12. The Tony Williams LifetimeEmergency!

A live double album released in 1969 – one of the first significant jazz fusion recordings. John McLaughlin, Tony Williams and Larry Young. I was quite a big fan of Larry Young’s keyboard playing. He was very different from most of the other keyboard players around at that time. You won’t hear an influence of that group in either Can’s nor my music, but at the time I really loved them and still it’s an absolutely great album. You know, I have difficulties with showing off virtuosity but this is legitimate virtuosity – every note is musical. It’s like with Coltrane, pure virtuosity. There is a piece called ‘Leo’ [which appears on Jupiter Variation] with just a percussionist and it’s just pure virtuosity, the same as on Emergency!, something which is not just showing ‘I can play fast’; every note makes sense. And the playing together of these three people on this record is absolutely amazing.