Tag Archives: ’70s rock

Lofgren’s acoustic duet show creative, uplifting

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It you’ve forgotten how good a guitar player Nils Lofgren is or for that matter how good a singer and songwriter he is, you should take in his latest Acoustic Duet show. Many probably don’t realize the depth of talent Bruce Springsteen’s guitar player possesses. But Lofgren has been around since his teens in the late 1960s and has continued to create a catalogue of classic rock tunes on a string of creative albeit somewhat overlooked albums.

Nils Lofgren Live 1 SmallWhen I noticed Lofgren would be playing at the Ridgefield Playhouse in late June, I quickly scooped up tickets for a venue I like a lot and an artist I had never seen in a solo atmosphere. Although an ardent fan, I didn’t know what to expect from a solo show. I figured a couple of acoustic guitars and Lofgren weaving through his most memorable compositions with perhaps help from one of his brothers. It was anything but.

He’s on acoustic for much of the night, but it has big, embellished sonics by his use of a number of effects that give it a rich texture, with chorus- and doubling-style layers almost sounding like a keyboard at times. Before he gets to it though, Lofgren comes out and plays a tune on electric harp, and he’s very musical on the unusual instrument, then rips into Too Many Miles with a Stratocaster that rocks the house, accompanied by the remarkable Greg Varlotta on electric keyboards. Continue reading Lofgren’s acoustic duet show creative, uplifting →

Leon lights up the Infinity

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I couldn’t resist putting this video of Leon Russell from 1971 on top of a piece that actually is about a recent show Leon played at the Infinity Music Hall in Norfolk, Connecticut.

This show was taped in Los Angeles with his Shelter People band and a bunch of hippies in attendance dancing, listening and even preparing food, a very relaxed atmosphere. The song is one of the great rock ballads of all time, A Song For You.

His performance is masterful, the song is melodically beautiful and the lyrics poignant and penetrating. One of the great lyric ballads. There is another performance at the end of this piece of more recent vintage, same song. You’ll see Leon hasn’t lost much. To testify to that, he put on a brilliant show at the Infinity of good old Rock ‘n Roll with an excellent band, which included guitar virtuoso Chris Simmons.

This is the third time I’ve seen Leon, the first two in 1971 and 1972. The 1971 show was at the Fillmore East with Elton John opening, a show I’ve touched on a few times and that I need to write about in more detail. The ’72 show was at the Long Beach Arena (Calif.), when Leon was probably at the height of his popularity capable of filling large auditoriums. Later I would learn it was the show used for his classic live album, Leon Live. More on that one later, too.

At the Infinity, which has a relatively small stage, the right-hand side was taken up by Russell’s elaborate, almost montrous keyboard setup. No more grand piano as in the early ’70s. He gets acoustic sound from an electronic grand and it works out just fine. The audience can really only see the back of the keyboard setup, which is built in a large anvil case for traveling. The back is open and has hundreds of wires and connections so completely entwined with one another, you wonder how that actually works without a hitch and if anything went wrong how would a keyboard tech track down the problem. Continue reading Leon lights up the Infinity →

Les Dudek blazing a trail on tour

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Les Dudek Live 2 Large

I had always wanted to see Les Dudek in concert but never had the opportunity during the time he released four of the best solo albums of the late 1970s and early ’80s. Thursday night at The Infinity Music Hall in Norfolk, Conn., I got my chance.

Dudek, a somewhat unheralded and almost forgotten guitar master, has played on much more music than many might realize. He recorded those four extraordinary solo albums and was also a member of DFK with keyboardist Mike Finnigan and guitarist Jim Krueger, before virtually disappearing for a big portion of the ’80s. He reappeared with two more solo efforts, the brilliant Deeper Shades Of Blues in 1994 and Freestyle (2002), an assortment of tracks he had never released but that hold together as a cohesive album.

He’s worked with a plethora of other artists as well. Predating his solo career, Dudek played on The Allman Brothers album Brothers & Sisters (1972), on which he provided the emblematic solo of Ramblin’ Man and co-wrote Jessica with Dickey Betts. He worked with Boz Scaggs for six years, including on the top-selling Silk Degrees, then played and toured with Steve Miller, writing What A Sacrifice for Miller’s classic Fly Like An Eagle album. He also worked with Cher in the short-lived rock band Black Rose and toured with and co-wrote tunes with Stevie Nicks in the early ’90s. Add to his resume that he provided some very hot guitar parts to TV themes for Law & Order, Extra, Friends, ESPN and many, many more.

At the Infinity, Dudek played with a trio that included Dan Walters, who provided rock solid and imaginative bass playing and background vocals, and the seemingly tireless and gifted drummer Gary Ferguson. The three ran through many tunes familiar to Dudek’s following from his solo albums as well as songs he’s collaborated on and some new material.

These three put on a a smokin’ show that never let up. Dudek plays a Fender Strat and he easily fills out the sound of the trio. The tone of his guitar sounds like it always has a slight bit of a chorus effect (or perhaps it was just the acoustics of Infinity’s nearly all wood interior), giving it a full, rich sound that almost sounds churchy.

Dudek’s single-string playing is simply jaw-dropping. There is no player in rock that has better chops. He mixes amazing flights of extremely adept and technically difficult runs with sweet, melodic phrasing. Add to this his rhythmic and exacting chord playing, often during and in between his solos, and a voice that is both pleasing and powerful with a wonderful range and Dudek is a tour de force by himself.

With Walters and Ferguson in support the band is electrifying and ferocious at times, as when Walters takes a solo flight that culminates with him expertly keeping up with Dudek on trade-offs, and as Ferguson provides deep grooves that drive the band relentlessly. Continue reading Les Dudek blazing a trail on tour →

Exiled with The Stones

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Around the time a re-mastering of The Rolling Stones early ’70s work Exile On Main Street was announced, I finally decided to read a book about the period I had picked up a few months prior.

Rolling Stones Exile On Main Street CoverA Season In Hell With The Rolling Stones by Robert Greenfield is the perfect companion to what many Stones fans believe is the group’s greatest album. There’s no doubt it comes from the group’s last great era, and although it’s one of my favorite Stones records, I don’t believe it’s their best.

Nonetheless, it has a fascinating story behind it and the album comes into sharper focus by reading what led up to its making. In short, because of the extreme tax laws at the time in England, much too complicated to recount, The Stones were forced to move to the south of France for an extended period and that would become the site of their recording for Exile.

Having exhausted most possible locations for the recording, The Stones settled on Villa Nellcote, where Keith Richards and girlfriend Anita Pallenberg were staying. The group set up in a room in the basement and with their trusty mobile recording studio outside set about recording a good deal of the album.

It is, however, pointed out in Greenfield’s book that it was a herky-jerky, start-and stop affair at best. What with Richards’ and Pallenberg’s drug indulgences, the celebrity-charged atmosphere that saw among others Gram Parsons settle in for an extended stay and in general an uneasiness between the group’s leaders, Richards and Mick Jagger, it’s a wonder this album was ever finished.

Still, with supplemental tracks and overdubs cut in Los Angeles and previous tracks recorded at Olympic Studios in London, the album was pieced together and remains one of The Stones most interesting, resting comfortably among it influences: blues, R&B, country blues, Motown and rock.

Richards is in all ways the main player in this saga, both in the book and it’s fairly detailed recounting of his life during this period, and the recording, during which despite his drug abuse he was essentially the creative force behind the songs.
Continue reading Exiled with The Stones →

Concerts, Vol. 12: Jack Bruce and Friends

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Jack Bruce & Friends. From left, Bruce, guitarist Larry Coryell, keyboardist Mike Mandel and drummer Mitch Mitchell.
Jack Bruce & Friends. From left, Bruce, guitarist Larry Coryell, keyboardist Mike Mandel and drummer Mitch Mitchell.

After the breakup of Cream in 1968, it became a point of fascination to see what was next for the three members.

Eric Clapton got together with Steve Winwood to form Blind Faith, which lasted from late 1968 to the end of the summer of ’69, producing one album and an ill-fated tour. He then took up with Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett in their touring band, Delaney & Bonnie and Friends. That led to Clapton’s first self-titled solo album, produced by Delaney, which still stands as one of Clapton’s very best.

Ginger Baker quickly formed an all-star band of sorts after Blind Faith, dubbed Air Force and recorded a double live and a studio album under the name. It was short-lived. He went through many other musical vehicles in the ’70s and ’80s but always seemed to produce his best work when recording what we now call World Music, then in the ’90s recorded two extraordinary jazz albums with Bill Frisell and Charlie Haden.

As for Bruce, he had already recorded a straight jazz album, which bordered on free jazz, in August of ’68, Things We Like, even before the Farewell Cream tour of that fall.

That was followed by Songs For A Tailor (September, 1969), a truly amazing mix of R&B, soul, blues, folk and rock blended with his Celtic sensibilities, particularly in his vocals, and the enigmatic yet compelling lyrics of his writing partner from Cream days, Peter Brown.

After Songs For A Tailor, probably his most successful commercial album, he has continued to blaze his own path with a string of artistic achievements in his solo career and with others, particularly Kip Hanrahan in the ’80s and ’90s, that has in most cases escaped the music world at large and especially the rock press. That notwithstanding, it can be easily argued Bruce has been the most creative and successful artistically of the three members from Cream.

Jack Bruce & Friends poster 3 SmallIn early 1970 Bruce put an intriguing and accomplished band together to tour in support of Songs For A Tailor. Called Jack Bruce & Friends, I noticed they were to play at the Fillmore East the weekend of January 30-31 as the opening act for Mountain! Leslie West’s group, at the time, was of course doing very well commercially in the wake left by Cream, but it startled and somewhat annoyed me that Bruce would actually be opening for them.

Nonetheless, my girlfriend and I secured tickets and went to one of the early shows. As I recall it was the Saturday night performance, although it’s possible it was Friday. In the 1990s, I became aware of a recording of one of the shows from that weekend. That kind of stunned me at the time, but it’s now happened more often than you would think possible. At first I believed it was the actual show we attended but I have seen it variously listed as either early show Jan. 30 or late show Jan. 31. So it’s impossible to pin down.

Suffice to say, the setlist is the same as the show we saw. And the recorded document confirms that although this band had not been together that long, it was producing dynamic and intricate versions of Bruce’s tunes, mainly from Songs For A Tailor. Continue reading Concerts, Vol. 12: Jack Bruce and Friends →

Taylor out of hospital

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A fews days after we saw Mick Taylor at the Iron Horse in Northampton, Mass., on April 29, he took ill after a gig at the Bull Run Restaurant in Shirley, Mass., (May 1). Messages, coming mostly from Rolling Stones message boards, had Taylor in a Boston-area hospital.

Mick Taylor at the Iron Horse in Northampton, Mass., April 29.
Mick Taylor at the Iron Horse in Northampton, Mass., April 29.

It was quite difficult to substantiate anything about this other than most of his shows on the Eastern swing of his first tour of America since 2007 were quickly postponed or canceled. Within days, the entire tour, which included stops in California and Texas, apparently was nixed. One blog from the San Diego area confirmed that. There were no other published reports I could track down or official statement’s from Taylor’s management as there had been a year ago when he canceled a U.S. Tour before it got started.

I didn’t doubt anything from the Stones boards, but it was skant and there were no details available. Until I received some first-hand information from a friend who I would not have thought would prove to be a source on what was happening with Taylor.

On Tuesday of last week, Taylor and his drummer Jeff Allen popped in on one of the best luthiers in Connecticut, Paul Neri. Taylor told Neri he had been in a Fall River hospital with pneumonia and almost died. He said he believed he had never really shaken a bout with pneumonia that he had contracted previously. Taylor had a noticeable mark on his neck from an IV and his breathing was labored.

Allen evidently has a friend in the area and he and Taylor were headed to a jam that night, the guitarist’s shape notwithstanding. Taylor took a 1936 Gibson LOO acoustic for the jam from Paul’s shop, which is on the shoreline in Clinton.

Unfortunately, Taylor didn’t look that well, but one would conclude he’s on the mend somewhat since he’s out of hospital and playing guitar. As for the tour being re-booked, nothing new there.

Karla Bonoff’s timeless songcraft

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In the 1970s heydey of the singer-songwriter, southern Californian Karla Bonoff emerged as one of the genre’s brightest lights. A gifted songwriter, whose melodic and well-structured tunes were often made more famous by other artists, Bonoff also produced a string of memorable albums and toured with her own band extensively.

Karla Bonoff Live 3She never achieved the kind of recongition some of the artists who covered her material did —  Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Aaron Neville, among many others — but her interpretations of her songs often struck home much more profoundly, as she displayed a beautifully crystal clear voice that could handle all of the demands her compositions make of a singer.

Although she has toured frequently, I never remember her coming to Connecticut. Happily, she stopped in Norfolk Thursday night at the Infinity Music Hall, and along with longtime collaborator Kenny Edwards and the remarkable guitarist Nina Gerber, Bonoff presented about an hour-and-a-half of truly inspired performances of some of her most well-known songs and some even her most avid followers were probably not that familar with.

I always associate piano with Karla Bonoff’s songs, but for most of the night she played one of two acoustic guitars and used the baby grand on about five or six tunes. Edwards alternated among mandolin, acoustic guitar and electric bass and Gerber played a white Fender Strat, often bringing to mind the style of the late Clarence White, from one of the last incarnations of The Byrds, who made his Tele sound like a pedal steel much as Gerber does with her Strat. Continue reading Karla Bonoff’s timeless songcraft →

Under The Radar, No. 4: Passport

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In the early 1970s, a good friend and outstanding drummer, Peter Nowlin, was working with me in a band with the Aiardo brothers in New Haven.

Passport Looking ThruPeter is from Virginia and traveled with an extensive record collection and quality stereo system. At some point, he turned me on to Passport, a German fusion group led by reed man and occasional keyboard player Klaus Doldinger. I was immediately taken with the group. This particular version of Passport from about 1971 to 1977, and by the way the group is still around and legendary in Germany, is now referred to as Classic Passport.

It was definitely the heydey of the band, a quartet that featured Wolfgang Schmid on bass and sometimes guitar, Curt Cress on drums and Kristian Schulze on Fender piano and organ along with Doldinger, who plays his reeds as well as moog and keyboards, all extraordinary musicians. And although they are a German institution, they were never really that fully appreciated in this country.

The music definitely fell into the jazz-rock vein. As one of the best fusion bands of the era, Passport fused jazz-inflected melodies, usually blown by Doldinger with his distinctive tenor and soprano sax sound, employing a liberal amount of echo and/or delay for a fat, sustained quality, over a solid rock and funk foundation. With almost never a guitar in use, the band had a sound apart from most other fusion groups, quite different than anything else happening at the time.

Being a big fan of lead guitarists, it was unusual for me to like a group without one, but the European-based melodic sense and furious and incendiary rhythm section were irresistible. The songwriting and constructions also differed from anything else on the fusion scene and the playing was so good, it was at times overwhelming.

Doldinger has also gained notoriety for his soundtracks, including his best known Das Boot, but he is first a consummate reed man, certainly owing much to the be-bop era, but with a very individualist approach that settles perfectly between jazz and rock, just like his considerable compositional skills. Continue reading Under The Radar, No. 4: Passport →

Concerts Vol. 10: Zappa and Zappa

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A friend of mine has asked me several times to write about what I felt was the most disappointing concert I’d ever been to. I’ve already mentioned a couple, Poco at the Shakespearean Theatre in Stratford, CT, mostly because of the horrendous acoustics, and the fourth Cream concert I went to in 1967-68 at the New Haven Arena, not a terrible show but it paled in comparison with the other three.

zappa-live-74-image-1-largeThe most disappointing? I have to pair it with an outstanding one by the same artist, but there’s little doubt that Frank Zappa at the Waterbury Palace on Oct. 29, 1975 is the one. I know the exact date because of meticulous archiving of many of Zappa’s concert dates on the Internet.

Almost one year before on Nov. 28, 1974, I had seen Zappa at the same venue with a large band, which included Ruth Underwood, vibes, xylophone and marimba, George Duke, keyboards, Tom Fowler, bass, Bruce Fowler, trombone, Walt Fowler, trumpet, Ralph Humphrey, drums, Napoleon Murphy Brock, vocals and sax, and Frank on lead guitar and vocals, essentially the Roxy & Elsewhere band. There were a few other band members. I don’t recall who they were, but it was a large ensemble. Obviously expensive to travel with.

I had always been aware of Zappa and really liked some of his material from the ’60s. But when I was living and playing with the Aiardo brothers, Tony and Peter, in New Haven, from about 1973-75, they along with an outstanding drummer from Virginia, Peter Nowlin, whom we were working with, turned me on to Overnight Sensation. That album really turned my head around about Zappa. It was brilliant.

There are still a couple of tracks I might skip over at times when I give it a listen, but on the whole, this was Zappa hitting one of his many peaks. And his guitar playing was stunning. I didn’t realize he was that proficient.

Peter Nowlin and his girlfriend took me to that ’74 Palace show. We sat in the balcony, which weren’t bad seats at all. The perspective was very high and we were looking almost straight down on to the band, so we could see the depth of the stage and the band members really well. Continue reading Concerts Vol. 10: Zappa and Zappa →

New Pretenders have old allure

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The new Pretenders lineup from left, Martin Chambers, drums, Chrissie Hynde, vocals and guitar, Nick Wilkinson, bass, Eric Heywood, pedal steel guitar, and James Walbourne, lead guitar.
The new Pretenders lineup from left, Martin Chambers, drums, Chrissie Hynde, vocals and guitar, Nick Wilkinson, bass, Eric Heywood, pedal steel guitar, and James Walbourne, lead guitar.

Chrissie Hynde oozes attitude. At 57, she still possesses a distinctive and charismatic voice suited so well for rock ‘n roll. Or any of rock’s offshoots: punk, new wave, R&B, balladry, even country, among others.

Hynde’s charisma on stage is in place as well. She’s sexy, sarcastic and devilishly fun to watch as she puts her latest version of The Pretenders through their paces of playing a mix of classic Pretenders material and newer tunes, many from 2008’s Break Up The Concrete.

Her guitar, bass and pedal steel band, with original member Martin Chambers on drums, played a 90-minute set Friday at the Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford, Connecticut that included all those mixed elements of repertoire and rarely let down in execution or energy.

She opened without her trademark Telecaster and sang the title track from last year’s album, a Bo Diddley flavored tune with perfectly orchestrated stage movements and syncopated lighting that accented her vocals at the end of each chorus — dramatic and effective. Then donning her guitar, she and her band went right into Middle Of The Road, an ’80s staple from one of The Pretenders most successful albums Learning To Crawl. Continue reading New Pretenders have old allure →