLY SHOULD OWN BOTH OF THESE ALBUMS COMPLETE, ABSOLUTELY - SO GET EVENING STAR AS A SEPARATE RELEASE WELL!
But MOST IMPORTANT of all ON THIS DISC, there is the previously unreleased 20 minutes of workup material for the never finished 3rd (circa 1978) Fripp & Eno album. "Healthy Colors I", "...II", "...III", and "...IV" are actually a precursor to the direction of material (avant funk grooves with found vocals), project that finally ended up as Brian Eno/David Byrne's My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts. The work with Fripp was abandoned, and the direction that Eno wanted to work in found was continued with Byrne, with whom he was a closer collaborator during that period.
An absolutely hilarious radio talk show host is superimposed over this terrain, which is complete with Fripp doing elephant roars on his guitar much before he worked with Belew! In an '80s audience Q&A, Fripp even answered a "when's the 3rd album [of Fripp & Eno] gonna come out?" question with "It's out already - My Life in The Bush Of Ghosts!" (which is why he has an arrangement credit on it, for the one cut that mutated out of Healthy Colours)
Essentially a 5 minute experiment, with each subsequent 5 minute segment [parts II, III, and IV) being subsequent passes with more and more layers added on top.
UNFORTUNATELY, the booklet that comes with this DOESN"T have any explanatory information, and thus the average owner of this item thinks it's some schlock that Virgin tossed together in the 90s, a late entrant in the trend started more than a decade previously by the milestone Bush Of Ghosts recording. NO! THIS is the work THAT caused that project to come into existence! [and BTW, I had a tape of this in '79 from friends in EG Management, as did others close to Eno]
And, of course, it is of a completely different direction - and listening 'head' - than the first two albums, so it is understandable that is a jarring upset when the other material that preceeds it has blsiised you out..

The musical experiments of King Crimson guitarist/founder Robert Fripp and electronic music pioneer/former Roxy Music member Brian Eno were definitely groundbreaking when they were released in the early to mid '70s. The pair released two albums, 1973's "No Pussyfooting" and 1975's "Evening Star", which paved the way for ambient and so-called 'new age' music.
With the 1994 compilation "The Essential Fripp and Eno", we are offered an excellent sampling of the noise that these two musicians made so long ago. The compilation includes the "No Pussyfooting" album in its entirety plus two tracks from "Evening Star" and the previously unreleased "Healthy Colours Parts 1-4" which was recorded in 1978.
"No Pussyfooting's" "The Heavenly Music Corporation" and "Swastika Girls" consist mostly of Robert Fripp performing fluid sustained guitar lines which are manipulated by Brian Eno using tape machines and a primitive synthesizer. It's beautiful and frantic at the same time.
"Wind on Water" and the title track from "Evening Star" have a more quieter surreal mood to them. "Evening Star" in particular has beautiful melodic parts with simplistic piano and guitar lines.
The unreleased "Healthy Colours" suite is quite different from the previous music made by the duo. Each of the four sections consist of repeated rhythm guitar patterns, a bouncy elementary synthesizer line and various tapeloops of speech all set to a primitive drum machine. This music is quite minimalistic and dry-sounding.
All together, "The Essential Fripp and Eno" covers the basics of what Robert Fripp and Brian Eno did as a musical force. Since they only released two albums together, I personally think that releasing this as a 2-disc set with "Healthy Colours" tacked onto the end would have been a better idea (The lenghty "Index of Metals" from "Evening Star" is an essential piece in my opinion). However, I have no complaints with the way this compilation is put together. The sound quality is stellar on this CD and so is the music. Here's hoping that Robert and Brian will reunite for something new real soon.

 Tracks Listing

1. The Heavenly Music Corporation (20:59)
2. Swastika Girls (18:38)
3. Wind on Water (5:29)
4. Evening Star (7:48)
5. Healthy Colours I (5:36)
6. Healthy Colours II (5:39)
7. Healthy Colours III (5:35)
8. Healthy Colours IV (5:35)

Total Time: 75:19

Line-up / Musicians

- Robert Fripp / guitar
- Brian Eno / electronics

Trey Gunn - 2000 "The Joy Of Molybdenum"

Once a student of guitarist Robert Fripp's, Trey Gunn has since graduated to become a longtime member of Fripp's group King Crimson and a bandleader in his own right. Playing what he calls a "touch guitar" (an eight-to-14-string tapping instrument custom-made by California designer Mark Warr), Gunn functions as both rhythm section member (with drummer/percussionist Bob Muller) and melodic partner (with guitarist Tony Geballe) on his fourth CD, The Joy of Molybdenum. Hard to define even by King Crimson's genre-defiant standards, the disc blends Eastern styles (Muller plays tablas and dumbeks as well as a drum kit) with occasionally metallic guitar and off-timed jazz/fusion rhythms. The opening title track is a 9/8 romp featuring staggered harmonic patterns by Gunn and Geballe, while "The Glove" showcases the guitarists' metal sensibilities over Muller's John Bonham-like drum pattern. Gunn and Geballe's accessories -- from acoustic 12-string guitar and mellotron to theremin, Leslie cabinet, and shortwave radio -- keep the psychedelia quotient high on "Hard Winds Redux" and "Rune Song," while Muller's arsenal of hand drums on "Untune the Sky" and "Gate of Dreams" make this trio approximate an acidic version of John McLaughlin's Shakti.

King Crimson's Trey Gunn co-produces this combination of world music and progressive rock with percussionist Bob Muller. Muller pumps out John Bonham-esque grooves while simultaneously playing tabla and hand drums. The psychedelic quotient runs high with the additions of guitar and Turkish saz, by Tony Geballe. Combined with Gunn's metal sensibilities, the trio culminates into an acidic version of John McLaughlin's Shakti.

"Big, bad bass ostinatos, slinky odd-time signatures, and percussion from every corner of the globe are the basis for this collection of other worldly soundscapes." - Bass Player magazine.

Gunn, the Warr Touch Guitar playing virtuoso of King Crimson and The Trey Gunn Band, continues to amaze his audiences time and time again with his lulling melodies and furious deep grooves. Gunn and company fuse their individual sounds into brilliantly textured masterpieces, where tranquilizing melodies and primal madness dance effortlessly together. -- from the House of Blues review.

Robert Fripp disciple Trey Gunn has taken some time out from his King Crimson day job to produce his new release, the strangely titled The Joy of Molybdenum. The album relies heavily on Gunn's groundbreaking work on 8, 10, and 12 string touch guitars, and also features guitarist Tony Geballe and percussionist Bob Muller. Upon first listen, you will SWEAR that you've found a lost King Crimson disc or are listening to another one of Fripp's "ProjeKcts; however, upon further listening you'll realize that... well... actually you'll still think you're listening to Fripp or Crimson. If anything is to be gathered from The Joy of Molybdenum, it is that while you can take the boy out of King Crimson, you can't take the Crimson out of the boy. And that's both good and bad...
The CD kicks off very impressively with the title track, which features some killer low-end touch playing by Gunn and a funky groove laid down by drummer Muller. As a matter of fact, the first four tracks on the CD continue with the groove assault - "The Glove" features some amazing Hendrix-style jams emanating from Gunn's touch guitar, "Hard Winds Redux" sounds like an updated and more danceable version of 80's Crimson classic "Disclipline," and "Rune Song: The Origin of Water" succeeds with some breezy drumming and Gunn and Gaballe's tandem "math rock" guitar runs. While Gunn is obviously meant to be the main attraction on these cuts, it is actually Muller's drumming that drives the tracks and keeps the rhythm moving along. It's quite obvious that this band can pretty much throw down a funky groove at a moment's notice, and it is the tracks that take advantage of this asset that are the most successful on the album. Which is exactly why I was totally stunned that the band decided to devote the last two-thirds of the album to a non-descript string of repetitive and uninspired ambient compositions...
Where the first few songs on The Joy of Molybdenum were examples of well executed future-rock tunes, the last batch of songs on the album are examples of plodding and uneventful experiments in noise. By taking Muller's effective drumming out of the mix, the songs lose a lot of their power, and instead become a string of bland trance-like cuts one right after the other. The album's closer, "Tehlikeli Madde" picks up the pace a little bit - but by this point the listener will probably have given up on Gunn and Co. or fallen asleep altogether.
In short, The Joy of Molybdenum is a very uneven release. The faster and more rhythmic tracks that start off the CD are excellent showcases for the band's instrumental prowess, but the ambient compositions that round out the CD are musical wastelands that simply suck all the life out of the listening experience. Hopefully Gunn's future efforts will focus less on background ambient music and more on in-your-face funk grooves. Unforunately, with Joy, this Gunn misses his mark.

Track listing:

1.The Joy of Molybdenum 05:27
2.The Glove 03:57
3.Hard Winds Redux 04:08
4.Rune Song: The Origin Of Water 06:13
5.Untune The Sky 07:17
6.Sozzle 04:53
7.Gate of Dreams 05:22
8.Brief Encounter 05:57
9.Tehlikeli Madde 03:41

Personnel:

Trey Gunn: 8, 10, and 12 string touch guitars, mellotron, theremin, shortwave, smokey guitar;
Tony Geballe: electric guitar, saz, acoustic 12-string guitar, leslie guitars, UPS guitars;
Bob Muller: drum kit, tabla, bandir, darbouka, bodhran, dumbek, gamelan drum, rik, metals, shakers 

Miles Davis - 1970 [1992] "A Tribute To Jack Johnson"

Jack Johnson, also known as A Tribute to Jack Johnson, is a soundtrack recorded by American jazz musician Miles Davis. The album was the second film score Davis had composed, after Ascenseur pour l'échafaud in 1957. In 1970, Davis was asked by Bill Cayton to record music for his documentary of the same name on the life of boxer Jack Johnson. Johnson's saga resonated personally with Davis, who wrote in the album's liner notes of Johnson's mastery as a boxer, his affinity for fast cars, jazz, clothes, and beautiful women, his unreconstructed blackness, and his threatening image to white men.
Jack Johnson was a turning point in Davis' career and has since been viewed as one of his greatest works. Davis, who wanted to put together what he called "the greatest rock and roll band you have ever heard," recorded with a line-up featuring guitarists John McLaughlin and Sonny Sharrock, keyboardists Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea, clarinetist Bennie Maupin, and drummers Jack DeJohnette and Billy Cobham^. The album's two tracks were drawn from one recording session on April 7 and edited together with recordings from February 1970 by producer Teo Macero. The music reflected Davis' interest in the eclectic jazz fusion of the time, but also foreshadowed the hard-edged funk that would fascinate him in the next few years.

The first major recording session for the album, which took place on April 7, 1970, was almost accidental: John McLaughlin, awaiting Miles's arrival, began improvising riffs on his guitar, and was shortly joined by Michael Henderson and Billy Cobham. Meanwhile, the producers brought in Herbie Hancock, who had been passing through the building on unrelated business, to play the Farfisa organ. Miles arrived at last and began his solo at about 2:19 on the first track.
The album's two long tracks were assembled in the editing room by producer Teo Macero. "Right Off" is constructed from several takes and a solo by Davis recorded in November 1969. It contains a riff based on Sly and the Family Stone's "Sing a Simple Song". Much of the track "Yesternow" is built around a slightly modified version of the bassline from the James Brown song "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud".This may be a deliberate allusion to the song's Black Power theme as it relates to the film's subject. "Yesternow" also incorporates a brief excerpt of "Shhh/Peaceful" from Davis's 1969 album In a Silent Way and a 10-minute section comprising several takes of the tune "Willie Nelson" from a session on 18 February 1970.

"Right Off" comprises a series of improvisations based on a B flat chord, but changing after approximately 20 minutes to an E chord. "Yesternow" has a similar B flat ostinato and shifts to C minor. It concludes with a voiceover by actor Brock Peters: "I'm Jack Johnson, heavy-weight champion of the world. I'm black. They never let me forget it. I'm black all right. I'll never let them forget it." The album's liner notes provide a description of the music.
Michael Henderson launches into an enormous boogie groove with Billy Cobham and John McLaughlin. Miles immediately leaves the control room to join in with them. He achieved exactly what he wanted for the soundtrack by creating the effect of a train going at full speed (which he compared to the force of a boxer). By chance, Herbie Hancock had arrived unexpectedly and started playing on a cheap keyboard that a sound engineer quickly connected.

None of Miles Davis' recordings has been more shrouded in mystery than Jack Johnson, yet none has better fulfilled Miles Davis' promise that he could form the "greatest rock band you ever heard." Containing only two tracks, the album was assembled out of no less than four recording sessions between February 18, 1970, and June 4, 1970, and was patched together by producer Teo Macero. Most of the outtake material ended up on Directions, Big Fun, and elsewhere. The first misconception is the lineup: the credits on the recording are incomplete. For the opener, "Right Off," the band is Miles, John McLaughlin, Billy Cobham, Herbie Hancock, Michael Henderson, and Steve Grossman (no piano player!), which reflects the liner notes. This was from the musicians' point of view, in a single take, recorded as McLaughlin began riffing in the studio while waiting for Miles; it was picked up on by Henderson and Cobham, Hancock was ushered in to jump on a Hammond organ (he was passing through the building), and Miles rushed in at 2:19 and proceeded to play one of the longest, funkiest, knottiest, and most complex solos of his career. Seldom has he cut loose like that and played in the high register with such a full sound. In the meantime, the interplay between Cobham, McLaughlin, and Henderson is out of the box, McLaughlin playing long, angular chords centering around E. This was funky, dirty rock & roll jazz. There is this groove that gets nastier and nastier as the track carries on, and never quits, though there are insertions by Macero of two Miles takes on Sly Stone tunes and an ambient textured section before the band comes back with the groove, fires it up again, and carries it out. On "Yesternow," the case is far more complex. There are two lineups, the one mentioned above, and one that begins at about 12:55. The second lineup was Miles, McLaughlin, Jack DeJohnette, Chick Corea, Bennie Maupin, Dave Holland, and Sonny Sharrock. The first 12 minutes of the tune revolve around a single bass riff lifted from James Brown's "Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud." The material that eases the first half of the tune into the second is taken from "Shhh/Peaceful," from In a Silent Way, overdubbed with the same trumpet solo that is in the ambient section of "Right Off." It gets more complex as the original lineup is dubbed back in with a section from Miles' tune "Willie Nelson," another part of the ambient section of "Right Off," and an orchestral bit of "The Man Nobody Saw" at 23:52, before the voice of Jack Johnson (by actor Brock Peters) takes the piece out. The highly textured, nearly pastoral ambience at the end of the album is a fitting coda to the chilling, overall high-energy rockist stance of the album. Jack Johnson is the purest electric jazz record ever made because of the feeling of spontaneity and freedom it evokes in the listener, for the stellar and inspiring solos by McLaughlin and Davis that blur all edges between the two musics, and for the tireless perfection of the studio assemblage by Miles and producer Macero. [The album was completely remastered and reissued in January of 2005, following the 2003 release of the Complete Jack Johnson Sessions box set by Legacy.]

Track listing:

1. Right Off - 26:54
2. Yesternow - 25:36

Personnel:

Trumpet – Miles Davis
Bass [Fender] – Michael Henderson
Drums – Billy Cobham
Guitar – John McLaughlin
Keyboards – Herbie Hancock
Liner Notes – Miles Davis
Saxophone – Steve Grossman
Voice [Jack Johnson's Voice] – Brock Peters

Miles Davis - 1971 [2003] "The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions" [5 CD Box]

The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions were recorded in April 1970 by Miles Davis, and released in September 2003. These sessions formed the basis for the 1971 album Jack Johnson, as well as some of the studio portions of Live-Evil.

Jack Johnson, also known as A Tribute to Jack Johnson, is a soundtrack recorded by American jazz musician Miles Davis. The album was the second film score Davis had composed, after Ascenseur pour l'échafaud in 1957. In 1970, Davis was asked by Bill Cayton to record music for his documentary of the same name on the life of boxer Jack Johnson. Johnson's saga resonated personally with Davis, who wrote in the album's liner notes of Johnson's mastery as a boxer, his affinity for fast cars, jazz, clothes, and beautiful women, his unreconstructed blackness, and his threatening image to white men.
Jack Johnson was a turning point in Davis' career and has since been viewed as one of his greatest works. Davis, who wanted to put together what he called "the greatest rock and roll band you have ever heard," recorded with a line-up featuring guitarists John McLaughlin and Sonny Sharrock, keyboardists Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea, clarinetist Bennie Maupin, and drummers Jack DeJohnette and Billy Cobham. The album's two tracks were drawn from one recording session on April 7 and edited together with recordings from February 1970 by producer Teo Macero. The music reflected Davis' interest in the eclectic jazz fusion of the time, but also foreshadowed the hard-edged funk that would fascinate him in the next few years.

The first major recording session for the album, which took place on April 7, 1970, was almost accidental: John McLaughlin, awaiting Miles's arrival, began improvising riffs on his guitar, and was shortly joined by Michael Henderson and Billy Cobham. Meanwhile, the producers brought in Herbie Hancock, who had been passing through the building on unrelated business, to play the Farfisa organ. Miles arrived at last and began his solo at about 2:19 on the first track.
The album's two long tracks were assembled in the editing room by producer Teo Macero. "Right Off" is constructed from several takes and a solo by Davis recorded in November 1969. It contains a riff based on Sly and the Family Stone's "Sing a Simple Song". Much of the track "Yesternow" is built around a slightly modified version of the bassline from the James Brown song "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud".This may be a deliberate allusion to the song's Black Power theme as it relates to the film's subject. "Yesternow" also incorporates a brief excerpt of "Shhh/Peaceful" from Davis's 1969 album In a Silent Way and a 10-minute section comprising several takes of the tune "Willie Nelson" from a session on 18 February 1970.

"Right Off" comprises a series of improvisations based on a B flat chord, but changing after approximately 20 minutes to an E chord. "Yesternow" has a similar B flat ostinato and shifts to C minor. It concludes with a voiceover by actor Brock Peters: "I'm Jack Johnson, heavy-weight champion of the world. I'm black. They never let me forget it. I'm black all right. I'll never let them forget it." The album's liner notes provide a description of the music.
Michael Henderson launches into an enormous boogie groove with Billy Cobham and John McLaughlin. Miles immediately leaves the control room to join in with them. He achieved exactly what he wanted for the soundtrack by creating the effect of a train going at full speed (which he compared to the force of a boxer). By chance, Herbie Hancock had arrived unexpectedly and started playing on a cheap keyboard that a sound engineer quickly connected.

None of Miles Davis' recordings has been more shrouded in mystery than Jack Johnson, yet none has better fulfilled Miles Davis' promise that he could form the "greatest rock band you ever heard." Containing only two tracks, the album was assembled out of no less than four recording sessions between February 18, 1970, and June 4, 1970, and was patched together by producer Teo Macero. Most of the outtake material ended up on Directions, Big Fun, and elsewhere. The first misconception is the lineup: the credits on the recording are incomplete. For the opener, "Right Off," the band is Miles, John McLaughlin, Billy Cobham, Herbie Hancock, Michael Henderson, and Steve Grossman (no piano player!), which reflects the liner notes. This was from the musicians' point of view, in a single take, recorded as McLaughlin began riffing in the studio while waiting for Miles; it was picked up on by Henderson and Cobham, Hancock was ushered in to jump on a Hammond organ (he was passing through the building), and Miles rushed in at 2:19 and proceeded to play one of the longest, funkiest, knottiest, and most complex solos of his career. Seldom has he cut loose like that and played in the high register with such a full sound.

 In the meantime, the interplay between Cobham, McLaughlin, and Henderson is out of the box, McLaughlin playing long, angular chords centering around E. This was funky, dirty rock & roll jazz. There is this groove that gets nastier and nastier as the track carries on, and never quits, though there are insertions by Macero of two Miles takes on Sly Stone tunes and an ambient textured section before the band comes back with the groove, fires it up again, and carries it out. On "Yesternow," the case is far more complex. There are two lineups, the one mentioned above, and one that begins at about 12:55. The second lineup was Miles, McLaughlin, Jack DeJohnette, Chick Corea, Bennie Maupin, Dave Holland, and Sonny Sharrock. The first 12 minutes of the tune revolve around a single bass riff lifted from James Brown's "Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud." The material that eases the first half of the tune into the second is taken from "Shhh/Peaceful," from In a Silent Way, overdubbed with the same trumpet solo that is in the ambient section of "Right Off." It gets more complex as the original lineup is dubbed back in with a section from Miles' tune "Willie Nelson," another part of the ambient section of "Right Off," and an orchestral bit of "The Man Nobody Saw" at 23:52, before the voice of Jack Johnson (by actor Brock Peters) takes the piece out.

 The highly textured, nearly pastoral ambience at the end of the album is a fitting coda to the chilling, overall high-energy rockist stance of the album. Jack Johnson is the purest electric jazz record ever made because of the feeling of spontaneity and freedom it evokes in the listener, for the stellar and inspiring solos by McLaughlin and Davis that blur all edges between the two musics, and for the tireless perfection of the studio assemblage by Miles and producer Macero.

The role of guitarist Sonny Sharrock is finally defined here. It has previously been discounted and provided endless grist for the Davis rumor mill how he was mixed out of the session. Yes, he was, but so was almost everyone but McLaughlin and Miles at one point or another. Check out Sharrock's killer slide playing that appears on the second inset of "Willie Nelson." For those who worship at the McLaughlin altar, there are the extra minutes of screaming, fuzz-drenched wailing on "Right Off" that were left on the floor by Macero.

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Track listing:
All compositions by Miles Davis except where noted.

Disc 1
1. "Willie Nelson (Take 2)**" February 18, 1970 at Columbia 30th Street Studio B 6:41
2. "Willie Nelson (Take 3)*" February 18, 1970 at CBS 30th Street Studio 10:21
3. "Willie Nelson (Insert 1)**" February 18, 1970 at CBS 30th Street Studio 6:33
4. "Willie Nelson (Insert 2)**" February 18, 1970 at CBS 30th Street Studio 5:22
5. "Willie Nelson (Remake Take 1)*" February 27, 1970 at Columbia Studio B 10:45
6. "Willie Nelson (Remake Take 2)" February 27, 1970 at Columbia Studio B 10:17
7. "Johnny Bratton (Take 4)*" February 27, 1970 at Columbia Studio B 8:18
8. "Johnny Bratton (Insert 1)*" February 27, 1970 at Columbia Studio B 6:39
9. "Johnny Bratton (Insert 2)*" February 27, 1970 at Columbia Studio B 5:20
10. "Archie Moore*" March 3, 1970 at Columbia Studio B 4:45

Disc 2
1. "Go Ahead John (Part One)**" March 3, 1970 at Columbia Studio B 13:07
2. "Go Ahead John (Part Two A)**" March 3, 1970 at Columbia Studio B 7:00
3. "Go Ahead John (Part Two B)**" March 3, 1970 at Columbia Studio B 10:06
4. "Go Ahead John (Part Two C)**" March 3, 1970 at Columbia Studio B 3:38
5. "Go Ahead John (Part One Remake)**" March 3, 1970 at Columbia Studio B 11:04
6. "Duran (Take 4)*" March 17, 1970 at Columbia Studio C 5:37
7. "Duran (Take 6)" March 17, 1970 at Columbia Studio C 11:20
8. "Sugar Ray*" March 20, 1970 at Columbia Studio B 6:16

Disc 3
1. "Right Off (Take 10)" April 7, 1970 at Columbia Studio B 11:09
2. "Right Off (Take 10A)**" April 7, 1970 at Columbia Studio B 4:33
3. "Right Off (Take 11)**" April 7, 1970 at Columbia Studio B 5:58
4. "Right Off (Take 12)**" April 7, 1970 at Columbia Studio B 8:49
5. "Yesternow (Take 16)*" April 7, 1970 at Columbia Studio B 9:49
6. "Yesternow (New Take 4)**" April 7, 1970 at Columbia Studio B 16:02
7. "Honky Tonk (Take 2)**" May 19, 1970 at Columbia Studio C 10:04
8. "Honky Tonk (Take 5)*" May 19, 1970 at Columbia Studio C 11:29

Disc 4
1. "Ali (Take 3)*" May 19, 1970 at Columbia Studio C 6:50
2. "Ali (Take 4)*" May 19, 1970 at Columbia Studio C 10:16
3. "Konda**" May 21, 1970 at Columbia Studio C 16:29
4. "Nem Um Talvez (Take 17)*" (Hermeto Pascoal) May 27, 1970 at Columbia Studio C 2:50
5. "Nem Um Talvez (Take 19)*" (Hermeto Pascoal) May 27, 1970 at Columbia Studio C 2:54
6. "Little High People (Take 7)*" (Hermeto Pascoal) June 3, 1970 at Columbia Studio C 6:52
7. "Little High People (Take 8)*" (Hermeto Pascoal) June 3, 1970 at Columbia Studio C 9:28
8. "Nem Um Talvez (Take 3)*" (Hermeto Pascoal) June 3, 1970 at Columbia Studio C 4:36
9. "Nem Um Talvez (Take 4A)" (Hermeto Pascoal) June 3, 1970 at Columbia Studio C 2:04
10. "Selim (Take 4B)" (Hermeto Pascoal) June 3, 1970 at Columbia Studio C 2:15
11. "Little Church (Take 7)*" (Hermeto Pascoal) June 4, 1970 at Columbia Studio C 3:18
12. "Little Church (Take 10)" (Hermeto Pascoal) June 4, 1970 at Columbia Studio C 3:15

Disc 5
1. "The Mask (Part One)*" June 4, 1970 at Columbia Studio C 7:47
2. "The Mask (Part Two)*" June 4, 1970 at Columbia Studio C 15:45
3. "Right Off" April 7, 1970 at Columbia Studio B 26:54
4. "Yesternow" April 7, 1970 at Columbia Studio B ("Yesternow") + February 18, 1970 at Columbia Studio B ("Willie Nelson", uncredited) 25:36

"Right Off" includes an excerpt from an unaccompanied trumpet solo from November 19 or 18, 1969
"Yesternow" includes excerpts from the unaccompanied November 1969 trumpet solo with arco bass overdubbed, "Shhh/Peaceful" from In a Silent Way and the unaccompanied November 1969 trumpet solo with the following overdubs: orchestra arranged by Teo Macero and narration by Brock Peters
"Willie Nelson (Remake Take 2)" and "Duran (Take 6)" were originally released on Directions.
All takes of "Go Ahead John" were released as one assembled track on Big Fun.
"Honky Tonk (Take 2)" was partially released Get Up With It and Live-Evil.
"Konda" was partially released on Directions.
"Nem Um Talvez (Take 4A)", "Selim (Take 4B)" and "Little Church (Take 10)" were released on Live-Evil.
(*) Previously Unissued
(**) Previously Unissued in Full

Personnel:

Miles Davis - Trumpet
Bennie Maupin - Bass Clarinet
Steve Grossman - Soprano Saxophone
Wayne Shorter - Soprano Saxophone
Chick Corea - Electric Piano, Organ, Electric Piano with Ring Modulator
Herbie Hancock - Organ, Electric Piano
Keith Jarrett - Electric Piano, Electric Piano with Wah Wah
Sonny Sharrock - Electric Guitar, Echoplex
John McLaughlin - Electric Guitar
Dave Holland - Electric Bass, Double Bass
Michael Henderson - Electric Bass
Gene Perla - Electric Bass
Ron Carter - Double Bass
Jack DeJohnette - Drums
Billy Cobham - Drums
Lenny White - Drums
Don Alias - percussion
Airto Moreira - Percussion, Berimbau, Cuica
Hermeto Pascoal - Voice, Drums