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(Clicka qua per la versione Italiana)
Summary.
Even though he was not particularly successful on his own, Al Kooper was one of the most influential artists of the 1960s and one of the most accomplished keyboardists of all time.
His arrangements on Bob Dylan's Blonde On Blonde
(the album that arguably founded rock music as we know it)
would be enough to grant him immortal fame.
Al Kooper, a New York native, came to rock music via pop group
Royal Teens, who had a minor hit with Shorts Shorts (1958).
After writing Gary Lewis' hit This Diamond Ring (1965), Kooper was
called to play on Bob Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone (ironically as a guitarist but switched to the organ after being intimidated by Mike Bloomfield's technique) and remained
throughout Blonde On Blonde, continuously perfecting that atmospheric,
dreamy, melodic style.
Kooper formed the Blues Project and Blood Sweat & Tears, both influential in
their respective fields (folk-rock and pop-jazz).
Full bio.
(Translated by ChatGPT and Piero Scaruffi)
Al Kooper, a New York guitarist who had already played with the Royal Teens on Shorts Shorts (1958), became famous for the Dylan sessions of 1965-66 during which he switched to playing the Hammond organ (starting with Like A Rolling Stone, where he was intimidated by Mike Bloomfield's superior guitar technique). In those years he formed the Blues Project, a Greenwich Village psychedelic folk group, alongside Danny Kalb and Steve Katz (both guitarists from a jug-band background). The group quickly earned a good reputation in the Greenwich Village folk scene, recording their first album live, Live At The Cafe` Au Go Go (Verve, May 1966), and scoring a minor hit with No Time Like The Right Time (twelve-bar blues, surf vocal harmonies, exotic arrangements). Al Kooper's organ, Katz and Kalb's guitar interplay, Andy Kulberg's flute, and Roy Blumenfeld's jazzy drumming blended folk, blues, and jazz elements with ease. They were children of the Byrds' folk-rock, but anticipated the blues revival a few years later. Their masterpiece was Projections (Verve, 1967), the album where these elements were best deployed: the effervescent boogie of You Can't Catch Me, the muted blues lament of Two Trains Running, the instrumental folk of Steve's Song, the refined pop-jazz of Flute Thing. The pinnacle of the album and the band is Can't Keep From Crying, an elaborate and compelling weave of sharp riffs, catchy choruses, piercing distortion, and psychedelic sounds. They disbanded in 1967. The rhythm section (Kulberg and Blumenfeld) became Seatrain, one of the first country-rock bands, whose first album, Planned Obsolescence (Verve, 1968), was still credited to the Blues Project. Already featured was the prodigy violinist Richard Greene (who had played on some Jim Kweskin albums), and later guitarist Peter Rowan, both from Bill Monroe's string band. On Seatrain's first album, Planned Obsolescence (1968), still credited to the old band, stands out a twelve-minute instrumental (Dakota Recollection), and on the following Seatrain (A&M, 1969) Rowan paints very elaborate melodic ballads that compete with Kulberg's sophisticated rhythm and blues. Seatrain (Capitol, 1970) is a more traditional album (covering bluegrass, soul, rock, and pop numbers, including Waiting For Elijah and Song Of Job), and the lineup disbanded after Marblehead Messenger (Capitol, 1972). Rowan and Greene would later be the stars, along with David Grisman and Clarence White, of the famous progressive bluegrass session Muleskinner. Al Kooper and Steve Katz, meanwhile, formed Blood Sweat & Tears, aiming to experiment with "fusion" of different genres. Child Is Father To The Man (Columbia, 1968) was an extremely ambitious album. Jim Fielder on bass (ex-Buffalo Springfield) completed the band's "rock" side, but there were also jazz veterans like Dick Halligan on trombone and Randy Brecker and Jerry Weiss on trumpets. Most notably, Fred Lipsius, who played saxophone and piano, arranged the pieces with brass, strings, and sound effects. Unfortunately, the material was weak (mostly covers). I Love Her More Than You'll Ever Know, My Days Are Numbered, and I Can't Quit Her were elegant and sophisticated songs, while Modern Adventures Of Plato, Diogenes And Freud was essentially chamber music for rock quartet and jazz quartet. Kooper was soon ousted, and Katz rebuilt the band around singer David Clayton-Thomas. Shifting to a banal chart-friendly rhythm and blues, Blood Sweat & Tears (Columbia, 1969) churned out hit after hit: You've Made Me So Very Happy, Spinning Wheel, And When I Die.
(Original English text by Piero Scaruffi)
Kooper joined Stephen Stills (the former Buffalo Springfield) and Mike
Bloomfield to record the Super Session (Columbia, 1968) that stands
as a milestone of blues revival (the side with Bloomfield).
Kooper also architected Appaloosa (1969), an album of chamber folk
performed with
John Parker Compton on acoustic guitar, Robin Batteau on violin, Eugene Rosov on cello, David Reiser on electric bass, Fred Lipsius on sax and Bobby Columby on drums.
The music was mostly composed by Compton, and two songs featured a classical orchestra.
His prolific solo career yielded mostly forgettable collections of living-room
rhythm and blues:
I Stand Alone (Columbia, 1969),
You Never Know Who Your Friends Are (Columbia, 1969), that contains
Brand New Day,
the double Easy Does It (Columbia, 1970),
New York City (Columbia, 1971),
A Possible Projection Of The Future (Columbia, 1972),
Naked Songs (Columbia, 1972),
Act Like Nothing Is Wrong (United Artists, 1976),
Championship Wrestling (Columbia, 1982).
Kalb died in 2022.
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