East-West

The final thirteen minutes can dominate the memory of East-West, but eight other tracks lead there. Walkin’ Blues, Get Out of My Life, Woman and Mary, Mary bring different song sources and proportions into the programme. The extended title piece shares an album with them rather than replacing them. Before jumping to the ending, use Work Song as an earlier entrance into the band’s expanded instrumental scale.

This 1966 second album features Butterfield, guitarists Mike Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop, keyboard player Mark Naftalin, bassist Jerome Arnold and drummer Billy Davenport. The previous album’s personnel should not simply be carried forward. Nor should the group be reduced to one guitarist’s achievement. Harmonica, keyboards and two guitars can exchange foreground and support, with instrumental passages allowing those relationships to develop beyond the dimensions of a short vocal song.

An earlier expansion

Work Song already opens a broad instrumental space in the fifth position. Hear it after All These Blues. The change in length allows different kinds of continuity between instrumental contributions, but length alone does not make a performance an arbitrary jam. Follow the theme and the accompaniment as reference points, rather than waiting for sung verses to define each section.

Compact songs still matter

Mary, Mary contracts the scale immediately afterward. Its inclusion also shows that the repertoire is not limited to one songwriting tradition. Keep Two Trains Running and Never Say No in place. Discovering an extended form did not require the band to discard shorter songs. Compare how accompaniment supports singing after it has occupied so much more of the foreground in the instrumental.

Understand the final track as an album performance

The title piece lasts approximately thirteen minutes and twelve seconds here. Attend to changing emphasis among the instruments rather than expecting another vocal verse. Its placement after eight other selections contributes to its scale. Separate this released album performance from later or longer live renditions, and do not mistake the original album edit for an unedited record of everything the musicians played.