(04) Nicky Hopkins, Ry Cooder, Mick Jagger, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts - Jamming With Edward (1972)

"Jamming With Edward!" is an album recorded by three members of The Rolling Stones with Nicky Hopkins and Ry Cooder at London's Olympic Studio during the Let It Bleed sessions of 1969 and released on Rolling Stones Records in 1972. Keith Richards had stormed out of the sessions for a few days in protest at producer Jimmy Miller's decision to bring Cooder in to beef up the guitars as Dave Mason did during the Beggars Banquet sessions.
The eponymous Edward was pianist Nicky Hopkins, in reference to Edward the Mad Shirt Grinder, Hopkins' star turn on Quicksilver Messenger Service's album Shady Grove. Hopkins also contributed the cover art. Though many feel that the Stones were at their best when playing loose, sloppy rock & roll à la Exile on Main St., with this 1972 release on Rolling Stones Records the unrehearsed style of the album is more of a hindrance than a call to ragged glory. Not an official Rolling Stones release, the assembled band does contain three-fifths of the group (Mick Jagger, Bill Wyman, and Charlie Watts) along with session man extraordinaire Nicky Hopkins and guitarist Ry Cooder. The band stumbles through keyboard-dominated original numbers such as "Boudoir Stomp" and "Edward's Thrump Up," as well as more conventional cuts like a cover of Elmore James' "It Hurts Me Too." Yet the songs never get beyond giving the listener the impression they were thrown together during a drunken night's rehearsals. In that sense the album is a bit of a letdown.

Tracklist

1.  The Boudoir Stomp  - 5:13
2.  It Hurts Me Too  (Elmore James/Mel London)  - 5:12
3.  Edward's Thrump Up  - 8:11
4.  Blow with Ry  - 11:05
5.  Interlude a la El Hopo  - 2:04
6.  Highland Fling  - 4:20

Released:  7 January 1972
Recorded:  23 April 1969, Olympic Studio, London, United Kingdom
Genre:  Rock
Length:  36:05
Label:  Rolling Stones
Written:  Ry Cooder, Nicky Hopkins and Charlie Watts
Producer:  Glyn Johns

Personnel
Ry Cooder – guitar
Mick Jagger – harmonica, vocals
Charlie Watts – drums
Nicky Hopkins – keyboards, piano
Bill Wyman – bass guitar