Eric Clapton & Jimmy Page Jamming

  Rock Anthropology  

 

The Immediate Sessions

 

Guitar Boogie &
White Boy Blues

Blues Jams

 

Eric Clapton, Lead Guitar
Produced by Jimmy Page
(Playing Rhythm)

 

Mick Jagger on Harp
Bill Wyman (Bass)
Charlie Watts (Drums)
Ian Stewart (Piano)

 

Special Appearances
Jeff Beck, John Mayall,
Nicky Hopkins

Some real Rock Anthropology here. In 1965 John Mayall and his band, The Blues Breakers, featuring guitarist Eric Clapton, who’d left the commercially successful Yardbirds because he wanted to play The Blues, got a deal with Immediate Records, which was owned by The Rolling Stones’ manager Andrew Oldham, to record a single: “I’m Your Witchdoctor” and “Telephone Blues.” They went into a studio session overseen by Immediate’s new in-house producer, Jimmy Page.

One Session, according to Jimmy’s website, was August 17th, another on the 22nd of September. This was the year preceding Mayall’s (and Clapton’s) seminal “Beano” album, which was recorded in May of 1966.

What makes this a historical confluence of karmic proportions: besides the session itself, Clapton and Page got together after hours in the home studio of Jimmy's house to have some fun, jam, recording loose 12 bar blues. An academic gold mine, you hear two monuments of rock guitar working on licks, getting their chops down.

We first got onto these recordings in the Seventies when we found an LP called White Boy Blues, though the most notable collection of this material was entitled Guitar Boogie.

Jimmy spoke about what happened to Pete Frame for his 1974 book: The Road to Rock: A ZigZag Book of Interviews:

“That (Blues Anthology Immediate LP) was a real tragedy for me. I got involved with Immediate, producing various things, including John Mayall’s ‘Witchdoctor,’ ‘Telephone Blues’ and a couple of others (around late 1965) and Eric and I got friendly and he came down and we did some recording at home, and Immediate found out that I had tapes of it and said they belonged to them, because I was employed by them. I argued that they couldn’t put them out because they were just variations of blues structures, and in the end we dubbed some other instruments over some of them and they came out – with liner notes attributed to me (on earlier copies) though I didn’t have anything to do with writing them. I didn’t get a penny out of it anyway... Stu from the Stones was on piano, Mick Jagger did some harp, Bill Wyman played bass and Charlie Watts was on drums.”

Amazing. Perhaps the one phrase which resonates is “variations of blues structures.” These are the Founding Fathers of Rock, when they were young, before they were really famous, getting together at Jimmy’s house to screw around, play a little music. Not to make money, produce a commercial product. Just art for the sake of art.

As for the tracks:

Those are the two songs they went into the studio to cut, but the heart and soul of these sessions are the simple blues jams. Most of these feature Clapton playing lead and Jimmy playing rhythm, typically a simple 12-bar blues.

According to Jimmy’s website, the first session was August 17th, during which they cut “Draggin’ My Tail,” “Snake Drive,” “West Coast Idea” and “Choker.” Which are the Blues jams. “Witchdoctor” and “Telephone Blues” were reportedly recorded on September 22nd. Makes it sound like like they got together at Page’s home studio to jam, have a little fun, then got down to business.

Note this Clapton and Page song is named “Tribute to Elmore.” In 1973 Roy Buchanan released “Tribute to Elmore James” on his Second Album, which is incredibly hot, perhaps the best blues instrumental ever recorded. Think about the songwriting credits, however. Buchanan adds the “James” because he doesn’t want to pay royalties to Clapton and Page, who are listed as songwriters for “Tribute to Elmore.” But they’re all copping licks from Elmore James. Not that it mattered much to Jimmy and Eric, because Immediate supposedly didn’t pay either one of them a dime. According to some stories, Clapton felt Page had tricked him, betrayed him, and it created hard feelings between them.

Hard to condemn anyone for greed, since if it was not for the ruthlessness and greed of cutthroat execs at Immediate Records, probably Andrew Oldham, we might never have heard these incredible tracks.

The Jeff Beck & “The Allstars” Tracks

Both these compilations also include tracks attributed to “The Allstars” with Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck. These were the Cyril Davies Allstars. A vocalist and harp player who first came to prominence in the Alexis Korner Blues Band, one of Britain’s foundation R&B combos, dating back to the early Sixties, Cyril Davies recorded a couple singles for the Pye label in 1963, died in 1964 from pleurisy and endocarditis. The Allstars’ piano player was Nicky Hopkins, who later played for The Stones. Davies was replaced by Long John Baldry, another seminal name in early British Blues, calling themselves “The Hootchie Coochie Men.”

In his 1974 interview, referring to the “Allstars” tracks, Jimmy explained:

“They were tapes Immediate had from a long time before. It was in fact the Cyril Davies All Stars without their guitarist, and they were just tracks we had done for fun after the real session was over.”

Of these cuts, “Chuckles” is the standout, an upbeat shuffle which gives Jeff Beck a chance to flash on guitar, the way he did early in his career, before he became that perfectionist technician. Beck does some great Chuck Berry type licks, and Nicky Hopkins gets 24 bars to show off his piano.

“Steelin’,” featuring Jeff Beck, is another standout. Three times through the standard 12-bar blues progression, Beck plays one of his earliest performances on slide guitar for the first and third. Nicky Hopkins gets the second.

The two tracks with Jimmy Page and the Allstars are actually kinda jazzy. “Down In The Boots” is slightly up-tempo cool jazz featuring the bass, drums and piano, Jimmy does get a great little 30-something second solo starting around 2:15.

“L.A. Breakdown“ is real jumping jazz, a fast number, but once again Page gets another 30 second solo, starting around 1:03. As in the previously mentioned tune, it’s rather interesting to hear Jimmy doing some jazzy kinda guitar.

Guitar Boogie (or White Boy Blues) is not the slickest, most polished blues you’ve ever heard. That’s the whole point. These are rough early works by future virtuosos. Jimmy Page called them rehearsals. But for true connoisseurs of Classic Rock, this collection, these sessions, represent a moment in time at which we can only marvel.

One of the truly great things about being a Rock Journalist back in the day wasn’t seeing the big shows and slick concerts, but being there when these musicians were relaxed, jamming around. Slick is great, but witnessing first hand some of the spontaneous music created was an indescribable thrill. Watching Elvin Bishop jam all night in a French Quarter bar. Sitting across from Bob Seger backstage when he picked up an acoustic guitar, started strumming the intro chords from “Night Moves” two years before it was released. (Was he working on that tune, or did he write it right in front of me?) Hanging out in The Knack’s dressing room as they gleefully played “Name That Oldie.” (Absolutely the best “backstage” band in Rock History. Topping even Brownsville Station.) Watching B.B. King’s back-up band jam through sound check, knowing it was the best music you’d hear all night. Want a recorded example? Check out a famous little track called “Greeny” that Peter Green and Fleetwood Mac simply improvised, supposedly not knowing they were being recorded.

And before we depart, having previously mentioned Long John Baldry, we also recommend you check out his album It Ain’t Easy. One side is produced by Rod Stewart, the other by Elton John, who both came up through Baldry’s group.