December
27th – There are some performers who never really make it in their own right or
at least only partially and yet anyone of stature in the music biz rates them,
wants to perform with them and uses them for recording work whenever possible.
Eric
Clapton is a recognised name who’s worked with many top names as either a
jobbing musician or a welcome addition to a recording session. He has a
worldwide reputation as someone who can hack it and fit into just about any
musical setting that can contain his reputation; but it's not him. The Beatles
have what one might class as a following
and each individual member has achieved some level of solo success, albeit if
only as a narrator for a talking train. George Harrison made a name for himself
outside of the Fab-Four crèche and
was reckoned to be the most musically adept of the quartet; but it's not him.
John Lennon was no slouch when it came to self-promotion of the song-writing
kind. His seminal group, The Plastic Ono
Band gathered musicians from several areas of the rock business, including
a guy many of the top flight musos would have given their eye-teeth to gig
with; but it's not him. Dave Mason of Traffic
garnered a reputation as a quality guitarist and sitar player and could sit-in
on anyone’s session, live or recorded; but it's not him.
IMHO
probably one of the best bands ever to be gathered together was that company of
talents known as The Mad Dogs and
Englishmen who accompanied Joe Cocker (much in the news at present due to
his sad demise) on his tour of the same name and acquitted themselves so well
in the face of a tour schedule that would fell lesser beasts, an alcohol intake
that would fill the dry dock at Falmouth and a chemical intake that the entire
six-month output of Hoffman-Laroche would’ve had trouble satisfying. Leon
Russell, Chris Stainton, Carl Raddle…these are musicians with a serious amount
of ability and experience who would grace any musical gathering and I’d figure
some if not all would be instantly recognisable to many.
You
may remember me posting, some time ago, a live track of a pick-up band to end
all pick-up bands and recorded at several venues including The Royal Albert
Hall, Fairfield Hall, Croydon Hall and the Colston Hall in Bristol
Mr.
Bramlett, who died on this day in 2008 was the person all the aforementioned
top-flight musicians queued up to either play with or have in their band and
yet his own musical legacy is highly underplayed, as was the high esteem his
wife, Bonnie, was held in. A seemingly highly approachable couple who could
always manage to spare time and trouble for up-and-coming musicians, there are
many who owe their start in the business to this couple, especially Mr.
Bramlett, but it was Bonnie who had the most effect on another, self-appraised
genius-in-his-own-opinion of the music scene, Elvis Costello.
Booze
often puts people into situations they’d rather not be in and when a drunk Mr.
Costello had a bit of a go at the US in general and Ray Charles in particular
(remember this was in 1979 when Mr. Costello was still trying to play the part
of a hard-nosed punk rocker) he found himself being slapped about by Ms.
Bramlett. It took a number of minders and roadies to separate her from him and
after the contretemps Ms. Bramlett said:
A lot of people may still remember me as
a tough chick, which I was. I’m sober now, but I’m still from East St. Louis
Seems
like she didn’t want to discuss it either.
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