Today is doomsday.
I have in my hands a personal aural holy grail. It is a self-titled album from a band called Trio of Doom, which is composed of guitarist John McLaughlin, the late great bassist Jaco Pastorius and the late great drummer Tony Williams.
McLaughlin was the leader of ’70s jazz-fusion band the Mahavishnu Orchestra (“Birds of Fire,” “The Inner Mounting Flame,” etc.) He also played anarchic electric guitar for Miles Davis when the legendary trumpeter decided to channel the funk of James Brown, the grooves of Sly Stone and the psychedelia of Jimi Hendrix, and create cosmic-demonic music in “Bitches Brew” and beyond. McLaughlin also had a duet album with Carlos “Devadip” Sanatana titled “Love Devotion Surrender,” which featured the duo’s blistering cover of John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme. John’s “Electric Guitarist” album is essential listening. This was a time when musicians created music, and not just some repackaged, overproduced, and slyly marketed shit like we have today.
Tony Williams played monstrous drums as a member of Miles’ quintet in the mid ’60s, which also featured pianist Herbie Hancock, saxophonist Wayne Shorter and bassist Ron Carter. “E.S.P.,” “Miles Smiles,” “Sorcerer” “Nefertiti,” and highlights from the “Plugged Nickel” sessions — I remember buying all five albums in one day and ended up eating Lucky Me for the rest of the week. No regrets at all. Tony left Miles’ group shortly after the trumpeter went electric (well, the drummer stuck around for the sublime “In A Silent Way”) and concentrated on his own group at the time — Tony William’s Lifetime, which also featured keyboardist Larry Young, Cream bassist Jack Bruce at one point, and McLaughlin himself. (Guitarist Allan Holdsworth played on the latter Lifetime releases.) Tony’s “Emergency!” and “Turn it Over,” as well as the drummer’s session work with Eric Dolphy and Stanley Clarke, are also essential listening.
Before I listened exclusively to jazz, I already heard of Tony Williams on the Jimi Hendrix tribute album “In From the Storm,” where Williams jammed with guitarist Steve Vai and Free/Bad Company singer Paul Rodgers on Jimi’s Axis (Bold as Love). As Vai ends his dramatic solo (histrionically, of course) on that track, Tony plays what could be simply described as the drumroll of doom. It was like adding reverb to thunder. Never have I heard drums played that way. Williams is up there with Keith Moon and John Bonham.
Now, Jaco… What else can I say about the guy who revolutionized the role of the electric bass and created eloquent compositions in the process? Jaco recorded with guitarist Pat Metheny (“Bright Size Life”), singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell (“Hejira,” “Mingus,” “Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter” and the live platter “Shadows and Light”), Mike Stern, Al DiMeola, Herbie Hancock, and even Ian Hunter. Jaco was the bass player in my favorite Weather Report incarnation, playing sublime fretless passages (example: A Remark You Made) as well as funky syncopated staccato notes (example: Teen Town) to the thick bed of notes prepared by Wayne Shorter and keyboardist Joe Zawinul. Buy everything from “Heavy Weather” to “Night Passage,” especially the live “8:30.” (Lore has it that by way of introduction, the bassist told Zawinul, “Hi, I’m John Francis Pastorius III — and I’m the world’s greatest bass player.”)
Jaco recorded solo albums that are as awe-inspiring today as when they were first released in the ’70s and early ’80s: “Jaco Pastorius,” “Word of Mouth,” “The Birthday Concert,” “Invitation,” “Curtain Call” and the “Live in New York City” sessions.
Thus, the alliance of Jaco, John and Tony is almost mythical, like the gods of Olympus coming together to play at Aphrodite’s birthday party.
Sure, there were (and are) other great power trios in jazz. Tony and John played with Jack Bruce. Jaco played with Metheny and drummer Bob Moses. The Gateway trio also comes to mind (John Abercrombie, Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette.) You also have pianist/keyboardist Chick Corea, monster-drummer Dave Weckl and bassist John Patitucci whipping up a storm in ’80s and ’90s both electrically and acoustically. But the only threesomes I could compare with the Trio of Doom come from the other side of the musical fence. There’s the band composed of Hendrix, bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell. Or the one with Eric Clapton, Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker. Or even Led Zeppelin — minus Robert Plant. That’s how annihilative the lineup of Trio of Doom sounded to me.
The three extraordinary musicians played their one and only gig together on March 3, 1979 at the historic Havana Jam concert in Cuba — and it was a disaster. Well, according to McLaughlin in Bill Milkowski’s Jaco biography (The Extraordinary and Tragic Life of Jaco Pastorius), it was fittingly called “The Bay of Gigs.”
The concert featured pop stars Billy Joel, Stephen Stills and Kris Kristofferson. Also present were Weather Report and an all-star jazz ensemble that included Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Hubert Laws and Tony Williams. But it was the side project that everybody waited for; Trio of Doom was slated to play a 25-minute live set at the Karl Marx Theater in Havana. But Milkowski said in his Jaco bio that the performance was a mighty disappointment. Jaco, who was indulging in mind-altering substances at that time, grandstanded and ended up playing in a wrong key on one of the tracks, fingering A Major lines against McLaughlin’s C Minor blues.
On the “Havana Jam” compilation, McLaughlin refused the inclusion of Trio of Doom’s live track and instead shepherded the other two musicians into a New York studio to “rerecord” the tracks. As for the tracks recorded in Cuba, they were left to gather dust and years in Columbia vaults somewhere. Never to be heard of again.
Well, until now.
McLaughlin had “a change of heart” and has allowed the release of the trio set in Cuba (along with tracks recorded in a New York studio). I wouldn’t say “Trio of Doom” is one of the greatest fusion albums of all time (not in the same stratosphere as Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra or Lifetime classics) since it lacks a bit of coherence, but it is a very important musical document of a band composed of three of the greatest musicians that ever walked the earth. And it such a kick to listen to Jaco, John and Tony just letting things rip. What a kick-ass trio.
Tony opens the album with an apocalyptic drum solo before John and Jaco surge into the incendiary Dark Prince, a tribute to Miles. The interplay among three musicians on the up-tempo tune is astounding. Jaco’s A Major clashing with John’s C Minor? Well, I honestly cannot tell — and I don’t give a hoot either. What an absolute joy of a tune. Not even the Jimi Hendrix Experience played as bombastically and as spellbindingly fast. “And you thought the Mahavishnu Orchestra was loud,” says McLaughlin in the liner notes.
John and Tony play sublime backup to Jaco’s Continuum, which is arguably the best version I’ve heard of this tune. John’s chord voicings are subtle and eloquent, Tony’s cymbal work is gorgeous, and Jaco’s bass lines are ever so lyrical.
As for Are You The One, Are You The One?, a better version of it is on McLaughlin’s “Electric Guitarist” which is funkier and more focused. Trio of Doom’s take is more of a rambling jam-fest.
The fourth track, Para Oriente, is for me the best track on the Trio of Doom album. Jaco’s quicksilver solo is amazing. John’s English blues licks are startling. Tony brings the trio home with an insistent swing and an irrepressible backbeat. What a great, great band.
Doom never sounded so lovely.
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