Джек Джонсон: Майлс Дэвис альбомының тарихы

1971 studio album / soundtrack album by Miles Davis

Jack Johnson (also known as A Tribute To Jack Johnson on reissues) is a studio album and soundtrack by the American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Miles Davis. It was released on February 24, 1971, by Columbia Records. The album was conceived by Davis for Bill Cayton's documentary of the same name, on the life of boxer Jack Johnson. Its two 25 minute plus tracks were produced from recordings made on February 18 and April 7, 1970, at 30th Street Studio in New York City. Davis was inspired by the political and racial subtext of Johnson's saga as well as the hard rock and funk sounds of his own era, leading a rock inspired line up of musicians in the studio: guitarists John McLaughlin and Sonny Sharrock, keyboardists Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea, bass clarinetist Bennie Maupin, electric bassist Michael Henderson, and drummers Jack DeJohnette and Billy Cobham. Jack Johnson performed modestly on the record charts and was generally well received by contemporary critics. It has since been regarded as one of the best albums from Davis' career and the jazz rock genre, as well as his most overt venture into rock music. In 2003, the original album was reissued as part of The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions, a five disc box set featuring previously unreleased music from the recording sessions.

In 1970, Davis was asked by boxing promoter Bill Cayton to record music for a documentary he was producing, on the life of boxer Jack Johnson. Johnson's saga resonated personally with the musician, 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 of large black manhood to white men. The resulting album, Jack Johnson, was the second film score Davis had composed, after Ascenseur pour l'échafaud in 1957.

The music recorded for Jack Johnson reflected Davis' interest in the eclectic jazz fusion of the time while foreshadowing the hard edged funk that would fascinate him in the next few years. Having wanted to put together what he called "the greatest rock and roll band you have ever heard", Davis played with a line up featuring guitarists John McLaughlin and Sonny Sharrock, keyboardists Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea, bass clarinetist Bennie Maupin, and drummers Jack DeJohnette and Billy Cobham. The first track, "Right Off", was constructed from several takes and a solo Davis had recorded in November 1969. It also contains a riff based on Sly and the Family Stone's "Sing a Simple Song", most prominently at 18:44. 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". "Right Off" comprises a series of improvisations based on a B♭ chord, but changes after about 20 minutes to an E chord. "Yesternow" has a similar B♭ ostinato and shifts to C minor. According to The Guardians Tim Cumming, Jack Johnson abandoned jazz and the broad textures of Bitches Brew in favor of a concerted take on hard rock and funk, inspired as well by politics, the black power movement, and boxing. "[Davis] had a trainer who travelled with the band", Holland recalled. "He used to go to the gym every day. He was in his 40s, and that's prime time for musicians, when you're strong and all your faculties are there. He was playing incredibly."

Jack Johnson was released on February 24, 1971,—despite little marketing from the label. According to Davis, the record was originally released with the wrong cover: a depiction of Johnson in his car, illustrated in stylized period fashion. The intended cover—a photo of Davis playing trumpet in a bent backward stance—was used on subsequent pressings, which were titled A Tribute to Jack Johnson. In 2003, the album was included on The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions, a five disc box set featuring previously unreleased music from the original recording sessions. Reviewing the album in June 1971 for The Village Voice, rock critic Robert Christgau gave Jack Johnson an A plus and said it is his favorite recording from Davis since Milestones (1958) and Kind of Blue (1959). While finding it lacking in the excitement of the best moments from Bitches Brew, Christgau believed the album coalesces its predecessor's "flashy ideas" into "one brilliant illumination." Steve Starger of The Hartford Courant called the album "magnificent" and "another gem" in Davis' 20 year "string of gems", and wrote that the tracks "really make up one long, churning, steaming, brooding, slashing musical experience that never dips below the highest of art." Starger found the sidemen's performances masterful and said that Peters' voiceover at the end gives "Johnson's words frightening majesty". Less enthusiastic about the record was jazz musician and journalist Leonard Feather, who wrote a review for the Los Angeles Times titled "Miles Ahead and Miles Behind". Viewing Jack Johnson as a "letdown after the unflawed triumph" of Bitches Brew, Feather was particularly dismayed by Davis for aligning himself with "the thumping, clinking, whomping battering ram that passes for a rhythm section" on the album.

Jack Johnson was a turning point in Davis' career and has since been viewed as one of his greatest works. According to McLaughlin, Davis considered it to be his best jazz rock album. In The Penguin Guide to Jazz (2006), Richard Cook says Jack Johnson "stands at the head of what was to be Miles Davis's most difficult decade, artistically and personally", while Tom Hull names it one of the "true highlights" of the trumpeter's electric period and among his best albums. The Boston Herald cites it as one of Davis' "last truly great albums" and as "some of the most powerful and influential jazz rock ever played." Around 1985, he purchased copies of Davis' Sketches of Spain (1960) and Jack Johnson in a no frills used record shop for less than $5. "They have been my inspiring companions ever since", he told The Quietus in 2010. "The one tears me apart and the other puts me back together."

All songs were composed by Miles Davis.

Chart (1971)PeakpositionU. S. Billboard 200159U. S. Jazz Albums (Billboard)4U. S. R&B Albums (Billboard)47