Happy Birthday Eric Clapton: Jamming In The Studio Spotify Playlist

Renowned guitarist Eric Clapton celebrates his 71st birthday today. Slowhand’s remarkable and lengthy career last year saw the release of a new studio album, I Still Do, and live LP, Live In San Diego, and earlier this month Clapton held a pair of concerts at Madison Square Garden.

Illness forced the postponement of two shows scheduled at The Forum in Inglewood, California last weekend, but the acclaimed guitarist plans to make them up in September. While the three-time Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee hopefully has a speedy recovery, here’s a celebratory look back at recordings featuring Clapton recording in the studio on tracks labeled “jam.”

The 15-track Spotify Playlist presented below begins with five jams from the sessions held for the Derek & The Dominoes landmark LP Layla. Clapton, bassist Carl Radle, drummer Jim Gordon and keyboardist Bobby Whitlock can be heard on “Jam I,” “Jam II,” “Jam III” and “Jam V.” Clapton, Whitlock and The Allman Brothers Band bassist Berry Oakley, drummer Butch Trucks, guitarist Duane Allman and keyboardist Gregg Allman can be heard on “Jam IV.” Also from the Layla sessions are jams on “Tell The Truth” and “(When Things Go Wrong) It Hurts Me Too.”

Whitlock, Gordon, Radle and Clapton can also be heard on the “Apple Jam” improvisation that appeared on George Harrison’s outstanding 1970 triple LP All Things Must Pass. Broken up into segments labeled “Out Of The Blue,” “It’s Johnny’s Birthday,” “Plug Me In,” “I Remember Jeep” and “Thanks For The Pepperoni” the jam is presented in the same order as the 2001 remastered edition. The playlist also features a “B Minor Jam” outtake from the 1974 Clapton LP 461 Ocean Boulevard and a collaborative “The Calling Jam” from Santana’s 1999 album Supernatural.