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 Lester Chambers of The Chambers Brothers on lead vocals. On "Have You Ever Been Mistreated," Chambers sings in an unfamiliar falsetto and on "You Better Believe," sings in his distinctive voice, with The Pointer Sisters punching out their gospel-fueled vocals between each line of the verses. A truly captivating performance.