Paul Francis Kossoff was born on 14 September 1950 in Hampstead, London, the son of Margaret and the actor David Kossoff. At age nine he started classical guitar lessons with Blanche Monroe, and his classical guitar training continued until he was fifteen. In December 1965 he saw Eric Clapton with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers at The Refectory in Golders Green, and this encounter inspired him to purchase a Gibson Les Paul guitar. During 1966, Kossoff worked as a junior salesman at Selmer's Music Shop in Charing Cross Road, where he received lessons from session guitarist Colin Falconer, who worked in the guitar department at Selmer's. In 1966 Kossoff joined the Chicago-style blues band Black Cat Bones, playing with touring blues piano player Champion Jack Dupree, and often supporting Fleetwood Mac. Kossoff's bandmate in Black Cat Bones was drummer Simon Kirke and the two went on to play on Champion Jack Dupree's April 1968 album ‘When You Feel The Feeling You Was Feeling’, which eventually led to the pair of them teaming up with vocalist Paul Rodgers and bassist Andy Fraser to form Free, and the rest is history, with the band going on to become one of the very best and most beloved UK rock bands of all time. Once Kossoff’s guitar skills became evident he was often approached to add them to others artist’s work, with one of the earliest being from Martha Carmen Josephine Hernandez Rosario de Vélez, who was an American singer and actress of Puerto Rican descent, and who started singing at the age of five and won an opera scholarship at the age of 12. She began her recording career with the folk singing group The Gaslight Singers, and released her debut blues-rock album 'Fiends And Angels' on the Sire/Blue Horizon Records label in 1969. She managed to pull together an outstanding array of backing musician to help her out, including Eric Clapton, Stan Webb and Paul Kossoff on guitar, Christine McVie on keyboards, Brian Auger on organ, Jack Bruce on bass, and Mitch Mitchell on drums. The album was produced by legendary blues producer Mike Vernon, and Kossoff is particularly audible on the opening track.
Michael Gately is a well-respected singer/songwriter, mostly for his songwriting collaborations with Robert John, but relatively unknown to the general public. He released two singles and two albums in 1972, and then disappeared from view. The first of the albums, 'Gately's Cafe', was produced by his good friend and collaborator Al Kooper, and backing musicians included most of Hookfoot, who later became Elton John's backing band, and guitar from Paul Kossoff. Because of the gentle nature of Gately's songs, Kossoff's guitar isn't as in-your-face as would be expected, but is a more subtle addition to the backing.
While starting his career as house producer for Blue Horizon Records, Mike Vernon recorded a solo blues album which came out in 1971. Guest musicians included Pete Wingfield on piano, and both Rory Gallagher and Paul Kossoff on guitar, adding a superb solo to 'My Say Blues'.
Also in 1971, Ken Hensley was recording demos for a prospective solo album, which eventually appeared as 'Proud Words On A Dusty Shelf' in 1973. and he roped in Kossoff to lay down some guitar for him. Both demos here have some great guitar-work on them, fully justifying their extended playing time.
When Jim Capaldi left Traffic for a solo career, few would have expected the drummer to become one of the most successful former members of the band, with over a dozen solo albums to his name. His first release 'Oh How We Danced' included all the members of Traffic helping out, alongside Paul Kossoff on guitar and Jim Gordon on drums, and 'Don't Be A Hero' is a fine cut from that album.
Uncle Dog was a short-lived band who released one single 'River Road' and one album 'Old Hat' in 1972, and are best know for including Carol Grimes on vocals, just after her stint with Delivery, and before her well-respected solo career. As well as Kossoff on guitar on one track, they also had Rabbit on keyboards on a couple of songs, and the album as a whole isn't a bad effort.
By 1974 Amazing Blondel's best period was behind them, but they still had a few more albums left in them. 'Mulgrave Street' was a pleasant mainstream mid-70's soft-rock album, but with few of the innovative folk influences of their early work. Musically it's made up of perfectly fine melodic songs, but they'd lost the spark that made them stand out in the early 70's. They did, however, persuade Kossoff to play on 'Hole In The Head', making it a favourite track for many of their fans.
David Elliott was a keyboard player who was invited to play on some tracks for the proposed Kossoff solo album 'Love Is The Lord'. 'You've Taken Hold Of Me' was recorded by Amazing Blondel, with Elliott on piano, and eventually appeared on the 'Koss' retrospective album, but it turns out that they recorded another song which was kept under wraps for over 40 years, until Elliott accessed the original master tapes to finish the track, and include it on his new album. 'All One' is a great song from 1974, and it's good to finally hear it after all this time.
In 1975 John Martyn released his 'Live In Leeds' album, which for many years was a perfect snapshot of his career to date, but it wasn't until an expanded edition was released in 1998 that we found out that he was joined onstage for the final few songs of the concert by Paul Kossoff, and his guitar is a welcome addition to the final track on this album. Like the Hendrix post, this isn't a collection of every track that Kossoff guested on, but is a choice selection from the colleagues that he helped out between 1969 and 1975.
01 Swamp Man (from 'Fiends And Angels' by Martha Velez 1969)
02 You're What's Been Missing From My Life (from 'Gately's Cafe' by Michael Gately 1972)
03 My Say Blues (from 'Bring It Back Home' by Mike Vernon 1971)
04 Cold Autumn Sunday (demo with Ken Hensley 1971)
05 If I Had Time (demo with Ken Hensley 1971)
06 Don't Be A Hero (from 'Oh How We Danced' by Jim Capaldi 1972)
07 We Got Time (from 'Old Hat' by Uncle Dog 1972)
08 Hole In The Head (from 'Mulgrave Street' by Amazing Blondel 1974)
09 All One (recorded with David Elliott in 1974)
10 So Much In Love With You (from 'Live At Leeds' expanded edition by John Martyn 1975)
