9. Various ArtistsThe Hot Spot
The film The Hot Spot is directed by Dennis Hopper. It’s got Don Johnson, Virginia Madsen, Jennifer Connelly, and it is fucking terrible. It is a terrible movie. But any record that puts John Lee Hooker and Miles Davis together with Taj Mahal playing Dobro, Earl Palmer on the drums, Jack Nitzsche doing the score… It’s one of the most bad ass records. I love Miles Davis, I love John Lee Hooker. I was looking for a way to get them both in there. And this was the way. I love Taj Mahal too so it was like getting a bunch of dudes together under one umbrella. It’s a killer record. If you’re looking for something to test drive, try ‘Bank Robbery’. That’s one of my go-to jams. ‘Moanin” is great too. Classic Hooker. Miles Davis sounds like he’s having a blast and nobody does the fuckin’ boogie like John Lee Hooker. It is killer. All I can say is if you’re looking to get laid, put that record on. You will get laid. Even if you gotta lay yourself [laughs].
The first time I really fully heard Miles Davis was Sketches Of Spain. That was my intro to Miles Davis. I love a bunch of his records but that one has a special place in my heart. I was in love and the girl played it for me and I loved that she loved jazz. And I loved that she was gonna teach me jazz. And I loved that I learned about Miles Davis from a pretty girl. It was great.I learned John Lee Hooker from comps. ‘Boom Boom Boom’, ‘Boogie Chillen’… A lot of the blues that I learned was on cassette comps that my friends made for me. We’d swap mixes and stuff. But I saw him play. He was the coolest motherfucker I’ve ever seen. Oh yeah. So fucking cool.I’m pretty sure that Dennis Hopper was friends with those guys and put them all together. So God bless him. Even though the movie is a fucking trainwreck, he put together one of the coolest soundtrack collaborations I’ve ever heard. Again, that record is 24 years old and it still holds up. I still listen to it to this day.
