Elvin Bishop - guitar, vocals; Boz Scaggs - guitar, vocals; Stephen Miller - piano, organ, vocals; David Brown - bass; Michael Shrieve - drums; Taj Mahal- vocals, harmonica; Jo Baker - vocals; Bonnie Pointer - vocals; June Pointer - vocals; Anita Pointer - vocals; Ruth Pointer - vocals; Linda Tillery - vocals; Lester Chambers - vocals
As many may already know, on the final night (July 4th) of the closing week festivities at Fillmore West a lengthy jam session occurred, featuring many great musicians and singers. What few remember is that a similar event occurred earlier in the week (on the first night, June 30); it was this jam session, in fact, that provided the two tracks that made it onto the Fillmore: The Last Days live release.
The core band includes Elvin Bishop on lead guitar, Stephen Miller (from Elvin's band) on organ, David Brown (from Boz Scaggs' band) on bass and Michael Shrieve (from Santana) on drums. The session followed a lengthy Boz Scaggs set (also here at Wolfgang's), in the wee hours of the morning.
This was one of the few sets not broadcast locally, and until these preproduction reels were recently discovered in the Bill Graham Archive, nobody was aware that most of this jam session existed on tape.
This part of the session features Linda Tillery of The Loading Zone on lead vocals. First up is "I Found A Love," which she also performed during the jam session on the final, closing night of the Fillmore West, but this is a considerably stronger performance as the musicians sound tighter and better focused. She follows that with an energized cover of B.B. King's classic "Why I Sing The Blues." This is a great up-tempo blues number that brings out the best in the musicians, and is undoubtedly one of the high points in this set.