Development of the British Blues and Rhythm

    --- show 39 ---   11-25-2

Derek and the Dominos                        1970

Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation                 1970

Dave Kelly and Bob Hall                      1970 

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After Eric Clapton released one album under his own name, with pretty much the same band (plus guest appearances by Duane Allman) he released a double LP titled Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs under the pseudonym Derek and the Dominoes.  This, along with a double album of live performances, was the only material issued with that name.

Here I would like to tell a story about the first time I heard the Layla album in its entirety.  As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, I was jamming regularly with some friends at the Guitar Player magazine office around 1970 when it was located in Los Gatos and the editor (and our drummer, Jim Crockett) asked if I wanted to try my hand at interviewing some artists of interest to me and the second attempt was to be Howlin’ Wolf when Bill Graham had booked him into Berkeley’s Greek Theater with, of all people, Alice Cooper.  My son was born in January of 1971 so it must have been shortly after or before that.

I got a ride up with a friend of mine, Brian, who had just acquired what I believe was an 8-track version of the double LP and we were listening to it on the way up.  I couldn’t help but let my mind wander to Howlin’ Wolf’s most recent release, London Sessions, which featured Clapton, Stevie Winwood and some of the Rolling Stones as his back-up band.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if that would be his backing this evening!

So we get up there and, of course, that is not at all the situation, but it is no disappointment since saxophonist Eddie Shaw is now the leader of Wolf’s band.  Now, if any of you have been listening to my show long enough to remember before I got on this British Blues kick (meaning before 2014), I often mentioned that Magic Sam since the late 60s has been one of my three favorite musicians, the others being Wolf and Freddie King, and for Sam’s second Delmark album Eddie had been added, making Black Magic my all time favorite LP to this day.

Well, I get to meet Wolf and he was HUGE; I am not short at 5’11” and he stood easily a head taller than me with only his talent more massive than his girth.  He struck me as a little stand-offish, but more likely I was intimidated by being in the presence of one of my major heroes.  And why shouldn’t I be intimidated?  Here I was, barely a 21 year old scruffy hippie approaching this gentleman who had established himself for the last couple of decades as one of the world’s premier performers, but still he was by no means rude.

So Guitar Player had provided a pair tickets and backstage access, which was well worth my friend providing fuel and transportation, but they had not provided me a recording device.  What I had was a reel to reel that was about the size of a small suitcase, maybe 12” x 16” x 8” deep (ahh, the good old days), and once the introductions were made Brian and I went back to his panel truck and retrieved the deck.  This part gets a little fuzzy, but the interview never came off, possibly because I didn’t find a place to plug the darn thing in (what a buffoon I must have appeared!) but more likely because I just didn’t feel adequate to the situation.  To this day, I am still not comfortable with interviews.

But fret not, dear readers, because the evening was far from an emotional loss to me.  I cannot imagine anyone more exciting for me to meet than Wolf, but perhaps because of not expecting him to be a part of the act, Eddie Shaw was indeed that person.  I did not know at the time, but Eddie had remained with Sam until his death when he then went fulltime with Wolf, and here he was.  Eddie would remain as leader of the band even after Wolf’s passing, calling them the Wolfpack.

I imagine I just did not feel comfortable imposing more upon the Wolf, but in contrast Mr. Shaw was as kind as could be and made me feel right at home as we chatted a good portion of time away.  I’m glad I was so familiar with his work on the Black Magic album, and I believe around the same time he recorded an album with Jimmy “Fast Fingers” Dawkins, because at least I had a tad of credibility.

Coincidentally, Johnnie Cozmik (my previous co-host on this show for about 15 years) had befriended Mr’ Shaw during his many travels to Chicago and for a few years set up enough gigs here to allow Eddie to come to the Bay Area, giving me the opportunity to meet him once again and hang out with Johnnie’s band as Eddie told tales of his time with Sam, Wolf and Muddy Waters.  I’m not much for collecting autographs, but I did get Eddie to sign my copy of the Black Magic LP.  Hey Johnnie, isn’t it time to bring back Eddie Shaw and his Chicago All Atars?  I certainly hope he is in good health.

And then Brian drove me home to the strains of the Layla album.

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To Mum, From Aynsley and the Boys was The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation’s third album (I’ve heard their fourth was unimpressive since it was released after the band’s dismantling and consisted solely of outtakes from the earlier sessions) and, while not quite up to par with the first two, has provided us here with a highly complementary set for today’s presentation.  This album had the addition of Tommy Eyre on keyboards, previously with Joe Cocker’s Grease Band, along with drummer Dunbar, bassist Alex Dmochowski, and lead vocalist John Moreshead who shared the vocals with Victor Brox whom, now that he was not needed to supply organ, was able to focus on his guitar and trumpet playing.  The LP was released in September of 1969.

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The Survivors album struck me abeing a good contrast to the Rockiness of the Dominoes portion of the show as we revisit a couple of the players we have heard from earlier.  This is more in the style that I always thought of Dave Kelly possessing: an excellent acoustic guitarist rather than the electric slide player where we heard him as part of the John Dummer and the Brunning-Hall Sunflower bands, here paired again with pianist, Bob Hall, but this time in either solo or duet performances. Not only was Hall also a member of both aforementioned bands, his association with Kelly going even further back to when he would regularly accompany Dave’s sister Jo Anne Kelly, he first came to my attention as the on again / off again pianist for the Savoy Brown Blues Band throughout the 1960s.

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Since it is still relatively new, I thought I’d mention that KKUP is now streaming on the internet and, while it is still in a developing stage, we have been putting out the word.  I’m not all of that good with high-tech stuff, but it seems pretty easy to access.  If you go to our website at KKUP.org you will see on the home page a strip of options immediately above the pictures of the musicians the next to the last option being LISTEN ONLINE.  By clicking this, it brings up a choice of desktop or mobile.  I can only speak for the desktop but after maybe a minute I was receiving a crystal clear feed.  As already mentioned, this is still a work in progress and we are currently limited to a finite number of listeners at any one time.  I mention this so you will be aware to turn off the application when you are not actually listening.  (I put the player in my favorites bar for the easiest of access.)  Now we can reach our listeners in Los Gatos and Palo Alto, even my family in Canada.  Let your friends elsewhere know they can now listen to your favorite station, and while they have the home page open they can check out our schedule.

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Key to the Highway
Jam I
   Derek and the Dominos

Don’t Take the Power Away
Sugar on the Line
Unheard
Journey’s End
   The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation

Tell the Truth

Bell Bottom Blues
Keep On Growing
Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out
Anyday
It’s Too Late
Why Does Love Have to Be So Sad
Have You Ever Loved a Woman
Little Wing
Layla
   Derek and the Dominos

Few Short Lines
Ain’t Nobody Minding Your Store
Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out
Passing Through
Erwin’s Boogie
Shelby County Blues
Crying Blues
Baby Please Don’t Go
When Will I Be Loved
   Dave Kelly and Bob Hall

Jam IV

Mean Old World
Jam II
   Derek and the Dominos

 

Development of the British Blues and Rhythm

  --- show 38 ---   11-11-2015

Jack Bruce                                            1969-73

Eric Clapton solo album                        1970
Rory Gallagher                                     1971-74

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Today, we present Jack Bruce as pretty much just a member of the band, if that is even possible.  The opening set is with Tony Williams’ Lifetime, whose 1970 release Turn It Over, while the first with Bruce, was the band’s second album and also featured guitarist John McLaughlin, who had been Jack’s band mate in an early version of the Graham Bond ORGANization.  As I recall, the two were snorting drugs with Jimi Hendrix when McLaughlin told Jack that Tony Williams wanted him to join his American group, whose fourth member was organist Khalid Yusin (aka Larry Young), a former accompanist for the legendary saxman John Coltrane.  Drummer Williams had his bona fides as well, having just graduated from the Miles Davis Quintet two years prior followed by a stint with Eric Dolphy.  Because of these backgrounds, the Rock-Jazz Fusion LP was somewhat of a shock to many Jazz purists, causing the band to rely on more Rock-oriented venues to bolster a lackluster sales report.

Although Jack thoroughly enjoyed his experience in the band, heavy touring in both the U.S. and U.K. (encompassing the last nine months of 1970) took its toll and the group disbanded in 1971.  Williams and Yasin continued Lifetime adding other musicians, most notably bassist Ron Carter.  McLaughlin moved on to Miles Davis’ ensemble before creating the Mahavishnu Orchestra. 

Later in 1971, Bruce would put together the album Harmony Row (we played a few tracks from it already) as another endeavor under his own name and then went on to join members of Mountain as they formed the band (guitarist Leslie) West, Bruce & (drummer Corky) Laing.  Felix Pappalardi, who had been a major contributor to Cream’s recordings, had been the bass player with Mountain and now Jack was continuing with the rest of the group.  Although the talent should have produced something reminiscent of Cream the results are disappointing and I am led to understand this, Why Dontcha, is the better of two albums recorded before the band fell apart in 1973.

The last entry for Bruce is on Lou Reed’s 1973 Berlin album.  When I saw that the cast of players included, among some unfamiliar names, not only Jack but also drummer Aynsley Dunbar and Stevie Winwood playing organ and harmonium (whatever that is), I had to give it a try despite comments that it was a dark and disturbing album.  Yes, that is true.  The lyrics deal with Reed’s drug addiction and beating his girlfriend and, ultimately, her suicide.  But I find that the music is solid and the story deserves to be heard.  The musical structure may not be Blues, but …

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Unlike Bruce, Eric Clapton was ready to return to the limelight with his first release under his own name; indeed, not only as the artist credited but also the name of the album.  Last show we heard him joining Delaney and Bonnie on their European tour and it was this band that was the foundation as Clapton went into the studio – drummer Jim Gordon, bassist Carl Radle, and keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, all of whom would join him as the Dominoes later that year (and our next show).  Delaney also was supposed to engineer the mix but other commitments got in the way and Tom Dowd handled the original recordings, but when the opportunity arose he made his own remix and that is the version we are hearing today.  We close the set with a track Eric recorded for King Curtis, Teasin’.

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Well, we are getting our feet planted into the 70s and so many of the players who came to the forefront of the 60s music scene through the Blues are now exploring other avenues to express themselves, but we have a strong representation here by Rory Gallagher.  Indeed, these tracks taken from his 2CD set of BBC sessions are likely the Bluesiest of any of his LPs in my admittedly small collection.  Both of today’s sets came from in-studio sessions on the second disc (the first disc is all live recordings) and span from 1971 to 1974.  Gallagher is backed by bassist Gerry MacAvoy and keyboardist Lou Martin throughout while the drums are played by either Rod de’Ath (mostly) or Wilgar Campbell.

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Since it is still relatively new, I thought I’d mention that KKUP is now streaming on the internet and, while it is still in a developing stage, we have been putting out the word.  I’m not all of that good with high-tech stuff, but it seems pretty easy to access.  If you go to our website at KKUP.org you will see on the home page a strip of options immediately above the pictures of the musicians the next to the last option being LISTEN ONLINE.  By clicking this, it brings up a choice of desktop or mobile.  I can only speak for the desktop but after maybe a minute I was receiving a crystal clear feed.  As already mentioned, this is still a work in progress and we are currently limited to a finite number of listeners at any one time.  I mention this so you will be aware to turn off the application when you are not actually listening.  (I put the player in my favorites bar for the easiest of access.)  Now we can reach our listeners in Los Gatos and Palo Alto, even my family in Canada.  Let your friends elsewhere know they can now listen to your favorite station, and while they have the home page open they can check out our schedule.

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For the Last Time
It Takes Time
Crest of a Wave
Feel So Bad
Hoodoo Man
Tore Down
   Rory Gallagher

To Whom It May Concern - Them

Big Nick
Allah Be Praised
Right On
To Whom It May Concern - Us
   Tony Williams’ Lifetime

Slunky

Bad Boy
Blues Power
Blues in A
After Midnight
Bottle of Red Wine
Let It Rain
Comin’ Home
Teasin’ (King Curtis single)
   Eric Clapton

Why Dontcha

Shake Ma Thing (Rollin’ Jack)
Third Degree
Turn Me Over
   West, Bruce & Laing

Race the Breeze

Hands Off
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Daughter of the Everglades
They Don’t Make Them Like That Any More
   Rory Gallagher

Caroline Says I

How Do You Think It Feels
Oh, Jim
Caroline Says II
The Bed
Sad Song
   Lou Reed