Jesse Ed Davis Washita Love Child - Douglas K Miller

 

I have been (knowingly) a fan of Jesse Ed Davis’ since seeing him play with Taj Mahal on The Rolling Stones Rock’n’Roll Circus. His original-sounding, cutting, Telecaster leads on Taj’s number are not overly flashy, but strike home perfectly - a sign of a true talent.

Apparently, this book has been a while in the making, but was just released at the beginning of 2024, so I must have heard about it not long after its release. Miller had previously written more generally about Native Americans but, as a musician himself, wanted to hone in on Davis’ contributions to modern music. I can’t find Miller’s age anywhere, but apparently, he wasn’t even born during Davis’ musical hey-day, which should make for an interesting perspective.

Funnily, given the more obscure nature of Davis' music in general, I thought that this would be a quick read, but it is also over a thousand pages! But, as I get started on the meat of the book I discover why - Miller gives a history or Native Americans (including Davis' ancestors) going back centuries. Interesting in a general sense, but not necessarily the reason why I picked up this book.

Eventually we get to Jesse and his upper-middle-class upbringing in a musical household that encouraged his endeavors. Unlike some musicians, Jesse was also a jock at school and did well scholastically, at least until music overtook his desire to do much of anything else. He played in local combos, as one does, although in Oklahoma (which I was totally unaware of) many of the players went on to become huge stars in their own right. Jesse's first big break was playing guitar with Conway Twitty, of all people, although Jesse was already a fan and studied the playing of his predecessor in the band.

Once he moved to LA, he hooked up with the Tulsa, OK crew at Leon Russell’s pad and eventually caught the eyes and ears of Taj Mahal and spent several years with him. This book quotes Duane Allman as saying that Jesse’s slide playing with Taj is what influenced him to pick up his Coricidin bottle. He worked with innumerable stars, put out some solo records and played an impressive amount of quality sessions, from jazz to “Doctor My Eyes” to “High Time We Went” and more than can be listed.

After several solo albums that went nowhere and lots more session work (including a couple tunes with Leon and Bob Dylan), Jesse spent some time with John Lennon and became part of his band that recorded Rock’n’Roll and Walls and Bridges. Unfortunately for Jesse, that didn’t last and he floundered, looking for direction.

I absolutely do NOT remember Jesse joining the Faces, even for a short while, but apparently he did. After that fell apart, Jesse kind of fell apart, as well, and the following decades are depressing due to infinite lost chances due to drug and alcohol dependency. So many stars from the 60’s and 70’s suffered from the same fate after their hey-day - bad decisions, bad choices, bad health, bad (or no) management, and drugs and/or alcohol running and ruining their lives. I always think that I wouldn’t have made those terrible decisions, but I was also never in that kind of limelight, so who knows… And, as with so many others, Jesse succumbed to his addiction and died by an overdose in a laundry room of a friend's apartment, while waiting for the person to come home. A truly ignoble death...

I certainly learned a lot about Jesse here and he has some fascinating escapades, and worked with some of the biggest names in the business, but the decades of sadness and depression overtake any joy in the story. But, glad that someone has told the tale of this talented Indigenous artist.

RIP Sugar Pie DeSanto

Sugar Pie DeSanto, Larger-Than-Life R&B Performer, Dies at 89 

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Sugar Pie wsa a tiny, sexy, R'n'B spitfire. Check her out if you don't know her.

I honestly didn't know that he was still around, but sad to hear of her passing.

Under a Rock - Chris Stein

Of course, I've been a Blondie fan since I first picked up their debut album and dug their mixture of 60's girl groups and new wave/punk rock/what-have you. Well written tunes, 60's keys'n'guitars, and terrific vocals by the stunningly beautiful Debbie Harry. Amazingly, the ultra-geeky guitarist, Chris Stein, was Debbie's main squeeze at the time, and he was a big part of their sound so, of course, I was interested to hear his story when I found out that he had written an autobiography.

Chris grew up in the city of New York, so a very different environment that my suburban childhood a few years later. But, other than the landscape - which is interesting to read about - his younger years were not all that dissimilar than my semi-middle-class upbringing in Indiana.

Like most young kids, he had multiple distractions and interests and music was one of many and not necessarily the strongest one. That eventually changed and, as one of the biggest differences in our upbringings is the fact that he had places to go for teenagers to hang out and for teenage bands to play. He even claims (no reason to doubt him) to have played with at least one of the guys who later formed the Left Banke! 

He naturally fell into the big city's music scene, from the folkies to the rock'n'rollers, and managed to see incredible shows, sights and people. As so many did, he traveled to SF for the "Summer of Love" and spent several weeks simply bumming around (he must have had some money at this time although he does not mention how he really survived), before returning to the East Coast to pick up his habits of getting high and jamming.

There are lots of wild tales of the underground scene at the time and since it was still a fairly small gathering, it was inevitable that he would eventually meet Debbie, who was singing with the Stilettoes and, as it was a fairly loose group at the time, he was able to join in, as he was naturally attracted to her. They became an item and, of course, the band morphed slowly into Blondie.

Naturally, he mentions all of the other great, fun bands that were happening at the time and, again, since it was a small scene, most were friends and very supportive of each other. As the band coalesced and gained popularity, they recorded their single and first album and from there, things took off. Tours with Iggy Pop (joined by David Bowie) and shows with the likes of Tom Petty opening gave them experience along with the foundation of their fanbase. 

As they do, things move fast from then on and after "Heart of Glass" surprisingly breaks (it was, funnily enough, the third single chosen from the album), they are suddenly stars - with all of the baggage, expectations, workload and everything else that goes with it. Of course, Chris has plentyof tales to tell, from the insane to the mundane as they try to navigate their new-found fame.

Their rise’n’fall is fairly quick, really - a handful of years - but there are always various projects that keep them afloat along with countless reunions of various forms. Drugs were always prevalent and seemed to at least be partially to blame for Chris’n’Debbie’s split, although they stayed friends and work partners. But the fact that Chris seemed to be under the influence for most of his life makes some of the tales a little suspect, even while many are (mostly) believable considering the place’n’time. Horrifically, in the epilogue he mentions that his first born daughter died of an accidental overdose at the age of 19. Unfortunately, she did not learn from his mistakes.

Chris meanders a lot and, as I mentioned, kind of doesn’t distinguish between utterly mundane stories and truly fascinating ones. So, while the tale is interesting, Chris’ telling, while unique, of course, is not necessarily as compelling as the material. Fans should certainly check it out but look elsewhere for a more coherent band bio.

Rita Coolidge - Delta Lady

 

After finally finishing the fine Leon Russell tome I got curious about Rita, who, of course, was part of the Leon and Joe Cocker entourage - and the inspiration for “Delta Lady” (hence this book's title, natch) - and found this book. I never knew that much about her, other than that she was another stunningly pretty hippie chick with a fine voice. 

She opens with her recovering from a broken romance with Kris Kristopherson before reminiscing about her life. Growing up in the South with a loving, supportive family, she always sang but after a head-on car accident as a young teen, she temporarily lost some of her momentum. Of course, she healed up and moved on, becoming part of the early NYC folk scene for a short while (a mugging scared her into leaving town) and moved to Memphis, where her parents were then living.

She managed to become a singer with a jingle factory that started her musical career. She also started dating Al Green’s guitarist and so became deeply involved in the Stax scene and her sister even married Booker T! She met Delaney and Bonnie with Leon Russell while they were recording in town and moved with them to LA on a comparative whim. So, obviously, there are a lot of stories in common with the Leon Russell book, to the point where entire paragraphs are literal word-for-word quotes in both books, particularly the tales with Leon, Delaney and Bonnie and Joe Cocker and Mad Dogs and Englishmen.

But, of course, there are many revelations, as well, especially since I don’t know all that much about her career. I didn’t know that she had a serious relationship with Graham Nash between Leon and Kris (among others) and certainly didn’t know that she co-wrote the hit “Superstar” and part of the piano coda that ends “Layla”! (Which she is still waiting for Clapton to acknowledge.)

Although she describes Kristopherson as the love of her life, she makes it sound like it was a pretty unhealthy relationship, which is a sad juxtaposition. I know that it happens all the time, but what a shame that this strong woman spent years wallowing in abuse. It’s actually a relief when she finally leaves, with the help of a mega-hit album, something that most people don’t have to fall back on, to say the least!

Her career as a solo artist and a session singer took off pretty much as soon as she hit LA, and so she always had her own life while dating some huge stars. As I said, her solo album took off with huge hits just as she decided to leave Kris and although she never managed to reach this heights again, that was enough to sustain her throughout the rest of her life.

Apart from an epilogue, she essentially ends the story as she’s riding high, although even the epilogue has some tragedies. In any case, while she’s not an artist that I would listen to regularly, she has quite a tale to tell and tells it well. Worth checking out for anyone who digs the crazy r’n’r/folk/singer-songwriter scenes for the 60’s/70’s.

PS - I do have to say that it is kind of depressing to read about how fucked up (mentally, emotionally, physically - not necessarily drug-induced) so many musicians that we all looked up to really were. Of course, they’re people too, but it turns out that they were profoundly screwed up people - even more so that we thought we were as screwed up teenagers. Sad to learn about your heroes…

Leon Russell - The Master of Space and Time's Journey Through Rock'n'Roll History - Bill Janovitz

 

Of course, I've ranted'n'raved about Leon numerous times here, as he was by far my fave keyboardist of the 70's (some stiff competition, to be sure, but he had some charisma that others didn't), and I've always dug his style'n'his sound. With a healthy dose of R'n'B, more than a bit of gospel and plenty of old fashioned rock'n'roll, Leon started as a session player, moved on to backing stars like Joe Cocker and George Harrison (among others too numerous to list) before becoming a star in his own right. His version of "Youngblood" in the Concert For Bangledesh movie blew me away, as did his own incredible songwriting.

I've read bits on Leon already, but always looking to see what people have to say about him. I must have known, but had forgotten, that he had cerebral palsy as a child, which explains his later difficulty in walking, as when we saw him 20 or so years ago. But, even though his right side had issues, he was practically a child prodigy on piano and managed to create his own style to make up for his physical handicaps. While his family life was rocky (his parents split up when he was young, his abusive older brother moved out at a fairly early age), he delved into music and, growing up in Tulsa, he was exposed to everything from country to the early greats of R'n'B to the burgeoning R'n'R scene, and more! He played in bands as a teenager and would often stay out all night watching'n'learning from the other musicians.

He moved to LA while he was still underage but with the help of a fake ID he was able to do some club work but his bread'n'butter was studio session work. Starting on demos, he moved onto actual recording sessions pretty quickly, playing alongside some of the biggest names in the business (as far as session players go, that is), many of whom went on to stardom themselves, just like Leon.

He moves relatively quickly from working with Gary Lewis and the Playboys to Joe Cocker to his own solo career, which takes off amazingly fast. His tour with Cocker and Mad Dogs and Englishmen and his stellar performance in Concert For Bangladesh only accelerates his rise and soon he, himself, is a “Superstar”. The stories accompanying this are all fascinating, of course, although some of the business bogs the story down a bit. But, I have to admit, the nostalgia of reading all of the incredible music that came out at the same time as Leon’s first couple of records makes me miss my youth more than I can explain.

His frantic pace of work, almost continuous touring and recording, spending copious amounts of money on any and everything that caught his eye, from houses to equipment or all kinds to studios to cars to backing musicians, his partying and the craziness around him as he let almost anyone stay in his houses with (or without) him, and his womanizing lends for incredible tales but, naturally, eventually wore him out.

Janovitz gives a detailed chronology of Leon's history and he also gives a pretty detailed critique of practically each song on each album - with special reverence for the early work. Innumerable stars enter Leon's orbit, including various Beatles and Stones, Clapton and innumerable others. Oddly, actor Gary Busey becomes involved with Leon - he’s also from Tulsa and was a local celeb before becoming a star - and plays drums with him for a bit and even brings Barbara Streisand over when they worked together on A Star is Born. Ton Petty and Dwight Twilley make surprising appearances as well, among others too numerous to name.

Leon had lots of interracial lovers (including his first wife) and band members which caused plenty of racism in the 70’s, even from his fans, who, one would think, would be above that due to the fact that he almost always had mixed bands. But, these things were still pretty new in the 70's for popular culture and many could not accept them.

Naturally, Leon's career doesn't stay on top forever and, combined with his insane spending habits, this causes some financial insecurities, although he continues to do alright for himself even while no longer being top of the heap. A move to Nashville, a new wife and new band and paring down his shows to more appropriate, smaller venues all combined to help his health, well being and career (on a much smaller scale than before).

Ironically, the man who had pioneered video for years could not adjust or adapt to MTV, unlike some of his peers, and he was stubborn enough in his ways that, while he could always earn a living, his success pales compared to others from his time. 

As always, the post-superstardom times in the rock star's stories are not as exciting, but it is interesting to hear what Leon did throughout this time, how he managed - and mismanaged - his life, his career, his health and threw away many of the lifelines he was given. 

Janovitz keeps it interesting, with lots of info on the recordings, Leon's family and love lives, touring, famous friends (Elton John, of course, gives him a big boost) and lots more. This is long - maybe a bit longer than it needs to be - but still a great read.