David Spinozza - ...and on guitar (1976)

David Spinozza was born on 8 August 1949 in Port Chester, New York, and began his professional recording career as a teenager in the 1960’s, swiftly becoming a sought after New York studio musician and soon signing with A&M Records as a solo artist. He has become known for being a versatile musician, with credits that span every facet of the music and entertainment industries, and as well as adding guitar to numerous recordings over the past 50 years, he's also produced, arranged, orchestrated, conducted, co-written and played guitar for a Who's Who of acclaimed artists such as James Taylor, Carly Simon, Garland Jeffries, Aretha Franklin, Roberta Flack, Bonnie Raitt, Bette Midler, B.B. King, Judy Collins, Jim Croce, George Benson and three out of four Beatles. His guitar is heard on countless classic hits, most notably Don McLean’s 'American Pie', John Lennon’s 'Mind Games', Paul McCartney’s 'Another Day', Paul Simon’s 'Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard' and his iconic solo on Dr. John’s 'Right Place Wrong Time'. One of his earliest gigs was playing with Paul McCartney during sessions for his 'Ram' album in 1971, and when the chance came to work with Lennon two years later, as Yoko Ono prepared her 'Feeling The Space' album and Lennon his 'Mind Games', Spinozza discovered that Lennon was not aware he had previously worked with McCartney, and was afraid he would be fired if Lennon found out, given their recent feuding in the media, but when Lennon did learn of it his only comment was that McCartney "knows how to pick good people". The relationship with Ono carried on after 'Feeling The Space', where he contributed to her 'A Story' album, recorded during 1974 but not released until 1998, served as her bandleader during a residency at Kenny's Castaways, and rehearsed her band to tour her native Japan, although they parted ways when the tour began. In 1978 he released his first solo album 'Spinozza' on A&M, which was a jazz-oriented album with some vocal tracks, and he has also made contributions to the soundtracks of the movies 'Dead Man Walking', 'Happiness', and 'Just The Ticket'. Spinozza has played on literally hundreds of albums in his career, and so for this post I've only selected tracks from 1970 to 1976 where he was a featured soloist, and to show his versatility in a variety of genres I've split this three disc set into one album of jazz, one of soul and one of pop music.   

Track listing

Some Jazz
01 Ahunk Ahunk  (from 'Consummation' by Thad Jones & Mel Lewis 1970)
02 Man's Hope (from 'Push Push' by Herbie Mann 1971)
03 Lover Man (from 'All The King's Horses' by Grover Washington, Jr. 1972) 
04 Monkey (from 'White Elephant' by White Elephant 1972)
05 Hanky's Panky (from 'Superstition' by Shirley Scott 1973)
06 A Sunday Afternoon Feeling (from 'Journey' by Arif Mardin 1974)
07 Draggin' The Line (from 'Until It's Time For You To Go' by Rusty Bryant 1974)
08 Chile Con Carmen (from 'Joy Of Cookin'' by Joe Thomas 1974)
09 Who Knows What Goes When The Doors Close (from 'Brother Where Are You' by 

                                                                                                             Oscar Brown Jr. 1974) 

Some Pop
01 Come To My Bedside, My Darling (from 'Donal Leace' by Donal Leace 1971)
02 Roller Derby Queen (from 'Life And Times' by Jim Croce 1973)
03 Something So Right (from 'There Goes Rhymin' Simon' by Paul Simon 1973)
04 Get On The Right Thing (from 'Red Rose Speedway' by Paul McCartney & Wings 1973)
05 A Man Can't Always Be (from 'Lifesong' by Cashman & West 1974)
06 Rainy Day Man (from 'Streetlights' by Bonnie Raitt 1974)
07 Genesis (from 'The Second Coming' by Jerry LaCroix 1974)
08 Think I'm Gonna Have A Baby (from 'Hotcakes' by Carly Simon 1974) 
09 Me And My Guitar (from 'Walking Man' by James Taylor 1974)
10 Great Big Man (from 'Homeless Brother' by Don McLean 1974)
11 The Closest Friends (from 'Lucy Simon' by Lucy Simon 1975)
12 Angel Spread Your Wings (from 'Judith' by Judy Collins 1975)
13 Let Me Just Follow Behind (from 'Songs For The New Depression' by Bette Midler 1976)
14 Say The Words (from 'This One's For You' by Barry Manilow 1976)
15 Early Evening Light (from 'Marriott' by Steve Marriott 1976) 

Some Soul
01 Too Many Days (from 'Labelle' by Labelle 1971)
02 You've Got A Friend (from 'Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway' by 

                                                                                  Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway 1972)
03 Cold Sweat (from 'Get On The Good Foot' by James Brown 1972)
04 The Get Out Of The Ghetto Blues (from 'Free Will' by Gil Scott-Heron 1972)
05 I'm Only A Woman (from 'Margie Joseph' by Margie Joseph 1973)
06 Right Place, Wrong Time (from 'In The Right Place' by Dr. John 1973)
07 Grind It Out (from 'The Soulful Crooner' by Nick Holmes 1973)
08 As Long As He Will Stay (from 'New Beginnings...' by Morgana King 1973)
09 I Know It's You (from 'Extension Of A Man' by Donny Hathaway 1973)
10 The Masquerade Is Over (from 'Let Me In Your Life' by Aretha Franklin 1974)
11 Somebody New Is Lovin' On You (from 'I'm In Need Of Love' by Lou Courtney 1974)
12 Early Ev'ry Midnight (from 'Feel Like Makin' Love' by Roberta Flack 1975)

Steve Hunter - ...and on guitar (2001)

Stephen John Hunter was born on 14 June 1948, and his first introduction to music was as a young child listening to country and western music on a Zenith console radio. When he was eight years old, he began taking guitar lessons on a Lap steel guitar after seeing Jerry Byrd play lap steel and hearing what could be done on the instrument, but inspired by the music of Chet Atkins, The Ventures and Duane Eddy, he eventually switched to standard guitar. He continued playing guitar throughout high school as a member of a group called The Weejuns, which took their name from G.H. Bass & Co.'s perennially-popular penny loafers, and he later joined The Light Brigade, a rock and soul group that played in the Decatur area. In 1967 Hunter was drafted into the U.S. Army to fight in the Vietnam War, and there he trained as an x-ray technician, ultimately serving at an air evacuation hospital in Okinawa, Japan where Vietnam combat casualties were being treated. He considered becoming a doctor but he enjoyed music so much he knew he would follow a career in music, which he did when he returned to Decatur after leaving the Army, building up a reputation as an outstanding guitar player. In 1971 his friend John Sauter called to tell him that he was playing with Mitch Ryder in Detroit and that Ryder was auditioning for guitar players, so he suggested that Hunter come to Detroit and try out. He packed up his guitar and made the eight-hour drive to Detroit, and after passing the audition he became part of Mitch Ryder's new band Detroit, where he met and formed a long-time professional association with producer Bob Ezrin. Detroit released one self-titled album on Paramount Records, but did have a hit single with Hunter's arrangement of Lou Reed's 'Rock & Roll', and Reed was so impressed that he recruited Hunter to join his band, playing on 1973's 'Berlin'. In the 1970's he appeared on five Alice Cooper albums, all of which were produced by Ezrin, starting with the band's most successful album 'Billion Dollar Babies'. When Alice Cooper became a solo artist, Hunter followed and appeared on 1975's 'Welcome To My Nightmare', and can be seen in the film 'Welcome To My Nightmare', enacting the celebrated guitar face-off between him and Dick Wagner that formed part of Cooper's 1975 live show. In 1974 he played the uncredited opening-half solo on Aerosmith's 'Train Kept A Rollin' from 'Get Your Wings', after producer Jack Douglas popped his head out of Studio C and asked if Hunter felt like playing on the recording. Later that year Hunter played guitar on former Cream bassist Jack Bruce's solo album 'Out Of The Storm', and in 1977 he worked with Peter Gabriel on his first solo album, playing the intro to the classic single 'Solsbury Hill'. Other artists Hunter has worked with include David Lee Roth, Julian Lennon, Dr. John, Tracy Chapman and more recently Glen Campbell and 2Cellos. It was while recording Roth's 'A Little Ain't Enough' that Hunter met Jason Becker, and they've remained close friends ever since. He auditioned for and got the job of playing guitar on the soundtrack of the 1979 Bette Midler film 'The Rose', composing the instrumental 'Camelia', which is featured in the film. Hunter's first solo album, 1977's critically acclaimed 'Swept Away', reunited him with producer Bob Ezrin, and he's released a number of further solo albums since, but this collection showcases his guitar-work on other artist's albums, from the famous - Reed, Gabriel, Aerosmith - to the not so well-known but equally as interesting, like The H Factor, Jesse Camp, Angelo, and The Bastard Sons Of Johnny Cash.  

Track listing

Disc One
01 Rock 'n' Roll (from 'Detroit' by Detroit With Mitch Ryder 1972)
02 Sad Song (from 'Berlin' by Lou Reed 1973)
03 If We Only Had The Time (from 'Flo & Eddie' by Flo & Eddie 1973)
04 Timeslip (from 'Out Of The Storm' by Jack Bruce 1974)
05 Train Kept A Rollin' (from 'Get Your Wings' by Aerosmith 1974)
06 Some Folks (from 'Welcome To My Nightmare' by Alice Cooper 1975)
07 Back By The River (from 'Hollywood Be Thy Name' by Dr. John 1975)
08 Solsbury Hill (from 'Peter Gabriel' by Peter Gabriel 1977)      
09 Spaceman (from 'Randy Richards' by Randy Richards 1978)

Disc Two
01 Have You Ever Seen The Rain (from 'Midnight Prowl' by Angelo 1978) 
02 Small Town Boy (from 'Richard Wagner' by Richard Wagner 1978)
03 Danger Up Ahead (from 'Don't Look Back' by Natalie Cole 1980)
04 Whatever Will Be (from 'Wake 'Em Up In Tokyo' by Karla DeVito 1986)
05 Urban Strut (from 'Guitar Speak' by Various Artists 1988)
06 The Hurt Stays Home (from 'The H Factor' by The H Factor 1989) 
07 Saltwater (from 'Help Yourself' by Julian Lennon' 1991)
08 A Little Luck (from 'Your Filthy Little Mouth' by David Lee Roth 1994)
09 Meet Me In The Morning (from 'Perspective' by Jason Becker 1995)
10 Break It (from 'Jesse & The 8th Street Kidz' by Jesse Camp 1999)
11 Blade (from 'Walk Alone' by Bastard Sons Of Johnny Cash 2001)

Thanks to Duane for the suggestion. 

Derek Trucks - ...and on guitar (2010)

Derek Trucks was born on 8 June 1979 in Jacksonville, Florida, and he bought his first guitar at a yard sale for $5 at age nine, becoming a child prodigy and playing his first paid performance at age 11. He began playing the guitar using a slide because it allowed the young guitarist to play despite his small hands, and by his 13th birthday he'd played alongside Buddy Guy and toured with Thunderhawk. Trucks formed The Derek Trucks Band in 1994, and by his 20th birthday he'd played with such artists as Bob Dylan, Joe Walsh, and Stephen Stills. In 1999 he toured as a member of Phil Lesh & Friends, and after performing with The Allman Brothers Band for several years as a guest musician, he became a formal member in 1999, now playing alongside his uncle, drummer Butch Trucks. In 2006 Trucks began a studio collaboration with JJ Cale and Eric Clapton called The Road To Escondido and performed with three bands in 17 different countries that year. Trucks and his wife, Susan Tedeschi, combined their bands to form the Soul Stew Revival in 2007 and performed at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in June 2008, putting his own band on hiatus, and in 2010 they officially dissolved. Trucks formed the Tedeschi Trucks Band with his wife, and in 2014 he announced that he and fellow guitarist Warren Haynes planned to leave the Allman Brothers Band at the end of the year, prompting the Allmans to announce their retirement. Trucks credits guitarist Duane Allman and bluesman Elmore James as the two slide guitarists who influenced his early style, but has since been inspired by John Lee Hooker, Ali Akbar Khan, Howlin' Wolf, and Albert King, among many others. His music is rooted in blues and rock, embracing jam band, Southern rock, and jazz, playing an eclectic blend of blues, soul, jazz, rock, and qawwali music (a genre of music from Pakistan and western India). While still a member of the Allmans, he started to appear as a guest player on various rock, blues and jazz albums from fellow musicians, and a selection of them appear here, showing why he's twice graced the Rolling Stone's list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

Track listing

Disc One
01 Wanted Man (from 'Storm Warning' by Tinsley Ellis 1994) 
02 I Gotta Girl She Lives Up On The Hill (from 'CeDell Davis' by CeDell Davis 1994) 
03 That's All Right (from 'Come On In This House' by Junior Wells 1996) 
04 Neighbour, Neighbour (from 'Searching For Simplicity' by Gregg Allman 1997)
05 Why Are People Like That (from 'Secrets Of The Heart' by Bobby Charles 1998)
06 Soulshine (from 'With A Little Help From Our Friends' by Gov't Mule 1999)
07 Row Jimmy (from 'Laughing Water' by Jazz Is Dead 1999)
08 Kerouac (from 'The Flower And The Knife' by Kevin Kinney 2000)
09 Ganja (from 'Croakin' At Toad's' by Frogwings 2000)

Disc Two
01 Mud Bug (from 'Project Z' by Project Z 2001)
02 I'm Gonna Move Away From Here (from 'Wait For Me' by Susan Tedeschi 2002)
03 Pineapple Heart (from 'Little Worlds' by Bela Fleck 2003)
04 How Ya Livin' (from 'The Calling' by The Aquarium Rescue Unit 2003)
05 You Da Mann (from 'Coast To Coast' by Maximum Grooves 2004)
06 Osiris (from 'Timeless' by Jeff Sipe 2004)
07 She Makes Me Want To Sing (from 'The Best Kept Secret'  by Jerry Douglas 2005)
08 Missing Person (from 'The Road To Escondido' by J.J. Cale & Eric Clapton 2006)
09 Johnny Coolman (from 'Light Your Life' by Toots & The Maytalls 2007)

Disc Three
01 Tibidi Waka (from 'Guiding Star' by Vusi Mahlasela 2007)
02 Skin Deep (from 'Skin Deep' by Buddy Guy 2008)

03 I Want The Truth (from 'Sidewalk Caesars' by Scrapomatic 2008)

04 Brother Ray (from 'Here And Gone' by David Sanborn 2008)
05 Lifeboat Serenade  (from 'Lifeboat' by Jimmy Herring 2008)

06 New Star (from 'The Works' by Jonatha Brooke 2008) 
07 Slapback Blues (from 'Guitars' by McCoy Tyner 2008) 
08 Struttin' My Stuff (from 'The Blues Rolls On' by Elvin Bishop 2008)
09 Space Captain (from 'The Imagine Project' by Herbie Hancock 2010)
10 Manoovas (from 'Tribal' by Dr. John And The Lower 911 2010)

Eric Clapton - ...and on guitar Vol. 2 (1976)

We're gradually coming to the end of this series, which started almost a year ago as a one-off post for Jimi Hendrix, and which has grown into what I hope can be viewed as a fairly comprehensive overview of the famous and the obscure guest appearances on record by some of the world's greatest guitarists. Eric Clapton was so prolific in the 70's that the first volume for him covered just the years 1968 to 1970, and so a second volume was always on the cards, and here it is.  

Track listing

01 Sitting On Top Of The World (from 'Sessions' by Howlin' Wolf 1971)
02 I'm Your Spiritual Breadman (from 'The Worst Of...' by Ashton Gardner & Dyke 1971)
04 Washita Love Child (from 'Jesse Davis' by Jesse Davis 1971)
04 Black John The Conqueror (from 'The Sun, Moon & Herbs' by Dr. John 1971)
05 The Scenery Has Slowly Changed (from 'Bobby Whitlock' by Bobby Whitlock 1972)
06 A Man Of Many Words (from 'Play The Blues' by Buddy Guy & Junior Wells 1972)
07 Comin' Home (from 'D & B Together' by Delaney And Bonnie 1972)
08 No-one Knows (from 'Music From Free Creek' 1973)
09 Sugar Sweet (from 'Burglar' by Freddie King 1974)
10 Eyesight To The Blind (from the 'Tommy' soundtrack album 1975)
11 Romance In Durango (from 'Desire' by Bob Dylan 1976)
12 Worrier (from 'Stingray' by Joe Cocker 1976)
13 This Be Called A Song (from 'Ringo's Rotogravure' by Ringo Starr 1976)
14 Kinky (from 'Lasso From El Paso' by Kinky Friedman 1976)

I've omitted a couple of tracks, not only for reasons of space, but also for the fact that Stephen Bishop, for example, has Clapton playing on his song 'Sinking In An Ocean Of Tears' and you can't even hear him (why would you ask one of the greatest ever guitarists to appear on your album and not give him a solo?), and although you can hear him perfectly well on Yoko Ono's 'Don't Worry, Kyoko', that's such an extreme listen that it really disrupted the flow of the album.