A Tribute to Jack Johnson [Remastered](Columbia/Legacy)

If the two funky, driving, 25-minute tunes from the original A Tribute to Jack Johnson – "Right Off" and "Yesternow" – are what you're looking for, this remastered reissue of Miles Davis's much-heralded 1970 album is powerful and innovative. Both songs are held together by a rock-solid rhythm section (strategically assisted by producer Teo Macero's facility as an editor). But if the bottom end defines the language of the album, its poetry is created by John McLaughlin's incredible guitar playing. Fusion – rock and jazz synthesized in near mythic fashion – was achieved and satisfaction delivered to the dogmatic jazz juries who would accept only what they considered the real thing. Such was the white man's burden.

You have to trudge through the 2003 five-CD Complete Jack Johnson Sessions to get a chuckle out of the reality check. Midway through the third CD, one can find the grooves that became "Right Off" and "Yesternow," which weren't the result of fusion under glass but rather came to life as Macero cut and pasted together various sessions, making sure Davis appeared prominently even if he was nowhere near the studio on some occasions.

To hear the end result, you have to listen to A Tribute to Jack Johnson. "Right Off" came about when Macero heard McLaughlin loosening up in the studio and proceeded to hustle a band in to accompany him, including Davis, who enters the song after two minutes and 19 seconds, and Herbie Hancock, who happened to be passing through the building.

"Yesternow" is more a pastiche than an organic song. In fact, Macero lifted sections of "Right Off" and inserted them into it. And the lineup that plays the first 12 minutes of the song (Davis, McLaughlin, Billy Cobham, Hancock, Michael Henderson, and Steve Grossman) is different from the players who close it out (Davis, McLaughlin, Jack DeJohnette, Chick Corea, Bennie Maupin, Dave Holland, and Sonny Sharrock).

Regardless of who played what, when, and for how long, the final edit resulted in a funky, airtight piece of music. Davis's solo on "Right Off" is so sharp it could cut you in half, and McLaughlin did nothing less than make himself a star. (J.H. Tompkins)