Loved the book. I'm proud to say that Earl was a friend and I still, after all these years, have his number programmed in my phone. I was on a session at Capitol in LA with Keltner a few days before Earl died and we called him and chatted but he was zoning in and out at that point. Jim and I were both upset to hear him so weak but still happy to have been able to have a final word with him to tell him how much we dug him.
Earl came to one of my gigs once with my band in New Orleans at the Maple Leaf. The joint was packed, and hot, but he pushed his way right to the front and stood there through the whole set in a wool suit nodding his head and dripping with sweat, digging the fonk. After the show, he bought a CD and insisted we all sign it for him.
On another occasion, he came to a jazz fest show I was doing at Preservation Hall. He was there with Herb Hardesty. I had a killing band with Walter Washington, James Rivers, Plas Johnson and Shannon Powell. Towards the end of the night, when we played 'Some day' by Smiley Lewis, he and Herb got up threw their arms around each other and slow danced right in front of the bandstand, it brought a tear to my eye. One of the proudest moments of my life. I loved Earl.
As I write, I'm sitting backstage about to go on and in the front on the PA, they're playing a bunch of old New Orleans r n b and I'm hearing Earl on nearly everything, Fats, Smiley, Lloyd and Fess. So swinging. That backbeat!!! Thank you for the book, great information and very entertaining.
Wow, coming from you this is special! Thank you for those wonderful memories. When I get down to working on this movie, I'm gonna get in touch. That's very moving about your last phone call. The guy had such joie de vivre! What was special, too, was the huge territory, not merely musical, that his life took in. Thank you so much!
Wow! Fantastic post, taking my musical mind in so many directions. . . the first one being to find the book & read it. I'm well aware of Earl's musical importance but know little about his personal life or background (and I always enjoy the first four chapters of an in-depth bio, btw) - I absolutely love the bit about working with Phil Spector, he was obviously not a man to mince words or suffer fools gladly. Great stuff, thanks!
I read a lot of musician autobiographies and find the early chapters on their background and growing-up years essential to understanding the artist and their approach. I personally feel that you were right to cover this. (I will be ordering Backbeat.)
This post is really fascinating. I got a kick out of his comments about the rise of Afros and his now useless hats, as well as his stories on the Zachariah and Sinatra gigs.
I read the book and loved it! Funny about those reviews dismissing the first few chapters. I realized a few chapters in that I was so engrossed in his story, and the colorful (musical?) language he used to tell it, that I had completely forgotten this was a book about a drummer. The WWII stuff was really amazing. The man sure figured out how to have a good time whatever the circumstances. That bit about recording drums with Cracker and being asked by David Lowery if he could play the parts was priceless: "I invented this shit."
Loved the book. I'm proud to say that Earl was a friend and I still, after all these years, have his number programmed in my phone. I was on a session at Capitol in LA with Keltner a few days before Earl died and we called him and chatted but he was zoning in and out at that point. Jim and I were both upset to hear him so weak but still happy to have been able to have a final word with him to tell him how much we dug him.
Earl came to one of my gigs once with my band in New Orleans at the Maple Leaf. The joint was packed, and hot, but he pushed his way right to the front and stood there through the whole set in a wool suit nodding his head and dripping with sweat, digging the fonk. After the show, he bought a CD and insisted we all sign it for him.
On another occasion, he came to a jazz fest show I was doing at Preservation Hall. He was there with Herb Hardesty. I had a killing band with Walter Washington, James Rivers, Plas Johnson and Shannon Powell. Towards the end of the night, when we played 'Some day' by Smiley Lewis, he and Herb got up threw their arms around each other and slow danced right in front of the bandstand, it brought a tear to my eye. One of the proudest moments of my life. I loved Earl.
As I write, I'm sitting backstage about to go on and in the front on the PA, they're playing a bunch of old New Orleans r n b and I'm hearing Earl on nearly everything, Fats, Smiley, Lloyd and Fess. So swinging. That backbeat!!! Thank you for the book, great information and very entertaining.
Jon.
Wow, coming from you this is special! Thank you for those wonderful memories. When I get down to working on this movie, I'm gonna get in touch. That's very moving about your last phone call. The guy had such joie de vivre! What was special, too, was the huge territory, not merely musical, that his life took in. Thank you so much!
Just ordered the Da Capo Press edition from Powell's.
Wow! Fantastic post, taking my musical mind in so many directions. . . the first one being to find the book & read it. I'm well aware of Earl's musical importance but know little about his personal life or background (and I always enjoy the first four chapters of an in-depth bio, btw) - I absolutely love the bit about working with Phil Spector, he was obviously not a man to mince words or suffer fools gladly. Great stuff, thanks!
I read a lot of musician autobiographies and find the early chapters on their background and growing-up years essential to understanding the artist and their approach. I personally feel that you were right to cover this. (I will be ordering Backbeat.)
This post is really fascinating. I got a kick out of his comments about the rise of Afros and his now useless hats, as well as his stories on the Zachariah and Sinatra gigs.
This book sounds amazing, gonna pick it up!
I read the book and loved it! Funny about those reviews dismissing the first few chapters. I realized a few chapters in that I was so engrossed in his story, and the colorful (musical?) language he used to tell it, that I had completely forgotten this was a book about a drummer. The WWII stuff was really amazing. The man sure figured out how to have a good time whatever the circumstances. That bit about recording drums with Cracker and being asked by David Lowery if he could play the parts was priceless: "I invented this shit."