Ideas are important, but the key is execution.

Read the Steve Jobs book. Sure, he got the idea for the Graphical User Interface from Xerox, but the Mac triumphed over the Star because of execution. The Mac was cheaper, with a more intuitive interface and a one button mouse. Apple won. Xerox was forgotten.

Anybody can have an idea. But can you bring it to fruition?

I have an idea. Creating a new "Super Session". But it hasn’t happened because I haven’t dedicated the time. I  keep bringing it up to powerful people, but they pooh-pooh it. Because they just don’t get it. Hell, I was trumpeting a cappella eleven years ago, at the height of Napster, saying there should be a TV show. Nothing happened for a decade, now "The Sing Off" is on the tube.

This is what you do. You find someone who can sing and play and you hook him or her up with the hottest musicians for a weekend and see what comes out.

We could start with Steve Winwood.

No, we want to skew younger. Let’s find a keyboard player, and then hook him up with John Mayer and Derek Trucks. There’d be a built-in audience for what results.

And if it doesn’t work, do it again, find other players. It’s about capturing lightning in a bottle. It’s about song choices. It’s about exemplary playing. And when you’re done you take it on the road and make more money. Hell, today that’s where the real money is anyway. Imagine a show featuring great players working out on a great songs that is different every night. It would KILL!    

How do I know?

Because it happened once before. With Al Kooper, Michael Bloomfield and Stephen Stills. It was called "Super Session".

Today everybody in the know lauds Bloomfield. But at this point in the sixties, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band had not gained much traction, most people didn’t learn about Bloomfield UNTIL "Super Session". Sure, Bloomfield played on legendary Dylan tracks, but that was before everyone read the credits, which were minimal on Dylan albums anyway. As for Stephen Stills, he was a spur of the moment replacement. When Bloomfield disappeared in the middle of the night. Sure, this was after Buffalo Springfield, but it was long before Crosby, Stills & Nash. Stills was not the legendary egomaniac he’d ultimately become, he was just another talented player.

As for Kooper, he’d been kicked out of his own band. He was lost. "Super Session" was a lark. But Al was the glue. Not only did he have the idea, he executed it.

1. "Season Of The Witch"

Start here. What was originally a secondary Donovan cut known by fans became a heroic workout that made this album. Sure, radio at that time would play extended cuts, but it spun this eleven minute opus because it was so damn GOOD! It took the original as a starting point, and from there jumped into the stratosphere. It was slow and dreamy. It went on forever, but when it was done all you could do was pick up the needle and play it again. The organ pops, the horns flourish, Stills ultimately blows our minds…this is a legendary sixties track. One great cut can make a career. Prior to this point, few people knew who Kooper was, his career was made overnight. And Stills was suddenly known as a player.

2. "It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry"

This made me buy the album.

Of course I knew "Super Session", you couldn’t avoid it. But in the days of wanting more albums than you could afford, I’d refrained from buying "Super Session", hell, I could hear it at so many friends’ houses… But after finding this in a pile of vinyl at the Tucker Hill Lodge in Fayston, Vermont on a ski vacation with my dentist, I got hooked and bought the record.

Yes, it’s a Dylan song, but you’ll be stunned when you hear the original, it sounds nothing like this.

Stills west-coastifies it. It takes off like a shot, you run to catch up. I love it.

3. "You Don’t Love Me"

Has the feel of Cream and the other English blues rock bands without sacrificing an American identity. There was a headbanging riff and this was before the spacy guitar effect was overused. It’s infectious.

4. "Harvey’s Tune"

A throwaway, a last minute effort to fill out the album, but this is one of the most dreamy cuts ever. It sets your mind free, relaxes you no matter what happened that day. This is the embodiment of music magic, not a hit, not something you use to sell automobiles or gum, but that which makes your life worth living.

5. "Albert’s Shuffle"

The above four tracks comprise the second side, which I got into first. But diehards love the first side, the Bloomfield side, better.

If you love Duane Allman, you’re gonna love this. Bloomfield whips off the notes so effortlessly!

6. "Stop"

My favorite version of this Jerry Ragavoy/Mort Shuman song is the one that closes out the James Gang’s debut, "Yer’ Album", it’s that project’s "Season Of The Witch", it clocks in at twelve minutes. This is the same song, but with a different feel, although the groove is still evident. Kooper provides the base with his organ and Bloomfield just WAILS!

7. "Man’s Temptation"

This evidences Al Kooper’s soul fixation. Hell, that’s what "This Diamond Ring" was supposed to be, a soul number, Gary Lewis’s version deflated him, until he got the check! I like this, but I like Al’s soul covers better on his solo albums, which I purchased after getting hooked by "Super Session"…and the original Blood, Sweat & Tears debut too, still the crowning achievement of that act. Democracy kills bands, never forget it.

8. "His Holy Modal Majesty"

This is the first side’s "Season Of The Witch", albeit louder and more in-your-face. Al’s keyboard sounds like a bagpipe, and then Bloomfield goes into outer space…if you’re a fan of drugs, take them now.

9. "Really"

This bookends the first side along with the opener, "Albert’s Shuffle", it’s another Bloomfield blues workout. I think this music can come back. Hell, we all get the blues sometime!

Now if you explore on Spotify, you can find bonus tracks and 2002 remixes of two cuts without horns. They’re interesting, but not important.

But "Super Session" is important. It inspired a whole genre. It begat not only "Grape Jam", the Moby Grape opus, but the third disc of "All Things Must Pass".

But Kooper and cohorts did it best. Because it’s not only about playing, it’s about curation. You need a bit of discipline, Al instilled it here.

At some point in the future, we’ll have another "Super Session", illustrating how today’s great players can wail. Maybe it’s got to come from the players themselves, maybe the genesis is from someone who controls a stable of talent at a management company or label. I’d like to help, but I can’t do it alone.

But I know the idea is sound.

All you’ve got to do is listen to "Super Session" to understand that!

Spotify link

Rhinofy-Lefsetz