I was teaching in a private secondary school and decided to take a few students who happened to be musicians to Slugs to see Tony Williams' Lifetime with McLaughlin and Young. The band played brilliantly and they played LOUD, the loudest I had ever heard. We were sitting very close. I learned that loud wasn't automatically bad - it all depended on how good the music was, and this band was wonderful so the loudness was just something to sink into. When the set was over, the students went backstage to talk to the band. I've been following McLaughlin, Tony Williams and Larry Young ever since.
Tony Williams with Lifetime on Johnny Carson in Aug 1969 and I missed it!! I saw Led Zeppelin that month if it's any consolation. Years later I did get to hang out with Tony during his 3-night run at a club in my town. He graciously invited me backstage and pored over a Tony Williams scrapbook I'd brought. He asked if he could have an article from a European magazine with concert photos with Jack Bruce on a British tour. You don't say no to Tony Williams. We talked each night, and I'd sit 5 feet from his hi-hat: best seat in the house.
I saw that performance. Bill Cosby was the host for the week so he brought on new acts and I remember seeing that shit and I was transformed. I think they played Vashkar. You are the only person I know that has mentioned that performance. It was I think late August 69. I even remember what clothes they had on!!!!! I was 14 yrs old
I was present at Audition Tuesday at the Fillmore East circa 69' with this exact lineup for their run-to say I was blown away would be an understatement!
TWL, completely and always the modern heavyweight champion. one of my "desert island bands," this NEVER gets old. how can it when it's timeless? probably the most potent band ever.
Jeez, man, I lived just for listening to the Emergency album but I never had any hope of seeing these guys live (we lived west of the Mississippi, I was too young to travel back east to see them). Now, 50 years later I get to hear what it might have been like. A treasure, thank you for uploading it.
In 1969 I saw there FIRST gig!! It The New Brunswick Jazz Festival. Miles Davis Opened the show. Herbie Mann was there , The Newport All Stars, Roberta Flack, Blood, Sweat and Tears and The Buddy Rich Big Band!! My dad took me and my twin. We even walked down on the field to get right up close. I even had a chance to speak with Tony and Miles. The Tony Williams Lifetime was just amazing. Tong was in constant motion. He was playing this tiny orange set. It was like he was running track. His feet were in constant motion!!. I tried to talk to him when Biddy Rich was playing. He just blew me off, as if to say " Hey Buddy Rich is playing 'DO NOT DISTURB!!"
Mega thanks for this, I have waited for decades for live recordings of this band and if 12 minutes is all there is well that is 12 minutes of pure sonically dissonant jazz heaven! This version of Lifetime was the shit, nothing before or after sounded like it, not even Tony nor John. They really did sound, to borrow a phrase from the Art Ensemble of Chicago - "Ancient to the Future." Sun Ra with Tony and John might have sounded like this and Peter Brotzman on Machine Gun comes to mind but lacked this version of John on guitar to really make it completely as satisfying. Yeah, yeah yeah, I love Bitches Brew and especially On the Corner and parts of Miles 70's live stuff as much as anyone but it is still not this. To his credit Tony tried for a few albums but IMHO only "To Whom It May Concern" and "One Word" from the Turn It Over sessions ever matched the intensity of the original line up. John's Devotion album has its moments but the hamfisted Buddy Miles is not Tony Williams and thus the album doesn't ever really swing and the atonal ethereal dissonance, while still evident is less emphasized than the Emergency group. I am not a hater of Buddy, as I love his playing on the album in spite of it's hamfistedness and especially loved it with Hendrix's Band of Gypsies but here it simply lacks the swing, subtlety and fire of Tony. The Mahavishnu Orchestra always sounded a bit too tidy to really cut loose and lacked the whole dissonant thing of early John/Larry and again Billy Cobham is not Tony and god knows Jan Hammer ain't no Larry Young. The best of Last Exit was pretty ferocious and some of Sonny Sharrock's solo stuff was amazing but for the most part "fusion" music or fuzak as I like to call it, was way more often than not, just an excuse for Miles alumni to cash in on having played with Miles, solo ad nauseam while posing shirtless on the album cover, and mug on stage for their adoring audience of mainly young musicians creaming in their pants. Thanks again and if you have anymore by all means please post it!!
i must have heard emergency (double) album a thousand times. sounds like nothing else. i have no idea how they came up with this music - they were possessed. transporting.
Awesome! I remember seing them on The Tonight Show in August 1969. I have neve been able to find that footage. Does anyone else rember that footage? It was when Bill Cosby hosted the show for one week. Increadible. This broadcast was done the same period a few months later. I think they also opened for Miles at Madison Square Garden the same year (summer of 69).
+Anthony Cox I know this is a year later, but I just saw your post. The tape was apparently destroyed. A whole bunch of old Tonight Show tapes were destroyed to make room for new tapes. They just didn't think about preservation back then. One correction though- the guest host was Flip Wilson. Flip and Lifetime shared a manager and that is how Lifetime got booked :-)
Dude, I saw that Tonite Show in 1969 too but it was Flip Wilson hosting. He brought out a bulldog as some sort of gag during his monologue and tried to feed the dog a piece of cheese, but it fell out of the dog’s mouth twice, so Flip Wilson picked it up and ate it himself. Remember Vinnie Colaiuta’s band called Dogcheese. I wonder. . . Tony was on a high platform, with his black Gretschs, Larry Young in a fez ( as he often was ), and McLaughlin had a super short haircut and dressed in white. He obviously was in the transition phase with Sri Chimney and getting ready to tear up the world with his Mahavishnu concept. I asked Ed Shaughnessy( r.i.p.) about that appearance of the Tony Williams Lifetime, and he said most of those shows from several years in that era were destoyed in a fire. But the memory is still strong and you saw it too. You are the only guy that I’ve ever heard about that has that memory. Good luck to you, and God Bless.
Some day, somewhere, in somebody's basement, in some forgotten box, someone will find some dusty reel-to-reel tape labeled TWL 1969, which will have some immaculately recorded session by these fellows...or not!
This classic, ground-breaking band was just destined to have lousy recordings, I guess. First, the original distortion-filled "Emergency!" album, and then this. (Too hip for the microphones?)
I was teaching in a private secondary school and decided to take a few students who happened to be musicians to Slugs to see Tony Williams' Lifetime with McLaughlin and Young. The band played brilliantly and they played LOUD, the loudest I had ever heard. We were sitting very close. I learned that loud wasn't automatically bad - it all depended on how good the music was, and this band was wonderful so the loudness was just something to sink into. When the set was over, the students went backstage to talk to the band. I've been following McLaughlin, Tony Williams and Larry Young ever since.
Tony Williams with Lifetime on Johnny Carson in Aug 1969 and I missed it!!
I saw Led Zeppelin that month if it's any consolation. Years later I did get to
hang out with Tony during his 3-night run at a club in my town. He graciously
invited me backstage and pored over a Tony Williams scrapbook I'd brought.
He asked if he could have an article from a European magazine with concert
photos with Jack Bruce on a British tour. You don't say no to Tony Williams.
We talked each night, and I'd sit 5 feet from his hi-hat: best seat in the house.
I saw that performance. Bill Cosby was the host for the week so he brought on new acts and I remember seeing that shit and I was transformed. I think they played Vashkar. You are the only person I know that has mentioned that performance. It was I think late August 69.
I even remember what clothes they had on!!!!!
I was 14 yrs old
why, oh why, doesn't Larry Young get more recognition/acclaim? So grateful to hear this.
agree he was amazing
Because most people are dullards...?
I was present at Audition Tuesday at the Fillmore East circa 69' with this exact lineup for their run-to say I was blown away would be an understatement!
TWL, completely and always the modern heavyweight champion. one of my "desert island bands," this NEVER gets old. how can it when it's timeless? probably the most potent band ever.
All out of Miles. But raw. In your face. Hissing with energy and intensity. Almost punk in attitude. Emergency! Indeed.
"Almost punk in attitude". Great comment
This was a band apart & there could be only one
The very end of Live-Evil (after the narration) also has that attitude.
The band that went further than any other, to the outer limits, then said fuk it, keep going!
Fanfuckingtastic! Love Trio of Doom as well. rip Tony & Jaco.
John is killing on this! Great tone. The rest are killing too.
The rest meaning Larry and Tony? Yes they were killers to say the least!
@@jibsmokestack1 haha touché I just wanted to state the less obvious...Tony and Larry? Amazing! My fave power trio here.
Jeez, man, I lived just for listening to the Emergency album but I never had any hope of seeing these guys live (we lived west of the Mississippi, I was too young to travel back east to see them). Now, 50 years later I get to hear what it might have been like. A treasure, thank you for uploading it.
i must have heard that (double) album a thousand times
In 1969 I saw there FIRST gig!! It The New Brunswick Jazz Festival. Miles Davis Opened the show. Herbie Mann was there , The Newport All Stars, Roberta Flack, Blood, Sweat and Tears and The Buddy Rich Big Band!! My dad took me and my twin. We even walked down on the field to get right up close. I even had a chance to speak with Tony and Miles. The Tony Williams Lifetime was just amazing. Tong was in constant motion. He was playing this tiny orange set. It was like he was running track. His feet were in constant motion!!. I tried to talk to him when Biddy Rich was playing.
He just blew me off, as if to say " Hey Buddy Rich is playing 'DO NOT DISTURB!!"
Mega thanks for this, I have waited for decades for live recordings of this band and if 12 minutes is all there is well that is 12 minutes of pure sonically dissonant jazz heaven! This version of Lifetime was the shit, nothing before or after sounded like it, not even Tony nor John. They really did sound, to borrow a phrase from the Art Ensemble of Chicago - "Ancient to the Future." Sun Ra with Tony and John might have sounded like this and Peter Brotzman on Machine Gun comes to mind but lacked this version of John on guitar to really make it completely as satisfying. Yeah, yeah yeah, I love Bitches Brew and especially On the Corner and parts of Miles 70's live stuff as much as anyone but it is still not this. To his credit Tony tried for a few albums but IMHO only "To Whom It May Concern" and "One Word" from the Turn It Over sessions ever matched the intensity of the original line up. John's Devotion album has its moments but the hamfisted Buddy Miles is not Tony Williams and thus the album doesn't ever really swing and the atonal ethereal dissonance, while still evident is less emphasized than the Emergency group. I am not a hater of Buddy, as I love his playing on the album in spite of it's hamfistedness and especially loved it with Hendrix's Band of Gypsies but here it simply lacks the swing, subtlety and fire of Tony. The Mahavishnu Orchestra always sounded a bit too tidy to really cut loose and lacked the whole dissonant thing of early John/Larry and again Billy Cobham is not Tony and god knows Jan Hammer ain't no Larry Young. The best of Last Exit was pretty ferocious and some of Sonny Sharrock's solo stuff was amazing but for the most part "fusion" music or fuzak as I like to call it, was way more often than not, just an excuse for Miles alumni to cash in on having played with Miles, solo ad nauseam while posing shirtless on the album cover, and mug on stage for their adoring audience of mainly young musicians creaming in their pants. Thanks again and if you have anymore by all means please post it!!
11:11 The band got even better when Jack Bruce was added on bass. This allowed Larry to give full attention to melody/improvisation.
lol!
Insightful take
This band is one of a kind. There's only 1
@@jefftateii9403 no ,,dont agree ,,larry had the BADASS DEEP SWINGING AUTHENTIC JAZZ BASS LINES
Wild. Thanks for Posting.
that was epic
i must have heard emergency (double) album a thousand times. sounds like nothing else. i have no idea how they came up with this music - they were possessed. transporting.
I agree this was life changing for me. I remember I saw them on the Tonight show in 69. I still cannot find it.
It is from Dimension X... there's not a thing like it
Ha ha! Yeah! Christ! They weren't messing about, were they?
Jesus, this is SO fuckin' great. YEAH!
i'd love to see/hear that carson footage..
They just don't make music like this anymore.
Pure...
Tommy bolin didn't covered this in the Whipes and Roses version album in the first bonus live from 1976?
Pure Jazz
Wild!
Hell Yeah!!
Awesome! I remember seing them on The Tonight Show in August 1969. I have neve been able to find that footage. Does anyone else rember that footage? It was when Bill Cosby hosted the show for one week. Increadible. This broadcast was done the same period a few months later. I think they also opened for Miles at Madison Square Garden the same year (summer of 69).
+Anthony Cox I know this is a year later, but I just saw your post. The tape was apparently destroyed. A whole bunch of old Tonight Show tapes were destroyed to make room for new tapes. They just didn't think about preservation back then. One correction though- the guest host was Flip Wilson. Flip and Lifetime shared a manager and that is how Lifetime got booked :-)
Dude, I saw that Tonite Show in 1969 too but it was Flip Wilson hosting. He brought out a bulldog as some sort of gag during his monologue and tried to feed the dog a piece of cheese, but it fell out of the dog’s mouth twice, so Flip Wilson picked it up and ate it himself. Remember Vinnie Colaiuta’s band called Dogcheese. I wonder. . .
Tony was on a high platform, with his black Gretschs, Larry Young in a fez ( as he often was ), and McLaughlin had a super short haircut and dressed in white. He obviously was in the transition phase with Sri Chimney and getting ready to tear up the world with his Mahavishnu concept.
I asked Ed Shaughnessy( r.i.p.) about that appearance of the Tony Williams Lifetime, and he said most of those shows from several years in that era were destoyed in a fire.
But the memory is still strong and you saw it too. You are the only guy that I’ve ever heard about that has that memory. Good luck to you, and God Bless.
@@jacko222333 When Flip Wilson hosted a different time, he had Hendrix as the musical guest.
Hi rubix71, I have added some info from the blog post to the video description
any info on what radio station this was? or the dj? thank you!
I was told Larry Young wanted grant green in this group but john was the new flavor on the scene so tony went that way..
I'm glad because this transformed the organ trio sound ..some afro futuristic shit!!!!
Why can't we get a good sound on any of this version of Lifetime's recordings?
Some day, somewhere, in somebody's basement, in some forgotten box, someone will find some dusty reel-to-reel tape labeled TWL 1969, which will have some immaculately recorded session by these fellows...or not!
Their sound was so blazing hot it distorted the tape!?!?
☠️
Larry & John had just recorded Bitches Brew less than 3 months earlier... Tony wasn't invited
This beats anything Miles Davis did, with or without Larry and John. In my humble opinion, of course.
Tony left Miles’s band and he didn’t want him to leave. Miles then asked Tony if he could join this band and Tony declined!
This classic, ground-breaking band was just destined to have lousy recordings, I guess. First, the original distortion-filled "Emergency!" album, and then this. (Too hip for the microphones?)