Because it rocks really hard and has first-rate musicianship as well? Plus how about that chunky guitar?

What's wrong with you for asking what's wrong with you about loving that album?

Guitar, yes. I love hearing uber-kentonite John McLaughlin just whang away on the guitar like that. Miles' solo is also pretty interesting. But the drumming and bass playing? Pretty dull, al things considered.

But you're missing the point, I think. This "song" is 26 minutes of the same damn chord (except for a clumsily edited, two-minute long snippet of "Kind Of Blue" in the middle somewhere, and a brief, jarring sojourn into a stolen Sly Stone riff). That right there should be a major disqualifier. But it isn't!

If you were on my couch, I'd say you have unresolved Oedipal issues, but mwall seems to suggest that in this case a banana is just a banana.

Seriously the sound itself is just great, esp the texture of the guitar, and the rhythm section plays that funky shuffle like they own it, even though this track supposedly started with McLaughlin improvising some riffs and Michael Henderson and Billy Cobham (I always forget it's not Tony Williams) falling into the groove. The legend is that Miles arrived late to the session, and just picked up his horn and joined in cold at around 2:23. As a friend of mine's father used to say, "Interesting, if true."

But as I think you know, this is not just a jam. All of the studio albums from this period are composed of tracks that Teo Macero edited together after the jams were over. That's why it sounds structured. The structure was imposed, or composed, from the raw materials of improvisation.

I have The Complete Jack Johnson sessions, but I bought it as a download, so I don't have access to the booklet. The other booklets in this 'complete sessions' series that I have seen have charts that show what parts of which take ended up in the final track. And he wasn't just editing out the boring parts. Very often there's a particular passage that gets looped or repeated in different parts of the final version.

This is what's in the boxset:

Right Off [take 10] -- 11:09
Right Off [take 10A]# -- 4:34
Right Off [take 11]# -- 5:39
Right Off [take 12]# -- 8:49

Again because I don't have the liner notes, I don't know what the # symbol means here. The final version of Right Off clocks in at 26:51. And I think you can tell that the slow passage that starts some time before the 10 minute mark and starts fading out around the 12 minute mark is older, I think from the Bitches Brew sessions.

There's lots more Herbie Hancock on the organ than appears in the final version. And lots more sax, though I wish Macero had just left poor Stephen Grossman on the cutting room floor. All through this period he seems to function as a breather, with the energy level going way down whenever he takes a solo.

Anyway I agree with you, I love this track. I have all of the Miles from the early 70s that I've been able to get my hands on, including all the 'sessions' releases and live stuff, official and bootleg, and this track is near the top of the list.

Re the 26 minutes of the same chord: well, look. This is one of the differences between jazz and rock: a 26-minute rock jam is almost by definition going to be a bore (although I think the Allman Brothers manage to do it well enough) but the improv nature of jazz allows for musicians who know how to stretch out in this way. And in this particular case, of course, as Steve points out, the song was put together from many parts, so the coherence of it is also a function of the editing.

Ever heard any of those Cecil Taylor 70 minute compositions? One piano for 70 minutes and often exciting too. Not possible in rock.

Waitaminnit, Mwall -- you can't get away with sweeping generalizations like this one:

... a 26-minute rock jam is almost by definition going to be a bore ... but the improv nature of jazz allows for musicians who know how to stretch out in this way.

You're suggesting that a one-chord vamp in jazz is okay because of jazz's innate "improv nature"? This holds even less water when you consider that "Jack Johnson" was Miles' attempt to purposely make a "rock" album.

Try again, doctor -- and hurry it up; my healthcare only pays for 12 of these visits in a year!

T-O-N-E! That guitar tone is awesome, maybe the greatest guitar tone ever captured on tape. He could be playing 26 minutes of the solo from Journey's "Wheel in the Sky" and I might hang in with it.

Bakshi, Davis did one chord vamps frequently over much of the next ten years, sometimes with diminishing returns, sometimes not. What do you think of "On The Corner"? Not as good as "Jack Johnson" but pretty good. And a lot of 70s acid jazz picked it up from him. The medium is limited, but it can produce results.

And come on, nobody really thinks "Jack Johnson" is a rock album any more than they think Zeppelin or the Stones made blues albums. It's a jazz album with a rock-influenced sound, nothing more.

Besides, I think I can get away with the generalization. How many good 20+ minutes songs are there in the whole history of rock and roll? About as many as there are on one or two good 60s Coltrane albums.

You all know I won't give the sweat off the bad part of my ass for most "jam"-fueled music. I am the original pop-Nazi when it comes to issues related to structure and its role in rock and roll -- and I usually have a particular distaste for all things purporting to take good old-fashioned rock and roll and make it more "progressive."

In all honesty, this doesn't sound like you to me, HVB. This sounds like a certain other Townsman, one that you perhaps fear a tounge-lashing from, should he discover your enjoyment of an electric Miles tune.

PS- Mr. Mod's right about that great guitar tone. You could easily find a similar tone on, say, The Kink Kontroversy.

It's a Les Paul through a Vox AC30, right?

I'm gonna say: definitely Les Paul. I'd guess a Marshall or Hiwatt, though.

Yours geekily,

HVB

p.s.: I ain't afraid of ol' Plurbie on this one. He can kiss my ass!

This one is not that heavily edited. The first 10 minutes or so are played straight up. I remember reading somewhere that this does have a chord change which Henderson blows through for about 8 bars before he gets pulled over to the new root. This happens at about the 2:30 mark when McLaughlin hist a couple of new chords right before Miles comes in. Miles comes in playing around the chords just introduced by McLaughlin and repeats the root note over and over until Michael Henderson stops the original riff and feels his way into the new key. It's full of these little flibs and weird transitions which is totally in line with the rough hewn sound of the piece.

Hearing Right Off tonight, I was surprised how much it reminded me of McLaughlin's pre-Mahavishnu album Devotion. If you really dig this, that one is probably worth checking out.

My speculation was based on what I believe was John McL's usual rig of choice. In NYC he may not have had his Vox with him.

I would also recommend LiveEvil, to which he contributes even more mind-melting guitar.

JACK JOHNSON is a real highpoint from the era (that box set is really worth its size in my book) but I'm a fan of a lot of the jazz-rock fusion from 68-71, before it became that thing called "fusion" that is all squishy in the middle. I'm a big fan of records from this era recorded by later suckwads like Larry Coryell, Steve Marcus, Jean-Luc Ponty, Tony Williams, Soft Machine, Gary Burton and McLaughlin (I'm a fan of DEVOTION as well as MY GOAL'S BEYOND and that semi-official session with Corea, McLaughlin, Holland, DeJohnette going "Gordie's Boots").

If there is something wrong with you, I'm definitely in favor of making it worse...

I'm gonna go buy the box set today.

Just made it easy as pie for you to order this box set through Amazon. See the end of Hrrundi's post. Thanks.

$24.97 for a 5-CD set? That's quite a bargain.

This is a pretty worthwhile set for that price. It has a number of earlier jams with Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette really doing some eccentric funk. You guys got me going through the thing with this discussion and I'm particularly fond of Take 4 of Duran.

HVB, I'm writing you a prescription for Xanax, & suggesting that you keep conscious in your mind the words of the great man who said, "There's only two types of music; good & bad". Breath deeply, & repeat it as a mantra if you feel yourself over-analyzing your enjoyment of this extended improve. It's good! Everyone says so. Let go of the guilt, it will only work against you. Relax, it's O.K. We'll see you again in a month.