music friday: fillmore auditorium 9/1/67

Near the tail end of the Summer of Love, on September 1, 1967, Bill Graham put on one of his typically diverse concerts at the Fillmore Auditorium. It was the fourth night of a six-night series for the following bands.

Opening act Gary Burton was a jazz vibraphonist. Earlier in 1967 he had released his first album with his new Quartet, which featured Larry Coryell, Steve Swallow, and Roy Haynes. It is considered one of the first jazz fusion records.

The Electric Flag felt like a local band, although most of the members were from Chicago. Legendary guitarist Mike Bloomfield formed the band with Buddy Miles and Barry Goldberg, joined by people like Nick Gravenites and Harvey Brooks. The first album was the soundtrack to a Roger Corman movie, The Trip. Their live debut was at the Monterey Pop Festival. Their first "real" album (and their best, maybe their only good, album), A Long Time Comin', came out in 1968. Here they are at Monterey:

And here is one of the quintessential songs of that era:

Cream was the headliner. At the time, they had only released one album, Fresh Cream, although Disraeli Gears had been recorded. They made their name for their live performances, many of which were captured on albums. Each of their last two albums released during their brief career as a group were half live recordings, half studio, and the albums released after their breakup were 1970's Live Cream and 1972's Live Cream Volume II. Here they are with one of their best, Robert Johnson's "Crossroads":

Willie Dixon's "Spoonful" appeared on their first album, but it was left off of the U.S. release. It nonetheless got plenty of play on the new FM "Underground" Radio, and it was later re-inserted into the American version. It was one of the many songs they used to stretch out ... the version on Wheels of Fire runs almost 17 minutes. Here's a briefer version: