Guitar's Masters

Pat Metheny

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 1 Mar 2011 12:24:00 +0200

Guitarist Pat Metheny has managed to successfully walk the line between innovation and broad-based appeal more than three decades. His accessible jazz albums have earned him and his Pat Metheny Group some 16 Grammy awards (out of 29 nominations), more than any other jazz musician. Not easily classifiable, his music reflects a mellow-sounding experimental journey into the worlds of jazz fusion, folk, rock, new age, and pop. First attaining popularity in the 1980s, he is credited with helping to popularize jazz among baby boomers raised on pop and rock music.

Metheny was born Patrick Bruce Metheny on August 12, 1954, in Lee's Summit, Missouri. Faced with the slow-paced, small-town life and scarce access to television, Metheny and his family found entertainment in music. Following in the steps of his older brother, a trumpet player, Metheny by age eight was learning to play the trumpet, and as a result learning to read and write music. His interest in pop groups like the Beatles and the Beach Boys, was soon overshadowed by early and immediate interest in jazz music. He quickly delved into the world of jazz, quickly learning pieces by greats like Miles Davis and Ornette Coleman, all without a formal music teacher. He received his first guitar at age ten, and by the age of twelve he would abandon the trumpet for what would become his trademark instrument. Metheny soon found his calling playing with Kansas City jazz musicians. Such was his local fame that, when Herbie Hancock came to town, he reportedly sought out the 16-year-old Metheny to jam with him.

Upon graduating from Kansas City High School in 1972, Metheny went on to attend the University of Miami. Just as student and social obligations had taken a backseat to music in high school, Metheny's dedication to music led him to drop out of university's student body to form part of its faculty. At the age of 18, he was teaching electric guitar at the school. In 1974, he was invited to teach music at Boston's Berklee College of Music (which would award him an honorary doctorate degree in music in 1996). While brief, Metheny's stay at the University of Miami allowed him to meet jazzman Jaco Pastorius, who would go on to be a fundamental force in his early years as a musician. It was with Pastorius, along with jazz pianist Paul Bley, who joined Metheny to recording a 1974 album that would be Metheny's first.

1974 was the year of Metheny's big break into the world jazz scene. From 1974 to 1977, he lent his playing style to the band of vibraphone artist Gary Burton. According to Metheny's website biography, this style entails blending "the loose and flexible articulation customarily reserved for horn players with an advanced rhythmic and harmonic sensibility—a way of playing and improvising that was modern in conception but grounded deeply in the jazz tradition of melody, swing, and the blues." Following the recording of Ring, recorded with Burton and Eberhard Weber, Metheny released his first solo album. With the release of Bright Size Life in 1975, Metheny is credited with reinventing jazz guitar for a new generation. That album marked the beginning of a ten-year relationship with the ECM record label, for which Metheny played to sold-out crowds as the company's top act.

In 1978, Metheny founded the Pat Metheny Group, drawing on the talent of drummer Dan Gottlieb, bassist Mark Egan, and Lyle Mays (the keyboardist he met during his days with Burton). Time referred to the group as a "long-lived fusion quartet whose richly textured, Brazilian flavored albums, with their smooth synthesized surfaces, appeal to listeners for whom jazz is normally a four-letter word."

"If you look at the group's history, right from the beginning we've always been after ways of trying to look at form from different angles," Metheny told the Washington Post. "The whole mission of the band was to explore what a jazz group can be in the modern era that it hasn't been before. And there are some real obvious things that we do that set us apart, starting with the amount of electricity involved to the actual sound of the band and the kinds of things that we've addressed, but underneath the hood of all of it from the beginning has been this thing of really messing with form and trying to write things that were not just tunes."

While the group would evolve over the years, the collaborative relationship with Mays would mark Metheny's career for more than two decades. Metheny's collaborations with a wide array of jazz and non-jazz artists would also mark his career. Ornette Coleman, Steve Reich, Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins, and David Bowie were just a few of the artists to play with Metheny. Despite major success with ECM, Metheny left the label for Geffen in 1985 and set up Pat Metheny Productions, which leases its musical creations.

"I never wanted the headache of actually administering a label," Metheny told Daily Variety. "But I wanted the freedom to do things my way. As long as you can keep an audience intrigued and maintain a level of curiosity about the records, you're keeping up your end of the bargain. We've never compromised—and we've gotten away with it."

For nearly three decades, Metheny went beyond the role of "jazz guitarist" to compose a wide variety of compositions, ranging from rock to jazz to classical and ballet pieces. These included pieces for everything from solo guitar and small ensembles to large orchestras, using both acoustic and electric instruments. "Jazz is the all-inclusive form," he told Time in 2000. "There's room for everybody, for anything of true musical substance. Jazz guys like Duke Ellington or Miles Davis have always transformed the elements of the pop culture that surrounds us into something more sophisticated and hipper. It's their job."

The artist was an early proponent of electronic music, claiming to be among the first jazz artists to take the synthesizer seriously and to use the Synclavier for composing songs. Moving from his original Gibson ES-140T guitar, Metheny's sound evolved with his input into the creation of the 42-string Pikass guitar, the Ibanez PM-100 jazz guitar and the soprano acoustic guitar, as well as many other instruments (such as the sitar guitar). Always one to push his own style in new directions, Metheny broke with his reputation for having a developed sense of melody with the 1994 release of Zero Tolerance for Silence, which some denounced as noisy feedback but which Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, reportedly called "the most radical recording of this decade … a new milestone in electric guitar."

Thirty years after he began touring in 1974, Metheny continued to tour, performing between 120-240 shows annually. He also managed to keep a loyal fan base, consistently winning new musical awards. At the 2004 Grammy Awards, Metheny was awarded Best New Age Album for One Quiet Night, making him the artist with the most Grammy awards in different categories. The Pat Metheny Group's 2005 release The Way Up, led the Chicago Tribune to predict a potential "career turning point for its creators. The single 68-minute opus was composed of "four interlocking movements" joined together by "recurring melodic motifs" in an approach that used technology to "manipulate the studio as if it were an instrument."

Selected discography
Bright Size Life, ECM, 1975.
Watercolors, ECM, 1977.
Pat Methany Group, ECM, 1978.
American Garage, ECM 1980.
80/81, ECM, 1980.
As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls, ECM, 1980.
Song X, Geffen, 1985.
Works I, ECM, 1991.
Works II, ECM, 1991.
The Sign of 4, Knitting Factory, 1992.
Zero Tolerance for Silence, ECM, 1994.
Imaginary Day, Warner Brothers, 1997.
Trio Live, Warner Brothers, 2000.
One Quiet Night, Warner Brothers, 2003.
The Way Up, Nonesuch, 2005.

DjangoRreinhardt

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 1 Mar 2011 12:22:00 +0200

The first European musical virtuoso to influence American jazz was Django Reinhardt, a French-speaking Belgian gypsy who had only two working fingers on his left hand. He is regarded as the jazz guitar’s most dazzling soloist, most exciting improvisor, and most important innovator. Despite the fire injury at age 18 that crippled his fretting hand and challenged his very will to live, this extravagant, romantic, and illiterate genius went on to hasten the acceptance of the guitar as a popular solo instrument and to inspire musicians as varied as Yehudi Menuhin, Julian Bream, Les Paul, Barney Kessel, Chet Atkins, Joe Pass, and Carlos Santana.

Not only did Reinhardt become France’s most famous jazz performer, but during World War II he also assumed the status of national hero by refusing large sums of money to perform for the Nazi occupiers. After the war, expecting to reap some of his reputation’s benefits, he eagerly went to the United States to tour with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Disappointed by his reception in America, he returned to France and spent

the remaining seven years of his life playing and recording with a variety of combos, fishing, playing billiards, and painting. He died unexpectedly of a stroke at the age of 43.

Born Jean Baptiste Reinhardt on January 23, 1910, this musical prodigy began his uncommon life in a gypsy roulotte (or caravan, a horse-drawn wagon) in the Belgian town of Liverchies, near the French border. A gypsy of the Manouche band, he is said to have possessed the gypsy’s wandering impulse throughout his life, joining passing caravans while on tour, going off with various questionable "cousins" for meals or drinks instead of making gigs, and never really feeling comfortable unless he lived and traveled in a wagon. According to Rich Kienzle in Great Guitarists, Reinhardt most likely inherited his musical talent from his "probable father, Jean Ve’es," who was a comic and violinist. At the age of ten, Django (a gypsy dialect name meaning John, alternatively spelled "Jiango," or "Djengo," as on his gravestone) was given a banjo-guitar, which he practiced obsessively, becoming good enough by age 13 to perform as a sideman in low-level Parisian dance halls. Thereafter he was also playing violin and banjo, and within a few years he had recorded with a singer named Chabel.

Sustained Serious Injuries in Caravan Fire
Reinhardt reportedly first heard American-style jazz in 1925 or 1926, and soon he had garnered such local attention that he was playing with the accordionist-bandleader Maurice Alexander in the Belleville section of Paris. In his 1961 biography Django Reinhardt, author Charles Delaunay indicated that by 1928 Reinhardt had been signed by English bandleader Jack Hylton to appear in London with his orchestra. Before he could meet that obligation, however, a disastrous fire struck the caravan in which he and his wife were living, leaving him seriously injured and threatening an end to his musical career.

Most of the accounts of this terrible accident follow Delaunay’s description, but some sources differ in their description of Reinhardt’s resulting physical impairments: Was it his left or right leg that a doctor wanted to amputate? Or was it his left arm below the elbow? Were his "two middle fingers seared together," as George Hoefer related in Down Beat, or is Art Wrightman’s account, as told to Down Beat interviewer Dennis Hensley, more accurate? "His leg mended well enough for him to walk without a limp," Wrightman was quoted as saying, "but his left hand was extremely mutilated. His ring finger and pinky were permanently hooked, his skin was scarred, and his hand muscles were distorted." In any case, Reinhardt spent the next two years in relentless and courageous self-conducted therapy, and he taught himself a compensatory technique that allowed him once again to play the guitar. As Wrightman related: "Eventually, he was able to play certain ninth chords by hooking his little finger against the solo E string, but even that was rare. He was strictly a two-fingered player."

Returned to European Jazz Circuit with Famed Quintet
With his brother Joseph, Reinhardt was playing again by 1930 in front of the cafes and in the courtyards of Paris, passing the hat for money. The pair then toured the south of France, encountering artist Emile Savitry, who introduced Reinhardt to recordings by Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Joe Venuti, and American guitar player Eddie Lang. Back in Paris in late 1931, he met Stephane Grappelli, then a pianist with alto saxophonist Andre Ekyan’s band. In the same year, the University Jazz Club was established in Paris, sponsored by Hugues Panassie, one of Europe’s first jazz critics. Within a year this became the Hot Club of France. Between 1934 and 1939 the club would become world famous for presenting the Quintet of the Hot Club of France, the unique jazz group formed around Grappelli, playing the violin with elegance, and rough-hewn guitarist Reinhardt.

The mid-1930s saw the phenomenal growth of the quintet’s quality and renown—and also of Reinhardt’s individual artistry as both player and songwriter. During these pre-World War II years, the unlikely string quintet recorded swinging renditions of American pop and jazz standards like "Dinah," "Tiger Rag," "Lady Be Good," "Stardust," "St. Louis Blues," and dozens of others well known to traditional jazz and swing aficionados. But Reinhardt also showed creative genius and sensitivity to his mixed European roots in original compositions, some in collaboration with Grappelli, such as "Djangology," "Minor Swing," "Bricktop," "Swing 39," and the international hit "Nuages." In the latter years of the quintet’s existence, he continued to compose in earnest while also recording often with several other European bands and visiting with American artists such as Benny Carter, Coleman Hawkins, Rex Stewart, Barney Bigard, and Billy Taylor. As in the United States, the years just before World War II in Europe produced a great flowering of happily popular jazz in the four-beat, swinging mode. For his efforts with this sizzling Quintet of the Hot Club of France, Django Reinhardt quickly became famous as the world’s greatest jazz guitarist.

With Grappelli electing to live in England during the war, Reinhardt kept the quintet going in Vichy, France, by adapting it to available musicians. In addition to recording with a modified quintet, Reinhardt put together a number of big bands with French musicians, and in November of 1945, he recorded four sides with Django Reinhardt and His American Swing Band, made up of so-called American GIs newly arrived in liberated Paris. At about the same time, rampant and unsubstantiated rumors of Reinhardt’s death gained such currency abroad that Down Beat actually printed an erroneous announcement that he had died. Delaunay and other writers have furnished anecdotal information about Reinhardt’s adventures in occupied France during the early 1940s, including a bungled escape attempt to Switzerland that briefly put him into German custody and another attempt to flee during which he was turned back by the Swiss immigration officials because he was neither a Negro nor a Jew.

Reinhardt first enjoyed his postwar freedom and international fame in 1946 when Duke Ellington invited him to tour the United States with his orchestra. The tour was only mildly successful, the guitarist was less than thrilled, and the American jazz critics were scarcely impressed. Within two weeks of the tour’s end, Reinhardt returned home disappointed with America, despite learning some bebop, trying out the electrically amplified guitar, and listening to Frank Sinatra.

From 1947 until 1953, Reinhardt led a somewhat reclusive life, performing irregularly, touring his cherished south of France only seldom, but recording plentifully with a revived Hot Club quintet. With three different clarinetists, and occasionally with Grappelli, these recordings were devoted predominantly to his original French-flavored songs (like "Babik," "Crepuscule," "Feerie, Artillerie Lourde"), as well as his symphony from the war years, Manoir de mes Reves. In the first two months of 1949, he and Grappelli recorded 68 numbers in Rome—a session which, because of the modern Italian rhythm section and the soloists’ brilliance, "made this far more than a trip down Memory Lane preserving prewar swing," according to Kienzle.

He continued experimenting in the bop style and with the amplified guitar (much to the discouragement of his older devotees), jammed with Dizzie Gillespie in February of 1953, and made his last commercial recording on April 8, 1953, with a progressive group consisting of vibes ("Fats" Lallemand), piano (Martial Solal), bass (Pierre Michelot), and drums (Pierre Lemarchand). After returning from a strenuous Swiss tour in mid-May, he complained of headaches and numbness in his arms. Refusing to see a doctor, he collapsed from a severe stroke and died in a Fontainebleau hospital the next day.

Achieved Legendary Status as Jazz Guitar Innovator
Reinhardt’s innovations in guitar virtuosity included devices (some now common) like double-string picking, octave melodic voicing, flamenco-like "rumbling," and fiercely percussive chordal attacks. His trademark, however, is still not so common: bursts of extended melodic runs, astoundingly executed with just two fretting fingers. American guitarist Charlie Byrd, who played with Reinhardt in Paris while serving with the U.S. Army in 1945, described this facility for "scintillating passages of single notes," concluding in Down Beat that "it would take years of concentrated study" to imitate. In the same article, Barney Kessel, who was equally influenced by Reinhardt, cites the "intensity and emotion, the real fire" of his playing. "He was one of the real originals," Kessel proclaimed, adding, "If Django had wanted to stay in the United States and learn the language, I’m convinced he would have altered the course of the music itself."

What seems to astonish jazz fans and critics about Reinhardt’s playing is its inventive range—a lyrical blend of European romanticism, classical regularity, gypsy nonchalance, and the forcefulness of jazz. Reinhardt’s ear was infallible, according to virtually every musician who played with him. He is said to have been able to detect mistakes or intonation problems in individual instruments performing a symphony. His intuitive feeling for the guitar was unconstrained, and his technique was unsurpassed. Nobody playing the acoustic jazz guitar in the 1930s and 1940s could match his "biting attack and unremitting drive" and "the utterly fearless manner in which he positively leaps into his up-tempo solos," noted Stan Britt in The Jazz Guitarists. Reinhardt is credited as the only modern jazz guitarist—in any mode, at any tempo—to have produced improvisational figures of such constantly breathtaking inventiveness.

The variety and contradictions in Reinhardt’s playing style complement the fluctuations in his personal life and behavior. He was notoriously unreliable, missing gigs or showing up hours late just because he happened to meet some old friends. At the same time, he is said to have been extremely sensitive, capable of being reduced to tears by the beauty of a piece of music or someone’s playing. Perhaps it is true that he gradually tired of the impositions placed on him by his celebrity, as claimed by his longtime friend, critic Andre Hodeir. In his book Toward Jazz, Hodeir related that Reinhardt, "only a few weeks before his death, muttered: ‘The guitar bores me.’"

Despite his premature death, Reinhardt succeeded in joining the ranks of the few indisputable giants of jazz: Armstrong, Ellington, Charlie Parker, and Art Tatum. Like them, he was a natural musician who overcame substantial obstacles to become a household name in the realm of musical artistry.

Selected discography
Django ’35-’39, GNP Crescendo Records, 1973.
Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli (recorded in 1953), Vogue, 1990.
The Quintet of the Hot Club of France (recorded 1947-49), GNP Crescendo Records, 1991.
Nuages (recorded 1947-49), Vogue, 1991.
Django Reinhardt & Le Quintet du Hot Club de France (recorded 1934-37), EPM, 1991.
Djangology, RCA.
Django Reinhardt (three volumes), Everest Records, Archive of Jazz and Folk.
First Recordings, GNP Crescendo Records.
Paris 1945, Columbia.
Parisian Swing, GNP Crescendo Records.
Django and His American Friends (French), EMI Odeon CLP.
Django: The Later Years, La Roulette.

Wes Montgomery

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 1 Mar 2011 12:20:00 +0200

"Listening to [Wes Montgomery’s] solos is like teetering at the edge of a brink," composer-conductor Gunther Schuller asserted, as quoted by Jazz & Pop critic Will Smith. "His playing at its peak becomes unbearably exciting, to the point where one feels unable to muster sufficient physical endurance to outlast it." Legendary guitarist Joe Pass simply says this about Montgomery’s place in musical history: "To me, there have been only three real innovators on the guitar—Wes Montgomery, Charlie Christian, and Django Reinhardt," as cited in James Sallis’s The Guitar Players.This high praise is a testament to the ability of a man of contradictions: Montgomery was a musician who never learned to read music, and he enjoyed commercial success rarely afforded to jazz musicians during the 1960s, while suffering critical—and personal—disapproval.

Born John Leslie Montgomery on March 6, 1923, in Indianapolis, Indiana, Montgomery showed no early musical aptitude or desire. At the age of nineteen, shortly after he was married, Montgomery heard a recording of "Solo Flight" by the Benny Goodman Orchestra with Charlie Christian on guitar. The impression was such that Montgomery immediately purchased an electric guitar, an amplifier, and as many Christian recordings as he could find, listening carefully to the guitar solos and learning to play them note for note. Montgomery’s neighbors complained about the noise, however, so he abandoned the guitar pick in favor of plucking the strings with his thumb. He found the resulting sound mellow and pleasing. Later, while experimenting with different styles and approaches, he discovered the technique that would become his signature. Gary Giddins, in Riding on a Blue Note, explains: "Almost as an extension of that dulcet, singing tone, he began to work in octaves—voicing the melody line in two registers."

Within a year, Montgomery played in local clubs, imitating Christian solos. Exposed to other musicians and musical ideas, he developed his own concepts, and in 1948 was asked to join Lionel Hampton’s big band. As a sideman, Montgomery toured and recorded with this group until 1950 when, having missed his wife and children, he returned home to work as a welder for a radio parts manufacturer. However, as Rich Kienzle pointed out in Great Guitarists, "His desire to play music…was strong. His shift was from 7 A.M. to 3 P.M.; he’d rest for a while, then play at the Turf Bar from 9 P.M. to 2 A.M., moving to a second gig at another club, the Missile Room, from 2:30 A.M. to 5 A.M." Montgomery continued this pace for six years, joining the group Mastersounds, composed of his brothers Monk (on bass) and Buddy (on piano and vibraphone), in 1957. A few recordings were made by the group on the West

Coast, but they failed to attract much attention, and Montgomery returned home to play in clubs.

In 1959, Montgomery received his big break. While performing at the Missile Room, he impressed saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, who subsequently contacted Orrin Keepnews of Riverside Records. Montgomery was immediately signed and traveled to New York to record his first album, The Wes Montgomery Trio. "From the beginning of his belated ‘discovery,’ the critical reception ranged from euphoria to hyperbole," Giddins explained. "No one had ever heard a guitar sound like Wes Montgomery’s." This critical euphoria reached a fevered pitch with the release of Montgomery’s follow-up album, The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery (1960). It was not just the sound that Montgomery produced, but, asSallissays, "the intensity of his music one responded to, the power and personality of it. When Wes hit a string you felt it, and it wasn’t just a note, a C sharp or a B flat, it was part of a story he was telling you." This recording won Montgomery the down beat critics’ New Star Award for 1960, and he topped the guitar category in both down beat readers’ and critics’ polls in 1961 and 1962.

For the next couple of years, Montgomery performed and toured with various groups, including his brothers, John Coltrane, Wynton Kelly’s trio, and his own trio. Kienzle remarked that "by this time Wes had gained the eminence due him in the jazz world, producing a steady, high-quality level of music regardless of the context. His flow of ideas, soulful articulation, and effortless technique confronted other influences."

But in 1964, Riverside Records went bankrupt (following the death of president Bill Grauer), and Montgomery signed with Verve Records, headed by Creed Taylor. This move precipitated Montgomery’s fall from grace with the jazz world and concurrent rise in the popular music world. Giddins explains: "Creed Taylor realized something about Montgomery’s talent: it was octave technique and lyric sound, not his audaciously legato eighth-note improvisations with their dramatic architectural designs, that appealed to middle-of-the-road ears. So he set Montgomery on a course of decreasing improvisation and increasingly busy over-dubbed arrangements, while the octaves, once used so judiciously, became the focus of his new ‘style.’" Montgomery’s 1965 release, Goin’ Out of My Head, was a huge popular success, went gold, and earned him a Grammy award as the best instrumental jazz performance of the year.

Commercial success continued to escalate with subsequent albums on the Verve label, and in 1967, after having moved with Taylor to A&M Records, Montgomery recorded A Day in the Life.The title track not only became a popular hit, but the album became the best-selling jazz album of 1967 and one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time.

Remaking pop hits with a jazz feel increased his audience, but decreased his acclaim in jazz circles. Adrian Ingram, in an article for Jazz Journal International, noted that "hard core jazz fans began to desert him, complaining bitterly of over-orchestrated arrangements, sub-standard material (pop tunes) and constricted solo space." Sallis offered an explanation for his decline: "He was a victim of his own popularity, or of the trivialization of his talent, depending on how you perceive it, and as a result that talent went largely unheard for the last years of his life."

Montgomery was aware of the growing dissatisfaction in the jazz community with his supposed commercialization, and he tried to make a distinction between his earlier work and his more popular work. "There is a jazz concept to what I’m doing, but I’m playing popular music and it should be regarded as such," Montgomery said, as quoted by Giddins. His approach to music had always been one of feeling rather than one of technique. His inability to read music led to his development of a fine ear; he heard music rather than saw it on a page. And this was most important in his relation with his audience. "Wes believed that the music should be communicated, that the audience was part of the band, and the feeling of the music was more important to him than playing every note correctly," Jimmy Stewart wrote in Guitar Player.Regardless of the style of, or the audience for, the music, Montgomery played with feeling and conviction. Of Road Song, his last recording for A&M before his death, down beat’s Pete Welding said, "He couldn’t play uninterestingly if he wanted to. Time and time again throughout this collection his supple sense of rhythm, his choice and placement of notes, his touch and tone raise what might have been in lesser hands merely mundane to the plane of something special, distinctive, masterful."

Even with his quoted defense of playing popular music, Montgomery, as Ingram noted, "began to feel trapped by both the music business in general and non-jazz audiences who would tolerate only note perfect renditions of the most popular tunes from his Verve albums."

Montgomery longed to return to the playing of his earlier style. This was no more evident than when he performed live. A month before Montgomery’s death, Giddins saw him perform and described what he heard: "Surrounded by four rhythm players, his regular group, he immediately shot off a single chorus of ‘Goin’,’ and followed it with the most fiery, exquisite set of guitar music I’ve ever heard….Clearly, he had compromised only on disc and would eventually be recorded more seriously." Unfortunately, this did not occur. At the peak of his career, Montgomery suffered a fatal heart attack in his hometown on June 15, 1968.

"While Montgomery’s place in jazz history was earned through his early recordings—his jazz recordings— his talent was encompassing enough to enable him to take on the requirements of ‘commercial’ music and execute it with utter elan, unerring taste, musicianship, and true distinction," Welding wrote. In a review for down beat of a posthumous release, Don DeMicheal offered this statement on Montgomery’s lasting ability: "Montgomery could do no wrong when his muse was hot upon him, and it often led him to try and accomplish things that few others could even conceive." But it is perhaps this quote from Ingram that succinctly defines the achievements and losses of Montgomery: "Even when he was immersed in blatantly commercial surroundings, Montgomery never lost his ability to create sophisticated, tasteful jazz. He could turn tap water into vintage wine, though it is sad he was forced to do so, so often."

Selected discography
Finger Pickin’, Pacific Jazz, 1957.
Montgomery land, Pacific Jazz, 1958–59.
The Montgomery Trio, Riverside, 1959.
The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery, Riverside, 1960.
Movin’ Along, Riverside, 1960.
So Much Guitar!, Riverside, 1961.
Full House, Riverside, 1962.
Fusion, Riverside, 1963.
Boss Guitar, Riverside, 1963.
Movin’ Wes, Verve, 1964.
Bumpin’, Verve, 1964.
Goin’ Out of My Head, Verve, 1965.
Smokin’ at the Half Note, Verve, 1965.
Tequila, Verve, 1966.
California Dreaming, Verve, 1966.
A Day in the Life, A&M, 1967.
Down Here on the Ground, A&M, 1967.
Road Song, A&M, 1968.
Willow, Weep for Me, Verve, 1969.

Jennifer Batten

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 14:53:00 +0200

The buzz on Jennifer Batten rose from the guitar underground, and the guitar magazines promptly began chronicling her savvy musicianship and highly original approach to the electric guitar in print.

At one point Batten was in 6 different bands, playing everything from straight ahead rock, to metal,fusion, and funk. A major turning point came when she was selected from over one hundred guitarists to play in Michael Jackson's highly skilled band which toured the world for one and a half years playing for over four and a half million people. Jennifer wasted no time after the” Bad” Tour's grand finale, diving into work on her own album with renown producer (and Stevie Wonder guitarist) Michael Sembello. The stunning results can be heard on “Above, Below, and Beyond”, the title appropriately describing the interesting diversity within. With this debut release, the world at large learned what all the excitement was about.

Shortly after the record's release in the spring of '92, she was asked again to join Michael Jackson for his upcoming "Dangerous Tour". In January '93, she joined Jackson to partake in Superbowl XXVII's half time entertainment which aired to one and half billion people in 80 nations. It was the largest audience in television history.

She completed her second solo record "Jennifer Batten's Tribal Rage~Momentum," just before she was again asked to join Michael Jackson for his 2 year world tour supporting his double album "HIStory" in 1997.

Jennifer's Tribal Rage project took a much different direction than her first record and is heavily influenced by world music. It is a hybrid of rock and very exotic sounds, including African percussion, Australian didgeridoo, Caribbean steel drums and Scottish bag pipes.

In the spring of 98 Jeff Beck asked Jennifer to join his band. They joined forces for 3 years on the CD’s "Who Else", and “You Had It Coming” which were both supported by world tours.

Other guest appearances include CD's with Carmine Appice, Michael Sembello, Carl Anderson, Carina Alfie and several rock tributes.

Jennifer has authored two music books and has just released her third solo CD/DVD entitled “Whatever”. With this 3rd effort, she’s ventured into electronica, vocal samples, and film. She’s supporting this release with a multimedia one woman show, playing guitar in synch with films projected onto a giant screen. The companion DVD includes over 90 min of art films, previously unreleased music videos, interviews, commentary, and an innovative guitar lesson.

Brendt Allman

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 14:51:00 +0200

Personal life

Brendt currently lives in Doylestown, PA with his wife Tonya. He enjoys graphic arts, photography, guns, scotch, video games, and a variety of music.[1]

Career

Early Years

Brendt began playing the guitar in 1982, at the age of 12. By 1986, he was teaching guitar, as well as playing in local cover bands in Dallas. He also learned to play the piano so he could apply his musical knowledge to composing for piano and keyboards.

Shadow Gallery

At age 20, he joined the band Sorcerer with Carl Cadden-James, Mike Baker, Ron Evans, and Chris Ingles. Covering many songs that most bands wouldn't attempt, they proved their musicianship, flawlessly playing tribute to a variety of Yngwie Malmsteen songs, some of the more difficult Rush tunes, and a collection of many favorite classic rock songs. Brendt and band member Carl Cadden-James decided they wanted to create more original tunes, so they set out to work on a piece called "The Queen of the City of Ice" which showcased a long, involved more progressive direction.

The band changed their name to Shadow Gallery and put together an 8-track demo of material, recorded in Cadden-James' basement. The demo was well received by Magna Carta, an independent progressive rock label, who officially signed the band August 23, 1991.[2]

Brendt is noted as a founding member, guitarist, and songwriter for Shadow Gallery. Shadow Gallery has released seven albums worldwide through Magna Carta Records (until 2003) and Inside Out. The band has been noted as one of the most important and innovative progressive metal bands to come out in the last decade.[3]

“Shadow Gallery is a band with an extremely loyal fanbase, an irrefutable integrity, and a unique sound that will doubtlessly guarantee its continued existence for years to come.” [4]

Other projects

At age 26, Brendt played with Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) and Billy Sheehan (David Lee Roth band / Mr. Big) and various other artists on the Rush Tribute album: Working Man. He was also a composer on the James LaBrie solo album, MullMuzzler: ‘’Keep It To Yourself’’, contributing three tracks.[1]

Always a fan of jazz music, Brendt is currently writing an album of Jazz Fusion for eventual release, while continuously remaining a principle songwriter for Shadow Gallery.[1]

Influences

Brendt's early influences include Stevie Ray Vaughn, Albert King and Angus Young, but Yngwie Malmsteen's “Rising Force” changed his life. Other guitarist influences are Randy Rhodes, Vinnie Moore, Al Di Meola and Jason Becker. Heavy metal also dominated his early years with Metallica and Iron Maiden being a big influence. He also dabbled with progressive rock, listening to Kansas, Yes, Genesis, etc. and was raised in a household where Gershwin and Mozart were loved.[1]

Discography

With Shadow Gallery

“Shadow Gallery” (1992)
Carved in Stone (1995)
Tyranny (1998)
Legacy (2001)
Room V (2005)
Prime Cuts (2007)
Digital Ghosts (2009)
As a Composer

James Labrie’s MullMuzzler - Keep It to Yourself (1999)
As a guest musician

Working Man - Rush Tribute (1996)
The Moon Revisited -Pink Floyd Tribute (1995)
Tales From Yesterday – Yes Tribute(1995)
Supper's Ready - Genesis Tribute 1995)
Helena and Maria – “Serene” (2006)

Kiko Loureiro

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 14:50:00 +0200

In March 2007 Kiko Loureiro was voted “Best Guitarist” by respected Japanese music publication BURRN. Quite an achievement for a guitarist from Brasil whose meteoric career has spawned numerous studio and live albums with ANGRA, as well as solo albums “No Gravity” and “Universo Inverso”.

Beginning his musical studies at age eleven, Kiko has never stopped evolving both as a musician and as a composer. Today, at age 34, he is in the enviable position of being respected, well-known and influential worldwide.

Kiko was just 19 years old when he was invited to join the newly-formed ANGRA. Before then he studied with Mozart Mello and played with various local groups in his hometown of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Kiko's solo career has developped parallel to that of Angra.

In March 1993 Kiko filmed his first instructional video. Shortly thereafter he travelled to Germany to record Angra's debut album “Angels Cry”. The album's overwhelming success opened many new markets to the band, such as Europe and Japan.

Two years later the band recorded “Holy Land”, again in Germany, with production handled by Charlie Bauerfeind and Sascha Paeth. This record strenghthened the band's position as a leading melodic heavy metal act on the world music scene.

Prior to the 1998 release of Angra's third studio opus “Fireworks”, they issued two Eps “Freedom Call” and “Holy Live” the latter recorded in Paris, France. “Fireworks” was recorded at major UK studios Abbey Road and Power House, and produced by Chris Tsangarides. Its concept was different from their previous work, it was more focused on their heavy metal roots.

In October 2001 Angra presented their new line-up and new album “Rebirth” to the world. Again recorded in Germany, but this time produced by Dennis Ward, the album's title was self-explanatory! Both the record and the new line-up's live work received unanimous worldwide acclaim. Following the success of “Rebirth” both Angra, the band, and Kiko, the guitarist, garnered many rewards from numerous Brazilian and Japanese publications. In the same year Kiko released another instructional video, this one his first of many on DVD for Japanese publication Young Guitar.

In May 2002 a “Rebirth” songbook was published, the first hard rock publication of its genre in Brasil! It has since been distributed around the world.

The mini-album “Hunters and Prey”, once again produced by Dennis Ward, was issued around the same time. It included eight songs and a multimedia track. During the supporting tour Angra performed a major tour in Asia.

2003 saw the worldwide release of “Rebirth World Tour – Live in Sao Paulo” DVD and double CD.

At the same time Kiko released two more instructional DVDs “Técnica e Versatilidade” and “Os Melhores Riffs e Solos do Angra”. Both videos show the guitarist at his best, in a clear and easy-to-learn way, with many tips and advice to enrich the musical repertoire of any guitarist.

September 2004 saw the release of Angra's highly-anticipated concept work “Temple of Shadows”. The musicians are at their technical and creative best. Once again produced by Dennis Ward, the album features Brazilian musician/composer Milton Nascimento on the track “Late Redemption”.

During his live work with ANGRA Kiko always found time to highlight his musicianship by giving guitar clinics or workshops around the world. His debut solo album “No Gravity” was recorded in Germany, once again produced by Dennis Ward. Kiko plays all instruments on the thirteen instrumental tracks except drums, handled by Mike Terrana. “No Gravity” had a worldwide release in 2005. Both a “No Gravity” songbook and a playback CD were also issued and are highly sought-after by musicians and fans alike.

Kiko's talent is increasingly recognized around the world and companies such as Tagima guitars, ESP guitars, Laney amps, Sparflex cables, D'Addario strings, Zoom effects, Morley wah and Seymour Duncan pickups have associated their name to his and also released signature models under Kiko’s specifications.

Kiko has also featured on the cover of music publications from South America to Japan to Europe, too numerous to mention!

2006 saw the almost simultaneous release of Angra's latest opus “Aurora Consurgens”, yet another concept album, and Kiko's solo work “Universo Inverso”. This second solo album took an entirely different direction from the first one. Kiko is joined by three respected Brasilian and Cuban musicians for an innovative ten tracks of Latin Jazz instrumental music. Whereas this new direction may have surprised some of Angra's and Kiko's diehard metal fans, it has received positive critical acclaim worldwide and only serves to consolidate his musical ability and creative versatility!
In 2009 Kiko released his acclaimed third solo album. Released all around the world, “Fullblast” features Mike Terrana on drums and Felipe Andreoli on bass. At the same period Angra and Sepultura did a Brazilian Metal celebration tour in many different Brazilian Cities.

In 2010 Rock House, the leader in music instruction, announced the release of a new 2-set instructional DVD Creative Fusion, Beyond Pentatonics & Power Chord featuring Brazilian guitar virtuoso.

Kiko Loureiro is currently at Norcal Studios in Sao Paulo, to record the new Angra's album.

Thomas Youngblood

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 14:49:00 +0200

Thomas Youngblood is the guitarist, founding member and one of the main creative forces behind the progressive/symphonic power metal band Kamelot from Tampa, Florida. He began playing guitar at the age of 17 and in 1991 founded Kamelot with Richard Warner. Since Warner's departure, Youngblood has shared songwriting duties mostly with vocalist Roy Khan.

Thomas' wife, Mari Youngblood, is a soprano vocalist who has made some guest appearances on more recent Kamelot albums. Together they have a daughter named Annelise, whose voice appears on the track "Soul Society" from The Black Halo.

Curtis Mayfield

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 14:48:00 +0200

Personal Information

Born Curtis Lee Mayfield on June 3, 1942, in Chicago, IL; died on December 26, 1999, in Atlanta, GA of natural causes; married three times; children: eleven.

Career

The Impressions, lead singer and songwriter, 1958-70; Curtom Record and Publishing Co., owner, 1970-99; solo performer, 1970-99.

Life's Work

Curtis Mayfield was an early comer to the world of music. When he was barely ten years old he was already writing music, and by the time he was fifteen he was invited to join the group the Impressions, a group that would come to be known world-wide for its rhythm and blues sound found in such songs as "Gypsy Woman," the song for which the group was eventually honored with a place in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Mayfield went on to an incredibly successful solo career during which he became famous for such popular songs as "Superfly" and "Freddie's Dead." He was a political man, many of whose songs, such as "We're a Winner," "I'm So Proud," and "People Get Ready," were unofficially associated with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. In 1990 Mayfield was injured during a concert rehearsal and paralyzed. He didn't let that stop him, however, and before his death in 1999 Mayfield wrote more music and was admitted as a solo artist into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Joined the Impressions

Born on June 3, 1942, Curtis Lee Mayfield grew up in a poor family that moved from neighborhood to neighborhood in Chicago. By the time he was in high school, his family had settled in the Cabrini-Green projects on Chicago's North Side. Mayfield's strongest early musical influence came from his membership in a local gospel group called the Northern Jubilee Gospel Singers, which included three cousins and Jerry Butler. But young Mayfield was also interested in his own music. As Mayfield told the Detroit News in 1974, "I was writing music when I was 10 or 11 years old." Mayfield's grandmother was a preacher in the Traveling Souls Spiritualist Church, and traces of church and gospel music are evident in many of his compositions. Mayfield attended Wells High School on Chicago's North Side along with another popular singer, Major Lance, but he left when he was in the tenth grade to begin performing with the Impressions.

The Impressions began playing around 1956 as the Roosters in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with Fred Cash, Sam Gooden, Emanuel Thomas, and the brothers Richard and Arthur Brooks. Seeking to advance their musical careers, Gooden and the Brooks brothers went north to Chicago in 1957 and moved to the North Side in the Cabrini-Green projects. Jerry Butler was a senior in high school at the time, and he acted as a replacement for the vocalists who had stayed in Tennessee. Butler encouraged Mayfield to join the group, saying they needed someone "who could play an instrument and who could help us get our harmony together," as quoted by Robert Pruter in Chicago Soul. By this time, Mayfield was writing gospel-influenced songs and had learned how to play the guitar.

The group made some early recordings for the Bandera label and were then discovered by Eddie Thomas of Vee Jay records, who became their manager and changed their name to the Impressions. Vee Jay and Chess records were two of Chicago's major rhythm and blues labels of the time, and the Impressions made their first record for Vee Jay about six months after Mayfield joined the group. Released on the company's subsidiary label, Falcon, "For Your Precious Love" featured Jerry Butler's lead vocals. Its first issue sold over nine hundred thousand copies. Vee Jay's A&R man Calvin Carter signed them immediately after hearing the song, which he reportedly liked for its spiritual feel, a genuine departure from the doo-wop harmonies of the day.

Vee Jay promoted the group as "Jerry Butler and the Impressions" and developed Butler as a solo artist. After three singles, Butler left the group to go out on his own. As Mayfield told Pruter, "When Jerry left ... it allowed me to generate and pull out my own talents as a writer and a vocalist." Mayfield's soprano singing contrasted with Butler's baritone leads. The group released a few singles with Mayfield as leader and then was dropped by Vee Jay. From 1959 to 1961, the Impressions temporarily split up, and Mayfield began writing songs and playing guitar for Butler in 1960.

Gospel Influence Proved Popular

By 1961 Mayfield had saved enough money--about a thousand dollars--to regroup the Impressions and take them to New York to arrange a recording session. In July they recorded "Gypsy Woman" for ABC-Paramount. Mayfield was only 18 when the group signed with ABC-Paramount, and it was the beginning of a seven-year string of popular and rhythm and blues hits that were all composed by Mayfield. Mayfield, Sam Gooden, Fred Cash, and Arthur and Richard Brooks sang on "Gypsy Woman." The Brooks brothers left the Impressions in 1962, and the remaining members continued as a trio throughout the 1960s.

In 1963 the group recorded "It's All Right," which Pruter termed "the first single to define the classic style of the 1960s Impressions." Producer Jerry Pate "lifted the energy level considerably, adding blaring horns and a more forceful, percussive bottom," wrote Pruter. "It's All Right" was a crossover hit that went to Number Four on the pop charts and Number One on the rhythm and blues charts in the fall of 1963. The song featured "the lead switching off from among the three and the two others singing in harmony with the lead," Pruter commented in Chicago Soul . It was a fresh new sound in rhythm and blues, but critics have noted that it came directly from Mayfield's gospel singing experience.

In 1964 the Impressions became a major act with a series of strong singles that included "I'm So Proud," "Keep On Pushing," and "Amen." Mayfield was apparently inspired by the emergence of the civil rights movement. The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., and Jesse Jackson adopted "Keep On Pushing" as an unofficial theme song for the movement. Dan Kening, writing in the Chicago Tribune, proclaimed that Mayfield's "inspirational lyrics reflected a strong black consciousness while preaching the tenets of hard work, persistence, and faith as the key to achieving equality."

The group peaked with their best material in 1965 when they released "People Get Ready," a song with heavy gospel imagery and feeling. The album of the same name included such songs as "Woman's Got Soul" and the churchy "Meeting Over Yonder." Following this peak, the group was less successful and had fewer hits. In 1967 "We're a Winner" managed to reach Number 14 on Billboard's pop charts, in spite of the fact that many white radio stations, including Chicago's WLS, would not play it. That song, and its follow-up "We're Rolling On," also caused black radio stations problems in the late 1960s. As Pruter wrote, "Surprisingly at that time, black radio had not kept pace with its black constituency and there was a lot of resistance by programmers over playing such 'overtly' political songs. The popularity of those songs ["We're a Winner" and "We're Rolling On"] had the effect of pushing black radio in the direction its listeners were going."

In addition to composing, singing, and playing the guitar, Mayfield was also interested in setting up his own record label. In 1960, at the age of 21, he made the unprecedented move of establishing his own music publishing company, Curtom, while recording at Vee Jay. Mayfield began setting up two labels in 1966, Mayfield and Windy C., but it was in 1968 that he established his most successful label, also named Curtom. He took the Impressions away from ABC and also recorded and produced such artists as Major Lance, Baby Huey and the Babysitters, and the Five Stairsteps. Mayfield's songwriting and producing abilities were a key factor in the label's success, which enjoyed distribution by Buddah from 1968 to 1975 and by Warner Brothers from 1975 until Mayfield folded the label in 1980.

Found Success With Solo Career

Mayfield announced his departure from the Impressions in August of 1970. He began his solo career in 1971, offering "a biting commentary of the American scene and impressions of oppressed people," according to a review in Billboard. A New York Times music critic said of his first solo album, Curtis: "Mayfield himself continues to be a kind of contemporary preacher-through-music. He sings in a breathlessly high, pure voice, breaking his phrases into speech-like patterns, his rhythms pushed by the urgency of his thought.... He is not a lyrical singer, and his message seems as important to him as his melody." Including songs of up to ten minutes in length, Curtis established Mayfield as an album rather than a singles artist.

Mayfield began a successful career writing soundtracks for films with the 1972 movie, Superfly. Somewhat controversial, the film glorified the life of a drug pusher and was part of the then-popular genre of "blaxploitation" films. According to a New York Times review, "Mayfield's music is more specifically anti-drugs than the philosophical content of the movie, and it is also considerably more stylish in design and execution." Two top-ten hit singles resulted from the soundtrack: "Freddie's Dead" and "Superfly."

Throughout the 1970s, Mayfield continued to write soundtracks for several films and solidified his reputation as a solo artist. Mayfield's solo career featured harder sounding songs than he wrote for the Impressions, with didactic lyrics and social commentary. In spite of adverse criticism, Pruter assessed Mayfield's 1970s output positively, writing, "Some of the very best black popular music of the 1970s came from Mayfield, who despite the many misses during the decade was one of the creative leaders in establishing a new contemporary style of rhythm and blues, one with a militant, harder edge."

The Impressions regrouped in 1983 for a reunion tour. Original members Butler, Mayfield, Gooden, and Cash performed the 1960s hits of the Impressions along with the solo hits of Butler and Mayfield. As reviewed by Robert Palmer in the New York Times, the performances "amounted to a capsule history of recent black popular music, from the slick doo-wop and grittier gospel-based vocal group styles of the 1950s to Mr. Butler's urbane pop-soul, Curtis Mayfield's soul message songs and later funk, and the styles the Impressions have tackled as a group." Palmer continued: "The Impressions were one of the two top rhythm-and-blues vocal groups of the 1960s; the other was the Temptations. Both were rooted in the rich traditions of black gospel music."

Mayfield's influence on a new generation of listeners was evident in many ways. His 1960s compositions for the Impressions have enjoyed numerous cover versions from a wide range of popular singers. And some critics have suggested that his anti-drug messages, most emphatically expressed in the songs for Superfly, fit well with the new films created by young black filmmakers. Popular rap singer and actor Ice-T, who sang on "Superfly 1990" with Mayfield, said in tribute to the artist, "There's only been a couple of people I've met [in the music business] that to me are really heavy. Curtis is one of them."

Continued Career After Paralyzing Accident

A native Chicagoan who moved to Atlanta in 1980, Curtis Mayfield was enjoying the best comeback year of his career in 1990. His soul vocal group the Impressions, was nominated for a place in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and a successful cover version of their 1961 hit "Gypsy Woman," was recorded by Santana. Take It to the Streets, Mayfield's first album in more than five years, was released in early 1990, and he toured the United States, Europe, and Japan to promote it. Capitol Records was set to release the soundtrack to The Return of Superfly, a rap sampler featuring four original songs written and performed by Mayfield.

Then tragedy struck. On a windy summer night in August of 1990, Mayfield was getting set to start a concert at Wingate Field in Brooklyn. As he was plugging in his guitar, a gust of wind toppled a light tower near the stage, striking him in the head. The accident resulted in three broken vertebrae and paralysis for Mayfield from the neck down. After spending a week in a Brooklyn hospital, he was transferred to the Shepherd Spinal Center in Atlanta. Keeping his spirits up, Mayfield began physical therapy in September of 1990 and made his first public appearance in February of 1991, when he donated $100,000 to set up the Curtis Mayfield Research Fund at the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis in Florida. His family was reportedly hopeful that his physical therapy will enable him to make at least a partial recovery.

Mayfield might have been injured, but he wasn't forgotten. Various artists got together in 1994 to put out a tribute album in honor of the great Curtis Mayfield, including Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, Lenny Kravitz, the Isley Brothers, and Bruce Springsteen. Mayfield himself got back into the recording studio to do "All Men Are Brothers" for the album. He told Guitar Player magazine that the album meant a lot to him. "I was just overwhelmed. It brought tears to my eyes. As they would record them, they would send me copies of each. I'd play them over and over, and there wasn't a song I didn't like. It just goes to show you that no matter how bad things might get, there's always room for something good to happen."

And Mayfield's music stayed alive. Rhino Records came out with a three-CD boxed set of Mayfield's music in 1996. It included music from his days with the Impressions through to his later solo career. In 1997 Mayfield released the new album New World Order. When asked how his music writing had changed since his accident, Mayfield told People Weekly, "It's difficult simply because when an idea hits me, I can't just up and grab a guitar or recorder or a pencil and write it down.... But I'm happy to know I can still lock in lyrics, and I have enough voice and strength in my lungs to sing a song." As an even greater tribute to the man and his music, Mayfield was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 for his solo recordings.

On December 26, 1999, Mayfield died in Atlanta, Georgia of natural causes. Even though he had passed on, his music and career continue to be influential. In 2000 a two-hour musical celebration was held to commemorate Mayfield's life and career at the First AME Church in Los Angeles. Performers such as Stevie Wonder, Lauryn Hill, the Impressions, Mayfield's old band, and Danny Glover led the event. Also in 2000, Mayfield was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame. It is a great tribute to a man who led many in their paths to musical art. As Eric Clapton told Guitar Player magazine, "Curtis changed the course of modern music, bringing refinement, cool, and social comment to R&B and leading the way for songwriters, players, and singers in all fields of music. He [was] a great talent and inspiration to us all.

Awards

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, inductee with the Impressions, 1990; Nat. Acad. of Recording Arts & Sciences Lifetime Achievement Award, 1994; Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, inductee as a solo artist, 1998; Songwriters' Hall of Fame, inductee, 2000.

Works

Selected discography

(With The Impressions) The Impressions, ABC-Paramount, 1963.
(With The Impressions) The Never Ending Impressions, ABC-Paramount, 1964.
(With The Impressions) Keep On Pushing, ABC-Paramount, 1964.
(With The Impressions) People Get Ready, ABC-Paramount, 1965.
(With The Impressions) Ridin' High, ABC-Paramount, 1966.
(With The Impressions) The Fabulous Impressions, ABC-Paramount, 1967.
(With The Impressions) This Is My Country, Curtom, 1968.
(With The Impressions) Young Mods' Forgotten Story, Curtom, 1969.
(With The Impressions) Check Out Your Mind, Curtom, 1970.
(With The Impressions) The Vintage Years: Featuring Jerry Butler and Curtis Mayfield, Sire, 1976.
Curtis, Curtom, 1970.
Curtis Live, Curtom, 1971.
Roots, Curtom, 1971.
Superfly (soundtrack), Curtom, 1972.
Back to the World, Curtom, 1973.
Sweet Exorcist, Curtom, 1974.
Got to Find a Way, Curtom, 1974.
There's No Place Like America, Curtom, 1975.
Give Get Take and Have, Curtom, 1976.
Never Say You Can't Survive, Curtom, 1977.
Short Eyes (soundtrack), Curtom, 1977.
Do It All Night, Curtom, 1978.
Heartbeat, RSO/Curtom, 1978.
Something to Believe In, RSO/Curtom, 1979.
The Right Combination, RSO/Curtom, 1980.
Honesty, Boardwalk, 1982.
Take It to the Streets, Curtom, 1990.
The Return of Superfly (soundtrack), Capitol, 1990.
New World Order, 1996.
Further Reading

Books

Albert, George, and Frank Hoffman, editors, The Cashbox Black Contemporary Singles Charts, 1960-1984, Scarecrow, 1986.
Pruter, Robert, Chicago Soul, University of Illinois Press, 1991.
St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, 5 Volumes, St. James Press, 2000.
Whitburn, Joel, Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990, Record Research, 1991.
---, Joel Whitburn's Top R&B Singles 1942-1988, Record Research, 1988.

Bo Diddley

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 14:46:00 +0200

Personal Information

Born Elias Bates on December 30, 1928, in McComb, MS; son of Eugene Bates and Ethel Wilson; legally adopted by mother's cousin, Gussie McDaniel, 1934; married Louise Woolingham (divorced); married Ethel Smith, 1946 (divorced); married Kay Reynolds, 1960.

Career

Formed Langley Avenue Jive Cats with Earl Hooker, early 1940s; recorded for Chess Records, 1955-74; toured the United Kingdom and performed with the Rolling Stones, 1963; toured with the Clash, 1979; performed at Live Aid Concert in Philadelphia, 1985; played at George Bush's presidential inaugural, 1989; performed at Bill Clinton's presidential inaugural, 1993.

Life's Work

Bo Diddley surprised the music world in the mid-1950s when he unleashed a new guitar sound, one dominated by heavy rhythmic drive and distortion, and one that was quickly absorbed by other players. "Unarguably one of the most-influential musicians in rock 'n' roll," noted Doug Pullen in Music Hound Rock, "Diddley's distinctive 'chunka, chunka' rhythm guitar riff is the stuff of which rock's bedrock was made." The sound formed the core of several hits, including "Who Do You Love," "Bo Diddley," and "You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover." Dave Marsh wrote in the New Rolling Stone Record Guide, "Bo Diddley was one of the great fathers of rock & roll, ranking with such transitional blues artists as Fats Domino and Chuck Berry in both importance and influence."

Diddley was born Elias Bates in McComb, Mississippi, on December 30, 1928. At eight he was adopted by his mother's cousin, who taught Sunday school in Chicago, and changed his last name to McDaniel. He took classical violin lessons from Professor O.W. Frederick at Ebenezer Baptist Church, but later switched to guitar after hearing John Lee Hooker on the radio. In his teens he started boxing and became known by his nickname, Bo Diddley. He attended Foster Vocational High School, where he learned to build violins and guitars, but eventually quit school in order to work at manual labor jobs. He also played guitar on street corners during his spare time to make money, but his adoptive mother, his uncles, and the church's preachers and deacons protested against the "devil's music." Due to these conflicts, he later left home.

In the early 1950s Diddley and Billy Boy Arnold formed a band that included a washboard and maracas player. By 1954 the group was performing at the Sawdust Trail and Castle Rock in Chicago, and they recorded a demo to circulate at record labels like United and Vee-Jay. The disc finally came to the attention of Leonard Chess of Chess Records. He liked it, he told Diddley, but the song would have to be re-recorded and the obscene lyrics changed to make it marketable. Named after the singer, the single "Bo Diddley" rose to number two on Billboard's rhythm and blues chart. Mark Guarino wrote in the Arlington Heights, Illinois, Daily Herald, "Starting with his first hit, Diddley infused a raw, distorted guitar power that hadn't been heard before."

Diddley's guitar sound, filled with propulsive rhythm, helped to lay the foundation for rock-n-roll. In Marshall Cavendish's Illustrated Guide to Popular Music, writer Val Wilmer declared, "An entire rock generation cut its teeth on the 'Diddley beat,' which Bo first heard played on tambourines in church." Music scholars have traced the roots of the beat to an even earlier time. "Musicologists have pointed to that beat's roots in West Africa before slavery," wrote Dave Scheiber in the Chicago Sun Times, and "then to Deep South slaves patting out what became known as the 'Hambone' rhythm on their bodies."

As "Bo Diddley" rose on the chart, the singer was invited to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show, but there was a hitch. The producers had originally wanted Tennessee Ernie Ford to appear, because his hit "Sixteen Tons" was the fastest-rising single on the charts. They asked Diddley to perform "Sixteen Tons," believing it was the song, as opposed to the performer, that really mattered. When he complained that he didn't know the song, the producers rehearsed it with him and wrote the words to the song in large letters on cue cards. When the time came for the live broadcast, Dr. Jive introduced the guitarist, who took the stage and promptly began to sing "Bo Diddley." As he exited, he was reported to have said: "Man, maybe that was 'Sixteen Tons' on those cards, but all I saw was 'Bo Diddley!'"

1950s' rock-n-rollers like Diddley fell on hard times during the 1960s. Even though Jimi Hendrix and others built their guitar techniques on the work of early innovators like Diddley, the earlier style was considered passé. This attitude made it difficult for old-school players to find steady, good paying work. During this time Diddley acquired a number of debts attempting to finance his children's education. In order to meet expenses, he sold the rights to a number of his songs. Despite these difficulties, he continued to score a number of minor hits in the United States and England. "You Can't Judge a Book By It's Cover" rose to number 48 in the United States in 1962 and "Ooh Baby" entered the Hot Hundred; in the United Kingdom "Pretty Thing" reached the top forty in 1964 and "Hey Good Lookin'" followed in 1965.

Despite general public recognition of his contributions to rock-n-roll, and acknowledgements from high-profile players like the Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen, Diddley's innovative sound and string of hits have generated few financial rewards for the musician. "Like many early rock 'n' roll artists--especially African-American acts," noted Scheiber, "record producers, music publishers and booking agents pocketed most of the cash." Because he has received inadequate compensation for his work, Diddley has had to maintain an active touring schedule in order to support himself, despite health problems. "You gotta work," he told Anthony DellaFlora in the Albuquerque Journal. "If I ever got paid, maybe I wouldn't have to work. But I got ripped off very bad with the record companies and the publishing mess." Since 1980 Diddley has fought an ongoing legal battle seeking compensation for his music.

Diddley's legal and financial difficulties, however, have done little to slow the rock-n-roll innovator down. At the end of 2002, he had begun work on a rap song about Saddam Hussein ("Saddam Hussein, pick up your phone, if you do we might leave you alone"), and was planning to record his first album in four years at his home studio. He is one of the rare musicians to have performed at both Republican and Democratic presidential inaugurations. Diddley earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. "We may never know exactly who is the father of rock 'n' roll," wrote DellaFlora, "but if a paternity test is ever performed, Bo Diddley's musical DNA will surely have to be sampled."

Awards

Lifetime Achievement Award, Rhythm and Blues Foundation; Star, Hollywood Walk of Fame; inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1987.

Works

Selected discography

Bo Diddley, Checker, 1957.
Go Bo Diddley, Checker, 1959.
Have Guitar, Will Travel, Checker, 1959.
Bo Diddley's Beach Party, Checker, 1963.
Golden Decade, Chess, 1973.
The Chess Box, Chess, 1990.
His Best (Chess 50th Anniversary Collection), Chess, 1997.

Hank Marvin

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 11:59:00 +0200

As a staff writer for the Swedish guitar magazine FUZZ I have had the distinct pleasure of interviewing a number of my early guitar heroes - Jeff Beck, Steve Cropper, Buddy Guy and Albert Lee among others - but never the first guitarist that I ever tried to emulate, namely Hank Marvin. The very first tune I ever learned all the way through (well, more or less) was ”Apache”... So when Hank came to Sweden on his ”Final Tour” earlier this year it suddenly became a matter of urgency to try to arrange an interview. FUZZ had tried to get an interview on previous visits, but the perpetual mantra from the record company was always the same: ”Hank doesn’t give interviews”, full stop. But I couldn’t let this last chance slip by me, so this time I decided to go direct to the source, and play my trump card.

I’ll let you in on a secret - over 40 years ago, I was a member of the Cliff Richard and The Shadows Fan Club, one of 90 boys among some 18,000 girls. The club was run by a girl called Jan Vane, who felt sorry for the boys - they never seemed to win any prizes in the monthly fan club contests. She announced a ”boys only”contest - ”Pick a name for a pop group”. The judges were Hank and Bruce Welch, as I recall. My offering was ”The Spectacles”... I guess all the other entries must have been rubbish, because I won. The prize was the red ”sharkskin” suit Cliff wore in the concert scene with the Shadows at the end of the film ”The Young Ones”, signed by Cliff in the lining (with a nice white shirt and under-collar bow tie). It hangs in my wardrobe to this day. Not that I can even get into the jacket now - I had grown out of the trousers by the time I was 18. But it’s cool. It’s very cool.

So I wrote a personal letter to Hank, related this story, and asked very politely if he would grant me an interview. I had this delivered by motorcycle messenger to his dressing room at the Concert House in Gothenburg the evening before he was to perform in Stockholm, where I live. To my delight and surprise Hank’s tour manager rang about an hour and a half later - I was welcome to meet Hank over lunch at his hotel in Stockholm the next day! So here is an exclusive interview with a living legend, the man who inspired a whole generation of guitar players, and even many of their children, Hank Marvin, lead guitarist of The Shadows.

Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch met in their hometown of Newcastle, and formed a band called The Railroaders in 1957. They soon moved to London, and changed their name to The Chesternuts when singer Peter Chester joined them for their first single release. Cliff Richard’s manager discovered Hank at the legendary ”2 i’s” coffee bar, and invited him to audition for Cliff’s group The Drifters. Hank accepted, on the condition that his friend Bruce was included in the deal. Also in the group at the time were bass guitarist Paul Samwell and drummer Terry Smart. Jet Harris took over the bass in October 1958, and Tony Meehan replaced Smart the year after, completing the classic lineup.

Cliff Richard had already hit in a big way in mid-1958 with his first single release ”Move It”, followed up by a row of Top 5 and Number One hits. The Drifters released a couple of singles, but neither made any great inroads on the charts. In October 1959 the group changed its name to The Shadows, when the American vocal group The Drifters gained an injunction forbidding them to use the name in the USA. (Cliff and The Shadows made one visit in 1960, but never really broke in the States.) ”Apache”, released in July 1960, was a huge hit, staying on the Top 40 for over 20 weeks. (Dutch guitarist Jorgen Ingmann scored the hit with the Jerry Lordan tune in the States.) The Shadows had more than 25 English Top 40 hits before they split up in 1968. If you count in the 33 hit singles they recorded with Cliff Richard the group had more English Top 40 hits than The Beatles.

Hank Marvin’s influence in rock guitar circles is indisputable, and cannot be overstated. Gary Moore, Ritchie Blackmore, Brian May, Tony Iommi, Peter Green, Mark Knopfler, Peter Frampton, Andy Summers - when all these guys (and all the rest of us) took their first stumbling steps on the road to guitar proficiency, ”Apache”, ”Man Of Mystery”, ”F.B.I.” or maybe Cliff’s ”Livin’ Doll” were among the first tunes they tried to learn. Any budding guitarist more or less had to learn them, to have any chance of passing an audition to play in a band at all. (If you were really good, you could even play ”Foot Tapper”.) The singer in Jeff Beck’s first band, The Deltones, has related that the band were infinitely impressed by Beck’s ability to play Shadows tunes ”just like Hank” when he auditioned for them. Beck has spoken dismissively of this, but I still think I can hear echoes of Hank in his playing even today, particularly in his use of the vibrato bar and on some of the slow ballads. Marvin’s influence on the other side of the Atlantic has become more widely appreciated in later years, in spite of the fact that neither Cliff Richard nor The Shadows ever really broke in the States in any big way. Artists as diverse as Steve Stevens, Neil Young, Randy Bachman and Bela Fleck have all named Hank Marvin among their influences.

It’s hard to tell that the slim, smiling figure approaching me in the lobby is 60 years old. Hank Marvin doesn’t look it, even att close range. But he doesn’t want us to take any photos - a Norwegian paper had recently printed a picture he didn’t like at all. Hank is just as relaxed as he looks in pictures - and on the concert stage, for that matter. He seems to be an open, friendly and kind-hearted man, and is surprisingly interested in discussing techicalities about his guitars and equipment, despite more than 40 years in the business. He also has a typically British sense of humour, understated and self-deprecating, and a ready laugh.

So - the big question on everybody’s minds is, on the posters it says - ”The Final Tour” - that’s the final word, is it?

- The final solution! (laughs) - well, I suppose everyone at some point must make a decision whether to continue touring. I’m very careful about this, because I don’t want to shut any doors. I have no intention of doing any more of these long, intensive tours. But that’s not to say I might not do something in the form of live work at some point, maybe of a very short duration, or something that interests me, whatever, in the future - I simply don’t know at this stage. But just to recap, I certainly don’t want to do any more of these long tours. So yes, this is The Final Tour.

But your’e not giving up playing?

- Not entirely, no. I’m going to have a long rest, though. I shall go into intensive care after the tour! (Laughs) Because we have 64 concerts on this one- when I finish the dates in Scandinavia we have another 50 in the UK. Everyone at the end of a tour like that - the band, the crew, everyone - really feels like we’re ready for a break. It’s pretty gruelling.

Yeah, I’ve been there - not on that level, but I’ve played 6 nights a week for 9 months on the trot, so I know, it’s hard work.

- It is. It’s not so much the performances, funnily enough - I think we all enjoy the performances - it’s the travelling, you’re constantly having late nights, sometimes early mornings because of having to catch flights - and then perhaps interviews on local radio, or local TV. It makes the days often very long, and very demanding. And when that goes on for that amount of time, it can - harrumph! - for a man of my age - (laughs) it can be - knackering!

You’re going to be 60 this year, is that right?

- I am 60, I was 60 last October. But I appreciate the thought!

LAST October? Congratulations!
You’ve been living in Australia for the past - what? - 15 years?

- 15 years plus now, almost 15 -1/2. Yes.

What was the big attraction with Australia?

- Several things, really. We live in Perth, Western Australia - the weather is a Mediterranean climate there, I prefer warmth to cold - and less people, less traffic...

Cleaner air, maybe?

- Well, yes - you get a feeling that the city is generally cleaner than say, British cities anyway. You’ve got great beaches, lovely countryside, great food over there - eating out is pretty cheap over there. It seems to be the quality of life generally is better. And because I - and my family, my wife - we prefer a place where there is less traffic and less people, it suits us. It seems as though there’s therefore less pressure. You just feel more relaxed in that kind of environment, I think.

And then of course there’s the Aussies, they’re kind of special too.

- Yeah, they’re very relaxed people, generally, in their approach to things. But then having said that, they get a lot of things done. They’re quite a creative people, really - a lot of inventions, I was surprised, come out of Australia - and they do very well at sports, and some very good music has come out of Australia. So whilst they’ve got this ”She’ll be right, mate” attitude, they still seem to get quite a lot of stuff done, and creative ideas, and things.

You know’ it’s funny, but all these years - I never found out until last night that Hank Marvin wasn’t your real name.

- Well it is my real name, but I wasn’t born with that name. I changed it when I was 18. So it is my real name, the other one doesn’t exist! Funnily enough, there was a period - maybe if I was coming into the music scene now as a youngster, I perhaps wouldn’t change my name. But in those days it seemed to be the thing to do, everybody had a stage name.

Right - you couldn’t call yourself Harry Webb (Sir Cliff Richard’s given name) back then, could you? It was all Adam Faith, and Billy Fury, and Rory Storm!

- That’s right. It just seemed the way to go, I’d been known as Hank for many. many years, so that just stuck. The ”Marvin” I got from {country singer} Marvin Rainwater - I thought ”I love the sound of that name Marvin, it sounds good.”

You got the ultimate accolade really, didn’t you - your name became London rhyming slang! {”I’m Hank (Marvin)!” = I’m starving (hungry)}

- So it was a good move, you see! The other one could have been rhymed with something else - very unfortunate! (Laughs)

(Interviewer collapses in helpless laughter...) {Hank Marvin was christened ”Brian Robson Rankin”...} (Wiping tears from eyes) Well, you’re still using the Custom Shop Strats, obviously, but you’ve been doing a lot of acoustic work recently.

- On stage I use three of the Custom Shop Strats. the signature models - simply because they’re all strung with different gauge strings. I use heavy strings for the old Shads stuff, and I use 11 to 50’s for most of the stuff, that’s my kind of compromise string gauge. Then we do a rock medley where I attempt a little bit of country style playing on one number, where I use 10 to 46’s. I sort of prefer the sound of the heavier strings really. But getting back to the acoustics, ever since I’ve been doing the solo tours we’ve had a little acoustic set, and it’s always gone very well, and with this new album - the ”Guitar Player” album - we’re doing a little more acoustic on this tour, we’re doing six tracks from the album. And I enjoy playing acoustic, I kind of got into it over the last - ten years, I suppose.

Well of course it’s become a lot easier now, with the modern pickup systems, hasn’t it?

- Oh yes!

I remember seeing you at the Concert House about 15 years ago with the Shadows, you were doing an acoustic set back then too.

- Were we singing with the acoustics?

That’s right, yes.

- I’ve done a bit of that with my band, but this is all instrumental, it’s all tracks from the album.

Do you still do the Chinese number?

- The Chinese one with the tuning up?

Too-nin, yeah! (The Shadows’ traditional ”And now we’re going to do a little Chinese number called Too-Nin...”)

- (Laughs) I forgot that one. I should stick it in again! Thanks for the memories! (Laughs) On stage, we do a couple of numbers which have acoustic solos in the middle of them, where I have the guitar on a Gracie stand, and I switch from electric to acoustic. But the guitar I’m mainly using is a guitar I had made for me - it’s in the style of the old Selmers that Django Reinhardt used, it’s a Dave Hodson guitar. On the album I used a French Flavino, which is the same sort of guitar. But it wasn’t amplified, and I thought, well - and it’s also got the marker dot at the tenth fret, instead of the ninth fret, which at first totally threw me until I got used to it. I couldn’t work out why I kept playing in the wrong key every time I went up the fingerboard! But once I realised what it was - I’ve got used to it now, but I thought on stage it could be a bit of a problem. I’ve already got enough to worry about, I’ve got three different lots of string gauges on the Strats, and obviously everything feels different - using two different acoustic guitars, and this one has a long scale, as you probably know, 26-1/2 inch scale on the Selmers, and the Selmer-style guitars - and I thought, if I’ve also got the marker dot in the wrong place, on live work, this could become very confusing. So I got Dave Hodson in England, who has quite a reputation for making these guitars - he was able to make me one in four weeks, which is something of a world record, I think. And it’s still wearing in a little bit, it sounds good though. It’s giving me that sort of sound - I hope it is anyway! - that’s on most of this album, that very midrange Selmer sound. We’ve got a Fishman Blender setup in that one. But unfortunately, the problem you have with acoustics when you’re using monitors in front of you because you’ve got electric bass and drums, they’re prone to feedback, so on the monitoring system they have to cancel out the frequencies that tend to start feeding back, which means you lose a lot of the tone, and you end up with an unpleasant tone most of the time. And it’s not nice to play. But there’s no way round it, using the monitors as we do. The only other way round it is to have the monitors alongside, but we can’t have that for the rest of the show, so it’s a bit of a problem.

You had the very first Fender Strat in England, didn’t you?

- Yes, Cliff (Richard) bought it for me in the States, you couldn’t buy them in England back then. That first Strat - when we were able to get Strats through Jennings, who became the distributors for Fender once the import ban was lifted - I gave Cliff that guitar back, because we got matching red ones, and that new red was slightly different. And Cliff kind of put it in a cupboard, then he now and again got it out and played a number on stage himself. Then he had it sprayed white, and according to Bruce, Cliff gave him that guitar. But according to Cliff, he lent him it... So I don’t know quite where the truth lies, but Cliff reckons it’s on permanent loan, but Bruce reckons he gave him it. He’s hanging on to it!

That’s worth a few bob now!

- Yeah! I have a ’58 red Strat, though, which I did use on stage through the 80’s - until I got the signature models - and that’s a nice guitar. The good thing about the Custom Shop models, the ones I’ve got now, we were very concerned about trying to get them to stay in tune better. So we’ve got a Teflon nut, no string trees, and locking machne heads. And originally we had the new kind of tremolo block on it, the American Standard, but then Chris Kinman in Australia, whose pickups I use, recommended to me that I went back to the other ones, the vintage ones - he said they do sound better. And if it’s set up properly, it won’t go out of tune. And he sent me this Japanese copy of a Fender that he just tries his pickups out on, and he said, just try this tremolo - and it was great, didn’t go out of tune at all. So anyway, it’s all done now, and they’re the bridges I have, and they work very well, and they do stay in tune very well.

Oh yes, especially with the locking machine heads and the Teflon nut, that does the trick. I’m impressed with those Kinman pickups, too - I put a set on a Strat for one of your fans last week.

- They’re good, aren’t they? Was that the vintage set?

No, that was the ”modern” Hank Marvin set.

- Yeah. Slightly warmer.

Well of course back in the late 50’s, early 60’s, when you couldn’t get these thin strings, you were getting the fatter sound because of the fatter strings.

- That’s right. What we had was - I checked this out with Fender about 15 years ago. One of the guys who was around in the late 50’s was still around then, and he reckoned that the 3rd was a wound 26, that’s how they left the factory. Something like a 14 down to a 56. And I know they were heavy, but - great sound. But also I think what we have to keep in mind is, I know the pickups on the original Strat that Bruce and I had, and on my ’58 Strat, actually did have quite a warm sound compared to other Strats I’ve heard, not so brittle-sounding. So you had the thick strings, and the early Vox amplifiers which we had did not have top boost, that was a later invention of Dick Denney, who was deaf anyway! (Mutual laughter) There was a bizarre thing, an amplifier manufacturer and designer who’s deaf!

It goes with the territory, I guess! I spoke to Dick once a few years ago when I was researching an article, he was quite a character.

- Yes he was. He reminded me when I met him about two years ago - he died, you know, about a year ago?

Yes, I was sorry to hear that.

- He was reminding me about when we were using the Vox AC15’s - and apparently I said to him, can’t you put two of them together to make a louder amp, cause we couldn’t hear ourselves on stage for all the screaming - and he said the first AC30 he came up with had a smaller cabinet than the final production model. Because in my mind we were using - when we first went to ths States, 1960 - I was convinced we took AC30’s with us, and every one of them blew up on the first day. And therefore when we made Apache, I thought we were using AC30’s. And he said, ”No you weren’t, you were using AC15’s, I’ve seen a photograph of the session.” But I think what it was, I think it was the early AC30, before it went out with a slightly smaller cabinet, so it didn’t look quite the same. Maybe.

I remember reading a book about The Shadows back at the beginning of the 60’s, but I can’t remember the title?

- There was a book written in about 1961, I think - ”The Shadows By Themselves”, it was called. By Royston Ellis. He was a young ”Beat Poet”. He wrote very off-beat poetry, but he like to recite it to music, and we did a couple of gigs for fun with him - Jet Harris, Tony Meehan and myself. And we just played absolutely - drivel. It was totally free-form rubbish, we’d just get a beat going, it was absolutely shocking stuff. And he would sit there and be going ”Ah-be-dum-be-dum”... He was an early hippie, he had the hair and the beard, which in 1961 was very far out. He was only a young guy, in his late 20’s I think - a very bohemian character. But it was fun. And then we did a book in the 80’s which Mike Reid. a radio personality in England, he did it. It was all right. The trouble is with these sort of books, if you keep it fairly innocuous, it can become a bit bland. And I don’t like digging up the dirt - it’s easy to dig up dirt about other people, isn’t it, that you’ve worked with, or had a relationship with, or something. And I think that’s unfair, like when people name ex-girlfriends, or ex-boyfriends - it was 20 or 30 years ago, and we did this, we did that - what’s the point now? It puts them in an embarassing situation, perhaps - etcetera etcetera. I don’t go for that sort of journalese personally. So from that point of view it can end up being a little bit bland. I think that today, my personal view is that a lot of people seem to enjoy the sort of spicy biography.

It’s like all the nonsense people used to talk about Cliff - he never created enough scandal, so he never used to get left alone, did he.

- Well it’s an interesting thing that back in the late 50’s, early 60’s, because of the attitude of society generally, what was acceptable - we had a publicist called Les Perrin, who was very good, back at the time. Les was one of the best guys, a very nice man. And there were times when things happened, and Les, because of his contacts, would keep things quiet. Whereas - push on three years, if we had been a new band coming up then, we would have probably wanted them to get in the press, because it would have made us look really greasy!

When you think about when the Rolling Stones started up, and everybody was so shocked by what hey looked like - and if you look at a picture of them from that time today, you think, so what? My father thought they were the worst bunch of yobbos going, but he never objected to The Shadows!

- Well funnily enough, when the Stones first appeared, I remember seeing them - we were doing a summer season in Blackpool, and we saw them on one of those pop shows, I can’t remember which one it was - Thank Your Lucky Stars, or one of those - Keith Fordyce introduced it - and they were very smart actually, they had black and white dogstooth jackets with velvet collars, and ties on, and they all had very short hair. In fact Mick Jagger said something to Keith - ”You bet us we wouldn’t not have a haircut until next time we came on the show, and we haven’t!” And quite honestly, it wasn’t that long at all! It was a bit over the ears, but not at all what it was maybe a year or so later. So really that initial image they had was not the rebellious one that probably happened within about a year, and that was a manufactured thing. Andrew Loog Oldham created that - he knew the time was right for the rebellious image, there wasn’t a band around, or an artist - there was in the 50’s, but that had gone, and everything was sweet, and boy next door, and it was very clever. He manufactured things which got them fantastic - at the time, it was thought bad publicity, but I’ll tell you what - it worked, and a lot of the kids could relate to it.

On another note - what are you using for amplifiers nowadays?

- On the last tour two years ago, the guys who developed my echo system - I use a thing called Echoes From The Past - and Charlie Paul who got the system together had the brainwave of sampling every Shadows record, and every one of mine, to work out the echo things. So he worked them all out, and he’s even put a bit of wow and flutter on some of the old ones. And it’s great for stage, because obviously it’s noise-free - it sounds very authentic, and because it’s a digital device, I could actually change programs myself with a pedal, but to save me the hassle, my guitar tech changes it for each number. And if we do a medley, for example, I can get the correct echo for each number. And it’s ideal, because before everything had to be a compromise really - all-purpose echo for the next three numbers, really. And these guys had the bright idea of designing an amp - so Charlie and his off-sider Pete, and Ken, who’s an amp repair man and designer, he makes just one-offs for people - they got together and made this amp. And they brought it to me two years ago before a tour. I said, well, I’ll give it a whirl, we didn’t have time to really do a proper test, because we were running out of time with rehearsals. So I said we’ll take it with us, we’ll try it on tour. So we did an A/B test against the Matchless, and I thought it sounded a lot better, which I was really surprised at. They originally brought two cabinets in, two slightly different designs - the use of the wood, one was pine, the other was maybe ply, I don’t know. One cabinet sounded better to me - it had a much tighter low end - plenty of low end, but really defined, not one of those floppy bottom ends. And they were using Jensen speakers, because the Celestions aren’t always that tight on the low end. The ones Matchless use, they artificially age them, I think, they do something to them to get a better sound - and it is a better sound. But anyway, I thought, this sounds terrific - so we took them on tour, did some A/B’s on a few sound checks, and I just loved the mid-range on it, and the high end - it’s very clean, but to me it’s got more guts than the Matchless. And the sound guy said, that amp really does sound very good, it’s a lovely high end. I don’t know what the correct technical term would be, but some amplifiers to me sound a bit tinkly when you get up high, like Fenders. And I think that the Matchless is inclined that way. Voxes didn’t. This to me sounds a bit more - the guts of a Vox, but some of the refinement of a Matchless, if you know what I mean.. They’re called KCP - Ken, Charlie and Pete. But I think they’re terrific amps, I really do. Like I said that mid-range is very clean, and the high end has got real strength in it - but it’s still got that sound that I’m associated with, perhaps more so than the Matchless, which I thought were very good. They’re now producing them, they’re hand made - but they’re a lot cheaper than a Matchless. I suppose they’re more expensive than a Vox, but then a Vox is not hand made. They’re using quality components in these amps - I mean, we toured Voxes for years, and with us they had a terrible record of reliabilty. I’ve spoken to a lot of people who use them, and it’s always the same story. Some of the problems were associated with the proximity of some of the components, so they got too hot. Another problem we found was with the jack sockets, we had a few of those go. It was just a very poor quality jack socket.

Those old English Re-An plastic jack sockets!

- Exactly, yeah! John Jorgensen - the guitarist with the Hellecasters - told me - cause he used to use Voxes years ago - the guy who used to repair them all lived in Cleveland, and he flew some of his amps up to get them fixed, cause they were always breaking down - and this guy used to modify them so they didin’t break down. So he said to him, well, why don’t you build some amps, like you’re basically rebuilding the Vox, build some amps and sell them? And he finally persuaded him, and he came up with the first Matchless, and that’s how it started. If you ever get to meet John, you can ask him if it’s a true story!

We haven’t heard the last of Hank Marvin. Live long and prosper, Hank!

Shawn Lane

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 11:42:00 +0200

Shawn Lane was a phenomenally talented guitar player who never quite broke out beyond guitar enthusiasts and critics, but will remain influential to players for many years to come. Originally hailed as a child prodigy, Lane joined Black Oak Arkansas as a teenager, and could have been part of the guitar shredder movement of the late '80s and '90s, but his restless musical inclinations led him down a different path.

Lane began his musical education on piano and cello at age four, but had switched to guitar by age eight. At ten, he was holding band rehearsals at the house he shared with his grandmother, and since the other bandmembers left their instruments at his house, Lane was free to try them out, and added bass and drums to his keyboard and guitar abilities. By 15, Lane was becoming known in Memphis circles as a guitarist, which led to an audition with Black Oak Arkansas in 1978, who he toured with for the next four years. Black Oak Arkansas was still popular enough to play at Bill Clinton's inaugural as Governor of Arkansas, but the band's heyday was well behind them. After disbanding briefly, BOA was re-formed with a couple of Shawn's high school friends joining the band, and bringing a heavy fusion edge to this southern boogie band. Then, burnt out from touring, Lane basically dropped out of sight in 1982 for a couple years, practiced piano, studied music theory and composition, and did a lot of reading and watching movies (he claims he barely played guitar at all during this period).

The mid-'80s saw Shawn returning to guitar: first playing in some bands around the south, then appearing on an album produced by Mike Varney on the Shrapnel label, with a tune called "Stratosphere II" on the U.S. Metal compilation (his first available recording). Shortly afterwards, he formed a band called the Willys, who were the house band at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis. Many touring musicians caught Lane's playing while staying there, and word of mouth led to session work, and eventually to his playing on the Highwayman 2 album with Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. That high profile work ,and a demo cassette passed to Jim Ed Norman at Warner Brothers led to Lane being signed to Warner Brothers in 1990.

Lane spent the next two years at home, creating the Powers of Ten album, on which he played every instrument. Following its release in 1992, Guitar Player Magazine named him "Best New Talent" and he placed second in Keyboard Magazine's "Best Keyboard Player" category. A touring band was assembled to promote the album, and a live recording was made, though it wasn't released until 2001(Powers of Ten Live!). His next project was DDT, a band that also featured Cody and Luther Dickenson, later of the North Mississippi Allstars. The DDT material was supposed to be for Lane's second album for Warner Bros., but the recording never materialized. Also at this time, Lane did production work for other artists, did a couple instructional videos, and developed curricula and taught at several European Conservatories.

1994 would be an important year for Lane, as it marked his first collaboration with Swedish bassist Jonas Hellborg, a relationship that would continue for nearly a decade and produce many releases (mostly on the Bardo label). Lane and Hellborg were perfect collaborators, sharing many of the same musical influences and many other interests as well, and it was playing with Hellborg that Lane really discovered his voice on guitar. They toured with drummer Jeff Sipe over the next several years, developing such a rapport that they were able to play completely improvised sets every night (documented on albums like Temporal Analogues of Paradise and Time Is the Enemy). Concurrently, in 1995, Hellborg and Lane played with Chinese pop singer Wei-Wei, and the Hellborg/Lane/Sipe trio appeared as an opening act at all of Mainland China's largest musical venues.

Lane and Hellborg parted ways with Sipe in 1997, allowing Lane to work on the tracks that would become Tri-Tone Fascination, his second solo album in 1999. Also at this time, he and Hellborg began incorporating more Near Eastern and Eastern influences into their playing and improvising (Zenhouse, ). In 1999, Lane and Hellborg began working with V. Selvaganesh, son of percussionist Vikku Vinayakram of Shakti fame, and began pushing the music into more of a South Indian fusion, as evidenced by Good People in Times of Evil.

Lane started having health problems in 2001, temporarily breaking off his work with Hellborg. After recovering, Lane started playing with a Memphis bar band called the Time Bandits, but was back with Hellborg and Sipe for a brief tour in 2002. There was also more work with the Vinayakrams, resulting in Icon, a dazzling work of East-West fusion that, unfortunately proved to be among Lane's final recorded works. There was a brief tour of India in February of 2003, but Lane's health problems returned, and on Sept. 26, 2003, Shawn Lane passed away following lung surgery. ~ Sean Westergaard, All Music Guide

Dickey Betts

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 13:13:00 +0200

Forrest Richard "Dickey" Betts (born December 12, 1943) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and composer best known as a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band. He was inducted with the band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and also won with the band a best rock performance Grammy Award for his instrumental "Jessica" in 1996. Recognized as "one of the most influential guitar players of all time", he had early on in his career one of rock’s finest guitar partnerships with the late Duane Allman introducing melodic twin guitar harmony and counterpoint which "rewrote the rules for how two rock guitarists can work together, completely scrapping the traditional rhythm/lead roles to stand toe to toe". Dickey Betts was ranked #58 on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time list in 2003.

Born in Bradenton, Florida, Betts's early experience was leading a band called The Second Coming. He and other Florida area musicians met, jammed, and formed The Allman Brothers Band in 1969. Betts was a lead guitarist, alongside Duane Allman, and contributed significantly to their trademark dual lead guitar sound. His melodic, country-esque lead guitar style contrasted perfectly with Duane's fiery, blues/jazz-based style. He also wrote songs including "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" and "Blue Sky" that became radio and concert staples.

After the death of Duane Allman in late 1971, Betts became the band's sole guitarist and also took on a greater singing and leadership role. He went on to write such Southern Rock classics as "Jessica" and the Allmans' biggest commercial hit, "Ramblin' Man".

Jessica was inspired by his daughter, Jessica Betts, born on May 14, 1972 to Betts' first wife, Sandy Bluesky Wabegijig, a Native American whom Betts married in 1973. The pair was divorced in 1975 and Betts married Paulette, a close friend and personal assistant of singer and actress Cher.

Betts's first solo album, Highway Call, was released in 1974, and featured the late fiddle player Vassar Clements. After the Allmans fell apart in 1976, Betts released more albums, starting with Dickey Betts & Great Southern in 1977, which featured the hit "Bougainvillea", co-written with future Hollywood star Don Johnson. In 1978 he released an album entitled Atlanta's Burning Down.

The Allman Brothers reformed in 1979 for the album Enlightened Rogues with a new guitar player (Dan Toler) and bassist (David Goldflies). Several albums would follow in the 80s with various personnel changes. The reunion brought Betts back together with founding Allman Brothers members Gregg Allman, Butch Trucks, and Jai "Jaimoe" Johanny Johanson. The band was augmented in the late 80s by Warren Haynes as slide guitarist and lead guitarist, Allen Woody on bass and Johnny Neel on keyboards, (though Neel left after several tours). This band lineup went on to release three acclaimed studio albums with Betts, Allman and Haynes serving as the primary songwriters, as well as several popular live albums throughout the early 1990s.

Attendance issues and temporary bandmates

Betts was replaced on numerous tour dates throughout the mid- 90s for what were reported in the media as "personal reasons". While The Allman Brothers Band continued to play acclaimed live shows during the 1990s, they failed to release an album of new material following 1994's Where It All Begins. Haynes and Woody formed Gov't Mule with drummer Matt Abts (formerly of Dickey Betts solo projects) as a side project in 1994 and left the Allman Brothers for Gov't Mule full-time following the ABB's annual Beacon Run in March 1997. Haynes and Woody did not associate with the Allman Brothers Band on stage again until after Betts' departure in 2000, though they shared the stage with Gregg Allman on several occasions with Gov't Mule.

The remaining original members, Allman, Trucks and Jaimoe, suspended Betts (reportedly via fax)[citation needed] prior to the launch of the band's Summer Campaign Tour 2000. Betts was temporarily replaced for that tour by Jimmy Herring, formerly of the Aquarium Rescue Unit. Warren Haynes also appeared with the Allmans at three shows after Betts' suspension for the first time in over three years.

Betts quickly filed suit against the other three original Allmans and the separation turned into a permanent divorce. Betts also formed the Dickey Betts Band in 2000 and toured that summer. Haynes permanently replaced him following a stand with the band at the Beacon Theatre in March 2001. Betts tours once again under the name Dickey Betts & Great Southern, and added his son and since Allman Brothers collaborator Duane Betts (named after Duane Allman) on lead guitar.

In 2005 Betts released the DVD "Live from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame".

December 17, 2009 it was announced that in New York City, a place where Dickey Betts had had many great achievements, he played what will possibly become his last touring date on his 66th birthday.

"I’m not retiring from playing. I’m sure there will be some great special events that I’ll be at in the future. But for now, I look forward to waking up tomorrow with nothing on my schedule."

The style of Betts' first name (actually his middle name, as his actual first name is Forrest) varied throughout the years:

1969: "Dick Betts" in the jacket of The Allman Brothers Band self-titled album.
1970-72: "Dicky Betts" in the jackets of Idlewild South and Eat A Peach.
1973-74: "Richard Betts" on Brothers and Sisters and his first solo album, Highway Call.
Afterward: "Dickey Betts."
Guitars

In the early days of the Allman Brothers, Betts played a 1961 Gibson SG, given to Duane Allman in 1971 to use as an all-slide guitar. He then used a 1957 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop, calling it "Goldie". He has recently painted it red. Early on in the Allman Brothers days he occasionally played a Fender Stratocaster , and has been an on-and-off endorser and player of PRS guitars. As of April 2009, Betts is using a red Fender Telecaster with a pearloid pickguard. Betts can also be seen playing a Cherry Red 1961 Gibson ES-335.[7]

Discography

Solo Albums

Highway Call (1974)(Richard Betts)
Dickey Betts & Great Southern (1977) (Dickey Betts & Great Southern)
Atlanta's Burning Down (1978) (Dickey Betts & Great Southern)
Night (Unreleased Country Album) (1982) (Dickey Betts)
Pattern Disruptive (1989) (Dickey Betts Band)
Let's Get Together (2001) (Dickey Betts Band)
The Collectors #1 (2002) (Dickey Betts & Great Southern)
Back Where It All Begins: Live at the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame & Museum (DVD) (2005) (Dickey Betts & Great Southern)
The Official Bootleg (Live) (2006) (Dickey Betts & Great Southern)
Dickey Betts & Great Southern - Rockpalast: 30 Years Of Southern Rock, 1978 - 2008 (DVD)

Jerry Garcia

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 13:11:00 +0200

Band leader, guitarist, and songwriter. Born on August 1, 1942, in San Francisco, California. Garcia was the son of a Spanish immigrant who grew up to become a bandleader popular in the San Francisco area. He studied piano as a boy but turned to the guitar in his teens. He dropped out of school at age 17 and served nine months in the U.S. Army before being discharged for poor conduct. He began to play folk and blues guitar, alone or with pickup groups, in clubs in the San Francisco area while working as a salesman and music teacher in a music store.

In 1965 he formed a band, the Warlocks, but on discovering another group with that name, it was changed to the Grateful Dead (1966). Closely involved with the San Francisco hippie movement and the use of drugs such as LSD, the band first played "psychedelic" rock but moved on to a more diverse repertory of rock styles in the 1970s. From around 1974 the band's members began to go their own ways, and Garcia made solo appearances and albums. In the 1980s he became heavily addicted to drugs, and after being arrested in 1985 was sent to a treatment center. After emerging from a diabetic coma, he decided to turn his life around, and the band made a comeback (1987) with a hit single, "Touch of Gray" and an album, In the Dark.

Garcia and the rest of the band enjoyed this new wave of success and continued to tour, drawing legions of fans new and old to their shows. The Grateful Dead had built quite a following over the years and their loyal fans, sometimes called "Deadheads," were known to travel around the country to catch their concerts. Unfortunately, the show could not go on forever. Despite Garcia's efforts to improve his lifestyle, all of the years of hard living caught up with him. He died of heart failure on August 9, 1995, in Forest Knolls, California.

Dick Dale

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 13:09:00 +0200

Dick Dale (born Richard Monsour on May 4, 1937) was one of the pioneers in surf rock, one of the most influential musicians of the early 1960s. His guitar-playing techniques influenced future guitarists as varied as Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen.

He was born in Boston to a Lebanese father and a Polish mother, and soon learned to play the drums, ukulele and finally, guitar. Among his early musical influences was his uncle, an oud player performing belly dance music - for example, Dale describes the rhythm on his song "Misirlou" as taken directly from a belly dance piece. In 1954, he moved to southern California and began performing. He also began surfing, and soon began developing the sound that eventually became surf rock.

With his backing band, The Del-Tones, Dale's live performances became huge local draws. 1961's "Let's Go Trippin'" is widely regarded as the first surf rock song (see 1961 in music). This was followed by more locally-released songs, including "Jungle Fever" and "Surf Beat". His first full-length album was Surfer's Choice (1962 in music). The album was picked up by Capitol Records and distributed nationally, and Dale soon began appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show and in films. His second album was named after his performing nickname, King of the Surf Guitar.

Though surf rock became the national sound in the U.S. briefly, the British Invasion began to overtake the American charts in 1964. Though he continued performing live, Dale was soon set back by rectal cancer. He recovered, though, and retired from music for a time. In 1979, he almost lost a leg after being injured while swimming; a pollution-related infection made the mild injury much worse. As a result, Dale became an environmental activist and soon began performing again throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He tried to launch a comeback in 1986 (see 1986 in music) and was nominated for a Grammy, and the use of "Misirlou" in a Quentin Tarantino film, Pulp Fiction, effectively launched a comeback within a small but devoted audience. He has released several albums since.

Lonnie Mack

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 13:08:00 +0200

Lonnie Mack is a roadhouse blues-rock legend -- modern rock's first true guitar hero. His playing has influenced the course of rock and roll and had an impact on many of modern rock's current guitar heroes, including Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Jimmy Page and especially Stevie Ray Vaughan. His early music bridged the gap between '50s rockabilly and the psychedelic blues-rock of the following decade, and, like the best rock and roll, his work continues to embody a mixture of white and black roots music. Rock, blues, soul and country -- Lonnie brings them all together for a sound that has been all his own for nearly forty years.
Lonnie was born in 1941 in Harrison, Indiana -- some twenty miles west of Cincinnati. From family sing-alongs he developed a love of country music, while he absorbed rhythm and blues from the late-night black radio stations and gospel from his local church. Starting off with a few chords that he learned from his mother, Lonnie gradually blended all the sounds he heard around him into his own individual style.

He began playing professionally in his early teens (he quit school after a fight with his sixth-grade teacher), working clubs and roadhouses around the tri-state border area of Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. In 1958, he bought the guitar he still plays today -- Gibson Flying V serial number 7. In addition to his live gigs, Lonnie began playing sessions for the King and Fraternity labels in Cincinnati. He recorded with blues and r&b greats like Hank Ballard, Freddie King and James Brown.

In 1963, at the end of another artist's session, Lonnie cut an instrumental version of Chuck Berry's ''Memphis.'' He didn't even know that Fraternity had issued the single until he heard it on the radio, and within a few weeks "Memphis" had hit the national Top 5 Lonnie Mack went from being a talented regional roadhouse player to a national star virtually overnight.

Suddenly, he was booked for hundreds of gigs a year, criss-crossing the country in his Cadillac and rushing back to Cincinnati or Nashville to cut new singles. "Wham! ' ''Where There's A Will There's A Way", ''Chicken Pickin'" and a dozen other records followed "Memphis.'' None sold as well as his first hit (though "Where There's A Will" earned extensive black radio airplay before the DJs found out Lonnie was white!) but there was enough reaction to keep him on the road for another five years of grueling one-nighters.

Fraternity Records died, but Lonnie kept on gigging, and in 1968 a Rolling Stone article stimulated new interest in his music. He signed with Elektra Records and cut three albums. Elektra also reissued his original Fraternity LP, The Wham Of That Memphis Man (now available on Alligator Records). He began playing all the major rock venues, from Fillmore East to Fillmore West. Lonnie also made a guest appearance on the Doors' Morrison Hotel album. You can hear Lonnie's guitar solo on "Roadhouse Blues" preceded by Jim Morrison's urgent ''Do it, Lonnie! Do it!'' He even worked in Elektra's A&R department. When the label merged with giant Warner Brothers, however, Lonnie grew disgusted with the new bureaucracy and walked out of his prestigious job.

He headed back to rural Indiana, playing back-country bars, going fishing and laying low. After five years of relative obscurity, Lonnie signed with Capitol and cut two albums that featured his country influences. He played on the West Coast for a while and even flew to Japan for a Save The Whales benefit. Then he headed to New York to team up with an old friend named Ed Labunski. Labunski was a wealthy jingle writer that wrote "This Bud's For You" who was tired of commercials and wanted to write and play for pleasure. He and Lonnie built a studio in rural Pennsylvania and spent three years organizing and recording a country-rock band called South, which included Buffalo-based keyboardist Stan Szelest, who later played on Lonnie's Alligator debut. Ed and Lonnie had big plans for their partnership, including producing an album by a then-obscure Texas guitarist named Stevie Ray Vaughan. But the plans evaporated when Labunski died in an auto accident, and the South album wasn't released until 1998.

Disheartened, Lonnie headed for Canada and joined the band of veteran rocker Ronnie Hawkins for a summer. After a brief stay in Florida, he returned to Indiana in 1982, playing clubs in Cincinnati and the surrounding area.

Lonnie began his re-emergence on the national scene in November of 1983. At Stevie Ray Vaughan's urging, he relocated from southern Indiana to Austin, Texas. He began jamming with Stevie Ray in local clubs and flying to New York for gigs at the Lone Star and the Ritz. When Alligator Records approached him to do an album, Lonnie immediately called on Vaughan to help him out. The result was Strike Like Lightning (AL 4739), co-produced by Lonnie and Stevie Ray and featuring Stevie's guitar on several tracks. "We went for Lonnie's original sound here," Vaughan said. The joint effort was one of 1985's best selling independent records and topped many critics' "Best Of" list for that year.

Lonnie's re-emergence was a major music industry event. Keith Richards, Ron Wood, Ry Cooder and Stevie Ray Vaughan all joined Lonnie on stage during his '85 tour. Other celebrities -- Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Paul Simon, Eddie Van Halen, Dwight Yoakum, actor Matt Dillon and comedienne Sandra Bernhard -- attended shows during the Strike Like Lightning tour. The year was capped off with a stellar performance at New York's prestigious Carnegie Hall with label-mates Albert Collins and the late Roy Buchanan. That show recently aired on Britain's BBC-TV and is currently available as a home video cassette entitled "Further On Down The Road.''

His Alligator follow-up, Second Sight (AL 4750), highlighted Lonnie's continuing evolution as a musician and singer/songwriter. He self-produced the album and wrote eight of the ten tunes. The album spotlighted his cured-in-the-wood vocals more than Strike Like Lightning but also included a healthy dose of Lonnie's burning Flying V.

Lonnie's re-found visibility earned him a contract with Epic Records, and in 1988 that label released Lonnie's Roadhouses and Dancehalls album. Critics applauded the recording, but CBS didn't know quite how to market it. They tried to force it into a country music niche, ignoring its roots-rock and r&b influences. Not able to push the album to its full sales potential, Epic let the project slide from the top of its priority list. Lonnie, again disenchanted with the major label scenario, began making plans for his return to Alligator.

Lonnie Mack's career traces the history of rock and roll. Drawing from influences as diverse as rhythm and blues, country, gospel and rockabilly, Lonnie has won the hearts of fans worldwide. He is revered by a new generation of rock performers. He has played everywhere from tiny roadhouse clubs to huge rock showcases and national television. He has recorded for major labels and indies alike.

Link Wray

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 13:06:00 +0200

Link Wray was born Fred Lincoln Wray Jr. on May 2, 1929 in Dunn, North Carolina. USA. Link is of Shawnee heritage, he and his brothers grew up sleeping on floors. Both of his parents were preachers making his early reputation as supporting gang violence and motorcycle gangs ironic. As a child Link had a bout with the measles which damaged his eyesight, this coupled with tuberculosis which cost him a lung gave Link tremendous hurdles to jump into Rock & Roll stardom. It is reported that as a child he heard a local slide guitarist named Hambone, who had an influence on him.

In 1951, He was conscripted into the U.S. Army where he would serve in Germany and Korea. Fred Lincoln “Link” Wray Jr. is a Korea War veteran. His tuberculosis would be directly

Wray Brothers: Doug, Vernon, Link in uniform
connected to his military service.

Following the war, together with his brothers Doug and Vernon as well as Shorty Horton and Dixie Neale, Lucky Wray and The Lazy Pine Wranglers were formed. Eventually they would become Lucky Wray and the Palomino Ranch Hands. The evolution into Link Wray and The Raymen would occur shortly thereafter. They got their start playing country songs and would become regulars on the Washington D.C. show Milt Grant’s House Party. In 1956 they made their first recordings for Starday Records. This was made difficult for Link spent much of 1956 in the hospital with complications from TB. They also backed Ricky Nelson and Antoine “Fats” Domino during this period.

In 1953, Link Wray and his brother Doug played at Hank Williams Sr.’s memorial at the request of Hank’s sister.

In 1958, came the first and biggest hit “Rumble”. The song originally named “Oddball” became known as “Rumble” as a reference to West Side Story street fights. Capital and Decca records both turned down the recording as did Starday but when it caught the ear of Archie Bleyer’s daughter she begged her father to record it. Archie Bleyer was the owner of Cadence Records. Despite being banned on many U.S. radio stations “Rumble” would peak at #16 on the Billboard charts. At this time an instrumental charting on the pop charts was rare. An instrumental being banned from airplay even more rare. Pete Townshend of The Who has been quoted as saying “He is the king, had it not been for Link Wray and “Rumble”, I would never have picked up a guitar.”

Link early 1960s
Following “Rumble” the band would also chart with “Jack the Ripper”, “Ace of Spades”, and “Rawhide.” Also popular were his versions of “Batman Theme”, “The Shadow Knows”, and “Run Chicken Run.” He made numerous recordings with Swan Records in the 60s being billed as a surf guitarist. His songs “Shawnee”, “Comanche”, and “Apache” would pay homage to his heritage. His 1950s and 60s image with gang violence infuriated record executives and he was forced to record with an orchestra.

His early popularity was followed by periods of retirement as well as multiple marriages and moving around. The 1970s would bring his return to touring with Rockabilly artist Robert Gordon. The 1970s and 1980s would also see numerous reissues of earlier material thus resulting in a resurgence of popularity with younger fans. Link Wray’s music has also been featured in many movies including: Pulp Fiction, Breathless, Independence Day, Desperado, and Twelve Monkeys among others. The 1970s saw Link record with such notables as Jerry Garcia, Commander Cody, and Boz Scaggs. These recordings were made with Polydor and Virgin records. His “I Got to Ramble” is dedicated to the memory of Duane Allman.

Bruce Springsteen wrote a song titled “Fire” and gave that to Link and Robert Gordon. The Who dedicated their song “Wasp Man” to Link Wray.

During the 1980s he often toured Europe and Australia. This followed a disenfranchisement with the American music scene. A very difficult to find live recording features a phenomenal cover of The Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There.” It was in Europe that he would eventually settle down with Olive Povlsen.

The 1990s brought him a resurgence in the United States when Quentin Tarantino featured two of his songs in Pulp Fiction, “Rumble” and “Ace of Spades.” Link Wray would once again return to touring in the U.S. with

Link Wray 2005
Olive and a nitroglycerin capsule always close by. In his 70s, he proved to countless Americans that he should not ever be forgotten and could still rock.

Link Wray would pass away into the Rock & Roll heavens on November 5, 2005 in Copenhagen, Denmark with his wife Olive at his side.

That is one story, another has it that Link Wray was found alone and deceased in his Danish apartment by his son Oliver.

Perhaps only the God that Link Wray so faithfully believed in, will ever know the real truth.

On November 18, He would be buried at the Christian Church Cemetery in Christianshavn located near Copenhagen, Denmark. He was 76 years of age. He is survived by many descendants. Nine children including Oliver and 14 grandsons as well as 8 granddaughters. He also has a step great-grandson as of this writing.

Link Wray has thus far been shunned by The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Pete Townshend, Neil Young, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix have all publicly cited Wray as having tremendous influence on their guitar playing styles. All are inductees into the Rock Hall. Also, many Punk, Hard Rock, Rockabilly, Country, Surf, and Heavy Metal artists have named Link Wray as an influence on their music. Rolling Stone Magazine listed him as one of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. Uncut Magazine listed Link as 33rd of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. Link was inducted into the Native American Music Hall of Fame in 2006. Also in 2006, Link Wray was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from The First Americans in the Arts. Link Wray along with his brothers Doug and Ray were inducted into the Southern Legends Hall of Fame in 2007. Former bandmate Shorty Horton is also an inductee. January 15th has officially been declared Link Wray Day in the state of Maryland. In June of 2009, the Library of Congress added ‘Rumble’ to the National Recording Registry.

Link Wray’s band The Raymen based in the Washington D.C. area continue to play and record.

The X-Raymen contain other musicians that toured and recorded with Link. They are based out of The Netherlands.

Link Wray continues to influence multitudes of guitar players that seek out his tablature and to learn his distorted reverb power chord driven style. His music remains timeless.

James Burton

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 10:10:00 +0200

On August 21, 1939, James Burton was born in Dubberly, Louisiana, but he grew up in Shreveport. Before he ever picked up a guitar, he would be beating on broom sticks and beat on pretty much everything else around the house. His parents got him his first guitar, which was an acoustic one. His second guitar was also an acoustic one, but it was in a J&S Music store in Shreveport where he first saw the '53 Fender Telecaster and knew that this was the guitar for him.
He used to listen to KWKH in Shreveport. Through KWKH, Burton was exposed to Chet Atkins, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddly, Elmore James, Lightnin' Hopkins, etc. He soon would astonish everybody with his ability to play the instrument. At only 14, Burton went professional, working club gigs and private parties. He would skip school just to be able to play guitar.

Money was something he didn't think about, it was just for the thrill of playing. To play in those clubs, you had to go to the police station to get a permit if you were underage. Horace Logan was the producer of the Louisiana Hayride and he asked if James wanted to do some shows and join the staff band. James was 14 at the time. At the Hayride, he played behind guys like George Jones, Jimmy and Johnny, Billy Walker and Johnny Horton. He remained with the Hayride for about a year.

He became fascinated with the steel guitar. He and Hayride steel guitar player Sonny Trammell would switch licks, James would play steel licks and Trammell would play guitar licks. His interest in steel guitar would later led him to pursue the slide dobro.

Before recording the song that would put him on the map forever, Burton recorded with a few local artists at Mira Smith's RAM Records in Shreveport. There he recorded many songs with artists like Joe Osborne, Joe then still playing guitar instead of bass, James Wilson, Carol Williams, with whom he made his recording debut on lead guitar, Leon Post, Charlotte Hunter and Larry Lincoln, with whom he formed the band Larry Bamburg and The Louisiana Drifters. All these recordings can be found on the album Shreveport High Steppers.

In '55 James was playing with the Dale Hawkins band. They recorded a demo tape of "See You Soon Baboon" at the KWKH studio. The owner of Stan's Record Shop, Stan Lewis, was impressed and signed them to a management deal and hawked them to Chess Records. In '57, Burton recorded "Susie Q" with Dale Hawkins. Burton wrote the lick and Hawkins put the lyrics to it.
After he left Hawkins, Burton was playing around town when he got a call from Horace Logan, manager of the Hayride and also manager of Bob Luman. Logan felt that Luman had the style and look and he knew Burton had the licks to complement him. Burton, James Kirkland and Luman tested the waters on a few Hayride shows and then started to work together. With a few hit singles released like "My Gal is Red Hot" and "A Red Cadillac and A Black Mustache, Logan arranged for the band to do a movie in Hollywood, called "Carnival Rock". Logan also made sure that Bob Luman and The Shadows, as the band was now called, had a semi regular spot on Town Hall Party. A DVD of Luman's appearances there was released in 2003.

While in Hollywood with Luman, Ricky Nelson heard them rehearse and shortly after that, James got a telegram, asking him and bass player James Kirkland to meet Ricky Nelson. They were offered to be on the Ozzie and Harriet show as Nelson's backing band. Both agreed to do it, and before Burton knew it, he was living with the Nelson's. Ozzie and Harriet had invited him to stay at their home. Burton lived there for about 2 years, before finding his own place.
During his time with Ricky, James performed at Town Hall Party together with Bob Luman. Their live recording of 'My Baby Walks All Over Me' and 'Milk Cow Blues' can be found on the 'Rockin' At Town Hall' album. Burton's first recording with Nelson was "Waiting in School" / "Stood Up". Joe Maphis played lead and James played rhythm. After this, Burton took over from Maphis and played on every record until 1967. "Believe What You Say" was Burton's first record with Nelson, on which he played lead guitar.

Burton's style of playing has always been very distinct. He uses a straight pick and a fingerpick on his middle finger. On this record, James replaced his first 4 strings with banjo strings and moved the A and D string up to D and E. This allowed him to bend the strings up a lot more. James' legendary chickin' pickin' was born. He later had them gauged: .009, .010, .012, .024, .032 and .038.
While working with Nelson, Burton also found time to record with Glen Campbell. Burton played dobro on Campbell's 1963 album "Big Bluegrass Special". This is probably the first album on which Burton played dobro. While taking a break from a session with Nelson, Burton and Joe Osborn (Nelson's bass player after James Kirkland left) recorded 3 instrumental songs. "Fireball Mail"/"Daisy Mae"/"Bimbo". The songs were released as singles on the Fabor label under the name "Jim and Joe". Also recorded in 1963 was Burton's solo single "Swamp Surfer"/"Everybody Listens to the Dobro". It was released under the name of Jimmy Dobro.

Still working with Nelson, Burton also found time to record with artists like Dean Martin, Bobby Darin and The Everly Brothers. Burton was under contract with Ricky Nelson, so he couldn't do much outside of his work with Ricky. But because of his work with Ricky on songs like "Hello Mary Lou" and "Travelin' Man", Burton was an increasingly in-demand guitar player. In '65, Burton got a call from Johnny Cash to play dobro on a TV pilot for a new musical show called "Shindig". Nelson wasn't too happy about the fact that Burton would leave him, but after a while, Nelson's manager gave Burton the go-ahead.

The television exposure served as a catalyst for James' rising session demand. Calls came in from all sectors of the music field. Burton would be doing 4 to 6 sessions a day and sometimes up to 25 sessions a week! He does regret that he never kept a log of all the sessions he did, and since record jackets from the 60's rarely gave credit to session men, his work is mostly undocumented. "I was busy 24 hours a day, seven days a week," said Burton. "Sometimes I felt like a walking zombie, but all the different styles kept the music interesting."

Burton was called to play on a session with Merle Haggard and Buck Owens, in Bakersfield, California. Burton helped creating the 'Bakersfield sound' while playing with them. On those sessions, he also met pedal steel player Ralph Mooney, with whom he would record his first solo album in 1969. In 1968, James was nominated for the Country Music Award for Best Lead Guitar, but it would take 10 years and 7 nominations before Burton finally won the award for Best Guitar Player.

In 1968, James got the call from Elvis Presley to be on his Comeback television special, but at the time, he was working with Frank Sinatra and therefore was unavailable. Elvis told James how he always watched the Ozzie and Harriet show just to see James play. It was no surprise that when Elvis called James back in '69 to put up a band for his Las Vegas engagement, he was there. It was a very though decision to make, since his studio career was very busy and very lucrative. Burton had already turned down an offer by Bob Dylan to go on tour. Sessions were usually booked three months in advance, so Presley gave Burton a few months to get the band together. Burton would remain with Elvis until Elvis' untimely death in 1977.

In the 70's, Burton was still one of the most in-demand guitar players. In 1971, James was in the studio to record with Elvis. When Elvis didn't show up because he was ill, the producer saw an opportunity to record James' second solo album: "The Guitar Sounds of James Burton". Burton wasn't too satisfied with the result, because it wasn't planned well enough.

In 1972, Gram Parsons contacted James. Gram had a deal to do an album and he really wanted James on it. It was at these sessions that he met Emmylou Harris. Gram died in 1973 and in 1974, Emmylou Harris had signed with Warner Music. They had told her to get a 'hot band'. She did. She recorded her debut album in 1975, titled "Pieces of the Sky". Because she wanted Burton and Glen D. Hardin, who at that time was also working for Presley, on tour with her, she carefully planned her tours around Elvis'. Tough touring with Presley and Emmylou Harris kept Burton busy, he still had much session work. The Hot Band did sessions for producer Brian Ahern, including sessions for Jonathan Edwards, Rodney Crowell, Mary Kay Place and Jesse Winchester. Other sessions included (all) members of Presley's TCB Band for artists like Bob Mosley, J.J. Cale and Hoyt Axton.

Presley's death came as a shock to James, but instead of doing nothing, he dove head-on into session work. Shortly before Presley's death, Burton got a call from John Denver. He wanted to do a television special with him. During the taping, Denver asked if he wanted to go on an European tour. After Presley's death, Burton got the call for an album. He remained with Denver for 15 years. He was also part of Denver's Wildlife Concert in 1995. When John passed in 1997, James was a speaker at his funeral.

In 1978, The TCB Band, Presley's back up band, recorded an album, called "The TCB Band". Every member sings a few songs on this album. Unfortunately, this album was never released. In '79, Burton recorded an album with Jerry Lee Lewis, another collaboration that would last for years to come. Back to top.

As the 70's came to an end, Burton was still going strong. The sessions went on. Artists like Kenny Rogers, Elvis Costello and Johnny Cash were eager to have him on their records. He toured with Jerry Lee Lewis and with John Denver. Due to the amount of storage space on Lewis' Lear jet, Burton toured with only his Paisley Telecaster. With Denver, he carried several instruments, including backup dobro's and a spare Telecaster. The Lear also lacked space for heavy amplifiers, so they had to be provided by the promoter each night, something Burton isn't too happy with. "It isn't necessarily my sound sometimes. I just can't get the sound of a Fender Twin out of something else."

In 1986, Burton teamed up with singer/songwriter Elvis Costello. Burton played on Costello's King of America album and also toured with him. Burton would appear on 4 albums by Costello.
In 1987, Roy Orbison did a highly acclaimed television special which was stunningly filmed in Black and White. Elvis Presley' TCB Band was the back up band with, of course, James on lead. Other guests were, Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen and Tom Waits among others. "It's not every day that you get to sing harmony with Roy Orbison and play guitar next to James Burton", said Springsteen after the show. Back to top.

With the 90's came the long anticipated release of an instructional video. In the video, Burton explains how he played his most well known solos, like Hello Mary Lou, and Too Far Gone to name a few. At the end of the video, Burton plays a 3 minute instrumental that is worth the price of the video all by itself.

In the 90's, Burton had a severe accident. He was cutting a limb off a tree, but he lost his balance and slipped. He broke both his ankles. A plate and a half-dozen screws were needed to repair Burton's left ankle, while two long screws were inserted into his right ankle. While in the hospital, he went in a coma for 10 days, caused by a reaction to the medication. Fortunately, he recovered and is doing fine now.

In 1995, a longtime conservation enthusiast, John Denver performed this concert in celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Wildlife Conservation Society. The show was called The Wildlife Concert, and is available on video and DVD.

Sessions aren't as busy as they once used to be. Apart from the sessions he does, he also has time to tour, and make appearances at guitar shows.

August 1997 marked the 20th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death. The idea of doing a live Elvis concert with Presley on a big screen sounded great to Burton. Once again he was playing with Elvis and this time, they would go all over the world. Back to top.
After 45 years in the recording business, the millennium ended, but the 2000's had more in store for James. Burton makes frequent appearances at fan club conventions mostly in Europe. But in 2001 came the recognition he should have gotten years ago: James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March of that year. Keith Richards, Rolling Stones guitarist and long time Burton fan, inducted James. "I never bought a Ricky Nelson record, I bought a James Burton record."
In 2001, Burton also teamed up with fellow Nelson band mate Joe Osborn, to record Osborn's Christmas album: "Joy to the World".
2005 was the year of James' guitar festival. This 3-day benefit featured artists like Steve Cropper, Jerry Donahue, the Nelson Twins, Brad Paisley and many more. The proceeds went to the James Burton Foundation. The foundation is dedicated to providing musical scholarships and instruments to children as well as young adults. A website for the foundation was launched and can be found at www.jamesburtonmusic.com. 2005 also saw the release of James' solo project 'God Loves You'. A spiritual album featuring James on both guitar and vocals. The album hasn't been officially released yet, but that will change soon, hopefully.

In March of 2007, James' second guitar festival took place in Shreveport. His session work once again paid off and James was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame as part of the Wrecking Crew. James also formed his own band, appropriately titled The James Burton Band. His son Jeff is the lead singer and in May 2008 they had their European debut with shows in Holland, Belgium and France. Back to top.

In 2009, James won a Grammy for Best Country Instrumental Performance, together with Vince Gill, Steve Wariner, Redd Volkaert, Albert Lee, John Jorgenson, and Brent Mason for the Brad Paisley track "Cluster Pluck." In August of that year, James celebrated his 70th birthday with another International Guitar Festival to raise funds for his foundation. Before the big show on the 22nd, James was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.

Gary Moore

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 8 Feb 2011 09:35:00 +0200

Gary Moore is acknowledged as one of the finest musicians that the British Isles has ever produced. In a career that dates back to the 1960s, there are few musical genres that he has not turned his adroit musical hand to, and has graced the line-ups ever several notable rock bands, Thin Lizzy, Colosseum II and Skid Row to name but three.

Gary Moore was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on April 4th 1952. Like many others, he was turned on to rock and roll first through hearing Elvis Presley, and then via The Beatles. Seeing the likes of Jimi Hendrix and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers in his hometown in the mid-60s opened up to him the rich world of The Blues. Hearing the art of the Blues guitar performed by such lauded exponents as Peter Green fired Moore's nascent talent, and it wasn't long before he was being hailed as a teen musical prodigy. Indeed, it was Green himself who helped foster Moore's career, a debt that was repaid handsomely when Gary cut his warm and heartfelt tribute to his mentor, the 'Blues For Greeny' album, released in 1995.

Gary's first band of note, the power trio Skid Row, secured a record deal with the CBS label in 1970. By this time, Gary had moved to Dublin, and befriended Phil Lynott, who filled the vocal role with Skid Row until shortly before the CBS deal was signed. Gary cut three albums with the band, and toured the USA supporting The Allman Brothers Band, and Mountain amongst others, before he split Skid Row to embark on a solo career. This proved short-lived, as Gary was soon to reunite with Phil Lynott as replacement for Eric Bell in the Thin Lizzy line-up. Although he was in the band for a relatively brief tenure, he would rejoin their ranks following the departure of Brian Robertson in 1977, and again, finally, for the 'Black Rose' tour in 1978.

In 1979, Gary's solo career began in earnest with the evocative hit single, 'Parisienne Walkways', which pitched Gary's tasteful, blues-soaked lead guitar with a moody Phil Lynott guest vocal. The single reached the UK Top Ten in April of that year, and the subsequent album, 'Back On The Streets' was similarly well-received.

The late 1970s and early 80s were characterised by Gary's restless search for the best musical settings for his talents; a reunion with Phil Lynott produced the powerful 'Out In The Fields' hit single (1985). He explored his Celtic roots on the album 'Wild Frontier' (1987), but it was with the 1990 album, 'Still Got The Blues', that Gary arrived at a rich musical vein within which his creativity could flow freely. This and its successor, 'After Hours' saw cameo appearances from the likes of such Blues guitar greats as Albert King, BB King, and Albert Collins, and it is a testament to Gary's own remarkable talents that he more than held his own amongst such august company. In 1994, Gary worked alongside Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce in the band BBM, cutting one accomplished album, before resuming his solo career.

The, 'Back To The Blues' album saw this consummately talented musician revisit The Blues with renewed vigour and determination, after the more experimental 'Dark Days In Paradise' and 'A Different Beat' albums. A ten-track collection that mixes excellent Moore originals with gritty and intense covers of standards such as 'Stormy Monday', 'You Upset Me Baby' and 'I Ain't Got You', the album is nothing less than a resounding return to form. Gary effortlessly mixes and matches contrasting styles within the idiom whilst displaying awesome feel for the music and dazzling technique. Recorded almost as a 'live in the studio' affair, 'Back To The Blues' swings and rocks, and shows Gary Moore to be a True Keeper of the Blues Flame.

But, in the tradition of keeping his fans and critics guessing, 2002 saw Gary Moore crashing back onto the music scene with what has to be his heaviest collection of songs to date, once again forcing people to reassess any opinions and preconceptions they may have of him.

This time round though, Moore has decided to share the limelight, joining forces with ex-Skunk Anansie bassist Cass Lewis and Primal Scream drummer Darrin Mooney to form "Scars", a true power trio in every respect. Gary was blown away by the power and precision of Mooney's playing when he was auditioning drummers two albums back, and whilst looking for a bassist to complete the new line-up Darrin suggested that he take a look at Cass.

When they all got together to play for the first time, it was perfect. Everything just clicked. It was so natural, so completely uncontrived that it was immediately obvious to Moore that this was going to be the ultimate line-up, and he was right. Just a few months down the line and the eponymous album has been completed. Heavy, melodic, twisted rock 'n' roll that is going to make many people sit up and take notice!

With a new direction to his career, Moore's new band have a blend of passion and sheer talent that make it obvious why, in 2003, Gary Moore hasn't got the blues anymore.

Michael Schenker

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 8 Feb 2011 09:33:00 +0200

Born 10 January 1955, in Savstedt, Germany. Michael Schenker recalls being interested in Music as early as 4 or 5 years old. His Mother had a small piano which he liked to play. His Father had a Violin which he liked to fiddle around with. He also liked drumming with kitchen utensils and anything that would produce a sound. At the Age of 9 Michael was introduced to the guitar when his brother Rudolf received one for his 16th birthday. Rudy also had some Beatles songbooks and once in a while Michael was allowed to use his brothers rock and roll properties. At the time Rudolf had his own band called the Scorpions. When he went to work he would ask Michael to figure out the guitar parts to certain songs after school, in his spare time. Rudolf would pay Michael about 1 dollar for each song he figured out for him. This was the beginning of Michaels "professional" career.

One day Rudolf told Michael that a band called the "Enervates" was looking for a guitar player, so Michael joined them. After leaving the Enervates he joined another band called "The Cry" at age 13. Next he left and formed "Copernicus" with Klause Meine and both joined the "Scorpions" one year later. In July 1972, Michael joined UFO in England. Phenomenon, released in 1974, featured the metal classics "Doctor, Doctor" and "Rock Bottom", with Schenker's performance on his Gibson "Flying V" hammering home the band's new identity. A series of strong albums followed before Schenker eventually quit in 1978 after the recording of Obsession. The split had been predicted for some time following personal conflicts between Schenker and vocalist Phil Mogg. The guitarist moved back to Germany and temporarily rejoined the Scorpions, contributing to Lovedrive, released in 1979. In 1980 he formed his own band, the Michael Schenker Group, which was later abbreviated to MSG. MSG's personnel remained in a constant state of flux, with Schenker hiring and firing musicians seemingly at will. In 1991 Schenker also took time out between MSG albums to contribute to the Contraband project, a one-off collaboration between members of Shark Island, Vixen, Ratt and L.A. Guns.

Schenker has continued to play with both the Scorpions and UFO, while recording with further line-ups of his own group. In 1992, Michael started his own record company called "Positive Energy Records" and recorded "Thank You", an acoustic instrumental performed entirely by Michael. In early 1995 Michael reunited with UFO and released "Walk on Water". 2001 brought Michael together with old friend Uli Jon Roth as Uli was honored with a Legends Of Rock concert at Castle Donnington. Uli and Michael Jam with UFO and other guests like Jack Bruce (CREAM). Michael soon left UFO again and released "Unforgiven" and "Arachnophobia". Michael has recently also released "Thank You 2", "Thank You 3" and now "Thank You 4" all acoustic instrumental. 2004 has been a real treat for Schenker fans. He has been on a summer-fall tour in the USA with Uli Jon Roth and playing small, personal venues where fans can meet and greet with Uli and Michael!

Uli Jon Roth

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 8 Feb 2011 09:31:00 +0200

Though he doesn't get nearly as much credit as Deep Purple's Ritchie Blackmore, Uli Jon Roth helped lay the groundwork for

Neo-classical metal with his lead guitar work for German hard rock icons the Scorpions during the '70s. Roth's playing owed an obvious debt to Jimi Hendrix, but the elegance of his lead lines, the fluidity of his phrasing, and his use of alternate scales learned from classical training all helped push his oeuvre into another realm entirely. Upon leaving the Scorpions in 1978, Roth embarked on an erratic solo career that found him exploring his psychedelic and

Neo-classical influences to a degree that would have been impossible with his former band.

Uli Jon Roth was born Ulrich Roth in Dusseldorf, Germany, on December 18, 1954. He began playing guitar at age 13 and was performing just two years later. In the early '70s, he joined a band called Dawn Road, which also featured vocalist Klaus Meine. Members of the temporarily in-limbo Scorpions (their guitarist Michael Schenker had just left to join UFO) became interested in Dawn Road's original material, which was largely composed by Roth, and a new Scorpions lineup was formed in 1973 with Roth on lead guitar. 1974's Fly to the Rainbow was their first recording together, but they really hit their stride on the follow-ups, 1975's In Trance and 1976's Virgin Killer, which made them international stars and drew particular acclaim for Roth's soloing abilities. However, musical tensions were evident on 1977's Taken By Force; Roth's epic ambitions began to clash with the straight-up hard rock sensibility of the rest of the band. After a tumultuous world tour, Roth left the group in 1978, following the release of the live double album Tokyo Tapes.

Out on his own, Roth formed a backing band called Electric Sun, which -- in keeping with the classic power-trio format -- featured him on lead vocals as well as guitar. Electric Sun made its debut with the Earthquake album in 1979, which was musically somewhat similar to his work with the Scorpions, albeit with more Hendrix influence, generally longer songs, and a slightly hippie-ish vibe. Those tendencies were explored in more detail on the 1981 follow-up, Fire Wind. For the next Electric Sun project, Roth took a left turn into symphonic

Neo-classical rock, greatly expanding his compositional palette while introducing his new invention, the six-octave Sky Guitar. The result, Beyond the Astral Skies, was released in 1984 and would prove to be the last Roth recording for quite some time; he elected to take a break from recording in order to work in an ambitious new direction.

Much of Roth's writing from the mid-'80s to the mid-'90s was in a classical style, leaving rock & roll behind altogether. For example, the 1991 piece Aquila Suite (later issued as part of the three-disc From Here to Eternity package) was a set of 12 etudes composed for solo piano, in the style of the Romantic era. Also in 1991, Roth was tapped by German television to direct the tribute special #"A Different Side of Jimi Hendrix," which also featured bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Simon Phillips, among many others. In 1993, Roth returned to German television with the #"Symphonic Rock for Europe" special, in which he performed his first rock symphony "Europa Ex Favilla" (plus several other pieces) backed by the Brussels Symphony Orchestra. Some of those compositions later turned up on Sky of Avalon: Prologue to the Symphonic Legends, Roth's 1996 return to recording, which featured his new backing band Sky of Avalon. Prologue was the first of a projected four related symphonic recordings spotlighting the sky guitar. In 1998, Roth played his first straight-ahead rock concerts in quite some time, joining the European leg of the G3 guitar-virtuoso package tour with Michael Schenker and Joe Satriani. In 2000, Roth released Transcendental Sky Guitar, a two-CD set of recent live and studio material (including selections from a special 1999 concert in Vienna) that was split into classical and rock-oriented halves.

George Harrison

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 8 Feb 2011 09:29:00 +0200

British rock guitarist George Harrison (1943 - 2001) is best known for being a member of the Beatles. Harrison's contributions helped shape the group's sound and influenced many other rock musicians. After the Beatles broke up, Harrison embarked on a successful solo career.
Former Beatle lead guitarist George Harrison was born in the Wavertree area of Liverpool, England. He was born to Harold and Louise Harrison. His father was a bus driver while his mother was a housewife. He grew up in a public housing project. He had two brothers, Harold and Peter, and a sister, Louise. Harrison attended Dovedale Primary School and was accepted into the Liverpool Institute, which was considered the city's best high school for boys. However, he soon lost interest in his lessons and failed his exams. At the time, he displayed a rebellious streak, too, wearing his hair as long as allowable and donning the tightest trousers.

As a child, Harrison developed an early appreciation for music by listening to his father's record collection, which included works by American country music artists. When Harrison was 13 years old, his mother bought him his first guitar, an acoustic model. Harrison was drawn to the instrument after hearing a recording by British skiffle artist Lonnie Donegan called "Rock Island Line." His early efforts, however, gave no indication whatsoever of the versatility he would later demonstrate, as he could not grasp something as simple as chording patterns. When the guitar broke apart, he tossed it into a closet and tried to learn the trumpet, without success. When one of his brothers fixed the guitar, Harrison took up the instrument again and managed to learn a few chords. Now inspired by his success, he practiced everyday and listened to records by famous guitarists Chet Atkins and Duane Eddy and early rock and roll stars such as Carl Perkins, Buddy Holly, and Eddie Cochran. These early recordings would later influence his own guitar - playing style.

Eventually, he formed a short - lived band called The Rebels. Around this time, Harrison became friends with future Beatle band - mate Paul McCartney, who also attended the Liverpool Institute. They rode the same bus to school and, in conversation, found that they shared a passion for music and guitars. When Harrison was 14, McCartney asked Harrison to sit in with his band, the Quarrymen, which had been started by John Lennon. At first, Harrison was considered too young to join the band. However, by the time Harrison was 16, Lennon asked him to become a member, since he was always "hanging around" so much anyway. By the mid - to late - 1950s, Harrison had begun playing electric guitar.

Succeeded in Hamburg

In 1960, after going through several name changes, the Quarrymen finally became The Beatles. The band lineup included Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe and drummer Pete Best. They obtained regular performing engagements in Hamburg, West Germany, first at the Indra Club and then at the Kaiserkeller. Both clubs were located in the "red - light" district. The Beatles enjoyed a large and loyal following who were excited by the band's raw and intense performances. When the Beatles appeared at a rival club, the owner of the Indra Club became angry and revealed to authorities that George was only 17 years old, which made him too young to have a work permit. George was deported home to England. Soon after, the rest of the band followed. Back in Liverpool, in early 1961 they began playing at a jazz club, the Cavern, where they soon generated the same kind of following they enjoyed in Hamburg.

"Beatlemania" Began

In the spring of that year, The Beatles returned to Hamburg to record as the backup band for singer Tony Sheridan. Sheridan's version of "My Bonnie," driven by the Beatle's raucous instrumental support, became a hit in England and garnered the attention of British record store owner Brian Epstein. Epstein was compelled to visit the Cavern, to see the Beatles perform live. He was mesmerized by what he saw. He offered to become their manager and secured a recording contract for them with Parlaphone Records.

As their manager, Epstein initiated some substantial changes. He encouraged "the lads" to tone down the rawness of their appearance and performances, and he fired drummer Pete Best, replacing him with Richard Starkey, better known as Ringo Starr. Sutcliffe died of a brain hemorrhage in 1962, leaving the band with the now famous foursome of Lennon on rhythm guitar, Harrison on lead guitar, McCartney on bass, and Starr on drums. "Beatlemania" was poised to strike the masses, first in England and then, more importantly, in America.

Early Singles Made the Charts

In the fall of 1962, the Beatles released their first single, the two - sided hit "Love Me Do" backed with "P.S. I Love You." The group's second single, "Please Please Me," released in 1963, was an even bigger hit. But success was restricted to England. United States chart success was delayed until 1964, with the release of "I Want to Hold Your Hand." That record, released in January, was a smash. It was soon followed by their legendary February 1964 appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. By the end of their first set on their first appearance, the Beatles had completely conquered America, and - with their high quality musical output, their infectious humor, and revolutionary fashion sense - they would become the major driving social force in the world for the next four years.

In 1964, single followed single and album followed album in rapid succession, and each one seemed better than the last. Ironically, while Beatlemania provided fans with a sense of liberation, the four individuals felt imprisoned by their newfound fame. They were so famous that even a simple activity such as going to the corner grocery store to buy a carton of milk became an impossible, unthinkable proposition.

The Beatles were also feeling trapped within the context of the band, particularly Harrison, who was feeling greatly overshadowed by Lennon and McCartney. As the principle singers and songwriters, Lennon and McCartney were the undeniable focus of the band. But as a fellow songwriter, Harrison felt frustrated. On the early Beatles albums, he was allowed to contribute one or maybe two songs. That was understandable, as Lennon and McCartney were arguably the greatest songwriting team in the history of popular music. Still, Harrison demonstrated enormous growth as a songwriter during the peak Beatlemania years from 1963 to 1966. It is remarkable to consider that only three years separated Harrison's "Don't Bother Me" from the Beatle's second album With the Beatles (1962) to the much more ambitious and complex "Love to You" from Revolver (1966). Also, as the group later moved into a more progressive direction, Harrison's lead guitar work became more complex and played a major part in shaping the band's overall sound.

Movies and Marriage

The Beatles' popularity dictated that, like other pop stars before them, they make a movie. Their debut cinematic venture, A Hard Day's Night, released in 1964, was both a popular and critical success. Directed by creative filmmaker Richard Lester, the film was much more ambitious than any previous pop - star movie vehicle. The movie was especially significant to Harrison, in a personal way. During the filming, he met model Pattie Boyd (she appears in one of the train scenes, when the Beatles serenade a couple of young girls with the song "If I Fell"). They started dating and, on January 21, 1966, they were married.

The Beatles' second film, Help, released the following summer, was another enormous success, even though critics complained that it was too gimmicky and cartoonish, and lacked the overall charm of A Hard Day's Night. Harrison's contribution to the soundtrack was "I Need You," a pleasant pop song that received a good deal of radio play even though it had not been released as a single. (In the age before FM rock radio, the Beatles were the only band whose album cuts were receiving airplay).

Harrison's contributions to the next Beatles' album, Rubber Soul (1965), demonstrated a quantum leap in development over "I Need You." On this progressive, groundbreaking record, he was given three songs: the hard - driving "Wait" and "Think for Yourself" and the influential "If I Needed Someone." The album also included a Lennon - McCartney song, "Norwegian Wood," that featured a sitar. It was the first time that the Indian instrument appeared in a pop song, and its use was due to Harrison's developing interest in Indian music and culture.

Continued Development as an Artist

The year 1966 would be pivotal in the history of the Beatles. The group decided to stop touring and concentrate on making music in the recording studio. The "four lads from Liverpool" would soon be regarded as serious artists. The decision to stop touring was prompted by a summer tour that included an itinerary in United States. The band was not keen on doing the tour in the first place; they just had a bad feeling about it. Their fears proved to be justified. First, there was the incident in the Philippines involving a perceived slight to first lady Imelda Marcos. Through a misunderstanding, the Beatles missed a scheduled meeting with Marcos. This resulted in full - scale riots that had the Beatles and their entourage truly believing they would never leave the country alive. Second, when the Beatles arrived in the United States, they found the country had greatly changed. Beatlemania fandom had approached a level of unhealthy obsession. In addition, there was controversy generated by some quotes taken out of context from an interview that Lennon had given to a British magazine. The Beatle record burnings that took place across the country, coupled with the fanatical religious fervency, was disquieting.

Meanwhile, throughout the year, the group had been producing its most ambitious work yet. The result was the legendary Revolver album, which many regard today as the Beatles greatest record, even above the more ambitious Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). Harrison again contributed three songs, and again his efforts demonstrated a maturing artistry. The songs included "I Want to Tell You," the hard - edged "Taxman," and the Indian - influenced "Love to You." At the end of 1966 he spent a month in India with his wife, Patti. He studied the sitar with Indian master musician Ravi Shankar, and he immersed himself in Yoga and Indian philosophy with mystics and students.

Deeper into Indian Culture

Harrison's Indian - influenced music continued with "Within You, Without You" on the Beatles' next album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which is still viewed by many as the greatest rock album ever made. After the album's completion, Harrison delved deeper into the music, religion, and philosophy of India. On August 25, 1967, Harrison convinced the other Beatles to attend a course on transcendental meditation. The group found meditation stimulating and, for three months in early 1968, they traveled to India to study under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The trip turned out badly, and the other Beatles never addressed meditation again. However, George's interest in everything Indian only increased and, until the day he died, he held Eastern spiritual beliefs. The diverging interests underscored how the Beatles were starting to grow apart. Also, during the visit to India, Harrison wrote, recorded and produced the soundtrack for the film Wonderwall with Indian musicians.

The "White Album"

When the Beatles returned from India, the group began working on the so - called "White Album" (The Beatles), released in late 1968. The album was a two - record set, so Harrison was allowed more contributions than ever before. The Beatles (The White Album), included what many people consider to be Harrison's greatest song, "While my Guitar Gently Weeps." The Beatles next project was a filmed recording session that was eventually released, on film and record, as Let it Be after the group had broken up. In all, it was a grim enterprise that revealed all the strains and frustrations in the group.

The last time the group worked together was on the Abbey Road album sessions. Harrison contributed two of his most popular songs: "Here Comes the Sun" and "Something." The latter was a huge hit as a single, and it became the second most - recorded Beatles song (after "Yesterday"). Frank Sinatra, who did one of the many cover versions, said it was the greatest love song ever written.

In the meantime, tensions were increasing within the Beatles, and each member was becoming increasingly involved in his own pursuits. Harrison toured with the American band Delaney and Bonnie and Friends (as an anonymous member of the backup band), and he produced records on the Beatle's Apple label for Billy Preston, Jackie Lomax, and the Radha Krishna Temple. Then, the inevitable occurred in the spring of 1970: The Beatles broke up. For the world, the news was devastating. For the Beatles, it was a huge sigh of relief.

Life After the Beatles

After The Beatles broke up, Harrison began his solo career. The breakup gave him a chance to record all of the songs he had recently written but never had a chance to record with the Beatles. This backlog filled the two - record set, All Things Must Pass. Released in late 1970, the album was a work of majestic beauty. Fans and critics hailed it as his personal masterpiece. Many still consider it the best Beatles "solo" album. The album included the hit single "My Sweet Lord."

Harrison's next major post - breakup project was the charity event, "The Concert for Bangla Desh," held in Madison Square Garden in 1971. Harrison organized the event at the request of his friend and mentor Ravi Shankar, who sought financial aid for his famine - ravaged nation. The concert featured an all - star lineup that included Harrison, Shankar, Starr, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Leon Russell, Badfinger, and others. The event was released as a movie and a live album, both of which were enormous hits. At this point in time, Harrison appeared to be the ex - Beatle with the brightest future.

Mixed Success in the Seventies

However the remainder of the decade was not as kind to Harrison. His eagerly awaited second solo album, Living in the Material World, failed to live up to expectations, despite yielding a number - one hit single, "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)." His next album, Dark Horse, released in 1974, got even worse reviews. The accompanying tour was disastrous. Harrison was criticized for presenting experimental and Indian music to audiences who wanted to hear Beatle songs and Harrison hits.

The tour and its reaction drained him and he fell into depression. Even worse, his marriage to wife Pattie fell apart. Reportedly, she had been having an affair with Clapton, Harrison's best friend. The couple eventually divorced in 1977; they had no children. However, Harrison was not the innocent cuckold in a classic love triangle. Harrison had cheated on his wife on several occasions, and he later said the marriage broke apart for a number of reasons. In fact, Harrison never felt that Clapton stole his wife. The two musicians remained close friends until Harrison's death. (Clapton organized the "Concert for George," an all - star Harrison tribute in 2002).

In 1976, Harrison was hit with a plagiarism suit. The publishers of the early rock and roll hit, "He's So Fine," claimed that Harrison stole the song's melody for his own hit, "My Sweet Lord." Harrison was forced to pay $587,000. Harrison albums released during the rest of the decade, even though they produced an occasional hit single, were largely unremarkable and had very little critical or commercial impact.

The same year that Harrison divorced Pattie, he met Olivia Arrias, who worked as a secretary in Harrison's Dark Horse record company. They fell in love and lived together. They had a son, Dhani, who was born on August 1, 1978, and Harrison and Arrias married in September.

Towards the end of the decade, Harrison embarked on a second career as a movie producer. He founded Handmade Films, and when he met with a measure of success, his music took a backseat to movies for a while. One of his films included the popular Monty Python comedy The Life of Brian (1979). Later successes included The Long Good Friday (1980) and the Python - esque Time Bandits (1981). In 1980, he published a memoir, I, Me, Mine, which he dedicated to "gardeners everywhere," which indicated Harrison's new passion, gardening, a hobby that occupied him until he died. Harrison also became an avid race car driver later in life.

Music Rejuvenated in the Eighties

Harrison met with musical chart success once again in 1981 with the album Somewhere in England, which included the hit single, "All Those Years Ago," a touching tribute to Lennon, who was murdered in New York City on December 10, 1980. In 1987, he released Cloud Nine, a critically and commercially successful album that included the hit single "Got My Mind Set on You." Critics called it his best work in years.

Close on the heels of that acclaim, he became involved in one of his most successful post - Beatle projects when, in 1988, he became a member of "The Traveling Wilburys," a fictional band that included Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, and Roy Orbison. The Wilburys produced two albums. The first, The Traveling Wilburys Volume 1 was a smash. After Orbison passed away in 1989, the group would produce no more albums.

Returned to the Stage

In 1992, Harrison returned to live performing for the first time since his disastrous 1974 tour. Backed up by Clapton, Harrison toured Japan. Later he appeared in England at a benefit concert and performed at an all - star Dylan tribute in New York City.

In the mid - 1990s Harrison reunited with McCartney and Starr for the large - scale "Beatles Anthology" project, which included a series of recordings, video documentaries, television broadcasts, and publications devoted to the Beatles. The project also yielded two "new" Beatles songs, "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love." Also in the 1990s Harrison worked as editor of Raga Mala: The Autobiography of Ravi Shankar, which was published in 1999.

That same year, a frightening incident occurred. On December 30, in his own home, Harrison was savagely attacked by a knife - wielding, deranged male fan. Harrison survived the attack, and the man was charged with attempted murder, but he was found not guilty by reason of insanity. The incident deeply affected Harrison who, by this time, was in poor health.

Diagnosed with Cancer

In 1997 Harrison was diagnosed with throat cancer and had surgery. At first, radiation and chemotherapy seemed to have caught the disease. However, the cancer was malignant and eventually spread. In 2000, while working on a reissue of All Things Must Pass, Harrison underwent treatment for lung cancer. Later, he was found to have an inoperable brain tumor. At the time, Harrison also was working on a new album and had already released a single, "Horse to Water," that he co - wrote with his son Dhani, who had also become a musician by this time.

Harrison underwent a new type of cancer treatment therapy in a Swiss clinic, but he finally succumbed to his disease on November 29, 2001. He was staying at a friend's home in Los Angeles, California, when he died. He was 58 years old. He was survived by his wife Olivia and son Dhani. News of Harrison's death sparked global reaction, and newspapers and radio and television stations put together extensive tributes for the beloved Harrison. Harrison's final album, Brainwashed, was posthumously released in 2002 to strong reviews. On March 15, 2004, he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist. He had already been inducted as a member of the Beatles. His work continues to inspire and influence musicians around the globe.

Keith Richards

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 8 Feb 2011 09:27:00 +0200

Much has been made of Keith Richards’s reputation as rock’s ultimate bad boy; his weathered face and checkered past are legendary. As the guitarist and primary musical force behind the Rolling Stones, one of the most influential bands in rock and roll history, Richards may have been less visible than flamboyant frontman Mick Jagger, but he provided an example of cool that other musicians have imitated for decades. In the words of author Mark Leyner, who interviewed Richards for Spin, "Any one of a thousand Keith Richards photographs could serve as the defining totemic image of the rock ‘n’ roll life."

Yet Richards’s drug history and onstage demeanor have frequently overshadowed his remarkable focus and seriousness as a musician. Inspired by a variety of roots-based musical forms, primarily the blues, he has helped the Stones branch out continually as a vital creative unit. Since 1988 Richards has released two critically acclaimed solo albums with a versatile backup band called the X-Pensive Winos; though he long avoided recording apart from the Stones, his work without them indicates he has lost none of his fire. As he noted in one of many candid interviews with Rolling Stone, his intention has long been to "grow this music up"—to leave behind the teen appeal and theatricality of rock’s past and invest it with maturity and honest feeling.

Richards also demonstrated in the wake of his renewed solo effort that he had reached a state of happy grace in his life. "The impression Richards gives is of someone perfectly content to be who he is and do what he does with no evident regard for external judgments or objections," noted Ira Robbins in Pulse! The guitarist confirmed this perception in numerous interviews: "To me, the main thing about living on this planet is to know who the hell you are and be real about it," he told Rolling Stone. "That’s the reason I’m still alive." Content in his second marriage, the father of several children of various ages, he indicated that he’d put aside the youth-obsessed sentimentalism exemplified by a classic line in "My Generation," a 1960s standard by Stones contemporaries The Who: "Hope I die before I get old." People quoted an interview in which Richards declared, "Getting old is a fascinating thing. The older you get, the older you want to get."

From Black and White to Technicolor
Richards was born in 1943 in Dartford, England. His father, Bert, worked in a factory, struggling to feed the family. "We just about made the rent," the guitarist recalled in a Rolling Stone interview. "The luxuries were very, very few." Keith knew early on that he didn’t have

his father’s discipline—"That’s the hardest work of all, bein’ lazy," he quipped to Kurt Loder in 1987, as quoted in the rock scribe’s Bat Chain Puller—and he was expelled from the Dartford Technical School for truancy at age 15. He spent some time at art school before discovering the guitar and the blues. Rock and roll was brand new in the late 1950s, and its arrival, Richards told Loder, signaled the advent of "a new era. Totally. It was almost like A.D. and B.C., and 1956 was year 1, you know? The world was black-and-white, and then suddenly it went into living color. Suddenly there was a reason to be around, besides just knowing you were gonna have to work and draggin’ your ass to school every day. Suddenly everything went zoom—glorious Technicolor."

Richards always understood—and is at pains to explain to contemporary rock fans—that rock and roll derived in large part from the blues, an African-American art form. And the work of black artists in ensuing years, from soul and rhythm and blues to the pioneering rock of Richards’s idol, Chuck Berry, would provide basic musical compass points for the guitarist and his band. Richards met Mick Jagger in 1960; the singer was then attending the London School of Economics. They shared a love of R & B and ended up jamming together with a handful of other musicians. The Rolling Stones—named after a song by blues legend Muddy Waters—were formed in 1962 and featured a shifting roster of musicians as they coalesced, though Jagger and Richards were constants. The rhythm section of Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts stabilized the band’s sound, and they released their first single, a Chuck Berry cover, in 1963. Although they were often touted as "London’s answer to the Beatles" and at first sported a clean-cut look, the group’s gritty, sexually charged sound and attitude offered a unique appeal. Their 1965 single "(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction" was a monster hit that became one of the defining songs of the era. Newsweek later called Richards’s signature "Satisfaction" guitar riff "five notes that shook the world."

The Stones unleashed a string of hit singles—among them "The Last Time," "Time Is on My Side," "19th Nervous Breakdown" and "Get Off My Cloud"—before the tide of the decade turned to "album-oriented" rock. Late-1960s and early-1970s Stones LPs such as Beggar’s Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, and Exile on Main Street have become hallmarks of committed, adventuresome rock. The Stones also experienced a tragic watershed of the hippie age: at a 1970 concert at California’s Altamont Speedway, members of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle club—the band’s erstwhile security force—fatally stabbed an unruly fan as the Stones played their hit "Sympathy for the Devil."

Poster Boy for Excess
Richards, during this tumultuous period, became something of a poster boy for excess. While many rockers—including Jagger and the Beatles—championed mysticism and psychedelia, Richards was laying low and shooting up. He admitted to Bryan Appleyard of Vanity Fair that during his heroin days in New York, he carried a gun, and he recalled, "I got used to getting shot at." At the same time, however, his notoriety often bestowed a strange immunity upon him; would-be muggers waved him through and "cops [gave him] lifts when [it was] raining." In Toronto in 1977 he was arrested on a serious possession charge and—faced with stringent penalties—agreed to undergo drug treatment and perform at a 1979 charity concert. Rock lore has it that Richards periodically had his blood changed in order to curtail various bouts with addiction.

Living on this particular edge, he told Spin’s Leyner, was in part a way of dealing with stardom’s distorting effect on one’s self-regard: "I’ve tried to keep my feet on the ground—sometimes almost six feet under—in order not to stay up there in that stratosphere [of fame]. Maybe the whole dope thing was some way of negating that—’cause that put me down in the gutter. One minute I’m operating as a superstar and the next I’m shooting up with some guys on the Lower East Side. I’ll never know really what that was all about—just an experiment that went on too long, I guess." Richards explained to Loder in Rolling Stone in 1981, "The problem is not how to get off of it, it’s how to stay off of it." By 1980 Richards’s long-term relationship with Anita Pallenberg had come to an end, and in 1983 he would marry actress and model Patti Hansen. Jagger served as best man at their wedding in Mexico; by the time Richards and Hansen had their two daughters, his two children by Pallenberg, Marlon and Dandelion, were in their teens. In 1982, the guitarist was reunited with his father, whom he had not seen in many years; their newfound closeness became another constant in Richards’s life.

The Rolling Stones sustained their success through the 1970s—releasing such hit albums as Goat’s Head Soup, It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll, and Some Girls—and played in more and more massive arenas. By the 1980s, their tours had become events of elephantine proportions, and though he still felt firmly committed to the band, Richards was keenly aware of the intimacy and directness lost in the fanfare. In 1985 Mick Jagger decided to release a solo album, She’s the Boss, and he announced in 1986 that he would not tour with the Stones in support of their recent record, Dirty Work. Richards and Jagger traded barbs in the press; "To me, twenty-five years of integrity went down the drain with what he did," the guitarist told Anthony DeCurtis in Rolling Stone. Speculation about the band’s imminent dissolution flew about and were not quelled by Richards’s decision to ink a deal with Virgin Records and put out his own solo album.

Birth of the X-Pensive Winos
In addition to assembling a band, Richards served as musical director for Taylor Hackford’s Hail! Hail! Rock ‘N’Roll, a film biography of Chuck Berry. "He’s a loner," Richards told DeCurtis of the senior rocker. "That’s why I could work with Chuck Berry, because he’s very much like Mick." But not working with Mick—or rhythm guitarist Ron Wood or Wyman or Watts—was Richards’s imperative for the moment. He decided to collaborate with drummer Steve Jordan, who had played in the World’s Most Dangerous Band on television’s Late Night With David Letterman, and assembled a stellar ensemble that included bassist Charley Drayton, guitarist Waddy Wachtel, and keyboardist Ivan Neville.

An air of mutual admiration and camaraderie pervaded the sessions for Talk Is Cheap, the first album by Keith Richards and the X-Pensive Winos. "Every drummer’s dream is to play with Keith," Jordan declared in Newsweek. "He’s the Time Machine, right?" Jordan wasn’t referring to a nostalgia trip; Richards’s rhythmic accuracy as a guitarist—what musician’s call "time"—is legendary. Wachtel confirmed this, adding, "It’s due to his right hand. Magic. When he plays rhythm, it’s like a room full of the best drummers in the world." Talk Is Cheap featured guest musicians like funk superstars Bootsy Collins and Maceo Parker and soulful vocals from Sarah Dash. Yet Richards’s own singing, only an occasional feature on the Stones’ records, was the biggest surprise for many listeners and critics. Guitar Player rated the album the best by the Rolling Stones—even though Richards was the only Stone on it—in nearly two decades. Richards and his group also released a live album taken from a performance at the Hollywood Palladium in December of 1988.

The Stones reassembled for the hugely successful 1989 album Steel Wheels, which spawned a tremendous tour. "The songs just tumbled out," Richards told the New York Times of the recording sessions in Barbados. "First, we just screamed and yelled at each other. We needed to clear the air, which, as old mates, we’re very good at. Then, when we got into that room and sat down with our guitars, something entirely different took over." That year, the Rolling Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In a 1992 Guitar Player interview, Richards noted that the imbalance produced by frenzied playing and idle downtime had been a root cause of the tension within the group. "And that’s what the Stones had to live with from the early 70s until the middle ’80s: constant work for a year and a half, and then nothing for two years. And that stopping and starting was fraying. That was the underlying force of what all of that shit was about."

1992 saw the publication of Victor Bockris’s largely panned Poseidon Press tome Keith Richards: The Biography, which Gene Santoro attacked in Pulse! as a collection of "recycled press clips" interlaced with pretentious analysis and pop clichés. More importantly, late in the year Richards released his second solo studio album, Main Offender. Once again employing the versatile X-Pensive Winos—who traded instruments during the sessions—Richards explored more emotional territory this time around. Entertainment Weekly awarded the album a B+ and closed its review with a cheeky "Your move, Mick." Echoing Guitar Player’s assessment of Talk Is Cheap, Spin’s Leyner called Main Offender "the finest ‘Rolling Stones’ album in years," elaborating, "It’s stripped down and full of gorgeous songwriting—sinewy and poignant." Musician was a trifle more critical, suggesting that Main Offender was "the best mediocre album of the year," perhaps because it conveyed a pleasantly raw feel with no obvious effort: "Exile on Easy Street." For his part, Richards revealed in an interview with Rolling Stone’s Kim Neely, "This band is very new and fresh for me. In a way it reminds me of working with the Stones in the early days."

The Stones were set to regroup for a new record in 1993, despite the departure of bassist Wyman, which apparently had been in the works for some time. Richards had joked about scaring Wyman into remaining by threatening to replace him with a woman, but this macho gambit presumably failed. Richards told Neely, "I think there’s a possibility of another golden period in the Stones somewhere," this projection ostensibly undimmed by Wyman’s exit. As to his own future, Richards told Rolling Stone’s DeCurtis in 1988, "I played with Muddy Waters six months before he died, and the cat was just as vital as he was in his youth. And he did it until the day he died. To me, that is the important thing. I mean, what am I gonna do now, go for job retraining and learn to be a welder? I’ll do this until I drop. I’m committed to it and that’s it."

In both his role as a Rolling Stone and as that of a solo artist, Keith Richards has demonstrated that it is possible to "grow up" in rock and maintain the spark and intensity required to keep it fresh. "To me, it’s important to prove that this isn’t just teenage kids’ shit and you should feel embarrassed when you’re over forty and still doing it," he remarked to DeCurtis. "That’s not necessary. This is a job. It’s a man’s job, and it’s a lifelong job. And if there’s a sucker to ever prove it, I hope to be the sucker."

Selected discography

With the Rolling Stones; on ABKCO Records
The Rolling Stones (England’s Newest Hitmakers), 1964.
12X5, 1964.
The Rolling Stones Now!, 1965.
December’s Children, 1965.
Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass) (includes "[I Can’t Get No] Satisfaction," "The Last Time," "Time Is on My Side," "19th Nervous Breakdown," and "Get Off My Cloud"), 1966.
Aftermath, 1966.
Got LIVE If You Want It!, 1966.
Between the Buttons, 1967.
Flowers, 1967.
Their Satanic Majesties Request, 1967.
Beggar’s Banquet (includes "Sympathy for the Devil"), 1968.
Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits, Volume II), 1969.
Let It Bleed, 1969.
Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out, 1970.
Hot Rocks, 1964-1971, 1971.
More Hot Rocks (Big Hits and Fazed Cookies), 1972.
The Rolling Stones Singles Collection: The London Years, 1989.

On Rolling Stones/Columbia Records
Sticky Fingers, 1971.
Exile on Main Street, 1972.
Goat’s Head Soup, 1973.
It’s Only Rock & Roll, 1974.
Made in the Shade, 1975.
Black and Blue, 1976.
Love You Live, 1977.
Some Girls, 1978.
Emotional Rescue, 1980.
Sucking in the Seventies, 1981.
Tattoo You, 1981.
Still Life, 1982.
Undercover, 1983.
Rewind (1971-1984), 1984.
Dirty Work, 1986.
Steel Wheels, 1989.
25 x 5, 1990.
Flashpoint, 1991.

With the X-Pensive Winos; on Virgin Records
Talk Is Cheap, 1988.
Keith Richards and the X-Pensive Winos Live at the Hollywood Palladium, December 15, 1988, 1988.
Main Offender, 1992.

Frank Zappa

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 4 Feb 2011 10:13:00 +0200

Composer, guitarist, singer, and bandleader Frank Zappa was a singular musical figure during a performing and recording career that lasted from the 1960s to the '90s. His disparate influences included doo wop music and avant-garde classical music; although he led groups that could be called rock & roll bands for much of his career, he used them to create a hybrid style that bordered on jazz and complicated, modern serious music, sometimes inducing orchestras to play along. As if his music were not challenging enough, he overlay it with highly satirical and sometimes abstractly humorous lyrics and song titles that marked him as coming out of a provocative literary tradition that included Beat poets like Allen Ginsberg and edgy comedians like Lenny Bruce. Nominally, he was a popular musician, but his recordings rarely earned significant airplay or sales, yet he was able to gain control of his recorded work and issue it successfully through his own labels while also touring internationally, in part because of the respect he earned from a dedicated cult of fans and many serious musicians, and also because he was an articulate spokesman who promoted himself into a media star through extensive interviews he considered to be a part of his creative effort just like his music. The Mothers of Invention, the '60s group he led, often seemed to offer a parody of popular music and the counterculture (although he affected long hair and jeans, Zappa was openly scornful of hippies and drug use). By the '80s, he was testifying before Congress in opposition to censorship (and editing his testimony into one of his albums). But these comic and serious sides were complementary, not contradictory. In statement and in practice, Zappa was an iconoclastic defender of the freest possible expression of ideas. And most of all, he was a composer far more ambitious than any other rock musician of his time and most classical musicians, as well.

Zappa was born Frank Vincent Zappa in Baltimore, MD, on December 21, 1940. For most of his life, he was under the mistaken impression that he had been named exactly after his father, a Sicilian immigrant who was a high school teacher at the time of his son's birth, that he was "Francis Vincent Zappa, Jr." That was what he told interviewers, and it was extensively reported. It was only many years later that Zappa examined his birth certificate and discovered that, in fact, his first name was Frank, not Francis. The real Francis Zappa took a job with the Navy during World War II, and he spent the rest of his career working in one capacity or another for the government or in the defense industry, resulting in many family moves. Zappa's mother, Rose Marie (Colimore) Zappa, was a former librarian and typist. During his early childhood, the family lived in Baltimore, Opa-Locka, FL, and Edgewood, MD. In December 1951, they moved to California when Zappa's father took a job teaching metallurgy at the Naval Post-Graduate School in Monterey. The same year, Zappa had first shown an interest in becoming a musician, joining the school band and playing the snare drum.

Although the Zappa family continued to live in California for the rest of Zappa's childhood, they still moved frequently; by the time Zappa graduated from Antelope Valley Joint Union High School in Lancaster in June 1958, it was the seventh high school he had attended. Meanwhile, his interest in music had grown. He had become particularly attracted to R&B, joining a band as a drummer in 1955. Simultaneously, he had become a fan of avant-garde classical music, particularly the work of Edgard Varèse. After his high school graduation, Zappa studied music at several local colleges off and on. He also switched to playing the guitar.

Zappa married Kathryn J. Sherman on December 28, 1960; the marriage ended in divorce in 1964. Meanwhile, he played in bands and worked on the scores of low-budget films. It was in seeking to record his score for one of these films, The World's Greatest Sinner, that he began working at the tiny Pal recording studio in Cucamonga, CA, run by Paul Buff, in November 1961. He and Buff began writing and recording pop music with studio groups and licensing the results to such labels as Del-Fi Records and Original Sound Records. On August 1, 1964, Zappa bought the studio from Buff and renamed it Studio Z. On March 26, 1965, he was arrested by a local undercover police officer who had entrapped him by asking him to record a pornographic audiotape. Convicted of a misdemeanor, he spent ten days in jail, an experience that embittered him. After completing his sentence, he closed the studio, moved into Los Angeles, and joined a band called the Soul Giants that featured his friend, singer Ray Collins, along with bass player Roy Estrada and drummer Jimmy Carl Black. In short order, he induced the group to play his original compositions instead of covers, and to change their name to the Mothers (reportedly on Mother's Day, May 10, 1965).

In Los Angeles, the Mothers were able to obtain a manager, Herb Cohen, and audition successfully to appear in popular nightclubs such as the Whiskey Go-Go by the fall of 1965. There they were seen by record executive Tom Wilson, who signed them to the Verve Records subsidiary of MGM Records on March 1, 1966. (Verve required that the suggestive name "The Mothers" be modified to "The Mothers of Invention.") The contract called for the group to submit five albums in two years, and they immediately went into the studio to record the first of those albums, Freak Out! By this time, Elliot Ingber had joined the group on guitar, making it a quintet. An excess of material and Zappa's agreement to accept a reduced publishing royalty led to the highly unusual decision to release it as a double-LP, an unprecedented indulgence for a debut act that was even practically unheard-of for an established one. (Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde appeared during the same period, but it was his seventh album.)

Freak Out! was released on June 27, 1966. It was not an immediate success commercially, but it entered the Billboard chart for the week ending February 11, 1967, and eventually spent 23 weeks in the charts. In July 1966, Zappa met Adelaide Gail Sloatman; they married in September 1967, prior to the birth, on September 28, 1967, of their first child, a daughter named Moon Unit Zappa who would record with her father. She was followed by a son, Dweezil, on September 5, 1969. He, too, would become a recording artist, as would Ahmet Zappa, born May 15, 1974. A fourth child, Diva, was born in August 1979. During the summer of 1966, Zappa hired drummer Denny Bruce and keyboardist Don Preston, making the Mothers of Invention a septet, but by November 1966, when the Mothers of Invention went back into the studio to record their second album, Absolutely Free, Bruce had been replaced by Billy Mundi; Ingber had been replaced by Jim Fielder; and Zappa had hired two horn players, Bunk Gardner on wind instruments and Jim "Motorhead" Sherwood on saxophone, bringing the band up to a nine-piece unit. The album was recorded in four days and released in June 1967. It entered the charts in July and reached the Top 50.

The Mothers of Invention moved to New York City in November 1966 for a booking at a Greenwich Village club called the Balloon Farm that began on Thanksgiving Day and ran through New Year's Day, 1967. After a two-week stint in Montreal, they returned to California, where Fielder left the group in February. In March, Zappa began recording his first solo album, Lumpy Gravy, having signed to Capitol Records under the impression that he was not signed as an individual to Verve, a position Verve would dispute. Later that month, the Mothers of Invention returned to New York City for another extended engagement at the Garrick Theater in Greenwich Village that ran during Easter week and was sufficiently successful that Herb Cohen booked the theater for the summer. That run began on May 24, 1967, and ran off and on through September 5. During this period, Ian Underwood joined the band, playing saxophone and piano. In August, the group began recording its third album, We're Only in It for the Money.

In September 1967, the Mothers of Invention toured Europe for the first time, playing in the U.K., Sweden, and Denmark. On October 1, Verve failed to exercise its option to extend the band's contract, although they still owed the label three more LPs. They finished recording We're Only in It for the Money in October, but its release was held up because of legal concerns about its proposed cover photograph, an elaborate parody of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which was finally resolved by putting the picture on the inside of the fold-out LP sleeve. We're Only in It for the Money was released on March 4, 1968, and it reached the Top 30. Another legal dispute was resolved when Verve purchased the tapes of Lumpy Gravy from Capitol. Zappa then finished recording this orchestral work, and Verve released it under his name (and that of "the Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra and Chorus") on May 13, 1968; it spent five weeks in the charts.

Although the Mothers of Invention still owed one more LP to Verve, Zappa already was thinking ahead. In the fall of 1967, he began recording Uncle Meat, the soundtrack for a proposed film, with work continuing through February 1968. During this period, Billy Mundi left the band and was replaced on drums by Arthur Dyer Tripp III. In March, Zappa and Herb Cohen announced that they were setting up their own record label, Bizarre Records, to be distributed by the Reprise Records subsidiary of Warner Bros. Records. The label was intended to record not only the Mothers of Invention, but also acts Zappa discovered. Early in the summer, Ray Collins quit the Mothers of Invention, who continued to tour. Their performance at the Royal Festival Hall in London on October 25, 1968, was released in 1991 as the album Ahead of Their Time. That month, Bizarre was formally launched with the release of the single "The Circle," by Los Angeles street singer Wild Man Fischer. In November, guitarist Lowell George joined the Mothers of Invention. In December, Verve released the band's final album on its contract, Cruisin' with Ruben & the Jets, on which Zappa for once played it straight, leading the group through a set of apparently sincere doo wop and R&B material. The LP spent 12 weeks in the charts. (Zappa was then free of Verve, although his disputes with the company were not over. Verve put out a compilation, Mothermania: The Best of the Mothers, in March 1969, and it spent nine weeks in the charts.)

The ambitious double-LP Uncle Meat, the fifth Mothers of Invention album, was released by Bizarre on April 21, 1969. It reached the Top 50. (The movie it was supposed to accompany did not appear until a home video release in 1989.) In May, Bizarre released Pretties for You, the debut album by Alice Cooper, the only act discovered by the label that would go on to substantial success (after switching to Warner Bros. Records proper, that is).The same month, Lowell George left the band; later, he and Roy Estrada would form Little Feat. Zappa began working on a second solo album, Hot Rats, in July 1969. On August 19, the Mothers of Invention gave their final performance in their original form, playing on Canadian TV at the end of a tour. One week later, Zappa announced that he was breaking up the band, although, as it turned out, this did not mean that he would not use the name "the Mothers of Invention" for groups he led in the future. Hot Rats, the second album to be credited to Frank Zappa, was released on October 10, 1969. It spent only six weeks in the charts at the time, but it would become one of Zappa's best-loved collections, with the instrumental "Peaches en Regalia" a particular favorite. Although the Mothers of Invention no longer existed as a performing unit, Zappa possessed extensive tapes of them, live and in the studio, and using that material, he assembled a new album, Burnt Weeny Sandwich, released in February 1970; it made the Top 100.

At the invitation of Zubin Mehta, conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Zappa assembled a new group of rock musicians dubbed the Mothers for the performance, with the orchestra, of a work called 200 Motels at UCLA on May 15, 1970. Adding singers Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, formerly of the Turtles, Zappa launched a tour with this version of the Mothers in June 1970. (Also included were a returning Ian Underwood, keyboardist George Duke, drummer Aynsley Dunbar, and guitarist Jeff Simmons.) In August, Bizarre released another archival Mothers of Invention album, Weasels Ripped My Flesh, which charted. Chunga's Revenge, released in October, was billed as a Zappa solo album, even though it featured the current lineup of the Mothers; it spent 14 weeks in the charts. After touring the U.S. that fall, the group went to Europe on December 1. From January 28 to February 5, 1971, they were in Pinewood Studios in the U.K. making a movie version of 200 Motels with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and co-stars Theodore Bikel, Ringo Starr, and Keith Moon of the Who. Zappa had planned a concert with the Royal Philharmonic at the Royal Albert Hall on February 8 as a money-saving tactic, since according to union rules, he could then pay them for the filming/recording session as if it were rehearsals for the concert. But this strategy backfired when the Royal Albert Hall canceled the concert, alleging that Zappa's lyrics were too vulgar. He added to his expenses by suing the Royal Albert Hall, eventually losing in court.

On June 5 and 6, 1971, the Mothers appeared during the closing week of the Fillmore East theater in New York City, recording their shows for a live album, Fillmore East, June 1971, quickly released on August 2. It became Zappa's first album to reach the Top 40 since We're Only in It for the Money three years earlier. John Lennon and Yoko Ono had appeared as guests during the June 6 show, and they used their performance on their 1972 album Some Time in New York City. The Mothers gave a concert at the Pauley Pavilion at UCLA on August 7, 1971, and the show was recorded for the album Just Another Band from L.A., released in May 1972, which made the Top 100. They continued to tour into the fall. 200 Motels premiered in movie theaters on October 29, 1971, with a double-LP soundtrack album released by United Artists that made the Top 100. Meanwhile, the Mothers' European tour was eventful, to say the least. On December 4, 1971, the group appeared at the Montreux Casino in Geneva, Switzerland, but their show stopped when a fan fired off a flare gun that set the venue on fire. The incident was the inspiration for Deep Purple's song "Smoke on the Water." Six days later, as the Mothers were performing at the Rainbow Theatre in London on December 10, a deranged fan jumped on-stage and pushed Zappa into the orchestra pit. He suffered a broken ankle, among other injuries, and was forced to recuperate for months. This was the end both of the tour and of this edition of the Mothers.

While convalescing at home in Los Angeles, Zappa organized a new big band to play jazz-fusion music; he dubbed it the Grand Wazoo Orchestra and recorded two albums with it. Waka/Jawaka, billed as a Zappa solo album, came out in July 1972 and spent seven weeks in the charts. The Grand Wazoo, credited to the Mothers, appeared in December and missed the charts. By September 10, Zappa felt well enough to play two weeks of dates with the group, now billed as the Mothers, starting at the Hollywood Bowl. He then cut the personnel down to ten pieces (the "Petit Wazoo" band) and toured from late October to mid-December.

The start of 1973 marked a new and surprisingly popular phase in Zappa's career. He assembled a new lineup of Mothers, made a batch of new recordings on which he himself sang lead vocals (his voice having dropped half an octave as a result of injuring his neck when he was thrown from the stage), and hit the road for the most extensive touring of his career. Inaugurating the new band in Fayetteville, NC, on February 23, he spent 183 days of 1973 on the road, including tours of the U.S., Europe, and Australia. Meanwhile, the Bizarre Records deal with Reprise/Warner had run out, and he launched a new label, also distributed by Warner, DiscReet Records, its first release being Over-Nite Sensation in September 1973. The album reached the Top 40, stayed in the charts nearly a year, and went gold. It was followed in April 1974 by a Zappa solo album, Apostrophe (‘). Much to Zappa's surprise, radio stations began playing a track called "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow." A single edit of the song actually spent several weeks in the lower reaches of the Hot 100, and Apostrophe (‘) peaked at number ten for the week ending June 29, 1974, the highest chart position ever achieved by a Zappa album. The LP also went gold.

Zappa continued to tour extensively in 1974. His next album, the double-LP live collection Roxy & Elsewhere, credited to "Zappa/Mothers," appeared in September 1974 and made the Top 30. Adding his old friend Captain Beefheart to the band, he played shows at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, TX, on May 20 and 21, 1975, that he recorded for the album Bongo Fury, credited to Frank Zappa/Captain Beefheart/The Mothers, released in October; it made the Top 100. Prior to that had come One Size Fits All, credited to Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention, released in June; it made the Top 30. On September 17 and 18, 1975, two concerts of Zappa's orchestral music were performed by a group dubbed the Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra (in memory of Lumpy Gravy) and conducted by Michael Zearott at Royce Hall, UCLA. The shows were recorded, but the material was not released until May 1979 as Orchestral Favorites, which spent several weeks in the charts. Starting on September 27, 1975, Zappa launched another extended period of touring, staying in the U.S. through a New Years concert at the Forum in Los Angeles, then playing in Australia, Japan, and Europe, finishing on March 17, 1976. This ended another phase in his career. He split with his longtime manager Herb Cohen and disbanded his group, which, because of legal disputes with Cohen, would turn out to have been the last one called the Mothers or the Mothers of Invention. Hereafter, he would perform and record simply as Frank Zappa. There were also other legal issues. In October 1976, he reached an out-of-court settlement in a suit he had waged against MGM/Verve that resulted in his winning the rights to the masters of his early albums.

Zappa surprised fans when his name turned up as the producer of a new album by Grand Funk Railroad, Good Singin', Good Playin', in August 1976. In September, he launched his first world tour under his own name, playing in the U.S., the Far East, and Europe through February 1977. Zoot Allures, the last album to be credited to the Mothers, was released on Warner Bros. Records on October 29, 1976, the DiscReet label apparently being claimed by Cohen; it reached the Top 100. Zappa was also seeking to end his deal with Warner. In March 1977, he delivered four albums to the label simultaneously (the initial titles were Studio Tan, Hot Rats III [Waka/Jawaka having counted as Hot Rats II], Zappa's Orchestral Favorites, and the double album Live in New York, recorded in December 1976); he demanded the four $60,000 advances the albums called for, and sued Warner for breach of contract when it did not pay. In the summer of 1977, he announced that he had concluded his contract with Warner. He declared that the four albums really constituted a single work called Leather (later spelled Läther), which he sold to Mercury/Phonogram Records. Warner then sued to block its release.

On September 8, 1977, Zappa launched another North American tour, staying on the road until New Year's Eve. His shows from October 28-31 at the Palladium in New York City were filmed and recorded, the material later emerging in the movie Baby Snakes. The European leg of the tour opened in London on January 24, 1978. The resolutions of Zappa's legal disputes led to an unusually large number of releases over the next year. Zappa in New York (originally called Live in New York) was released on DiscReet in March 1978 and made the Top 100. Studio Tan appeared in September 1978 and charted. Sleep Dirt (originally called Hot Rats III) was released in January 1979 and charted. Orchestral Favorites completed the releases of the material Zappa had delivered to Warner in March 1977. With these matters settled, Zappa launched Zappa Records, with distribution through Mercury/Phonogram in the U.S. and CBS Records in the rest of the world, releasing the double-LP Sheik Yerbouti on March 3, 1979. The album managed to distinguish itself from all the other Zappa albums in the record bins and peaked at number 21, Zappa's best showing in five years, promoted by the single "Dancin' Fool," which made the Top 50. That track was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance (Male), and "Rat Tomago," another track on the album, got a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.

Zappa toured Europe and Japan in the spring of 1979, then returned to the U.S., where he completed work on his home studio, called the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen, on September 1. The home studio and his continuing practice of recording his shows, along with greater control over his record releases, seemed to free Zappa to issue more records. Joe's Garage Act I was released in September 1979 and made the Top 30; it was followed in November by the double-LP Joe's Garage Acts II & III, which made the Top 100. Baby Snakes, the film of the 1977 Halloween shows in New York, opened on December 21, 1979. A soundtrack album did not appear until 1983. Zappa spent much of 1980 on the road, beginning a tour of North America and Europe on March 25, with dates continuing through July 3, and then touring again from October 10 through Christmas.

Amazingly, Zappa did not release an album during 1980. (A single, "I Don't Wanna Get Drafter," just missed making the Hot 100 in May.) But he made up for that in 1981. In May, yet another new label, Barking Pumpkin Records, was launched with the release of a double-LP, Tinseltown Rebellion, which made the Top 100. By now, Zappa had perfected a method of melding studio and live performances on his records, such that the finished versions were a combination of the two. Also in May 1981, he simultaneously released three instrumental albums via mail order: Shut Up ‘N Play Yer Guitar, Shut Up ‘N Play Yer Guitar Some More, and Return of the Son of Shut Up ‘N Play Yer Guitar. In September came another double album, You Are What You Is, that made the Top 100.

Zappa's spring/summer tour of Europe in 1982 was plagued with problems including canceled dates and even a riot at one show; after finishing the stint on July 14, he did not tour again for two years. Meanwhile, on May 3, 1982, he released a new album, Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch, and it featured another of his surprise hit singles, as radio picked up on "Valley Girl," a track featuring a vocal by his daughter Moon Unit Zappa, imitating the character and employing the slang of a typical Southern California valley girl. The song peaked at number 32 on September 11, 1982, making it the most successful single of Zappa's career. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. The album made the Top 30. After coming off the road, Zappa concentrated on recording and on his orchestral music. On January 11, 1983, conductor Kent Nagano led the London Symphony Orchestra in a concert of Zappa's works at the Barbican Arts Centre in London, preparatory to three days of recordings that resulted, initially, in the album London Symphony Orchestra, Vol. 1, released in June 1983. (A second volume followed in September 1987.) Prior to that, Zappa had released a new rock album, The Man from Utopia, on March 28, 1983, which charted for several weeks.

As he had the year before, Zappa saw some of his orchestral music recorded in January 1984, this time by the Ensemble InterContemporain of conductor Pierre Boulez. With other material, these recordings would be released by Angel Records on August 23, 1984, as Boulez Conducts Zappa: The Perfect Stranger. The other material was Zappa's own recording on an advanced synthesizer instrument he had purchased called the Synclavier, capable of replicating orchestral arrangements. The Synclavier freed Zappa from the technical limitations (and, in some cases, the objections) of live musicians, especially classical musicians, and he turned to it increasingly from this point on. Having discovered manuscripts of music composed in the 18th century by an ancestor of his, Francesco Zappa, he recorded an album of it on the Synclavier in March 1984, releasing the results on an LP called Francesco Zappa on November 21, 1984.

On July 18, 1984, two years after the end of his last tour, Zappa went back on the road for an extensive, worldwide trek that ran through December 23. On October 18, he released a two-LP set, Them or Us. A month later came the triple-LP box set, Thing-Fish, on the same day as the Francesco Zappa album. By this time, Zappa's records were no longer reaching the charts, as he focused on his existing fan base, heavily marketing to them through mail order. Having re-acquired the masters to his Verve/MGM albums, he had found the tapes in dire condition and had re-recorded the bass and drum parts for the albums We're Only in It for the Money and Cruisin' with Ruben and the Jets, which were part of a box set he offered to his mailing list, The Old Masters Box 1, in April 1985. (The Old Masters Box 2 followed in 1986, and the series was completed with The Old Masters Box 3 in 1987.)

During the year 1985, a group of wives of prominent politicians in Washington, D.C., formed the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) and lobbed Congress for restrictions on what they saw as obscenity in popular music. Zappa, long an opponent of censorship, became a leader of the opposition to the PMRC, and on September 19, 1985, he testified before the Senate Commerce Technology and Transportation Committee to voice his opinions. Of course, his testimony was a matter of public record, and he quickly used the recordings in an album he assembled called Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention, released in November 1985. In January 1986, it became his 33rd and last album to reach the Billboard chart.

In January 1986, a Zappa live album drawn from the 1984 tour, Does Humor Belong in Music?, was released in Europe, but quickly withdrawn. It was an accompaniment to a home video of the same name that was taken from a single date on the tour. The album was later reissued with a new mix. Meanwhile, Zappa signed a contract with the independent CD label Rykodisc to reissue his albums on CD. The reissue program was launched in the fall of the year. At the same time, Zappa released a new instrumental album largely consisting of material recorded on the Synclavier, Jazz from Hell. The album won him his first Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance (Orchestra, Group or Soloist), and the track "Jazz from Hell" itself earned a nomination for Best Instrumental Composition.

On February 2, 1988, Zappa launched what would prove to be his final tour, playing 81 dates in North America and Europe through June 9. Meanwhile, he continued to issue new recordings. In April came a double album of guitar solos in the manner of the Shut Up ‘N Play Yer Guitar series, simply called Guitar, and the first in a series of double-CD archival live recordings, You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 1. In typically unusual Zappa style, the series found him editing together live performances by different configurations of the Mothers and his backup bands at different times. By 1992, the series extended to six volumes. The second volume, which actually replicated a single concert performed in Helsinki in 1974, appeared in October 1988 at the same time as an album of recordings from the 1988 tour, Broadway the Hard Way. Launching a home video line, Honker, in 1989, Zappa finally issued Uncle Meat on VHS tape, along with the documentary The True Story of 200 Motels and Video from Hell. (The following year, Honker issued The Amazing Mr. Bickford, a documentary about the animator responsible for the clay animation work seen in Baby Snakes.) In May 1989, Zappa published his autobiography, The Real Frank Zappa Book, co-authored with Peter Occhiogrosso. And in another surprising non-musical career development in 1989, Zappa began traveling to Russia as a business liaison. These efforts were extended in January 1990, when he went to Czechoslovakia, where he met the recently installed president, playwright and Zappa fan Václav Havel, and agreed to become a trade representative for the country. Understandably, this ran afoul of the Administration of American President George Bush, however, and Zappa's role became unofficial.

It's hard to say what might have come of Zappa's trade efforts with the former Soviet Union and the former Iron Curtain countries, where he was something of a cultural hero. In May 1990, he suddenly canceled scheduled appearances in Europe and returned to the U.S. due to illness. He managed to go to Czechoslovakia and Hungary in June 1991, however. In the meantime, he continued to issue volumes of the You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore series and albums drawn from the 1988 tour, The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life in April 1991, and Make a Jazz Noise Here in June 1991. In July 1991, in yet another unusual marketing move, he assembled a collection of eight bootleg albums that had appeared over the years and offered his own version of them (mastered directly from the bootleg LPs themselves) as a box set called Beat the Boots; the albums were also released individually, and a second Beat the Boots box was released in June 1992.

Zappa was scheduled to appear in New York for a performance by a group of alumni from his bands called "Zappa's Universe" on November 7, 1991. When he was unable to attend due to illness, his children explained publicly for the first time that he was suffering from prostate cancer. He managed to fly to Germany on July 13, 1992, to work with the Ensemble Modern on a piece it had commissioned from him, The Yellow Shark, and he was present for concerts it performed in September. In October, Zappa released Playground Psychotics, an archival album of previously unreleased material from the 1970-1971 edition of the Mothers. The Yellow Shark was released in November 1993. Zappa died at age 52 on December 4, 1993.

After Zappa's death, his widow sold his existing catalog outright to Rykodisc. But, like such well-established rock artists as the Grateful Dead, he had produced a tremendous archive of studio and live recordings that Gail Zappa was able to assemble into posthumous albums for his legions of fans. The first of these was the ambitious Civilization Phaze III, which Zappa was working on in the period up to his death, released in December 1994, and other albums, either containing concerts or other material, have also appeared, along with expanded versions of previously released albums such as Freak Out! Decades after Zappa's death, this stream of releases showed no evidence of stopping, as long as Zappa fans were interested in buying., Rovi

Jan Akkerman

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 4 Feb 2011 10:11:00 +0200

Born: December 24, 1946 - Amsterdam, Holland

The Dutch Rock guitarist, Jan Akkerman, was born in the 'Jordaan' area of Amsterdam as the son of a scrap iron trader. At age 5 he took guitar lessons and his first single was released when he was 14 years old.

Jan Akkerman was a member of Johnny and The Cellar Rockers, The Hunters and Brainbox, and joined the Thijs van Leer Trio in late 1969. They continued under the name Focus and scored a few worldwide hits in the 1970's. In 1973 Akkerman was chosen Best Guitarist In The World by the readers of the UK magazine Melody Maker. His standing was such that he teamed up with manufacturer Framus to produce one of the first 'signature' guitar models.

In 1976 Jan Akkerman left Focus and continued his solo career, and collaborations with other musicians. His best solo work probably dates from the few years following his departure from Focus, with 1977's 'Jan Akkerman' album being amongst the best. A reunion with Thijs van Leer in 1985 turned out to be unsuccessful. He continued to produce several albums. At the same time he was active as a session musician with André Hazes and others. Furthermore he played with Vlatko Stefanovski, Alan Price, Herman Brood, Peter Banks, Charlie Byrd, Ice-T, Paco De Lucia, and BB King.

In 1992 Jan Akkerman was involved in a serious car accident, but resumed playing in 1993. In the late 1990's, after an absence of nearly 20 years, he was persuaded to tour the UK again and has continued to do so on a regular basis. He writes for the Dutch magazine GitaarPlus.

Jan Akkerman is a distinctive guitarist, constantly experimenting with new equipment and guitars. His distinctive guitar sound is characterised by his pioneering use of volume swells which produce a smooth, fluty, sustained note, although he is also capable of astonishing high-speed pyrotechnics. He also pioneered the use of the lute in a rock band, reflecting his interest in medieval and Renaissance music and culture.

Phil Keaggy

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 4 Feb 2011 10:09:00 +0200

Born on March 23, 1951, in Youngstown, OH; married; children. Addresses: Record company--Myrrh Records, Word Entertainment Inc., 3319 West End Ave., Nashville, TN 37203. Management-- Proper Management, 2814 Kenway Rd., Nashville, TN 37215. Website--Phil Keaggy Official Website: http://www.philkeaggy.com.

During a career that has spanned over four decades, Phil Keaggy has carved out a unique niche for himself in both the contemporary Christian and mainstream pop music worlds. His virtuosity on guitar has earned him wide admiration among aficionados of the instrument. It might be argued that his audience would be larger if his exceptional talents were applied to making records for a secular market. Nevertheless, Keaggy has remained true to his spiritual focus ever since becoming a solo artist, stretching the boundaries of Christian music over the course of some 26 albums.

Keaggy's mastery of the guitar transcends categories, Christian or otherwise. His acoustic playing is particularly fluent, utilizing unusual open tunings and deft fingerpicking. As his career has progressed, he has incorporated sampling and layering effects to extend his capabilities in concert. There are flashes of classic folk, baroque and jazz fusion in his approach that, taken together, make his style distinctly his own. As a songwriter, Keaggy has taken melodic inspiration from the Beatles and other secular pop/rock artists, as well as from Irish and American folk sources. His lyrics, rooted in Christian themes and Biblical references, touch upon spiritual struggles with a positive emphasis.

Born on March 23, 1951, in Youngstown, Ohio, Keaggy began his musical apprenticeship with a $19 Sears Silvertone guitar, at age ten. He learned to play despite having lost most of his right-hand middle finger in an accident when he was four. By his mid-teens, he had become proficient enough to perform in local clubs. From there, he formed the band Glass Harp with bassist Daniel Pecchio and drummer John Sferra in the summer of 1968. Though they never entered rock's big leagues, the Ohio-based trio released three albums on Decca Records and shared the stage with Yes, Traffic, Chicago, Humble Pie, and Iron Butterfly. Keaggy's fluent guitar touch won the admiration of such rock notables as Ted Nugent and, according to one rumor, Jimi Hendrix.
On Valentine's Day of 1970, Keaggy's life was profoundly changed by tragedy. That night he embarked on a harrowing LSD trip that left him physically and emotionally shaken. He later learned that, at that same hour, his mother had been killed in an automobile accident hundreds of miles away. The impact of her loss helped to lead him toward embracing Christianity. As he told interviewer Todd Hafer in the Colorado Springs Gazette, "It was only in God that I could find something strong enough to replace the love I knew for her, and she had for me. She was a Roman Catholic woman, full of the spirit of God. She loved her children."

Keaggy's new-found faith was reflected in his songwriting. His first recorded Christian song, "The Answer," appeared on Glass Harp's second album, Synergy. In August of 1972, Keaggy quit the band and joined a Christian fellowship in upstate New York. Two years later, he re-emerged as a solo artist with What A Day, released on the small New Song label. The album marked a departure for him, both musically and spiritually. "What A Day was mild-mannered and soft," he recalled in an interview with Jas Obrecht in Guitar Player, "but at the same time it expressed my heart. With Glass Harp, I was striving for excellence and finding myself. I was not satisfied with simple things; I just pushed and pushed myself. Coming into Christianity, I found that I can express things in my heart in a very simple manner, and people are in a place to receive that."
From there, Keaggy went on to record further albums for New Song at a steady pace, releasing Love Broke Through in 1976 and Emerging in 1977. The Master And The Musician appeared in 1978, and was his first all-instrumental album. The 1980s found him switching labels to Sparrow, then moving over to Nissi and, later, to Myrrh. For Myrrh, he recorded his 1987 album The Wind & The Wheat, an instrumental work that earned him his first Dove Award for Instrumental Album of the Year from the Gospel Music Association.

Keaggy's reputation began to spread to the secular music world during this period. In reviewing Keaggy's 1986 album Getting Closer, Obrecht hailed his songs as "catchy and accessible, his playing superb. His solos tap the most modern techniques, from wild whammies to two-handed flash."

The 1990s found Keaggy back on Sparrow, releasing both instrumental albums and singer/songwriter projects. A busy tour schedule in the United States and overseas helped to keep his following a strong one. He won further Dove Awards, including Best Instrumental Album of the Year in 1992 for Beyond Nature and in 1998 for Invention. He also received Grammy Award nominations for Best Rock Gospel Album in 1991 for Find Me In These Fields> and in 1994 for Crimson & Blue. In addition, he earned second place for the Best Acoustic Fingerstyle Guitarist Award from Guitar Player in 1995 and 1996.

In 1998 Keaggy returned to the Myrrh roster to release a critically praised self-titled CD. Phil Keaggy was his first singer/songwriter album since 1995's True Believer, and tapped into his affinities with the pop/rock tradition of the Beatles. Such tracks as "Tender Love" and "A Sign Came Through A Window" recalled the rich melodies and arrangements of Paul McCartney's late 1960s work. "I don't mind the Beatles comparisons," Keaggy said in a Myrrh press biography. "They wrote the best songs of the rock era, period, and any comparison to them is a compliment." Among the sources for Phil Keaggy's lyrics were the poems of Christian writer H.A. Ironside and the writings of fifth century cleric St. John Chrysostom. The album was very much a family affair. Recording many of the album's tracks at his home studio, Keaggy enlisted his wife and daughter as background singers, and set several lyrics by his sister Geri to music.

From 1998 to 2003, Keaggy dominated the Dove Awards, winning each year for either Instrumental Album of the Year or Special Event Album of the year, and in some years he won both. In 2000 he reunited with Glass Harp, his original group from back in the late 60s and early 70s for a concert in his hometown of Youngstown, Ohio. The Youngstown Symphony Orchestra provided backup, allowing him to feature his composition called "Overture," composed for guitar and strings. The concert was recorded and released as a two-CD set called Strings Attached. The band reunited again in 2003 in the studio to record Hourglass.

It came as a surprise to Keaggy to find out that Word Records had dropped him from their stable in 2003. They did not contact him about it, and he heard about it through other sources. But Keaggy told Bill Reed of the Gazette, "I'm basically looking to the future as an independent artist." Keaggy then released Special Occasions through his own website.

Keaggy's musical path has led him from mainstream rock 'n' roll into a secure place in contemporary Christian music. Slowly over the past several decades, he has begun to win fans among secular listeners. But, as he has repeatedly made clear in interviews, his commitment to spreading his spiritual message has not diminished with time. "The gift of music is not only something that you share with other people, it's something that you give back to your creator," he told Tom Gannaway in an interview for Fingerstyle Guitar. "To me, it has to express love and the gratitude that's in your heart, because that's ultimately what we're created to do. As it says in the book of Isaiah, 'The people whom I have formed for myself shall declare my praise.' That's the foremost reason I am a Christian musician."
by Barry Alfonso and Sarah Parkin
Phil Keaggy's Career

Began recording career as member of band Glass Harp, 1970; released first solo album, What A Day, on New Song, 1974; released first all-instrumental album, The Master And The Musician, 1978; recorded for Sparrow and Nissi labels, 1980-86; released landmark album The Wind & The Wheat on Maranatha Music/Myrrh, 1987; released further albums on Myrrh, Word/Epic, Sparrow and Canis Major labels, 1989-97; as singer/songwriter, recorded Phil Keaggy CD in 1998; reunited with Glass Harp in 2000; released Strings Attached, 2000; reunited again to release Hourglass, 2003.

Phil Keaggy's Awards

Dove Awards for Instrumental Album of the Year, for The Wind & The Wheat, 1988; Beyond Nature, 1992; Invention, 1998; Acoustic Sketches,1999; Majesty and Wonder, 2000; Lights of Madrid, 2001; and Hymnsongs, 2003; Dove Award for Children's Music Album of the Year, for Sing Me to Sleep Daddy, 1998; Dove Awards for Special Event Album of the Year for Prayer of Jabez, 2002, and City on a Hill---Sing Alleluia, 2003.
Famous Works

Selected discography
Solo albums
What A Day New Song, 1974.
The Master And The Musician New Song, 1978.
Getting Closer Nissi, 1985.
The Wind & The Wheat Maranatha Music/Myrrh, 1987.
Find Me In These Fields Sony, 1990.
Beyond Nature Myrrh/Epic, 1991.
Crimson & Blue Myrrh, 1993.
Revelator Myrrh, 1992.
Blue Sony, 1994.
Way Back Home Sparrow, 1994.
Time-Collection, 1970-1995 Myrrh, 1995.
Time 2 Myrrh, 1995.
True Believer Sparrow, 1995.
220 Sparrow, 1996.
On the Fly Canis Major, 1997.
Invention Sparrow, 1997.
Phil Keaggy Myrrh, 1998.
Acoustic Sketches Sparrow, 1998.
Brushstrokes Unison, 1999.
Majesty & Wonder Myrrh, 1999.
Inseparable Word, 2000.
Lights of Madrid Word, 2000.
Cinemascapes Word, 2001.
In the Quiet Hours Word, 2001.
Master & Musician Myrrh, 2001.
Hymnsongs Word, 2002.
Freehand Boondoggie, 2003.
History Makers: Collection Sparrow, 2003.
Special Occasions Special O Records, 2003.
It's Personal Boondoggie, 2004.
With Glass Harp
Glass Harp: Live at Carnegie Hall Special Friends, 1997.
Strings Attached Special Friends, 2000.
Further Reading