Live-Evil

This double-length collection is a combination of tracks recorded live in 1970 at Washington, D.C.'s Cellar Door and experimental studio work done during two sessions that same year (which also yielded Jack Johnson and other material). The personnel varies but is representative of the wholly electric Jack Johnson/Bitches Brew era, with John McLaughlin returning for the live and studio sessions and Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, Keith Jarrett, and Chick Corea passing through. While all those folks are Davis veterans, Brazilian musical mystic Hermeto Pascoal wrote and appears on "Little Church" ("Igrejinha"), "Nem Um Talvez" ("Not Even a Maybe"), and "Selim," taking the spacy vibe further into the stratosphere with his odd sounds and percussion. The deeply funky opening track, “Savid,” features Davis wailing away on wah-wah like Jimi Hendrix. While much of the material is far from meandering, “Funky Tonk” has a focused energy that stretches into the ecstatic with Davis again setting the pace. One might wonder why there wasn’t a “Live” album and an “Evil” one, but this is nonetheless a wonderfully overwhelming listening experience.