ProJazz.net

Jack Johnson, later reissued as A Tribute to Jack Johnson, is a 1971 studio album and soundtrack by American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Miles Davis. 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. This was the second film score he had composed, after Ascenseur pour l’échafaud in 1957 (Wikipedia, https://goo.gl/Qzi85d).

The Allmusic review by Thom Jurek awarded the album five stars and stated ” 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.”

Track listing:

Side one
“Right Off” (Miles Davis) – 26:53
Side two
“Yesternow” (Miles Davis) – 25:34

Personnel:

Miles Davis – trumpet
Steve Grossman – soprano saxophone
John McLaughlin – electric guitar
Herbie Hancock – organ
Michael Henderson – electric bass
Billy Cobham – drums

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Released: February 24, 1971
Recorded: February 18 and April 7, 1970
Studio 30th Street Studio, New York City
Length: 52:26
Label: Columbia
Producer: Teo Macero