14 Comments

Great article, love discovering the talents behind successful musicians. My one thought when reading Al Koopers comment"And tell me if you can find on a rock ā€˜nā€™ roll record anybody playing better than that." I will say that Nicky Hopkins , a little better known, mostly forgotten now was one of the very best, all across the board. If you have not already done so , an article of his contribution is worthwhile. Being a white ,traveling brit might have influenced how his talent is more well known. But he sure had a way with playing just the right groove for his sessions.

Expand full comment

Terrific piece and well-deserved. There was a benefit concert for him in December '99 at the Bottom Line, organized by Chuck Jackson, that included Mary Wilson, Simon, Ashford & Simpson, Ben E. King, Kooper and others, including Pretty Purdie. Bacharach sent a note, Van Morrison kicked in. The benefit helped because he hadn't been paid enough for his session work to qualify for health insurance. But the worst was that he got to the top of the transplant list a couple of times and they all fell through. Fortunately for us, we have his work.

Expand full comment

I'm the bass player on American Pie. Paul was the hero of the 3 hour session, devising the rubato intro and coda. His gospel licks drive rest of the track's uptempo center. His intro on Berns' "I'll Take Care of You" by Garnett Mimms is one of my favorites. Your Earl Palmer tome was wonderful. Gary Chester was a mentor of mine in the 1960's. Thank you for creating your eloquent epitaphs to the jurassic world I once participated in. Although it's ancient, unattributed, forgotten history our sonic footprints linger as testimony to a time when magic inhabited Manhattan.

Expand full comment

Sensational story about a guy who never got the credit he deserved. And even better, making Griffin so aptly representative of that whole pool of great players in New York, who never had the cachet of the Wrecking Crew. Also, I didnā€™t know the sad circumstances of King Curtisā€™ death. No way for a king to go.

Expand full comment

Thanks! Session players are one of my things. My first book is about one of the all-time greats, Earl Palmer. It's about much more than his music, as great as that was; he did everything and was everywhere. A filmmaker just took out an option on the book, Backbeat: Earl Palmer's Story, for a documentary about Earl. We'll see what happens.....

Expand full comment

Paul was a friend. I met him while working at Jerry Ragovoy's Counterpoint Studios, 3, 12, & 13th floors of 723 7th Ave ( Associated, Dick Charles, and Quad on other floors).

Whenever Paul came in for a session I would stop whatever I was doing just to hear what he might play....Steely Dan or Little Friskies no matter.

No one before or since plays THAT way.

When I took over RPM, Paul brought me a Beer Jingle that was the highest hourly rate ever for the studio.

Thank you Paul.

Now go listen to some Paul Griffin!

Expand full comment

I don't know if you'll get this on Substack or email; I cannot decode your address. I'm glad you enjoyed the piece. Paul brought me a tremendous amount of musical pleasure and musical heartbreak (his intro to "Message to Michael") and continues to. We were friends as well; he welcomed me right into his life. Of course I listen to his music. He accomplished so much, and could have accomplished so much more if life were kinder to the sensitive.

Tony

Jerry Ragavoy, by the way, was much beloved by another person I substacked recently, Mr Kooper. I regret not having had time or space to quote Al on Ragavoy in my article.

Expand full comment

You just filled in several black holes in my musical mind and imagination with this piece on Paul Griffin. You recaptured some of the ephemeral magic of those musical moments and personalities. Many thanks, and keep them coming.

Expand full comment

Thank you. If Griffin hadn't had such personal and medical problems, he'd be in the Rock Hall of Fame in the "Sidemen" category. He was also, as it happens, intellectually brilliant. But listen to that piano playing on Dylan's "One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)". Goosebumps. Dylan never even acknowledged Griffin's presence.

Expand full comment

Heā€™s driving the whole track without ever fully stepping out front. Tremendous artistry.

Expand full comment

By the way, your collective pieces on Ry Cooder flesh out the man and the artist better than just about anything Iā€™ve read on him, and Iā€™ve read everything I could find since about 1979. He is endlessly quotable.

Expand full comment

One really long, in-depth interview I did with RC that's hard to find is in Stopsmiling magazine of Jan 9, 2009. It's only online. I quote from it a lot in the piece I substacked, but there's a lot that I didn't quote. If you look at the Substack "episodes," you can pretty much see all the dates and titles. You will never find a copy of Musician magazine, January 1991, but I think I ran more or less that whole interview on Substacj. It's about Robert Johnson......

Expand full comment

I have a copy of that Musician magazine that I purchased when it came out. Oopsā€¦maybe Iā€™m thinking of the special edition on slide guitar. Anyway, I kept a handful of those, in part because of the Cooder interviews. Iā€™ll look for the Stopsmiling interview though.

Expand full comment

It's great playing. My piece about him gives you an idea of the total classics he's on, and is largely responsible for. "American Pie" is a stupid song, but if you listen to at the several uptempo climaxes, his piano is like a freight train......

Expand full comment