Jesse Ed Davis: Tomorrow May Not Be Your Day: The Unissued Atco Recordings 1970-1971

Originally reissued in November 2024 as a limited-edition vinyl set, the seventy-four-some minutes of The Unissued Atco Recordings 1970-1971 derives from sessions for Jesse Ed Davis' debut LP Jesse Davis (Atco Records,1971) and its followup of a year later, Ululu (Atco Records, 1972). One of the most unheralded musicians of his time, Jesse Ed Davis' appearance is nevertheless virtually as recognizable as the tone of his guitar: the shock of black hair over his face brings focus to the close attention he pays to his hands on his instrument as he coaxes virtually uninterrupted strings of notes from it. A member of Taj Mahal's early groups (where his slide playing on "Statesboro Blues" inspired the late Duane Allman to learn the technique), Davis went on to play on Jackson Browne's debut album plus sessions with Bob Dylan and blues icon Albert King, all that activity in addition to participating in The Concert For Bangladesh (Apple, 1971) with George Harrison and as well as playing on and producing cofounder of The Byrds Gene Clark's second solo album White Light. The sound of Tomorrow May Not Be Your Day thus makes sense (especially as it does not resound with sonic presence). A musician as empathetic as Davis is bound to soak up the influences of those musicians and singers around him, so it is hardly a surprise this unissued version of this collection's title song is more than a little reminiscent of the eponymous solo debut of Leon Russell as well as that of guest guitarist Eric Clapton.

There, backed by Delaney and Bonnie & Friends, Clapton had not yet forged his own musical style. on guitar. Consequently, Davis' alternate take on Van Morrison's "Crazy Love" hews closely to the original from Moondance (Warner. Bros, 1970), unlike the version of "Caravan," from the same hallmark LP, which appears sans a vocal.

If Jesse Ed Davis proves himself more than an adequate singer on both those cuts, especially in falsetto tones on the former, it is his incisive blues-based guitar work that remains his real distinction. His slide work is particularly notable for its deceptively casual fluidity on this take of Lieber and Stoller's "Kansas City."

One of the eight instrumental cuts here (out of seventeen total), it is easily one of the compendium's highlights along with the bottleneck-dominated jam on Bob Dylan's "Love Minus Zero No Limit" and a similarly enticing, puckish rendition of "Qualified," co-written by Mac "Dr. John" Rebennack a/k/a/ Dr. John.

But there are compositions by other well-known names on this single compact disc, too, suggesting Jesse Ed Davis' good taste was not relegated strictly to his musicianship. The limits of his voice lend emotional weight to Smokey Robinson's "Tracks of My Tears," while a co-authoring of "Ain't No Beatle" with JJ Cale reaffirms the self-effacing aura the late Native American displayed in his performances in the studio and on stage.

The most memorable piece of this whole set, however, is also the one that sounds least like its surroundings. Davis' paean to his long-time partner, "Pat's Song (Golden Sun Goddess)," resembles no band so much as the (Jazz) Crusaders at their latter-day peak and, for the entirety of its near eleven-minute duration, manifests all the impeccable taste of its author at his best moments.

The lengths to which Real Gone Music went in archiving this package—see the family photos adorning the cover and the enclosed eight-page booklet—did not result in detailed musician credits (is that late The Rolling Stones' saxophonist Bobby Keys on "Slinky Jam")? Nevertheless, much of that pertinent information resides in essays by Davis' biographer Douglas Miller and the artist's offspring Billy Davis Noriega. Like the tribute concert mentioned in co-producer Mike Johnson's liner notes, this archival effort is one more richly deserved tribute to the very gifted and much lamented musician that was Jesse Ed Davis.

Comments