LET'S NOT FORGET CORNELL DUPREE & JOE MORELLO

Better late than never...I wanted to be sure to not miss talking a bit about two of the music world's great musicians who passed away earlier this year.

Within two months of each other this past Spring, the music world lost two masterful musical treasures. JOE MORELLO, the innovative jazz drummer passed on March 11th and one of the major unsung heroes of the electric guitar, the great CORNELL DUPREE died on May 8th. Dupree was 68 years old and Morello, 82.

Having recorded on more that 2500 recording sessions, the word among musicians and fans alike was that Dupree always made everyone he played with sound better. His round tone and biting attack somehow complimented each other while his speed, tasteful choices and stylistic diversity made him an in-demand session man and band member.

If you have been collecting music for more than the past 5-10 years you will undoubtedly have numerous records in your stash featuring the smoldering licks of the always slick and tasty Mr. Dupree. Just a small illustration of the breadth and influence of this largely unheralded master, check out this very minor sampling of his session work. He has recorded with:

- King Curtis:

"Memphis Soul Stew"

- Esther Phillips

- Rahsaan Roland Kirk

- Wilson Pickett

- Freddy King

- Gabor Szabo

- Lulu

- Aretha Frankin

- Laura Nyro

- Les McCann

- David 'Fathead' Newman

- Carmen McRae

- Eddie Harris

- Leon Thomas

- Herbie Mann

- Grover Washington, Jr.

- Archie Shepp

- B.B. King

- Donny Hathaway

- Rufus Thomas

- Eddie Palmieri

- Stanley Turrentine

- Bette Midler

- Sonny Stitt

- Duane Allman

- Guess Who

- James Brown

- Lou Donaldson

- Billy Cobham

- Ashford & Simpson

- Jackie DeShannon

- Maggie Bell

- Buddy Rich

- Big Mama Thornton

- Hank Crawford

- Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson

- Michel Legrand

- Ian Hunter

- Ringo Starr

- Elvin Jones

- Etta James

- Gladys Knight

- The Average White Band

- Carly Simon

- Chaka Khan

- John Mayall

- The Crusaders

- Sam Cooke

- Michael Franks

- Lou Rawls

- Lightnin' Hopkins

- Lena Horne

- Andy Gibb (yes, Andy Gibb)

- Mariah Carey

- Delbert McClinton

- David Sanborn

- LaVern baker

- Dakota Staton

- Jackie Wilson

- Yusef Lateef

- Grant Green

- Duke Ellington

- Ray Charles

- Peter Wolf

- Jack McDuff

- Dusty Springfield

- Sam Moore

- Quincy Jones

- Brook Benton

- David Ruffin

- Miles Davis

- The Gadd Gang:

"Watchin' The River Flow":

More Gadd Gang "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" (not Stuff as it claims)

Many of you folks of my generation know him from his work on Paul Simon's There Goes Rhymin' Simon or his work from the mid-70s with Joe Cocker. Dupree appeared on these records with his bandmates in STUFF, who released five records for Warner Brothers during the same period. This particularly prolific period for Dupree also found him recording and releasing his first records as a leader.

Cocker was a wreck on this tour but Stuff was the tightest, most inspired band he'd ever front. Here's an audio track from the tour. Listen to guitarists Dupree and Eric Gale wail!

During his recording career, his guitar playing on his own records was as diverse and genre busting as his work as a sideman. Always with a round tone and smooth, tasteful choice of notes, both his rhythm and lead playing were funky and soulful whether playing rhythmic soul numbers of more expansive jazz melodies. His late 80s/90s output was decidedly more jazzy with 1992's live UNCLE FUNKY and 1994's BOP N BLUES being among my favorites. COAST TO COAST WAS NOMINATED FOR A GRAMMY IN 1988.

"Sunny":

I recently spotted Dupree near the end of the wonderful documentary on reclusive singer Bill Withers. Withers has disappeared from the recording and live performance scene for many years and near the end of this illuminating film, we see Withers re-inspired and joining Dupree for an impromptu live version of the singer's own "Grandma's Hands". A stirring and soulful moment.

There is a ton of Dupree video on YouTube. Check out any of it...

The tasteful sounds of Cornell Dupree live on in our music collections.

##

If the only session he ever cut was Dave Brubeck's "Take Five", Joe Morello's place in musical history would be assured. The fact is that he was a vital force in the Dave Brubeck Quartet during the years when they were not only the most popular jazz band in the world but a band who brought jazz back onto the pop charts and influenced a nation of college kids and jazz fans with their popularization of non-traditional time signatures, their melodic compositions and impeccable group interplay. In the rhythm section alongside bassist Eugene Wright, Morello redefined jazz drumming for a generation of music students. 

He was child violin prodigy playing with the Boston Symphony at age 6 but by the time he turned 15 he had decided that the drums were his musical calling. He studied and played around Springfield, MA before heading out on the road with Grand Old Opry star, guitarist Hank Garland. In short order he found himself drawn to NYC where he begins getting gigs with the likes of Sal Salvador, Stan Kenton Big Band, Tal Farlow, Gil Melle, Jimmy Raney and really  began to make a name for himself with pianist Marian McPartland's Hickory House Trio (with bassist Bill Crow) in New York in the early 50s. He passed on stints with Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey to take a two-month tour with Dave Brubeck that would up lasting over 12 years.

When Brubeck disbanded the Quartet in 1968, Morello dove head first in academics given private lessons, clinics, lectures, etc. As a drum teacher he is raved about by all of his former students. He has mentored many young drummers through private lessons and instructional videos.

Delaware based drummer for the band Kombu Combo, John DiGiovanni remembers Joe:

"I took some lessons with Joe at Glenn Weber's Drum Shop in West Orange, where he'd been teaching for years. I don't know if he was completely blind at this point, but he didn't need to see well to know what I was doing! He was older at this point but he still had those blazingly fast hand chops. I was working through his Master Studies book at the time, putting 2 to 4 hours a day into it. Joe kept directing me to his teacher George Stone's book, Stick Control, which he basically took and made 10 times more challenging. The Master Studies book is arguably the best book for getting your hands together. Very unassuming and humble guy he was, and I wish I could have had more time with him. 

"Joe was one of the very best, one of the few drummers who could give Buddy Rich a run for his money, chops- wise, plus he had all of that sensitivity and great timing. After all, he played on the most famous jazz recording of all time!"

He eventually formed his own bands and played almost exclusively around the NYC area finding time over the years to record on over 120 records (including 60 with Brubeck).

Here are some examples of the late, great Joe Morello in action.

 

 Sounds of the Loop:

Take FIve in 1995 on Conan O'Brien

Heard here with Marian McPartland and Bill Crow in 1955:

and an hour long Drum Method video from Joe for all you drummers out there...don't say I never did anything for ya!

ARCHIVAL CD REVIEW - RYAN ADAMS & THE CARDINALS - III/IV

Having just listened to the brand spanking new Ryan Adams CD, Ashes & Fire about a dozen times on the free NPR stream, I am going to start digesting post gush and write about it but first let me pull s little something from the archives before it turns. I was gonna lay this review on y'all last year but got distracted by life and other roadblocks. Here's my review of the previous Ryan album. Okay, so I'm a little laid back. I wrote the review of Ryan's III/IV immediately after hearing it many months ago and then decided not to post it until I'd listened a few more times but never got around to a re-write. Here is the initial rushing spew in all of its flush-cheeked exuberance.

Watch for the new review of Ashes & Fire in a day or two...the CD comes out on October 11. Pre-order here. I just spent hours deciphering and scrawling out the new lyrics, learning a few chord changes for my next gig and ordering it on Amazon. In the meantime listen it here while it is still up on NPR and buy his entire catalog.   

RYAN ADAMS - III/IV

Buy RYAN ADAMS III/IV now!...especially if you like The Strokes, Todd Rundgren, 80s power pop, Pretenders...his most rockin' record all the way through in ages...outtakes from Easy Tiger (Bonus CD) ...but this sounds so different than that wonderful album. Most of the tunes on this 2 CD set would have radically changed the vibe of that disc. Welcome back Ryan and Cardinals...keep 'em comin'.

Now, I'm one of these guys who can't believe that this guy isn't just the biggest thing ever but then again, I wouldn't want that because then he'd be even more pissy about the state of the bidness and maybe even quit again and I like him right where he is--big enough to be always striving for more vision and more expression. This guy is a craftsman first and foremost but not in the Steely Dan/Eagles pristine production way. More in the intense ability he has to make basic rock n roll songs sound unique and compelling through myriad sections, leaps of melodic faith, and memorable riffs. The thing about almost ALL of his records and the last couple in particular are how much is revealed on subsequent listens. Just when you think there are no hooks, they pull ya back in. On the next listen you feel inundated with them. This is music that is not obvious. My how refreshing he has become in today's rock world.

For those who don't know this guy HE RIPS! Any of his numerous previous albums are full of well-crafted songs, compassionate vocals and bottom line just a glimpse into one of the eras most prolific and accomplished singer/songwriters. And the Cardinals are what The Band used to be for Robbie Robertson...a songwriter's best friend: a group that can play any style you throw at them well.

There's a pretty direct paean to Tom Petty on the first disc's "Stop Playing With My Heart". But from past releases, you'll know that Adams is most definitely not afraid to wear his influences on his sleeve. I hear Todd R mostly in some of his vocal phrasing ("Kisses Start Wars" and the tune that immediately follows it "Crystal Skull", for instance).

                        Kisses Start Wars

There's a edgy hint of the Costello-esque in the slashing rhythm guitar figures here and there, but not much Dead or country or Neil Young this time out (but don't miss his last 3-4 for that tip). "NUMBERS" reminds me of X playing a Pete Townshend tune circa The Who Sell Out until the bridge which is pure Ryan.

 

Numbers                                      

"Sewers At the Bottom of the Wishing Well" melds The Clash with The Byrds, Crazy Horse with an opening riff halfway to The Beatles' "Please, Please Me". How hip is that!

         Sewers at the Bottom of the Wishing Well

He even gets a bit of Freddie Mercury overbite on in "Star Wars" which is just a weirdly cool song. He gets slagged for being prolific but bottom line is, I've downloaded buckets of unreleased outtakes from this guy that put many of the present day chartbusters to shame. Rock on, baby.

Adams' albums are like those of Neil Young or David Bowie in that you always know a) that it's him b) that it will be interesting, c) that it may just be very different and unexpected from what you previous know but d) that it will always be quality and always be compelling. Sure we all have our favorites (I'm a Cold Roses and Easy Tiger guy), and like Neil and Bowie, there are always masterpieces to exist alongside near misses and blunders. But in the big picture, such is life. That these guys consistently just put it out there, diving in, heart first, craft second, critics/audience/sales somewhere farther down the list is a call for discerning listeners to keep supporting them, keep listening, keep buying tickets. Give these sonic poets their canvas and let `em run with it.

Since his recent marriage to pop/movie star Mandy Moore and his "retirement" from music, this surprising release was a wonderful treat. Recorded in 2007 during sessions for the Easy Tiger album, these 21 tunes have more bite and no real country.folky vibe like lots of his output with the Cardinals. This is a ROCK record, teasingly referencing Ryan's earlier incarnations pre-Cardinals. Here he has modernized his alt-rock pose from years ago, left the Grateful Dead references behind. A bit of arena rock grandiosity, barroom brawling 80s edge, some punk simplicity with a dash of hippie metal. Fun and somehat tossed off, not as desperately rockin' as his pre-sobriety music but no real twang as he's recently courted either.

While this holds up well, there is still something of a feeling that it is a stop-gap release while Ryan rejuvenates himself, folds his prodigious radar around his new muse and waits to see what shakes out next time. With Adams, like the best of his forebears you never can tell what will come next...and you can't wait!

(Obviously, "next time" is HERE on Oct. 11 and here's a tease...if you haven't already checked out the full stream of Ashes & Fire on NPR...this is a solo acoustic version of the lead track, "Dirty Rain". The album version has some band on it though subtle and tasty...)

R.I.P. CLARENCE CLEMONS

Clarence Clemons was never the best saxophone player in the world. He didn’t reinvent the instrument like Charlie Parker or John Coltrane. He wasn’t a groove machine like Jr. Walker or Maceo Parker, or a master of tone and soulful funkiness like Pee Wee Ellis or King Curtis. What he was was The Big Man. The perfect foil for Bruce Springsteen’s tales of the Jersey Shore. The Boss’s blend of West Side Story drama and Morricone scope, in tales from the dark, downtrodden streets of fire from where Springsteen came. Bruce needed a foil and Clemons, who died yesterday at the age of 69 after suffering stroke on June 14^th, was perfectly cast.

A looming presence onstage in his early white suits and fedoras, his sleeveless silk shirts, maracas and strutting saxophone, here was the gunslinger commanding the attention of not only the crowd but of The Boss as well. While Miami Steve Van Zandt played Keith Richards to Bruce’s Mick, Clarence was a whole other beast altogether. Spinning in time with the dynamo Springsteen their instrument cords miraculously rarely tripping them up. He was the catalyst, the emotive kicker for Springsteen's flights of rock n roll redemption. Taking his cues from the great sax solos behind The Drifters slice-of-life tales and the early rock radio tunes of their youth, The Boss and The Big Man could be seen in your mind’s eye taking on all comers on the boardwalk late at night. In the early years Bruce would do long introductions to songs which took you back to dark nights of menace and desperation when out of the darkness came The Big Man amidst bolts of lightning and chaos and all was settled. Everyone took a step back and just knew the real deal had just arrived. The legend of their meeting told over the years in varying versions by Springsteen as introductions to “The E Street Shuffle” and other tunes, is told below by Clemons.

The first song we did was an early version of "Spirit In The Night". Bruce and I looked at each other and didn't say anything, we just knew. We knew we were the missing links in each other's lives. He was what I'd been searching for. In one way he was just a scrawny little kid. But he was a visionary. He wanted to follow his dream. So from then on I was part of history.

Over the years Clemons recorded eight solo albums under various monikers beginning with 1983’s RESCUE. He even had a hit single in 1985 which featured Jackson Browne called “You’re A Friend of Mine”. That same year his sax solo was featured on the Aretha Franklin hit, “Freeway of Love”. He has done numerous sessions and/or tours with artists as diverse as Todd Rundgren, Ronnie Spector, Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes, Joe Cocker, Twisted Sister, Ringo Starr & his All-Starr Band, The Four Tops. Roy Orbison and Lady Gaga among many others. He’s even performed with the Jerry Garcia Band and The Grateful Dead.

Clemons was also an actor on film not just onstage with The Boss. He appeared in five feature films beginning in 1997 with New York, New York and including Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Fatal Instinct and Blues Brothers 2000. He also acted in 15 episodes of major television shows.

When Springsteen disbanded The E Street Band in the 1989 for ten years (though in 1995 they reunited briefly to record four new songs for the Greatest Hits album), it was Clemons who was most missed by many of the fans on the subsequent tours without the E Street Band. His visual presence as much as the place his dramatic solos played in Springsteen’s music was hard to replace.

Finally, in 1999, Springsteen brought the band back together for highly anticipated Reunion tour, live album and sessions and tour for THE RISING. In 2005, Devils & Dust had a smattering of band members joining the proceedings and the follow year found Bruce with a very different kind of sound and band for the Pete Seeger Sessions CD and tour.

By 2007, the band had reconnected for Bruce’s album The Magic. Half way through the subsequent tour, organist Danny Federici was diagnosed with melanoma and only returned for one final appearance one month before he died. Federici passed on April 17, 2008.

With Clemons death, bassist Garry W. Tallent is the longest running E Street Band musician and only remaining original member. As difficult as it was to accept the band without Clemons during the E Street Band’s ten year hiatus, it will be incredibly hard to see the band without him. He had slowed down in recent years with physical problems (two knee replacements among them) that kept his stage movements to a minimum and found him sitting for much of the set where he wasn’t soloing.

I’ll never forget the first time I heard Clemons play live. It was November 1, 1976 in Robertson Gym at UC Santa Barbara. Bruce opened with a piano backed opening of “Thunder Road” followed by an incendiary “Tenth-Avenue Freeze-out”, Clarence and Miami Steve strutting by his side. And we believed that "wne the change was made uptown and The Big Man joined the band / from the coastline to the city all the little pretties raised their hands," because even that night, early on, hands were thrust in the air towards that growling sax sound. We were in the third row of this general admission show and after that solo the girl next to me sat down on her chair and began to cry, “This is the best thing I’ve ever heard in my life” she repeated over and over again. The show ran nearly three hours and I knew that this moment would reinvent how I thought of live music and life in general. To this day, I yearn for another show as life affirming and riveting as those three hours.

Two years later I traveled to he East Coast for the first time with the woman who would become my wife and companion for the next 25 years. She’d seen Bruce at the Main Point in 1975 and watched his career blossom as Philadelphia embraced The Boss long before the rest of the country knew who was in charge. We drove down to Cape May Point, New Jersey to meet her parents the morning after I arrived in Philadelphia. While we were there she asked, “What do you want to see while you are back here?” My answer was immediate: “Asbury Park.”

We drove up the Garden Start Parkway and when we hit the boardwalk there were still remnants of all of the places I'd heard Bruce and the E Street Band immortalize on those first three albums. I rode on The Tilt-A-Whirl, played pinball in the Casino, took my picture in front of Madame Marie’s and the Stone Pony. I even kissed her underneath the boardwalk. And I pictured Clarence Clemons walking through the storm to join the band and change rock n roll forever. On the way home, we heard on the radio that Keith Moon, legendary drummer for The Who had died, another mythic figure of rock n roll royalty.

Yesterday we lost another rock n roll icon, “the Master of the Universe, The King of the World, The Big Man, The Biggest Man You Ever Seen…Clarence Clemons.”

What follows are some songs featuring Clarence Clemons on sax including the tune that documents his becoming an E Streeter, “Tenth-Avenue Freezeout”, his most famous showpiece “Jungleland” and one of the most transcendent rock tunes of the era, “Born To Run.”

Clarence on playing with Bruce, spirituality etc.

“The River” with Clarence intro and very different arrangement from the original.

Clarence on being in the E Street Band and more

Bruce is a total goofball – now this has got to be one of the most over-the-top intro of The Big Man ever!

rare live “Kitty’s Back” from 1974 (audio only but great quality and killer version)

Clarence discusses his “Jungleland” solo

For comparison: first is an early version from 1975 at the Main Point – audio only but wow!

With some early lyric differences….interesting but without Clarence’s defining solo, the drama of the song is just not there…

Now listen to this one…Here is a later version of Clarence’s "Jungleland" solo which has settled into it’s more famous iconic spot as the emotional lynchpin of this bigger than life tune…

Interview with Alan Thicke in 1983 and he plays “Woman’s Got The Power” with his Red Bank Rockers.

CC’s big hit with Jackson Browne. The dated 80s drum sound and production was the first big production hit for the great fusion drummer Michael Narada Walden (Mahavishnu Orchestra)…boy, was this a bad and cheesy video. A the early days of MTV…

I had an opportunity to get to know "Maurice" (Pat Ieraci), a wonderful man whose name and image you may have seen on the back covers and in credits of the Jefferson Airplane's Volunteers and Jefferson Starship's Dragonfly albums as well as numerous other great recordings by Harry Nilsson, Steve Miller etc. He was a insider at RCA, liaison between bands and the label, eventually being part The Airplane families many projects as production coordinator and general troubleshooter. Pat is also a huge collector of music with a garage full of old 45s and an extensive knowledge of the history of rock music. I asked him once about what he thought was the greatest recording of all-time. Not the greatest song per se, but the ultimate record. He said immediately, "The one record I can think on which I wouldn't change a thing is the song, 'Born To Run'. It has everything a rock record should have." ... I agree. There are tons of incendiary live versions of this song but I included the classic studio cut here because I agree with Pat...great overall sound, ferocious production, amazing vocals and relentless propulsion and the timelss sax solo is perfect. There is no doubt that the band is communicating their leader's vision and that they and Bruce believe what he is singing and are desperate for you to believe it too.

R.I.P. Clarence & Danny