Andy Fairweather Low Releases First Solo Work in 26 Years
NEWS FROM JAZZ AND THE BLUES
Edited by Zen Delta
Clapton Sideman Andy Fairweather Low Releases First Solo Work in 26 Years
Welsh-born singer-guitarist Andy Fairweather Low is truly a pop- music survivor who scored hits with the ’60s British pop group Amen Corner (”Bend Me Shape Me,” “[If Paradise Is] Half as Nice,” “Gin House”). You may even be a fan of his 70’s solo LPs on A&M, which have achieved cult-classic status (1975’s Spider Jivin’, 1976’s La Booga Rooga and 1978’s Be Bop ‘n’ Holla) and yielded more hits (”Reggae Tune,” “Be Bop ‘n’ Holla,” “Wide Eyed and Legless.”
More recently he’s been a sideman for the Who, Van Morrison, Linda Ronstadt, Bill Wyman and George Harrison, and, in his longest associations, for Eric Clapton and Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters. Now he’s back on the solo track with Sweet Soulful Music (Proper American Recordings), due out in the U.S. on August 15, 2006. Just to make sure it hits the right spots again Sweet Soulful Music August is produced by the legendary Glyn Johns.
Low was Clapton’s second guitarist for 13 years, appearing on Unplugged, From the Cradle, Pilgrim, Riding With the King, Reptile, One More Rider, Me and Mr. Johnson and Back Home. He toured with Clapton (reviving “Gin House” for the 1999 shows) until 2003, and has also toured extensively with Roger Waters.
But Low finally felt the need to make his own music again, and did not tour with Clapton in ‘04. Now, a mere 26 years after releasing his last solo effort, Low returns with Sweet Soulful Music, which sounds as its title suggests and served as a kind of old-home week for Low. It was produced by Glyn Johns, the famed engineer for the Beatles and Stones who also produced La Booga Rooga and Be Bop ‘n’ Holla. The band includes bassist Dave Bronze (Robin Trower, Procol Harum, Clapton), and drummer Henry Spinetti (Clapton, Harrison, Paul McCartney, Roger Daltrey), with John “Rabbit” Bundrick (the Who, Pete Townshend, Bob Marley) adding piano to two tracks. Bundrick played on La Booga Rooga and Be Bop ‘n’ Holla, while Spinetti appeared on the latter LP.
Sweet Soulful Music begins with a rockabilly rave-up, “One More Rocket,” but most of the music here travels at a more leisurely, introspective, yet upbeat pace, with the virtuosic Low handling all guitars, ukelele and mandolin. Backup singers Carole Kenyon, Katie Kissoon and Pat Arnold add to the soulful texture of “Hymn 4 My Soul,” ”Ashes and Diamonds” and the title track. “I Give Out But I Don’t Give In,” Low sings on Zazzy, just one tune inflected with the sound of gospel music. Indeed, spirituality is the theme throughout, as Low reflects on life and appeals to a higher power on behalf of us all: “I believe in a heaven for everyone,” he states in “Ashes and Diamonds.” ”I count my blessings one by one,” goes the gentle yet stunning “The Low Rider,” ”I’m Only Who I Am And What I’ve Done.” What Low’s done here is offer a prayer without pretension in every infectious song.
Low will be touring as the guitarist with Roger Waters in the U.S. this September and October, in all major venues, and will embark on a solo U.S. tour early 2007.
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Blueheartarchive.com is an online look into Toronto-based Bluesologist, writer, producer, photographer Eddy B, and his vast body of work in the Blues. Eddy is an undisputed international authority on Blues recordings and Blues history. Known by serious Blues collectors and fans worldwide Eddy B’s Blueheart Archive provides an incredible mass of Blues history, music, memorabilia, instruments and his first rate photographs. For over 30 years Eddy has documented the Toronto Blues scene in his pictures, radio show, writings, and in hundreds of live recordings, all carefully catalogued in the Blueheart Archive. He has done this equally for the well known, and the obscure, all with the dedication and style that is his trademark, a passion for the Blues.
Stanley Clarke Honored with Bass Player Lifetime Award
Legendary bassist Stanley Clarke was presented with this year’s Bass Player magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the Millennium Broadway Hotel in New York City, site of the 2006 Bass Player LIVE! weekend bass conference / extravaganza. Presenters of the award to Clarke were solo artist and Flecktones renowned bassist Victor Wooten and funk and jazz bass superstar Marcus Miller.
“There’s no way I would pass on the chance to present this award to Stanley Clarke, a man who has changed the lives of so many musicians, created opportunities for all of us bassists, and been a huge influence on me and my playing,” said Wooten on being asked to give the award. “Presenting Stanley Clarke with a Lifetime Achievement Award is a dream come true.”
Wooten continued, “Scoring movies, making recordings, and touring the world, Stanley Clarke has paved the way for all of us by spreading low-end love all over. To me, that is what a Lifetime Achievement Award is all about. It’s not just what you’ve done with your life, but also what you’ve done to help others improve their lives. I believe that Stanley has done more than he realizes in that regard.”
Stanley Clarke is a man of “firsts.” He became the first bassist in history who could double on acoustic and electric bass with equal ferocity, as well as the first bassist ever to headline tours, selling out shows worldwide.
Clarke recorded what is now considered to be the must-know bass anthem, School Days. To this day, accomplished and aspiring bassists continue to imitate his style seeking to master his pioneered techniques.
Clarke was a teen music prodigy. In 1971 the jazz world immediately recognized the dexterity and complete musicality Clarke possessed when he first arrived on the scene from the Philadelphia Academy of Music. Clarke pushed himself towards perfection with relentless attention to be the best. His efforts catapulted him to the front of the stage as a viable melodic bass soloist where his dream manifested first in the Grammy Award Winning jazz-fusion band Return to Forever. RTF recorded eight albums, two of which were certified gold (Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy and Romantic Warrior), and won a Grammy award for No Mystery.
Although Clarke is considered one of the pioneers of jazz fusion, he has recorded and / or toured with musicians of various genres beyond the world of jazz. Some of these collaborations include Jeff Beck, Keith Richards and Ron Woods, Paul McCartney, Quincy Jones, Carlos Santana, Bela Fleck, Stan Getz, Natalie Cole, Aretha Franklin and Herbie Hancock.
Grammy and Emmy Award winning Stanley Clarke was Rolling Stone’s very first “Jazzman of the Year,” was Playboy magazine’s Music Award - Best Bassist winner for 10 straight years and is a member of Guitar Player magazine’s “Gallery of Greats.” He was honored with the key to the city of Philadelphia and put his hands in cement as a 1999 inductee into Hollywood’s “Rock Walk” on Sunset Boulevard. Clarke has won every Readers’ Poll and Critics’ Poll out there. In 2004 he was featured in Los Angeles magazine as one of the Top 50 Most Influential People.
On finding he was to be recipient of this very special Bass Player Lifetime Achievement Award, Clarke said, “I am very humbled to be the recipient of this award. I’ve watched the bass community grow over the years into a very powerful force in music. When I started, there were only a handful of albums with bass players as leaders. Now there are literally thousands. The instrument is no longer in the background and has truly been liberated. Having been there with Bass Player magazine since the beginning, it is great to see what it has turned into, and it is a true honor for me to receive this.”
Victor Wooten sums up Clarke’s ongoing career best when he said, “The best part of all is that Stanley Clarke is not finished. With all the wonderful and amazing things he has already done, I believe that the best is yet to come.”