Al Kooper
Encyclopedia
Al Kooper is an American
songwriter
, record producer
and musician
, known for organizing Blood, Sweat & Tears
(although he did not stay with the group long enough to share its popularity), providing studio
support for Bob Dylan
when he went electric in 1965, and also bringing together guitarists Mike Bloomfield
and Stephen Stills
to record the Super Session
album
. He has had a successful solo career since then, written music for film soundtracks, and has also lectured in musical composition. He continues to perform live to this day.
, New York
, though he grew up in Hollis Hills, Queens, New York. His first musical success was as a fourteen-year-old guitarist
in The Royal Teens
, best known for their novelty
twelve-bar blues riff, "Short Shorts". In 1960, he joined the songwriting team of Bob Brass and Irwin Levine, and wrote "This Diamond Ring
", which became a hit for Gary Lewis and the Playboys. When he was twenty-one, Kooper moved to Greenwich Village
.
He performed with Bob Dylan
in concert
in 1965, and in the recording studio
in 1965 and 1966, including playing Hammond organ
with Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival
in 1965. Kooper also played the Hammond organ riffs on Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone
. It was in those recording sessions that Kooper met and befriended Mike Bloomfield
, whose guitar-playing he admired. He worked extensively with Bloomfield for a number of years. Kooper played organ once again with Dylan during his 1981 world tour.
Kooper joined The Blues Project as their keyboardist in 1965, leaving the band shortly before their gig
at the Monterey Pop Festival
in 1967. He formed Blood, Sweat & Tears
in 1967, leaving after the group's first album, Child Is Father to the Man
, due to creative differences in 1968. He recorded Super Session with Bloomfield and Stills in 1968 as well, and in 1969 he collaborated with 15-year-old guitarist Shuggie Otis
on the album Kooper Session. In 1975 he produced the debut album by The Tubes
.
Kooper played on hundreds of records
, including those by The Rolling Stones
, B. B. King
, The Who
, The Jimi Hendrix Experience
, Alice Cooper
, and Cream
. On occasion, he has even overdubbed on his own efforts, as on The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper
and on other albums, as "Roosevelt Gook". After moving to Atlanta in 1972, he discovered the band Lynyrd Skynyrd
, and produced
and performed on their first three albums, including the single "Sweet Home Alabama
" and "Free Bird
". Kooper also wrote the score for the TV
series Crime Story
and the film The Landlord
and has also written music for several made-for-television movies. He was also the musical force behind many of the children series "Banana Splits
" pop tunes, including "You're the Lovin' End."
Kooper has published a memoir, Backstage Passes: Rock 'n' Roll Life In The Sixties (1977), now available in revised form as Backstage Passes & Backstabbing Bastards: Memoirs of a Rock 'N' Roll Survivor (1998). The latter includes indictments against manipulators within the music industry, including his one-time business manager
, Stan Polley
. His status as a published author enabled him to join (and act as musical director of) the Rock Bottom Remainders
, a band made up of writers including Dave Barry
, Stephen King
, Amy Tan
, & Matt Groening
.
Kooper is currently retired from teaching songwriting and recording production at Berklee College of Music
in Boston
, and plays weekend concerts with his bands The ReKooperators and The Funky Faculty. In 2008, he participated in the production of the album Psalngs, the debut release of Canadian musician John Lefebvre
.
parts on "Like a Rolling Stone
".
Kooper had been invited to the session as an observer, and hoped to be allowed to sit in on guitar
, his primary instrument
. Kooper uncased his guitar and began tuning it. After hearing Mike Bloomfield
, the hired guitarist for the sessions, warming up in the room, Kooper concluded that Bloomfield was a much better guitarist, so Kooper put his guitar aside and retreated into the control room.
As the recording sessions for the single "Like a Rolling Stone" progressed, keyboardist Paul Griffin
was moved from the Hammond organ to piano
. Kooper quickly suggested to producer Tom Wilson that he had a "great organ part" for the song (which he later confessed was just a ruse to play in the session), and Wilson responded, "Al, you're not an organ player, you're a guitar player", but Kooper did not retreat this time. Before Wilson could explicitly reject Kooper's suggestion, Wilson was interrupted by a phone call in the control room. Kooper immediately went into the studio and sat down at the organ, though he had rarely played organ before the session. Wilson soon returned, and was shocked to find Kooper in the studio. By this time, Kooper had been playing along with Dylan and crew, his organ can be heard coming in an eighth-note just behind the other members of the band, as Kooper followed to make sure he was playing the right chords. During a playback of tracks in the control room, when asked about the organ track, Dylan was emphatic: "Turn the organ up!"
- July 1971
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, known for organizing Blood, Sweat & Tears
Blood, Sweat & Tears
Blood, Sweat & Tears is an American music group, originally formed in 1967 in New York City. Since its beginnings in 1967, the band has gone through numerous iterations with varying personnel and has encompassed a multitude of musical styles...
(although he did not stay with the group long enough to share its popularity), providing studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
support for Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
when he went electric in 1965, and also bringing together guitarists Mike Bloomfield
Mike Bloomfield
Michael Bernard "Mike" Bloomfield was an American musician, guitarist, and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his instrumental prowess, since he rarely sang before 1969–70...
and Stephen Stills
Stephen Stills
Stephen Arthur Stills is an American guitarist and singer/songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills & Nash . He has performed on a professional level in several other bands as well as maintaining a solo career at the same time...
to record the Super Session
Super Session
-Personnel:* Al Kooper — vocals, piano, organ, ondioline, electric guitar, twelve-string guitar* Mike Bloomfield — guitars on side one, reissue tracks 10, 12, 13* Stephen Stills — guitars on side two, reissue track 11...
album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
. He has had a successful solo career since then, written music for film soundtracks, and has also lectured in musical composition. He continues to perform live to this day.
Life and career
Kooper was born in BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, though he grew up in Hollis Hills, Queens, New York. His first musical success was as a fourteen-year-old guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
in The Royal Teens
Royal Teens
The Royal Teens were a New Jersey rock and roll band that formed in 1956, consisting of Bob Gaudio on piano, Tom Austin on drums, Billy Dalton on guitar, and Billy Crandall on saxophone. They are best known for their single "Short Shorts", which was a #3 hit in the United States in 1958. The...
, best known for their novelty
Novelty song
A novelty song is a comical or nonsensical song, performed principally for its comical effect. Humorous songs, or those containing humorous elements, are not necessarily novelty songs. The term arose in Tin Pan Alley to describe one of the major divisions of popular music. The other two divisions...
twelve-bar blues riff, "Short Shorts". In 1960, he joined the songwriting team of Bob Brass and Irwin Levine, and wrote "This Diamond Ring
This Diamond Ring
"This Diamond Ring" is a 1965 pop song written by Al Kooper, Bob Brass, and Irwin Levine. The song's first appearance on the Billboard Hot 100 chart was a bubbling-under single by Sammy Ambrose that reached #117 on January 9, 1965...
", which became a hit for Gary Lewis and the Playboys. When he was twenty-one, Kooper moved to Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
.
He performed with Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
in concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
in 1965, and in the recording studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
in 1965 and 1966, including playing Hammond organ
Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
with Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival
Newport Folk Festival
The Newport Folk Festival is an American annual folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the previously established Newport Jazz Festival...
in 1965. Kooper also played the Hammond organ riffs on Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone
Like a Rolling Stone
"Like a Rolling Stone" is a 1965 song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Its confrontational lyrics originate in an extended piece of verse Dylan wrote in June 1965, when he returned exhausted from a grueling tour of England...
. It was in those recording sessions that Kooper met and befriended Mike Bloomfield
Mike Bloomfield
Michael Bernard "Mike" Bloomfield was an American musician, guitarist, and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his instrumental prowess, since he rarely sang before 1969–70...
, whose guitar-playing he admired. He worked extensively with Bloomfield for a number of years. Kooper played organ once again with Dylan during his 1981 world tour.
Kooper joined The Blues Project as their keyboardist in 1965, leaving the band shortly before their gig
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
at the Monterey Pop Festival
Monterey Pop Festival
The Monterey International Pop Music Festival was a three-day concert event held June 16 to June 18, 1967 at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California...
in 1967. He formed Blood, Sweat & Tears
Blood, Sweat & Tears
Blood, Sweat & Tears is an American music group, originally formed in 1967 in New York City. Since its beginnings in 1967, the band has gone through numerous iterations with varying personnel and has encompassed a multitude of musical styles...
in 1967, leaving after the group's first album, Child Is Father to the Man
Child Is Father to the Man
Child Is Father to the Man is the debut album by Blood, Sweat & Tears, released in February of 1968. It reached number 47 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart.-History:...
, due to creative differences in 1968. He recorded Super Session with Bloomfield and Stills in 1968 as well, and in 1969 he collaborated with 15-year-old guitarist Shuggie Otis
Shuggie Otis
Shuggie Otis is an American singer-songwriter, recording artist, and multi-instrumentalist....
on the album Kooper Session. In 1975 he produced the debut album by The Tubes
The Tubes
The Tubes are a San Francisco-based rock band, whose 1975 debut album included the hit single, "White Punks on Dope". During its first fifteen years or so, the band's live performances combined quasi-pornography with wild satires of media, consumerism, and politics...
.
Kooper played on hundreds of records
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
, including those by The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
, B. B. King
B. B. King
Riley B. King , known by the stage name B.B. King, is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter.Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at No.3 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. According to Edward M...
, The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
, The Jimi Hendrix Experience
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
The Jimi Hendrix Experience were an English-American psychedelic rock band that formed in London in October 1966. Comprising eponymous singer-songwriter and guitarist Jimi Hendrix, bassist and backing vocalist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell, the band was active until June 1969, in which...
, Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
, and Cream
Cream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
. On occasion, he has even overdubbed on his own efforts, as on The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper
The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper
Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper is a double album documenting performances from two of blues-rock's most notable American musicians of the late 1960s...
and on other albums, as "Roosevelt Gook". After moving to Atlanta in 1972, he discovered the band Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd is an American rock band prominent in spreading Southern Rock during the 1970s.Originally formed as the "Noble Five" in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1964, the band rose to worldwide recognition on the basis of its driving live performances and signature tune, Freebird...
, and produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and performed on their first three albums, including the single "Sweet Home Alabama
Sweet Home Alabama (song)
"Sweet Home Alabama" is a song by Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd that first appeared in 1974 on their second album, Second Helping.It reached #8 on the US charts in 1974, and was the band's second hit single.-Creation and recording:...
" and "Free Bird
Free Bird
"Free Bird" is a song by the American southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd...
". Kooper also wrote the score for the TV
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
series Crime Story
Crime Story (TV series)
Crime Story is an NBC TV drama created by Gustave Reininger and Chuck Adamson. The executive producer was Michael Mann, who had left Miami Vice to oversee Crime Story and direct the film Manhunter. The show premiered with a two hour pilot — a movie which had been exhibited theatrically —...
and the film The Landlord
The Landlord
The Landlord is a 1970 film directed by Hal Ashby, which was based on the novel by Kristin Hunter. The film stars Beau Bridges in the lead role of a well to do white man who becomes landlord of an inner city tenement, unaware that the people he is responsible for are low-income, streetwise residents...
and has also written music for several made-for-television movies. He was also the musical force behind many of the children series "Banana Splits
Banana Splits
The Banana Splits were four comedic animal characters who featured in a late 1960s children's variety show made for television. The costumed hosts of the show were Fleegle , Bingo , Drooper and Snork .The Banana Splits Adventure Hour was an hour-long, packaged television program that featured both...
" pop tunes, including "You're the Lovin' End."
Kooper has published a memoir, Backstage Passes: Rock 'n' Roll Life In The Sixties (1977), now available in revised form as Backstage Passes & Backstabbing Bastards: Memoirs of a Rock 'N' Roll Survivor (1998). The latter includes indictments against manipulators within the music industry, including his one-time business manager
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
, Stan Polley
Stan Polley
Stanley Herbert Polley was an entertainment manager from the 1960s and 1970s. His clients included rock band Badfinger, musician Al Kooper, singer Lou Christie, singer-producer Hank Medress, arranger Charles Calello, composer Sandy Linzer, WABC disc jockey Bob Lewis, among others.Polley served in...
. His status as a published author enabled him to join (and act as musical director of) the Rock Bottom Remainders
Rock Bottom Remainders
The Rock Bottom Remainders is a rock and roll band consisting of published writers, most of them both amateur musicians and popular English-language book, magazine, and newspaper authors. The band took its self-mocking name from the publishing term remaindered book, a work of which the unsold...
, a band made up of writers including Dave Barry
Dave Barry
David "Dave" Barry is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author and columnist, who wrote a nationally syndicated humor column for The Miami Herald from 1983 to 2005. He has also written numerous books of humor and parody, as well as comedic novels.-Biography:Barry was born in Armonk, New York,...
, Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
, Amy Tan
Amy Tan
Amy Tan is an American writer whose works explore mother-daughter relationships. Her most well-known work is The Joy Luck Club, which has been translated into 35 languages...
, & Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
.
Kooper is currently retired from teaching songwriting and recording production at Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, and plays weekend concerts with his bands The ReKooperators and The Funky Faculty. In 2008, he participated in the production of the album Psalngs, the debut release of Canadian musician John Lefebvre
John Lefebvre
John Lefebvre , is a Canadian musician, composer, entrepreneur, retired lawyer and philanthropist currently active as a songwriter, touring performer, and recording artist—as well as an activist and advocate who has made extensive contributions to the dialogue surrounding climate change issues.In...
.
"Like a Rolling Stone" session
As chronicled in the 2005 Martin Scorsese documentary film, No Direction Home: Bob Dylan for the PBS American Masters Series, Kooper's most notable playing with Dylan is the striking organOrgan (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
parts on "Like a Rolling Stone
Like a Rolling Stone
"Like a Rolling Stone" is a 1965 song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Its confrontational lyrics originate in an extended piece of verse Dylan wrote in June 1965, when he returned exhausted from a grueling tour of England...
".
Kooper had been invited to the session as an observer, and hoped to be allowed to sit in on guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, his primary instrument
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
. Kooper uncased his guitar and began tuning it. After hearing Mike Bloomfield
Mike Bloomfield
Michael Bernard "Mike" Bloomfield was an American musician, guitarist, and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his instrumental prowess, since he rarely sang before 1969–70...
, the hired guitarist for the sessions, warming up in the room, Kooper concluded that Bloomfield was a much better guitarist, so Kooper put his guitar aside and retreated into the control room.
As the recording sessions for the single "Like a Rolling Stone" progressed, keyboardist Paul Griffin
Paul Griffin (musician)
Paul Griffin was an American session musician and pianist, who recorded with hundreds of artists from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
was moved from the Hammond organ to piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
. Kooper quickly suggested to producer Tom Wilson that he had a "great organ part" for the song (which he later confessed was just a ruse to play in the session), and Wilson responded, "Al, you're not an organ player, you're a guitar player", but Kooper did not retreat this time. Before Wilson could explicitly reject Kooper's suggestion, Wilson was interrupted by a phone call in the control room. Kooper immediately went into the studio and sat down at the organ, though he had rarely played organ before the session. Wilson soon returned, and was shocked to find Kooper in the studio. By this time, Kooper had been playing along with Dylan and crew, his organ can be heard coming in an eighth-note just behind the other members of the band, as Kooper followed to make sure he was playing the right chords. During a playback of tracks in the control room, when asked about the organ track, Dylan was emphatic: "Turn the organ up!"
Studio albums
- I Stand AloneI Stand Alone (Al Kooper album)I Stand Alone is the title of New York City based singer-songwriter Al Kooper's 1968 début album, issued on Columbia Records, recorded after his collaboration with Michael Bloomfield and Stephen Stills, Super Session....
(February 1969) - You Never Know Who Your Friends AreYou Never Know Who Your Friends AreYou Never Know Who Your Friends Are was the second album by New York City-based singer-songwriter Al Kooper, issued in 1969 on Columbia Records....
(October 1969) - Easy Does ItEasy Does It (Al Kooper album)Easy Does It was the third solo album by New York City-based singer-songwriter Al Kooper, recorded and released in 1970 for Columbia Records....
(September 1970) - New York City (You're A Woman)New York City (You're a Woman)New York City is the fourth album by singer-songwriter Al Kooper for Columbia Records, recorded and released in 1971.Recorded with two separate groups, one in Los Angeles, California and the other in London, England and inspired by the likes of Elton John , The Beatles and...
(June 1971) - A Possible Projection of the Future / Childhood's EndA Possible Projection of the Future / Childhood's EndA Possible Projection of the Future / Childhood's End is Al Kooper's fifth album, recorded for and released by Columbia Records in 1972.Begun with a vague storyline that failed to survive beyond the two title tracks, the album was recorded in London, England at George Martin's AIR Studios with one...
(April 1972) - Naked SongsNaked SongsNaked Songs is the sixth and final album by singer-songwriter Al Kooper for Columbia Records, released in 1973.A contract-fulfilling release, coming months after Kooper had set up the Sounds of the South label through MCA Records, it was quickly recorded at New York City's Record Plant and at...
(1973) - Act Like Nothing's WrongAct Like Nothing's WrongAct Like Nothing's Wrong is the seventh album by singer-songwriter Al Kooper , recorded in 1976 and released in 1977.-Tracks:All tracks composed by Al Kooper; except where indicated# "Is We on the Downbeat" – 0:36# "This Diamond Ring" – 4:13...
(January 1977) - Rekooperation (June 1994)
- Black Coffee (August 2005)
- White Chocolate (2008)
Collaborative
- Super SessionSuper Session-Personnel:* Al Kooper — vocals, piano, organ, ondioline, electric guitar, twelve-string guitar* Mike Bloomfield — guitars on side one, reissue tracks 10, 12, 13* Stephen Stills — guitars on side two, reissue track 11...
(with Stephen StillsStephen StillsStephen Arthur Stills is an American guitarist and singer/songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills & Nash . He has performed on a professional level in several other bands as well as maintaining a solo career at the same time...
and Mike BloomfieldMike BloomfieldMichael Bernard "Mike" Bloomfield was an American musician, guitarist, and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his instrumental prowess, since he rarely sang before 1969–70...
) (1968) - The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al KooperThe Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al KooperLive Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper is a double album documenting performances from two of blues-rock's most notable American musicians of the late 1960s...
(1968) - Fillmore East: The Lost Concert Tapes 12/13/68 (with Mike BloomfieldMike BloomfieldMichael Bernard "Mike" Bloomfield was an American musician, guitarist, and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his instrumental prowess, since he rarely sang before 1969–70...
, recorded 1968, issued April 2003) - Kooper SessionKooper SessionKooper Session is the second-in-line of the Super Session albums featuring singer-songwriter Al Kooper. Joining Kooper in the guitar slot is 15-year-old phenomenon Shuggie Otis, son of legendary rhythm and blues pioneer Johnny Otis....
(with Shuggie OtisShuggie OtisShuggie Otis is an American singer-songwriter, recording artist, and multi-instrumentalist....
) (1969) - Let it BleedLet It BleedLet It Bleed is the eighth British and tenth American album by English rock band The Rolling Stones, released in December 1969 by Decca Records in the United Kingdom and London Records in the United States...
, The Rolling StonesThe Rolling StonesThe Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
album (1970), choral and musical arrangements on final track, "You Can't Always Get What You Want". - Championship Wrestling (featuring Jeff "Skunk" Baxter) (1982)
- Johnnie B. Live (featuring Johnnie JohnsonJohnnie JohnsonJohnnie Johnson may refer to:*Johnnie Johnson *Johnnie Johnson *Johnnie Johnson See also:*Johnny Johnson *John Johnson...
) (1997)
Also appears on
- Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd - Lynyrd Skynyrd (1973)
- Second Helpings - Lynyrd Skynyrd (1974)
- Nuthin' Fancy - Lynyrd Skynyrd (1975)
- Rare and Well Done (September 2001)
- He’s A Rebel: The Gene Pitney Story Retold (2002)
Sources
- Mike Bloomfield - Me and Big Joe - Re/Search Publications, 1st edition December 1999, ISBN 188930705X ISBN 978-1889307053
- Michael Bloomfield - If You Love These Blues: An Oral History Backbeat Books, 1st edition September 2000 - ISBN 978-0879306175 (with CD of uniussed music)
- Ken Brooks - The Adventures of Mike BloomfieldMike BloomfieldMichael Bernard "Mike" Bloomfield was an American musician, guitarist, and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his instrumental prowess, since he rarely sang before 1969–70...
and Al Kooper with Paul ButterfieldPaul ButterfieldPaul Butterfield was an American blues vocalist and harmonica player, who founded the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the early 1960s and performed at the original Woodstock Festival...
and David Clayton Thomas Agenda Ltd, February 1999, ISBN 1899882901 ISBN 978-1899882908 - Al Kooper - Backstage Passes: Rock 'N' Roll Life in the Sixties - Stein & Day Pub (1st edition February 1977) ISBN 0812821718 - ISBN 978-0812821710
- Al Kooper - Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards: Memoirs of a Rock 'N' Roll Survivor Billboard Books (Updated Edition - September 1998) ISBN 0823082571 ISBN 978-0823082575
- Al Kooper - Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards - Hal Leonard Corporation, new edition February 2008, ISBN 0879309229 ISBN 978-0879309220
- Ed Ward - Michael BloomfieldMike BloomfieldMichael Bernard "Mike" Bloomfield was an American musician, guitarist, and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his instrumental prowess, since he rarely sang before 1969–70...
, The rise and fall of an American guitar hero, Cherry Lane Books (1983), ISBN 0895241579 ISBN 978-0895241573
Quotation
NMENME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
- July 1971