![]() ![]() I was particularly hard on Alice in a musical sense, always working on her to do the 'impossible' parts I wanted to hear. In all fairness, Jean and Alice were much more tractable and willing to explore styles that were foreign to them. We were the bane of each others' existence! In a mixed or male band, that would have been easily solved by walking, but there we were signed to a major label and, as much of an I'm-all-right-Jack as I was, I wouldn't have walked out on Alice and Jean again because I knew they wouldn't be able to replace me.don't forget that young rock keyboard players with tits were just about nonexistent back then. I felt then - and still feel - that that was a tragedy, because she could play the most delicious dirty rock lead and was a decent rock rhythm player too, but getting her to do these styles was like pulling teeth. June and I were butting heads constantly from the off because she was into softer music. They liked the Beatles - I had no problem with that - but they seemed to know most of the vanilla Motown girl-group songs, and that did *not* go down well with me. So I asked what music they were into, and was equally appalled by the answer. I remember thinking "Oh sh¡t, I'm in trouble here already, they don't even know what a blues progression is!" and being freaked by that. When I went to meet and audition for Alice, Jean and June for the first time, and we were about to have a first experimental jam, I said, "I don't know if we're into the same kinds of music, so why don't we just try a simple 1-4-5 blues, you know, a 12-bar jam," and I was answered by three totally blank looks. Our musical backgrounds were galaxies apart. Some other influential tracks from back then were 'Cissy Strut' by the Meters, 'Soulfinger' by the Bar-Kays,'99 and a Half' by Wilson Pickett, and oddly enough, a record by a non-musician: Bill Cosby's 'Basketball Jones'! In the early 70s I got bitten by the funk bug, too…Sly, Bootsy, the Georges, Ohio Players, Johnny Watson.but by then my inner style was already set from the previous, so these were more an affirmation than an influence. I found it unspeakably vanilla, especially the Supremes, and when I first met Wild Honey, it was seven strikes against them in my book because they were Supremes fans. Ironically, the one type of soul that revolted me was Motown (with the exception of Stevie). I loved all the Atlantic/Atco stuff, and especially the Stax/Volt stuff, and was very, very lucky because I got to see all these people live. I'd also have to give a special mention to my big brother, who turned me on to the first two Taj Mahal albums, The Nat'ch'l Blues and Taj Mahal, when they first came out the moment I heard 'Good Morning Miss Brown', it was like I'd always been there. The next wonderful things my Dad did for me included The Franklin Sisters (before Aretha went solo!…and it was either Erma or Caroline who originally sang 'Piece Of My Heart', which is why I've never had the least time for Janis Joplin), early Gladys Knight, the Staples Singers, remember to ask me about them later as there's an amusing and significant story in it, and best of all, both James Brown and Etta James. Then came the important part: my Dad was a fan of Black music and brought home the most wonderful stuff - Gospel, New Orleans Trad jazz, and most important of all, Ray Charles. ![]() ![]() Next were Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis, plus a bit of Patsy Kline…I have to say that Floyd Kramer's legendary piano style was quite an influence. The earliest music I latched onto was Bach, followed by the 'Impressionist' orchestral composers like Tchaikovsky and Ravel. ![]()
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