Showing posts with label Rick Derringer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rick Derringer. Show all posts

Friday, January 29, 2021

Johnny Winter - ...and on guitar (1977)

John Dawson Winter III was born in Beaumont, Texas, on February 23, 1944, two years before his brother Edgar made an apperance in 1946. They were encouraged in their musical pursuits by their father John Dawson Winter Jnr, who was also a musician who played saxophone and guitar and sang at churches and weddings, and they appeared on a local children's show with Johnny playing ukulele when he was 10 years old. His recording career began at the age of 15, when his band Johnny and the Jammers released 'School Day Blues' on a Houston record label, and after recording a single with Roy Head And The Traits, he released his first album 'The Progressive Blues Experiment' in 1968. His big break came at the end of that year, when Mike Bloomfield, whom he met and jammed with in Chicago, invited him to sing and play a song during a Bloomfield and Al Kooper concert at the Fillmore East in New York City. Representatives of Columbia Records were at the concert, and after Winter played and sang B.B. King's 'It's My Own Fault' to loud applause, they snapped him up with reportedly the largest advance in the history of the recording industry at that time — $600,000. Winter's first Columbia album 'Johnny Winter' was recorded and released in 1969, using the same backing musicians who played on 'The Progressive Blues Experiment', plus blues legend Willie Dixon on upright bass and Big Walter Horton on harmonica. With brother Edgar added as a full member of the group, Winter recorded his third album 'Second Winter' in Nashville in 1969, with the two-disc album having just three sides of music, with the fourth side being blank. In 1970 the original blues trio disbanded, after Edgar left to record a solo album 'Entrance', and to form Edgar Winter's White Trash, an R&B/jazz-rock group, with Johnny playing guitar on both 'Entrance', and White Trash's debut album. He then formed a new band with the remnants of The McCoys who had just split, nabbing guitarist Rick Derringer, bassist Randy Jo Hobbs, and Derringer's brother Randy Z on drums, with the original name of Johnny Winter And The McCoys being shortened to Johnny Winter And. 
Winter's momentum was throttled when he sank into heroin addiction during the Johnny Winter And days, but after seeking treatment for and recovering from the addiction, he returned to the music scene with the release of the prophetically titled 'Still Alive and Well', a basic blend of blues and hard rock, whose title track was written by Rick Derringer. In live performances, Winter often told the story about how, as a child, he dreamed of playing with the blues guitarist Muddy Waters, and in 1974 he got his chance, when renowned blues artists and their younger brethren came together to honor Waters with a concert featuring many blues classics, and which was the start of an admired TV series 'Soundstage', with 'Blues Summit In Chicago' being the first episode. In 1977 he took Waters into the studio to record 'Hard Again' for Blue Sky Records, a label set up by Winter's manager and distributed by Columbia, and it was this record that kick-started the resurgence of Waters' career, with this and their subsequent two albums together producing three Grammy Awards. Throughout his career Winter has helped out friends and relatives on their records, contributing to solo albums by Rick Derringer and former White Trash singer Jerry LaCroix, as well as playing with James Cotton in 1970, who returned the favour by contributing harmonica to the 'Hard Again' sessions seven years later.
 


Track listing

01 She Moves Me (from 'Taking Care Of Business' by James Cotton Blues Band 1970)
02 Tobacco Road (from 'Entrance' by Edgar Winter 1970)
03 I've Got News For You (from 'Edgar Winter's White Trash' by Edgar Winter's White Trash 1971)
04 Funny Boy (from 'The Second Coming' by Jerry LaCroix 1974)
05 Skyscraper Blues (from 'Spring Fever' by Rick Derringer 1975)
06 King Tut Strut (from 'Temple Of Birth' by Jeremy Steig 1975)
07 Reggae Rock & Roll (from 'Hit It Again' by Tornader 1977)
08 Mannish Boy (from 'Hard Again' by Muddy Waters 1977)

Sunday, December 27, 2020

Joe Walsh - ...and on guitar (1974)

Joseph Fidler Walsh was born on November 20, 1947, in Wichita, Kansas, and lived in Columbus, Ohio, for a number of years during his youth. When Walsh was twelve years old, his family moved to New York City, then later to Montclair, New Jersey, where he attended Montclair High School, playing oboe in the school band. He got his first guitar at the age of 10, and on learning The Ventures' 'Walk Don't Run', he decided that he wanted to pursue a career as a guitarist. Inspired by the success of the Beatles, he replaced Bruce Hoffman as the bass player in the New Jersey group The Nomads, and after high school he attended Kent State University, where he spent time in various bands playing around the Cleveland area. One of these bands, The Measles, recorded two songs which appeared on The Ohio Express's 'Beg Borrow And Steal' album, as well as an instrumental for the b-side of one of their singles. Walsh majored in English while at Kent State, and was present during the Kent State massacre in 1970, which was something that profoundly affected him, leading him to drop out of university to pursue his musical career. Around Christmas 1967, James Gang guitarist Glenn Schwartz decided to leave the band to move to California, where he ended up forming Pacific Gas & Electric, and just days later Walsh knocked on Jim Fox's door and asked to be given a tryout as Schwartz's replacement. Walsh was accepted and the band continued as a five piece for a short time until Phil Giallombardo left. In May 1968, the group played a concert in Detroit at the Grande Ballroom opening for Cream, but at the last minute Silverman informed the others that he would not join them at the show, so the other three took to the stage as a trio, and they liked their sound so much that they decided to remain as a three-piece. In 1968 the band signed with manager Mark Barger, who put them in touch with ABC Records staff producer Bill Szymczyk, and he signed them to ABC's new Bluesway Records subsidiary in January 1969. The James Gang had several minor hits and became an early album-oriented rock staple for the next two years, releasing one live and four studio albums before Walsh left in 1971. He was invited to move to England and join Humble Pie by Steve Marriott, since Peter Frampton had left the band, but declined his offer, instead moving to Colorado and forming Barnstorm with drummer and multi-instrumentalist Joe Vitale and bassist Kenny Passarelli. Walsh and Barnstorm released their debut album, the eponymous 'Barnstorm' in October 1972, which garnered critical praise which unfortunately did not translate into commercial success. The follow-up 'The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get' followed in June 1973, and although officially a Barnstorn album it was marketed under Walsh's name, and was their commercial breakthrough, peaking at No. 6 on the US Billboard chart, and including the classic 'Rocky Mountain Way'. Throughout his busy career Walsh has always been ready to add his prodigious guitar skills to a variety of albums, with soul maestro Jimmy Witherspoon, blues legend B.B. King and folkies Stephen Stills, Dan Fogelberg, and America. He also rocks out with REO Speedwagon and Rick Derringer, as well as re-uniting with his old Barnstorm band-mate Joe Vitale on his 1974 solo album, and playing on Michael Stanley's 'Rosewood Bitters', which he later covered on his own 1985 album 'The Confessor'. This collection takes us up to the point that Walsh joined The Eagles in 1975, as Bernie Leadon's replacement, but despite the extra workload this entailed, he was still able to help out on albums by Keith Moon, Al Kooper, Andy Gibb, and Randy Newman throughout the rest of the 70's.



Track listing

01 Stay With Me Baby (from 'Handbags And Gladrags' by Jimmy Witherspoon 1970)
02 Rosewood Bitters (from 'Michael Stanley' by Michael Stanley 1972)
03 Midnight (from 'L.A. Midnight' by B.B. King 1972)
04 Sweet Maria (from 'She Is A Song' by Rick Roberts 1973)
05 Down The Road (from 'Down the Road' by Stephen Stills / Manassas 1973)
06 Uncomplicated (from 'All American Boy'by Rick Derringer 1973)
07 Green Monkey (from 'Hat Trick' by America 1973)
08 Open Up (from 'Ridin' The Storm Out' by REO Speedwagon 1973)
09 Shoot 'Em Up (from 'Roller Coaster Weekend' by Joe Vitale 1974)
10 Better Change (from 'Souvenirs' by Dan Fogelberg 1974)
11 The Gambler (from 'The Whole Thing Started With Rock & Roll Now It's Out of Control' by
                                                                                                                   Ray Manzarek 1974)
12 You Are So Beautiful (from 'The Kids & Me' by Billy Preston 1974)