1905 Bertha Hill*
1912 Lightnin’ Hopkins*
1929 Clarence Green*
1941 Hughie Flint*
1947 Ry Cooder*
1912 Lightnin’ Hopkins*
1929 Clarence Green*
1941 Hughie Flint*
1947 Ry Cooder*
Happy Birthday
Lightnin’ Hopkins *15.03.1912
Sam Hopkins, bekannt unter dem Künstlernamen Lightnin’ Hopkins (* 15. März 1912 in Centerville, Texas; † 30. Januar 1982 in Houston, Texas) war ein afroamerikanischer Blues-Sänger und -Gitarrist. Er gilt als einflussreicher Vertreter des Texas Blues.Hopkins stammte aus einer musikalischen Familie: Zwei ältere Brüder, Joel und John Henry, waren ebenfalls Bluesgitarristen, die Mitte der 1960er Jahre eine LP auf Arhoolie Records veröffentlichten. Den Blues lernte Hopkins in Buffalo, Texas, von Blind Lemon Jefferson und dem Country-Blues-Sänger Alger 'Texas' Alexander, angeblich seinem Cousin, mit dem er von Lola Anne Cullum von Aladdin Records in Los Angeles entdeckt wurde. Seinen Spitznamen „Lightnin’“ bekam er, als er 1946 mit dem Pianisten Thunder Smith Aufnahmen machte. Hopkins nahm für viele Plattenfirmen (Modern, Ace und anderen) auf, in den 1960er Jahren vor allem LPs bei Arhoolie und Prestige – meist mit Schlagzeug und Bass. Sonny Terry beteiligte ihn 1963 an seiner Produktion Sonny Is King. 1964 nahm Hopkins am American Folk Blues Festival teil.
Mitte der 1960er Jahre spielte er auf dem Newport Folk Festival mit dem Schlagzeuger Sam Lay. Diese Aufnahmen erschienen zum Teil auf Vanguard Records. Ende der 60er drehte der Dokumentarfilmer Les Blank den Film The Blues According To Lightning Hopkins mit Mance Lipscomb und dem Blues-Harp-Spieler Billy Bizor (1913-1969), der ein Cousin von Hopkins war und ihn bei einigen "Prestige Records" Studio-Sessions in den frühen 1960er Jahren begleitete. Zwei Jahre später, 1970, wurde ein britischer Film mit Hopkins gedreht: Blues Like Showers. Ein Autounfall in den 1970er Jahren beeinträchtigte seine Gesundheit, trotzdem tourte er weiter in Amerika und Europa. 1976 spielte er beim New Orleans Blues & Jazz Festival – dieser Auftritt erschien zum Teil auf einem Doppelalbum.
In den 1980er Jahren erkrankte Hopkins an Lungen- und Kehlkopf-Krebs, so dass er unter anderem seinen Auftritt beim Münchner Blues und Jazzfestival 1981 absagen musste und stattdessen sein Cousin Albert Collins für ihn einsprang.
Vorrangig spielte Hopkins eine akustische Gitarre (häufig von der Firma Gibson), die er mit einem Tonabnehmer elektrisch verstärkte. Seit den 1970er Jahren spielte er meist eine E-Gitarre, oft eine Fender Stratocaster, aber auch eine Halb-Resonanzgitarre der Firma Gibson. In der Regel spielte er in der Tonart E-Dur auf einer standardgestimmten Gitarre mit einem Daumenpick. In einigen anderen Liedern spielte Hopkins auch in der ersten Lage in der Tonart C-Dur - meist hatten diese Songs dann eher einen Folk- als Blues-Charakter. In diesen Liedern zupfte Hopkins einen Wechselbass auf seiner Gitarre, während er seine Bluessongs mit einem Walking Bass oder den jeweiligen Grundton des Akkords begleitete. Außer der Gitarre, die neben dem Gesang sein Hauptinstrument war, spielte Hopkins auch Piano und Orgel.
Hopkins war ein eigenwilliger Musiker, was sein Taktmaß und die Einhaltung von Harmonieschemen betraf. Dies hatte seinen Ursprung darin, dass sein bereits erwähnter Cousin Texas Alexander sich ebenfalls an keinerlei Regeln hielt, zumal dieser nur Sänger war. So war es für viele Begleitmusiker nicht immer einfach, Hopkins adäquat zu unterstützen.
Er beeinflusste vor allem Buddy Guy, Louisiana Red, Wild Child Butler und Jimmie Vaughan, aber auch den Singer-Songwriter Townes Van Zandt, der häufig bei seinen Konzerten Lieder von Hopkins spielte, und den texanischen Rockabilly-Musiker Sonny Fisher. Ein nach Hopkins benannter Song wurde von R.E.M. auf ihrem Album Document veröffentlicht.
1980 wurde Sam Lightnin’ Hopkins in die Blues Hall of Fame aufgenommen.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightnin%E2%80%99_Hopkins
Sam John Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982[1]), better known as Lightnin’ Hopkins, was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist, from Houston, Texas. Rolling Stone magazine included Hopkins at number 71 on their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.[2]
Musicologist Robert "Mack" McCormick opined that Hopkins "is the embodiment of the jazz-and-poetry spirit, representing its ancient form in the single creator whose words and music are one act".[3]
Life
Born Sam John Hopkins in Centerville, Texas,[4] Hopkins' childhood was immersed in the sounds of the blues and he developed a deeper appreciation at the age of 8 when he met Blind Lemon Jefferson at a church picnic in Buffalo, Texas.[1] That day, Hopkins felt the blues was "in him" and went on to learn from his older (somewhat distant) cousin, country blues singer Alger "Texas" Alexander.[1] Hopkins had another cousin, the Texas electric blues guitarist Frankie Lee Sims, with whom he later recorded.[5] Hopkins began accompanying Blind Lemon Jefferson on guitar in informal church gatherings. Jefferson supposedly never let anyone play with him except for young Hopkins, who learned much from and was influenced greatly by Blind Lemon Jefferson thanks to these gatherings. In the mid-1930s, Hopkins was sent to Houston County Prison Farm for an unknown offense.[1] In the late 1930s, Hopkins moved to Houston with Alexander in an unsuccessful attempt to break into the music scene there. By the early 1940s, he was back in Centerville working as a farm hand.
Hopkins took a second shot at Houston in 1946. While singing on Dowling St. in Houston's Third Ward (which would become his home base), he was discovered by Lola Anne Cullum from the Los Angeles-based record label Aladdin Records.[1] She convinced Hopkins to travel to Los Angeles, where he accompanied pianist Wilson Smith. The duo recorded twelve tracks in their first sessions in 1946. An Aladdin Records executive decided the pair needed more dynamism in their names and dubbed Hopkins "Lightnin'" and Wilson "Thunder".
Hopkins recorded more sides for Aladdin in 1947. He returned to Houston and began recording for the Gold Star Records label. During the late 1940s and 1950s Hopkins rarely performed outside Texas. He occasionally traveled to the Mid-West and Eastern United States for recording sessions and concert appearances. It has been estimated that he recorded between 800 and 1000 songs during his career. He performed regularly at clubs in and around Houston, particularly in Dowling St. where he had first been discovered. He recorded his hits "T-Model Blues" and "Tim Moore's Farm" at SugarHill Recording Studios in Houston. By the mid to late 1950s, his prodigious output of quality recordings had gained him a following among African Americans and blues music aficionados.
In 1959, Hopkins was contacted by Mack McCormick, who hoped to bring him to the attention of the broader musical audience, which was caught up in the folk revival.[1] McCormack presented Hopkins to integrated audiences first in Houston and then in California. Hopkins debuted at Carnegie Hall on October 14, 1960, appearing alongside Joan Baez and Pete Seeger performing the spiritual "Mary Don't You Weep". In 1960, he signed to Tradition Records. The recordings which followed included his song "Mojo Hand" in 1960.
In 1968, Hopkins recorded the album Free Form Patterns backed by the rhythm section of psychedelic rock band the 13th Floor Elevators. Through the 1960s and into the 1970s, Hopkins released one or sometimes two albums a year and toured, playing at major folk festivals and at folk clubs and on college campuses in the U.S. and internationally. He toured extensively in the United States[3] and played a six-city tour of Japan in 1978.
Houston's poet-in-residence for 35 years, Hopkins recorded more albums than any other bluesman.[3]
Hopkins died of esophageal cancer in Houston on January 30, 1982, at the age of 69. His New York Times obituary named him as "one of the great country blues and perhaps the greatest single influence on rock guitar players."[6]
References in popular culture
A statue of Hopkins sits in Crockett, Texas.[3]
Hopkins is referenced in Erykah Badu's 2010 "Window Seat": "I don't want to time-travel no more, I want to be here. On this porch I'm rockin', back and forth like Lightnin' Hopkins."
R.E.M features a song named "Lightnin' Hopkins" on their 1987 album Document.
Style
Hopkins' style was born from spending many hours playing informally without a backing band. His distinctive fingerstyle playing often included playing, in effect, bass, rhythm, lead, percussion, and vocals, all at the same time.[citation needed] He played both "alternating" and "monotonic" bass styles incorporating imaginative, often chromatic turnarounds and single-note lead lines. Tapping or slapping the body of his guitar added rhythmic accompaniment.
Much of Hopkins' music follows the standard 12-bar blues template but his phrasing was very free and loose. Many of his songs were in the talking blues style, but he was a powerful and confident singer.[citation needed] Lyrically his songs chronicled the problems of life in the segregated south, bad luck in love and other usual subjects of the blues idiom. He did however deal with these subjects with humor and good nature. Many of his songs are filled with double entendres and he was known for his humorous introductions.[citation needed]
Some of his songs were of warning and sour prediction such as "Fast Life Woman":
"You may see a fast life woman sittin' round a whiskey joint,
Yes, you know, she'll be sittin' there smilin',
'Cause she knows some man gonna buy her half a pint,
Take it easy, fast life woman, 'cause you ain't gon' live always..."
Musicologist Robert "Mack" McCormick opined that Hopkins "is the embodiment of the jazz-and-poetry spirit, representing its ancient form in the single creator whose words and music are one act".[3]
Life
Born Sam John Hopkins in Centerville, Texas,[4] Hopkins' childhood was immersed in the sounds of the blues and he developed a deeper appreciation at the age of 8 when he met Blind Lemon Jefferson at a church picnic in Buffalo, Texas.[1] That day, Hopkins felt the blues was "in him" and went on to learn from his older (somewhat distant) cousin, country blues singer Alger "Texas" Alexander.[1] Hopkins had another cousin, the Texas electric blues guitarist Frankie Lee Sims, with whom he later recorded.[5] Hopkins began accompanying Blind Lemon Jefferson on guitar in informal church gatherings. Jefferson supposedly never let anyone play with him except for young Hopkins, who learned much from and was influenced greatly by Blind Lemon Jefferson thanks to these gatherings. In the mid-1930s, Hopkins was sent to Houston County Prison Farm for an unknown offense.[1] In the late 1930s, Hopkins moved to Houston with Alexander in an unsuccessful attempt to break into the music scene there. By the early 1940s, he was back in Centerville working as a farm hand.
Hopkins took a second shot at Houston in 1946. While singing on Dowling St. in Houston's Third Ward (which would become his home base), he was discovered by Lola Anne Cullum from the Los Angeles-based record label Aladdin Records.[1] She convinced Hopkins to travel to Los Angeles, where he accompanied pianist Wilson Smith. The duo recorded twelve tracks in their first sessions in 1946. An Aladdin Records executive decided the pair needed more dynamism in their names and dubbed Hopkins "Lightnin'" and Wilson "Thunder".
Hopkins recorded more sides for Aladdin in 1947. He returned to Houston and began recording for the Gold Star Records label. During the late 1940s and 1950s Hopkins rarely performed outside Texas. He occasionally traveled to the Mid-West and Eastern United States for recording sessions and concert appearances. It has been estimated that he recorded between 800 and 1000 songs during his career. He performed regularly at clubs in and around Houston, particularly in Dowling St. where he had first been discovered. He recorded his hits "T-Model Blues" and "Tim Moore's Farm" at SugarHill Recording Studios in Houston. By the mid to late 1950s, his prodigious output of quality recordings had gained him a following among African Americans and blues music aficionados.
In 1959, Hopkins was contacted by Mack McCormick, who hoped to bring him to the attention of the broader musical audience, which was caught up in the folk revival.[1] McCormack presented Hopkins to integrated audiences first in Houston and then in California. Hopkins debuted at Carnegie Hall on October 14, 1960, appearing alongside Joan Baez and Pete Seeger performing the spiritual "Mary Don't You Weep". In 1960, he signed to Tradition Records. The recordings which followed included his song "Mojo Hand" in 1960.
In 1968, Hopkins recorded the album Free Form Patterns backed by the rhythm section of psychedelic rock band the 13th Floor Elevators. Through the 1960s and into the 1970s, Hopkins released one or sometimes two albums a year and toured, playing at major folk festivals and at folk clubs and on college campuses in the U.S. and internationally. He toured extensively in the United States[3] and played a six-city tour of Japan in 1978.
Houston's poet-in-residence for 35 years, Hopkins recorded more albums than any other bluesman.[3]
Hopkins died of esophageal cancer in Houston on January 30, 1982, at the age of 69. His New York Times obituary named him as "one of the great country blues and perhaps the greatest single influence on rock guitar players."[6]
References in popular culture
A statue of Hopkins sits in Crockett, Texas.[3]
Hopkins is referenced in Erykah Badu's 2010 "Window Seat": "I don't want to time-travel no more, I want to be here. On this porch I'm rockin', back and forth like Lightnin' Hopkins."
R.E.M features a song named "Lightnin' Hopkins" on their 1987 album Document.
Style
Hopkins' style was born from spending many hours playing informally without a backing band. His distinctive fingerstyle playing often included playing, in effect, bass, rhythm, lead, percussion, and vocals, all at the same time.[citation needed] He played both "alternating" and "monotonic" bass styles incorporating imaginative, often chromatic turnarounds and single-note lead lines. Tapping or slapping the body of his guitar added rhythmic accompaniment.
Much of Hopkins' music follows the standard 12-bar blues template but his phrasing was very free and loose. Many of his songs were in the talking blues style, but he was a powerful and confident singer.[citation needed] Lyrically his songs chronicled the problems of life in the segregated south, bad luck in love and other usual subjects of the blues idiom. He did however deal with these subjects with humor and good nature. Many of his songs are filled with double entendres and he was known for his humorous introductions.[citation needed]
Some of his songs were of warning and sour prediction such as "Fast Life Woman":
"You may see a fast life woman sittin' round a whiskey joint,
Yes, you know, she'll be sittin' there smilin',
'Cause she knows some man gonna buy her half a pint,
Take it easy, fast life woman, 'cause you ain't gon' live always..."
Ry Cooder *15.3.1947
Ry Cooder (* 15. März 1947 in Los Angeles), eigentlich Ryland Peter Cooder, ist ein US-amerikanischer Gitarrist, Komponist und Produzent. Seine weltweite Bekanntheit verdankt er in erster Linie seinem Spiel als Slide-Gitarrist.Cooder spielte als Session-Musiker unter anderem für Taj Mahal und die Rolling Stones[1]. Für die Aufnahmen von Safe as milk Captain Beefhearts Magic Band war er auch Arrangeur der Tracks tätig, bevor er ab 1970 Solo-Alben aufzunehmen begann. Auf diesen Alben bot Cooder eine stilistische Bandbreite, die ihresgleichen sucht. Technisch gilt er als einer der besten Gitarristen. Er beherrscht eine Vielzahl von Saiteninstrumenten (Mandoline, Saz und Bajo Sexto). Der große kommerzielle Durchbruch blieb ihm verwehrt, weil er mit seiner eklektizistischen Liedauswahl kein Massenpublikum ansprach und auch seine Gesangsstimme nicht ausdrucksvoll genug ist. Unter anderen ließ er sich von einem männlichen Vokaltrio begleiten und arrangierte alte Standards neu. Als eines der besten Alben gilt Chicken Skin Music (1976, mit dem Tex-Mex-Akkordeonisten Flaco Jimenez und dem hawaiischen Gitarristen Gabby Pahinui), auf dem eine Version des Klassikers Stand by Me in einem Gospel-Arrangement zu hören ist. Das zwei Jahre zuvor erschienene Album Paradise and Lunch stand diesem Album jedoch kaum nach und enthielt mit Ditty Wah Ditty, einer Kollaboration mit dem Pianisten Earl Hines, einen Höhepunkt. Mit Bop Till You Drop spielte der Gitarrist 1979 das erste digital aufgenommene Album der Rockgeschichte ein.
Seit den 1980er-Jahren konzentrierte sich Cooder auf Soundtracks in verschiedenen Genres, mit denen er kommerziell recht erfolgreich war. Dabei griff er auf seine bewährten Begleitmusiker (u. a. Jim Keltner) zurück. Am bekanntesten wurde der Soundtrack zum Film Paris, Texas von Wim Wenders, den er mit Jim Dickinson einspielte. Die Filmmusiken zu dem Western The Long Riders (mit David Lindley) und zur Blues-Geschichte Crossroads, eine Kooperation mit den Blueslegenden Sonny Terry und Brownie McGhee, verschaffen einen guten Eindruck von der stilistischen Bandbreite Cooders. Bis heute hat er mehr als zwanzig Filmmusiken komponiert.
Als Studiomusiker begleitete er unter anderen Künstler wie Gordon Lightfoot, die Rolling Stones (Love in Vain, Sister Morphine), Eric Clapton, Van Morrison (Full Force Gale), Randy Newman, Steve Ripley (The Tractors), Pops und Mavis Staples und John Lee Hooker. Daneben beteiligte er sich immer wieder an Weltmusik-Projekten, wobei er seiner Zeit weit voraus war. So spielte er 1974 zwei Platten mit Musikern aus Hawaii unter der Führung des bekannten einheimischen Musikers Gabby Pahinui ein.
Cooder beteiligte sich 1979 auch am No-Nukes-Konzert im Madison Square Garden in New York, bei dem sich Künstlerinnen und Künstler gegen Atomkraft engagierten.
1992 gründete Cooder mit John Hiatt, Nick Lowe und Jim Keltner die Supergroup Little Village, nachdem die Musiker bereits auf dem Hiatt-Album Bring the Family zusammen spielten. Die Gruppe veröffentlichte nur ein Album sowie diverse semi-offizielle Bootlegs.
Obwohl er schon früh vom Blues beeinflusst wurde, machte er sich einen Namen mit der Wiederbelebung der Traditionen der Weltmusik, einem Konzept, das seinerzeit völlig neu war. Er widmete sich der Country- und Folkmusik, dem Calypso, hawaiischer Musik, Gospel, Salsa, Jazz, Ragtime und Vaudeville. Dabei kreuzte sich sein Weg immer wieder mit dem der Chieftains, die sich ähnlich wie er für Tendenzen der Weltmusik interessieren.
Seit den frühen 1990er-Jahren arbeitete Cooder immer wieder mit Musikern aus anderen Kulturen, so aus Indien, Nordafrika und Südamerika, zum Beispiel mit Ali Farka Touré. Für seine Arbeit mit dem indischen Gitarristen Vishwa Mohan Bhatt erhielt er 1994 einen Grammy. Besonders erfolgreich war das Projekt Buena Vista Social Club. In ihm spielten von Juan de Marcos González ausgesuchte kubanische Musiker. Dem Projekt folgte ein gleichnamiger Dokumentarfilm (Regie: Wim Wenders) und zahlreiche Platten unter den Namen der beteiligten Kubaner. Auch sein Sohn, Joachim Cooder, spielte in der Band mit.
Auszeichnungen
Grammy
als „performing artist“
1988: Best Recording for Children („Pecos Bill“)
1993: Best World Music Album („A Meeting by the River“)
1994: Best World Music Album („Talking Timbuktu“)
1997: Best Tropical Latin Performance („Buena Vista Social Club“)
2003: Best Pop Instrumental Album („Mambo Sinuendo“)
als Produzent
2003: Best traditional tropical latin album („Buenos Hermanos“)
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ry_Cooder
Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder (born March 15, 1947)[1] is an American musician and composer. He is a multi-instrumentalist, but is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music from the United States, and, more recently, his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.
His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing many genres including Americana, folk, blues, Tex-Mex, soul, gospel, rock, and much more. He has collaborated with many musicians, notably including Captain Beefheart, Ali Farka Touré, Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, Van Morrison, Neil Young, Randy Newman, David Lindley, The Chieftains, and The Doobie Brothers. He briefly formed a band named Little Village.
Ry Cooder produced the Buena Vista Social Club album (1997), which became a worldwide hit. Wim Wenders directed the documentary film of the same name (1999), which was nominated for an Academy Award in 2000.
He was ranked eighth on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".[2] A 2010 ranking by Gibson placed him at number 32.[3]
Early life
Cooder grew up in Santa Monica, California and graduated from Santa Monica High School in 1964. During the 1960s, he briefly attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon.[4] He began playing the guitar when he was three years old.[5] He has had a glass eye since he was four, when he accidentally stuck a knife in his left eye.[5]
Career
1960s
Cooder first attracted attention playing with Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, notably on the 1967 album Safe As Milk, after previously having worked with Taj Mahal and Ed Cassidy in the Rising Sons. It is said that he quit the Magic Band after Beefheart fell offstage at a music festival, later claiming to have seen a girl in the audience transform into a goldfish. He also played with Randy Newman at this time, including on 12 Songs.[6] Van Dyke Parks worked with Newman and Cooder during the 1960s. Parks arranged Cooder's "One Meatball" according to Parks' 1984 interview by Bob Claster.
Cooder was a session musician on various recording sessions with the The Rolling Stones in 1968 and 1969, and his contributions appear on the albums Let It Bleed (mandolin on "Love in Vain"), and Sticky Fingers, on which he contributed the slide guitar on "Sister Morphine". During this period, Cooder joined with Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, and longtime Rolling Stones sideman Nicky Hopkins to record Jamming with Edward!. Cooder also played slide guitar for the 1970 film soundtrack Performance, which contained Jagger's first solo single, "Memo from Turner". The 1975 compilation album Metamorphosis features an uncredited Cooder contribution on Bill Wyman's "Downtown Suzie".
Ry Cooder also collaborated with Lowell George of Little Feat, playing slide guitar on the original version of "Willin'".[7]
1970s
Throughout the 1970s, Cooder released a series of Warner Bros. Records albums that showcased his guitar work, initially on the Reprise Records label, before being reassigned to the main Warners label along with many of Reprise's artists when the company retired the imprint. Cooder explored bygone musical genres and found old-time recordings which he then personalized and updated. Thus, on his breakthrough album, Into the Purple Valley, he chose unusual instrumentations and arrangements of blues, gospel, calypso, and country songs (giving a tempo change to the cowboy ballad "Billy the Kid"). The album opened with the song "How Can You Keep on Moving (Unless You Migrate Too)" by Agnes "Sis" Cunningham about the Okies who were not welcomed when they migrated west to escape the Dust Bowl in the 1930s – to which Cooder gave a rousing-yet-satirical march accompaniment. In 1970 he collaborated with Ron Nagle and performed on his "Bad Rice" album released on Warner Brothers. His later 1970s albums (with the exception of Jazz, which explored ragtime/vaudeville) do not fall under a single genre description, but his self-titled first album could be described as blues; Into the Purple Valley, Boomer's Story, and Paradise and Lunch as folk and blues; Chicken Skin Music and Showtime as a mix of Tex-Mex and Hawaiian; Bop Till You Drop as 1950s' R&B; and Borderline and Get Rhythm as rock-based. His 1979 album Bop Till You Drop was the first popular music album to be recorded digitally. It yielded his biggest hit, an R&B cover version of Elvis Presley's 1960s recording "Little Sister". Cooder is credited on Van Morrison's 1979 album, Into the Music, for slide guitar on the song "Full Force Gale". He also played guitar on Judy Collins' 1970 concert tour, and is featured on Living, the 1971 live album recorded during that tour.
1980s
Cooder has worked as a studio musician and has also scored many film soundtracks including Wim Wenders film Paris, Texas (1984). Cooder based this soundtrack and title song "Paris, Texas" on Blind Willie Johnson's "Dark Was the Night (Cold Was the Ground)", which he described as "The most soulful, transcendent piece in all American music."[8] Musician Dave Grohl has declared Cooder's score for Paris, Texas one of his favorite albums.[9]
"Dark Was the Night (Cold Was the Ground)" was also the basis for Cooder's song "Powis Square" for the movie Performance. His other film work includes Walter Hill's The Long Riders (1980), Southern Comfort (1981), Streets of Fire (1984), Brewster's Millions (1985), Johnny Handsome,[10] Last Man Standing (1996), Hill's Trespass (1992) and Mike Nichols' Primary Colors (1998). Cooder along with Arlen Roth dubbed all slide guitar parts in the 1986 film Crossroads, a take on blues legend Robert Johnson. In 1988, Cooder produced the album by his longtime backing vocalists Bobby King and Terry Evans on Rounder Records titled Live and Let Live. He contributed his slide guitar work to every track. He also plays extensively on their 1990 self-produced Rounder release Rhythm, Blues, Soul & Grooves. Cooder's music also appeared on two episodes of the television program "Tales From the Crypt" – "The Man Who Was Death" and "The Thing From the Grave."[11]
In 1984, Ry played on two songs on the debut album by Carla Olson & the Textones Midnight Mission – "Carla's Number One is to Survive" and the previously unreleased Bob Dylan song "Clean Cut Kid". Shortly thereafter he was writing and recording the music for the film Blue City and asked the band to appear in the film performing. (He took them in the studio and produced "You Can Run" which he also played on.)
In 1985, Ry was a guest artist on the song "Rough Edges" from Kim Carnes' album Barking at Airplanes. Kim named her son Ry as a tribute to Ry Cooder.
Also in 1988 he produced and featured in the Les Blank directed concert documentary film Ry Cooder & The Moula Banda Rhythm Aces: Let's Have a Ball where he plays in collaboration with a selection of musicians famous in their various musical fields.[12] The following year, he played a janitor in the Jim Henson series The Ghost of Faffner Hall, in the episode "Music Is More Than Technique".[13][14]
1990s
In the early 1990s Cooder collaborated on two world music "crossover" albums, which blended the traditional American musical genres that Cooder has championed throughout his career with the contemporary improvised music of India and Africa. For A Meeting by the River (1993), which also featured his son Joachim Cooder on percussion, he teamed with Hindustani classical musician V.M. Bhatt, a virtuoso of the Mohan Veena, a modified 20-string archtop guitar of Bhatt's own invention and Sukhvinder Singh Namdhari also known as Pinky Tabla Player (Disciple of PT Kishan Maharaj Ji) has the ability to capture audience with his Dynamic Rhythm and Sound. In 1995 he teamed with African multi-instrumentalist Ali Farka Toure on the album Talking Timbuktu, which he also produced; the album also featured longtime Cooder collaborator Jim Keltner on drums, veteran blues guitarist Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, jazz bassist John Patitucci and African percussionists and musicians including Hamma Sankare and Oumar Toure. Both albums won the Grammy Award for 'Best World Music Album' in 1994 and 1995 respectively. Cooder also worked with Tuvan throat singers for the score to the 1993 film Geronimo: An American Legend.
In 1995 he performed in The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True, a musical performance of the popular story at the Lincoln Center in New York to benefit the Children's Defense Fund. The performance was originally broadcast on Turner Network Television (TNT), and was issued on CD and video in 1996.
In the late 1990s Cooder played a significant role in the increased appreciation of traditional Cuban music, due to his collaboration as producer of the Buena Vista Social Club (1997) recording, which became a worldwide hit and revived the careers of some of the greatest surviving exponents of 20th century Cuban music. Wim Wenders, who had previously directed 1984's Paris, Texas, directed a documentary film of the musicians involved, Buena Vista Social Club (1999), which was nominated for an Academy Award in 2000.[15] The enterprise cost him a $25,000 dollar fine for violating the United States embargo against Cuba.[16][17]
2000s
Cooder's 2005 album Chávez Ravine was touted by his record label as being "a post-World War II-era American narrative of 'cool cats', radios, UFO sightings, J. Edgar Hoover, red scares, and baseball".[18] The record is a tribute to the long-gone Los Angeles Latino enclave known as Chávez Ravine. Using real and imagined historical characters, Cooder and friends created an album that recollects various aspects of the poor but vibrant hillside Chicano community which no longer exists. Cooder says, "Here is some music for a place you don’t know, up a road you don’t go. Chávez Ravine, where the sidewalk ends."[18] Drawing from the various musical strains of Los Angeles, including conjunto, R&B, Latin pop, and jazz, Cooder and friends conjure the ghosts of Chávez Ravine and Los Angeles at mid-century. On this fifteen-track album, sung in Spanish and English, Cooder is joined by East L.A. legends like Chicano music patriarch Lalo Guerrero, Pachuco boogie king Don Tosti, Thee Midniters front man Little Willie G, and Ersi Arvizu, of The Sisters and El Chicano.
Cooder's next record was released in 2007. Entitled My Name Is Buddy, it tells the story of Buddy Red Cat, who travels and sees the world in the company of his like-minded friends, Lefty Mouse and Rev. Tom Toad. The entire recording is a parable of the working class progressivism[19] of the first half of the American twentieth century, and even has a song featuring executed unionist Joe Hill. My Name Is Buddy was accompanied by a booklet featuring a story and illustration (by Vincent Valdez) for each track, providing additional context to Buddy's adventures.
Cooder produced and performed on an album for Mavis Staples entitled We'll Never Turn Back, which was released on April 24, 2007. The concept album focused on Gospel songs of the civil rights movement and also included two new original songs by Cooder.[20]
Ry Cooder's album I, Flathead was released on June 24, 2008. It is the completion of his California trilogy. Based on the drag racing culture of the early 1960s, the album is set on the desert salt flats in southern California. The disc was also released as a deluxe edition with stories written by Cooder to accompany the music.
In late 2009, Cooder toured Japan, New Zealand and Australia with Nick Lowe, performing some of Lowe's songs and a selection of Cooder's own material, mainly from the 1970s. Joaquim Cooder (Ry's son) provided percussion, and Juliette Commagere and Alex Lilly contributed backing vocals.
The song "Diaraby", which Cooder recorded with Ali Farka Touré, is used as the theme to The World's Geo Quiz. The World is a radio show distributed by Public Radio International.
In 2009, Cooder performed in The People Speak, a documentary feature film that uses dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans, based on historian Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. Cooder performed with Bob Dylan and Van Dyke Parks on the documentary broadcast on December 13, 2009 on the History Channel. They played "Do Re Mi" and reportedly a couple of other Guthrie songs that were excluded from the final edit. He also traveled with the band Los Tigres del Norte and recorded the 2010 album San Patricio with the Chieftains, Lila Downs, Liam Neeson, Linda Ronstadt, Van Dyke Parks, Los Cenzontles, and Los Tigres.[21][22]
2010s
In June 2010, responding to the passage of Arizona SB 1070, he released the single "Quicksand", which tells the story of Mexicans attempting to emigrate to Arizona through the desert.[23][24] Cooder's critically acclaimed[25][26] new album Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down, released on August 30, 2011, contains politically charged songs such as "No Banker Left Behind"[27] which was inspired by a Robert Scheer column.[28]
In 2011, he published a collection of short stories called Los Angeles Stories, written about people living in Los Angeles in the 1940s and 1950s. The book's characters are mostly talented or skilled, clever or hardworking people living in humble circumstances. With story titles such as "La vida es un sueño" and "Kill me, por favor", the collection's stories often have a Hispanic theme, and the book deals partially with Latinos living in Los Angeles during this time.
An American Songwriter article in 2012 suggested that Cooder's recent string of solo albums have often taken on an allegorical, sociopolitical bent. Music journalist Evan Schlansky said that "Cooder’s latest effort, Election Special (released August 21, 2012, on Nonesuch/Perro Verde) doesn’t mince words. It’s designed to send a message to the “'deacons in the High Church of the Next Dollar'.”[29] He also composed a full album (Election Special) as his own part of support to the Democratic Party and its president Barack Obama in the 2012 American Presidential Election.
On September 10, 2013, Ry Cooder released Live in San Francisco, featuring the Corridos Famosos band, including Joachim Cooder on drums; Robert Francis on bass; vocalists Terry Evans, Arnold McCuller, and Juliette Commagere; Flaco Jiménez on accordion; and the Mexican brass band La Banda Juvenil. The album was recorded during a two-night run at Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, August 31 and September 1, 2011. It is Cooder's first official live recording since Show Time in 1977 (which had also been recorded at Great American Music Hall).[30]
Awards
1988 Grammy Award (Best Recording for Children) – Pecos Bill, producer (Rabbit Ears
Productions)
1993 Grammy Award (Best World Music Album) – A Meeting by the River(With Pt. Vishwa
Mohan Bhatt)
1994 Grammy Award (Best World Music Album) – Talking Timbuktu with Ali Farka Toure
1997 Grammy Award (Best Tropical Latin Performance) – Buena Vista Social Club
2003 Grammy Award (Best Pop Instrumental Album) – Mambo Sinuendo with Manuel Galbán
2003 Grammy Award (Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album) – Buenos Hermanos, producer
(Ibrahim Ferrer, artist)[31]
2000 – Ry Cooder received an honorary doctorate from Queen's University, Canada
2001 – Ry Cooder received an honorary doctorate from the California Institute of the Arts
His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing many genres including Americana, folk, blues, Tex-Mex, soul, gospel, rock, and much more. He has collaborated with many musicians, notably including Captain Beefheart, Ali Farka Touré, Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, Van Morrison, Neil Young, Randy Newman, David Lindley, The Chieftains, and The Doobie Brothers. He briefly formed a band named Little Village.
Ry Cooder produced the Buena Vista Social Club album (1997), which became a worldwide hit. Wim Wenders directed the documentary film of the same name (1999), which was nominated for an Academy Award in 2000.
He was ranked eighth on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".[2] A 2010 ranking by Gibson placed him at number 32.[3]
Early life
Cooder grew up in Santa Monica, California and graduated from Santa Monica High School in 1964. During the 1960s, he briefly attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon.[4] He began playing the guitar when he was three years old.[5] He has had a glass eye since he was four, when he accidentally stuck a knife in his left eye.[5]
Career
1960s
Cooder first attracted attention playing with Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, notably on the 1967 album Safe As Milk, after previously having worked with Taj Mahal and Ed Cassidy in the Rising Sons. It is said that he quit the Magic Band after Beefheart fell offstage at a music festival, later claiming to have seen a girl in the audience transform into a goldfish. He also played with Randy Newman at this time, including on 12 Songs.[6] Van Dyke Parks worked with Newman and Cooder during the 1960s. Parks arranged Cooder's "One Meatball" according to Parks' 1984 interview by Bob Claster.
Cooder was a session musician on various recording sessions with the The Rolling Stones in 1968 and 1969, and his contributions appear on the albums Let It Bleed (mandolin on "Love in Vain"), and Sticky Fingers, on which he contributed the slide guitar on "Sister Morphine". During this period, Cooder joined with Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, and longtime Rolling Stones sideman Nicky Hopkins to record Jamming with Edward!. Cooder also played slide guitar for the 1970 film soundtrack Performance, which contained Jagger's first solo single, "Memo from Turner". The 1975 compilation album Metamorphosis features an uncredited Cooder contribution on Bill Wyman's "Downtown Suzie".
Ry Cooder also collaborated with Lowell George of Little Feat, playing slide guitar on the original version of "Willin'".[7]
1970s
Throughout the 1970s, Cooder released a series of Warner Bros. Records albums that showcased his guitar work, initially on the Reprise Records label, before being reassigned to the main Warners label along with many of Reprise's artists when the company retired the imprint. Cooder explored bygone musical genres and found old-time recordings which he then personalized and updated. Thus, on his breakthrough album, Into the Purple Valley, he chose unusual instrumentations and arrangements of blues, gospel, calypso, and country songs (giving a tempo change to the cowboy ballad "Billy the Kid"). The album opened with the song "How Can You Keep on Moving (Unless You Migrate Too)" by Agnes "Sis" Cunningham about the Okies who were not welcomed when they migrated west to escape the Dust Bowl in the 1930s – to which Cooder gave a rousing-yet-satirical march accompaniment. In 1970 he collaborated with Ron Nagle and performed on his "Bad Rice" album released on Warner Brothers. His later 1970s albums (with the exception of Jazz, which explored ragtime/vaudeville) do not fall under a single genre description, but his self-titled first album could be described as blues; Into the Purple Valley, Boomer's Story, and Paradise and Lunch as folk and blues; Chicken Skin Music and Showtime as a mix of Tex-Mex and Hawaiian; Bop Till You Drop as 1950s' R&B; and Borderline and Get Rhythm as rock-based. His 1979 album Bop Till You Drop was the first popular music album to be recorded digitally. It yielded his biggest hit, an R&B cover version of Elvis Presley's 1960s recording "Little Sister". Cooder is credited on Van Morrison's 1979 album, Into the Music, for slide guitar on the song "Full Force Gale". He also played guitar on Judy Collins' 1970 concert tour, and is featured on Living, the 1971 live album recorded during that tour.
1980s
Cooder has worked as a studio musician and has also scored many film soundtracks including Wim Wenders film Paris, Texas (1984). Cooder based this soundtrack and title song "Paris, Texas" on Blind Willie Johnson's "Dark Was the Night (Cold Was the Ground)", which he described as "The most soulful, transcendent piece in all American music."[8] Musician Dave Grohl has declared Cooder's score for Paris, Texas one of his favorite albums.[9]
"Dark Was the Night (Cold Was the Ground)" was also the basis for Cooder's song "Powis Square" for the movie Performance. His other film work includes Walter Hill's The Long Riders (1980), Southern Comfort (1981), Streets of Fire (1984), Brewster's Millions (1985), Johnny Handsome,[10] Last Man Standing (1996), Hill's Trespass (1992) and Mike Nichols' Primary Colors (1998). Cooder along with Arlen Roth dubbed all slide guitar parts in the 1986 film Crossroads, a take on blues legend Robert Johnson. In 1988, Cooder produced the album by his longtime backing vocalists Bobby King and Terry Evans on Rounder Records titled Live and Let Live. He contributed his slide guitar work to every track. He also plays extensively on their 1990 self-produced Rounder release Rhythm, Blues, Soul & Grooves. Cooder's music also appeared on two episodes of the television program "Tales From the Crypt" – "The Man Who Was Death" and "The Thing From the Grave."[11]
In 1984, Ry played on two songs on the debut album by Carla Olson & the Textones Midnight Mission – "Carla's Number One is to Survive" and the previously unreleased Bob Dylan song "Clean Cut Kid". Shortly thereafter he was writing and recording the music for the film Blue City and asked the band to appear in the film performing. (He took them in the studio and produced "You Can Run" which he also played on.)
In 1985, Ry was a guest artist on the song "Rough Edges" from Kim Carnes' album Barking at Airplanes. Kim named her son Ry as a tribute to Ry Cooder.
Also in 1988 he produced and featured in the Les Blank directed concert documentary film Ry Cooder & The Moula Banda Rhythm Aces: Let's Have a Ball where he plays in collaboration with a selection of musicians famous in their various musical fields.[12] The following year, he played a janitor in the Jim Henson series The Ghost of Faffner Hall, in the episode "Music Is More Than Technique".[13][14]
1990s
In the early 1990s Cooder collaborated on two world music "crossover" albums, which blended the traditional American musical genres that Cooder has championed throughout his career with the contemporary improvised music of India and Africa. For A Meeting by the River (1993), which also featured his son Joachim Cooder on percussion, he teamed with Hindustani classical musician V.M. Bhatt, a virtuoso of the Mohan Veena, a modified 20-string archtop guitar of Bhatt's own invention and Sukhvinder Singh Namdhari also known as Pinky Tabla Player (Disciple of PT Kishan Maharaj Ji) has the ability to capture audience with his Dynamic Rhythm and Sound. In 1995 he teamed with African multi-instrumentalist Ali Farka Toure on the album Talking Timbuktu, which he also produced; the album also featured longtime Cooder collaborator Jim Keltner on drums, veteran blues guitarist Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, jazz bassist John Patitucci and African percussionists and musicians including Hamma Sankare and Oumar Toure. Both albums won the Grammy Award for 'Best World Music Album' in 1994 and 1995 respectively. Cooder also worked with Tuvan throat singers for the score to the 1993 film Geronimo: An American Legend.
In 1995 he performed in The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True, a musical performance of the popular story at the Lincoln Center in New York to benefit the Children's Defense Fund. The performance was originally broadcast on Turner Network Television (TNT), and was issued on CD and video in 1996.
In the late 1990s Cooder played a significant role in the increased appreciation of traditional Cuban music, due to his collaboration as producer of the Buena Vista Social Club (1997) recording, which became a worldwide hit and revived the careers of some of the greatest surviving exponents of 20th century Cuban music. Wim Wenders, who had previously directed 1984's Paris, Texas, directed a documentary film of the musicians involved, Buena Vista Social Club (1999), which was nominated for an Academy Award in 2000.[15] The enterprise cost him a $25,000 dollar fine for violating the United States embargo against Cuba.[16][17]
2000s
Cooder's 2005 album Chávez Ravine was touted by his record label as being "a post-World War II-era American narrative of 'cool cats', radios, UFO sightings, J. Edgar Hoover, red scares, and baseball".[18] The record is a tribute to the long-gone Los Angeles Latino enclave known as Chávez Ravine. Using real and imagined historical characters, Cooder and friends created an album that recollects various aspects of the poor but vibrant hillside Chicano community which no longer exists. Cooder says, "Here is some music for a place you don’t know, up a road you don’t go. Chávez Ravine, where the sidewalk ends."[18] Drawing from the various musical strains of Los Angeles, including conjunto, R&B, Latin pop, and jazz, Cooder and friends conjure the ghosts of Chávez Ravine and Los Angeles at mid-century. On this fifteen-track album, sung in Spanish and English, Cooder is joined by East L.A. legends like Chicano music patriarch Lalo Guerrero, Pachuco boogie king Don Tosti, Thee Midniters front man Little Willie G, and Ersi Arvizu, of The Sisters and El Chicano.
Cooder's next record was released in 2007. Entitled My Name Is Buddy, it tells the story of Buddy Red Cat, who travels and sees the world in the company of his like-minded friends, Lefty Mouse and Rev. Tom Toad. The entire recording is a parable of the working class progressivism[19] of the first half of the American twentieth century, and even has a song featuring executed unionist Joe Hill. My Name Is Buddy was accompanied by a booklet featuring a story and illustration (by Vincent Valdez) for each track, providing additional context to Buddy's adventures.
Cooder produced and performed on an album for Mavis Staples entitled We'll Never Turn Back, which was released on April 24, 2007. The concept album focused on Gospel songs of the civil rights movement and also included two new original songs by Cooder.[20]
Ry Cooder's album I, Flathead was released on June 24, 2008. It is the completion of his California trilogy. Based on the drag racing culture of the early 1960s, the album is set on the desert salt flats in southern California. The disc was also released as a deluxe edition with stories written by Cooder to accompany the music.
In late 2009, Cooder toured Japan, New Zealand and Australia with Nick Lowe, performing some of Lowe's songs and a selection of Cooder's own material, mainly from the 1970s. Joaquim Cooder (Ry's son) provided percussion, and Juliette Commagere and Alex Lilly contributed backing vocals.
The song "Diaraby", which Cooder recorded with Ali Farka Touré, is used as the theme to The World's Geo Quiz. The World is a radio show distributed by Public Radio International.
In 2009, Cooder performed in The People Speak, a documentary feature film that uses dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans, based on historian Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. Cooder performed with Bob Dylan and Van Dyke Parks on the documentary broadcast on December 13, 2009 on the History Channel. They played "Do Re Mi" and reportedly a couple of other Guthrie songs that were excluded from the final edit. He also traveled with the band Los Tigres del Norte and recorded the 2010 album San Patricio with the Chieftains, Lila Downs, Liam Neeson, Linda Ronstadt, Van Dyke Parks, Los Cenzontles, and Los Tigres.[21][22]
2010s
In June 2010, responding to the passage of Arizona SB 1070, he released the single "Quicksand", which tells the story of Mexicans attempting to emigrate to Arizona through the desert.[23][24] Cooder's critically acclaimed[25][26] new album Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down, released on August 30, 2011, contains politically charged songs such as "No Banker Left Behind"[27] which was inspired by a Robert Scheer column.[28]
In 2011, he published a collection of short stories called Los Angeles Stories, written about people living in Los Angeles in the 1940s and 1950s. The book's characters are mostly talented or skilled, clever or hardworking people living in humble circumstances. With story titles such as "La vida es un sueño" and "Kill me, por favor", the collection's stories often have a Hispanic theme, and the book deals partially with Latinos living in Los Angeles during this time.
An American Songwriter article in 2012 suggested that Cooder's recent string of solo albums have often taken on an allegorical, sociopolitical bent. Music journalist Evan Schlansky said that "Cooder’s latest effort, Election Special (released August 21, 2012, on Nonesuch/Perro Verde) doesn’t mince words. It’s designed to send a message to the “'deacons in the High Church of the Next Dollar'.”[29] He also composed a full album (Election Special) as his own part of support to the Democratic Party and its president Barack Obama in the 2012 American Presidential Election.
On September 10, 2013, Ry Cooder released Live in San Francisco, featuring the Corridos Famosos band, including Joachim Cooder on drums; Robert Francis on bass; vocalists Terry Evans, Arnold McCuller, and Juliette Commagere; Flaco Jiménez on accordion; and the Mexican brass band La Banda Juvenil. The album was recorded during a two-night run at Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, August 31 and September 1, 2011. It is Cooder's first official live recording since Show Time in 1977 (which had also been recorded at Great American Music Hall).[30]
Awards
1988 Grammy Award (Best Recording for Children) – Pecos Bill, producer (Rabbit Ears
Productions)
1993 Grammy Award (Best World Music Album) – A Meeting by the River(With Pt. Vishwa
Mohan Bhatt)
1994 Grammy Award (Best World Music Album) – Talking Timbuktu with Ali Farka Toure
1997 Grammy Award (Best Tropical Latin Performance) – Buena Vista Social Club
2003 Grammy Award (Best Pop Instrumental Album) – Mambo Sinuendo with Manuel Galbán
2003 Grammy Award (Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album) – Buenos Hermanos, producer
(Ibrahim Ferrer, artist)[31]
2000 – Ry Cooder received an honorary doctorate from Queen's University, Canada
2001 – Ry Cooder received an honorary doctorate from the California Institute of the Arts
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Hughie Flint *15.03.1941
Hughie Flint (* 15. März 1941 in Manchester, Lancashire) ist ein englischer Schlagzeuger, der bei verschiedenen englischen Bluesgruppen gespielt hat.
Hughie Flint wurde in Manchester geboren und begann im Alter von 9 Jahren mit dem Schlagzeugspiel. Flint begegnete erstmals John Mayall als dieser in einem örtlichen Jugendclub Musik unterrichtete und die Liebe Flints zum Blues weckte. Im Frühling 1964 wurde Flint Trommler von John Mayalls Bluesbreakers, bei denen er bis 1969 spielte.[1]
1970 gründete er mit dem ehemaligen Gitarristen von Manfred Mann, Tom McGuinness, die Band McGuinness Flint, die mit When I’m Dead and Gone den zweiten Platz der UK Charts erreichte. Nach dem Misserfolg der zweiten Langspielplatte wurde die Gruppe mehrmals umbesetzt und nahm noch einige Alben auf, endgültig aufgelöst wurde sie erst 1975.[2]
1979 war er Gründungsmitglied von The Blues Band, gemeinsam mit Dave Kelly, Paul Jones, Gary Fletcher und Tom McGuiness. Nach der Veröffentlichung von Itchy Feet verließ er die Band und kehrte auch dem Musikgeschäft den Rücken zu.
In den späten 1980er-Jahren trat er in der Dokumentation Rock Family Trees auf, um über Mayalls Bluesbreakers und ihre verschiedenen Ableger zu sprechen. In einer BBC-Dokumentation wurde 1995 berichtet, dass er inzwischen als Pförtner in der Universität Oxford arbeitet.
Hughie Flint (born 15 March 1941, Manchester, Lancashire), is an English drummer, best known for his stint in John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, playing drums on the Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton album, released in 1966, for his group McGuinness Flint in the early 1970s and for his subsequent association with The Blues Band.
Flint played in the Bluesbreakers on and off for five years, playing an integral part in their blues based sound partly influenced his love of jazz. He appeared on the Bluesbreakers' albums John Mayall Plays John Mayall (1965) and Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton (1966, a.k.a. the Beano album). His place in the group was taken by Aynsley Dunbar. Flint then played with Alexis Korner and Savoy Brown.[1][2]
In 1970, Flint formed McGuinness Flint with Tom McGuinness, former guitarist and bassist with Manfred Mann.[3] They reached number 2 in the UK Singles chart with "When I'm Dead And Gone", which was followed in 1971 by another hit single, "Malt and Barley Blues", which peaked at number 5. They also cut their self-titled debut album in 1970, which reached the Top 10 of the UK Albums Chart in 1971. However the early success of the group proved to be short lived. Despite featuring the production skills of Glyn Johns and the accompaniment of pianist Nicky Hopkins, their second album Happy Birthday, Ruthy Baby proved to be the end of the original line-up. Multi-instrumentalist band members Benny Gallagher and Graham Lyle left the group following its release. McGuinness and Flint teamed up with Dennis Coulson and Dixie Dean to release the album Lo and Behold in 1972, which consisted solely of obscure Bob Dylan covers.[4] Shortly after this Coulson left. Despite the release of two further albums and a Greatest Hits collection in 1973, the band split in 1975. Flint played with the Bonzo Dog Band from 1971 and appeared until their final album, Let's Make Up And Be Friendly.[5]
In 1977, Flint was the drummer and bodhrán player on the album Suburban Ethnia by the band Chanter.
Flint's last band based venture was in The Blues Band, a supergroup composed of Dave Kelly, Gary Fletcher, McGuinness and fellow Manfred Mann veteran singer Paul Jones. Their debut, The Official Bootleg Album, was released in 1980, and Flint also appeared on their follow-up albums Ready (1980) and Itchy Feet (1981) before departing.
In 1995 Flint appeared on the BBC television documentary, Rock Family Trees, to discuss the history of the Bluesbreakers and the many off-shoots of the band. By that time he was working as a porter at Mansfield College, Oxford, from where he retired in 2007.[6]
Flint also featured on records by Georgie Fame, Jack Dupree and Tom Newman amongst others.
Genaki Ahmed Rahman & Hugh Flint. Video by Andy Jillings
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