David Gahr

David Gahr (1922-2008) took the pictures of Gene Paul and Geffrey Haslam. He was an American photographer, born in Milwaukee to Russian immigrant parents. He studied economics at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and served in the infantry in Europe in World War II. He was one of "the pre-eminent photographers of American folk, blues, jazz and rock musicians of the 1960s and beyond."

His photographic output includes more than five decades of musicians such as Phil Spector, Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison, Janis Joplin, Sonny Terry, John Lennon and Pete Seeger. His book, The Face of Folk Music (Citadel Press, 1968) with writer Robert Shelton captured the exploding American Folk music scene, with hundreds of images including Dylan, Seeger, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs, Odetta, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, Mary Travers and Johnny Cash, among others. His work appeared prominently in Crawdaddy.

Dozens of Wikipedia pages include references to Gahr's photographs, such as those of Doc Watson, Stevie Ray Vaughan, etc.

Gahr died in Brooklyn, leaving a son and a daughter, Carla Gahr (also a NYC-based photographer, who, with her father, managed the David Gahr photography studio and archives).

Electric Lady

I saw an interview with Jan saying that some of Tabernakel was recorded in Electric Lady Studios, the New York Studio built originally for Jimi Hendrix.

Timings

The shortest track on the 10 track album Tabernakel is the second track Coranto for Mrs Murcott (1:26") and the longest, the final suite, Lammy (14' 06").

The other solo lute tracks range from between 1' 31" and 3' 17" in length with House of the King at 2' 23", Javeh at 3' 22" and Britannia at  3' 55". 

The original first side lasted 20' 26" and the second side a shorter 17' 23". That is a total length of 37' 49" and so it takes about 40 minutes to listen to. Originally LPs could only comfortably manage 23 minutes a side maximum. The album is fairly typical in terms of length then.

Version with Eli

 A version of Tabernakel is available packaged with the album Eli.

Akkerman won't be in the UK at least until 2022

I had hoped to be seeing the world's greatest guitarist this month but that is now off and has been postponed until March 2022.

The official announcement is as follows

Dutch guitarist Jan Akkerman has been forced to reschedule his upcoming shows at England's Trading Boundaries due to Covid. The Focus co-founder was due to perform there on November 19 and 20, but will now perform three concerts at the East Sussex venue in March 2022 instead.

"I’m sorry that I have to postpone the concerts due to Covid 19," he said in a statement. "One of the band members has tested positive and that’s why it’s too risky to come over to the UK in November. But I’m really looking forward to perform on 11th, 12th, 13th March 2022 at Trading Boundaries and celebrate my 75th birthday. Take care and hope you can join us for the new dates!"

The shows are exclusive to Trading Boundaries and his only UK spring dates. For more information, visit the Trading Boundaries website.

Child Prodigies

The term child prodigy is defined in psychology research literature as a person under the age of 10 who produces meaningful output in some domain to the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more loosely to young people who are extraordinarily talented in some field.

Examples in the world of music would include Mozart, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Prokofiev, Saint-Saëns, Yehudi Menuhin, Yo-Yo Ma and Stevie Wonder,

Jan Akkerman, born in 1946, can be considered to be something of a child prodigy in that having played accordion from the age of three, he began guitar lessons at the age of five, formed his first band aged 12 and cut his first record at the age of 14 or 15.

On Tabernakel, Akkerman is accompanied by at least four other such childhood prodigies. These are

Arnold Eidus (1922-2013) violinist. Eidus made his performance debut at Carnegie Hall aged 11.

Harry Cykman (1921-1994) violinist. Cykman made his debut as a violinist in 1930 at the age of nine (for promotional purposes, a year was shaved from his birth date).

Emanuel Vardi (1915-2011) violinist, violist and composer began to play at the age of three. He is one of only two violists in the world to have ever given a solo recital in Carnegie Hall.

George Ricci (d 2010) cellist. One of the great American cellists, his brother was the great violinist Ruggiero Ricci. His sister Emma was also a violinist with the Metropolitan Opera. Born in California and raised by Italian immigrants, George and Ruggiero performed together as children.

Cello Players

Lucien Schmit (1898-1976) Schmit first performed publicly at the age of 7 in Paris and became a member of the St Louis Symphony Orchestra at 13. He was a native of Louvaine, Belgium, but migrated to the US in 1909. He became first cellist in the New York Symphony Orchestra in 1921 under Walter Damrosch. During the 1930's he was active in radio musical programmes. He was musical director of The Royal Typewriter Hour and for 20 years was featured on such programs as The Telephone Hour, the Firestone Show, the Longines Symphonette programme and The Prudential Family Hour.

George Koutzen (1926-2009) Pick up a random Charles Mingus recording and chances are good you will hear Koutzen on the cello. This versatile musician also had the music of John Blow and Henry Purcell on his resume.

Between 1937 and 1954, he was a member of the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini. In 1954, he appeared on the live album, Marian McPartland at the Hickory House. He fittingly was included in the 1957 compilation, Modern Jazz Hall of Fame. A recording he made with Bill Harris and Jack Nimitz in the 1950s, entitled The ABC Paramount Harris-Nimitz Sessions, was never released, although there are murmurs that it may be released on CD one day.

In 1961, George returned to his classical roots in a performance at Judson Hall in New York for a programme consisting of J S Bach’s “Trio Sonata” from his Musical Offering.

In 1963, he took up the conductor’s reins for the Rockland Symphony Orchestra, a position he held until 1974. In between, he still managed to record Who Can I Turn To with Tony Bennett in 1964 and perform live with the New York String Quartet. In 1972, he recorded Morning Star with Hubert Laws. It was around the time his tenure with the RSO ended that he played on Tabernakel.

In 1975, he performed a trio concert with Inez and Nadia Koutzen. In 1979, he was one of myriad session pros on Frank Sinatra’s boxed set, Trilogy. He stepped into the movie studio in the early eighties for soundtrack work on an early Demi Moore film entitled Choices.

It should be of little surprise that he is on a variety of Charles Mingus CDs. Other CDs on which you can hear George’s cello stylings nclude a pair of Rupert Holmes anthologies, as well as classical fare such as Purcell and Blow.

Jesse Levy Levy is a primarily New York-based cellist who performed on multiple Sesame Street albums in the 1970s. He has backed up George Benson, Peggy Lee, Bette Midler, Barbara Cook, Carly Simon, Lou Rawls, Paul Simon, Lena Horne, and Gloria Estefan. He performed on film soundtracks for Fame, The Wiz, Pocahontas, and Everyone Says I Love You. Levy made an on-camera appearance in Small Time Crooks as a church cellist.

George Ricci (d 2010) Ricci was one of the great American cellists, and, like many great musicians, his family was musical. His brother was the great violinist Ruggiero Ricci and his sister Emma was a violinist with the Metropolitan Opera.

Born in California and raised by Italian immigrants, George and Ruggiero performed together as child prodigies. A wonderful recording of Brahms’ “Double Concerto in A minor” for violin, cello and orchestra features the two brothers with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Kurt Masur. They also performed the concerto at Carnegie Hall.

George Ricci resided for a great part of his life in New York City and was one of the most in-demand cellists in the concert and movie industry. Early on he won a scholarship to study with Alfred Wallenstein, principal cello of the New York Philharmonic. Next, his journey continued with the famed cello teacher Dirian Alexanian, who was assistant to Pablo Casals. In 1937, Alexanian moved to New York and taught in New York City. Among his prize students was Ricci.

Ricci’s versatility was outstanding. In addition to being a classical virtuoso, he was a cellist in the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra when the young Frank Sinatra first came on board. “In fact, George was frequently mistaken for Sinatra by the young girls who would wait at the stage door after their gigs,” wrote his friend Greg Zayia. Ricci was also the cellist on many other Sinatra recordings.

Ricci became principal cellist with the ABC Orchestra in New York. In the heyday of recordings, spectacular players were needed who could sight-read new scores and sound tremendous on the first take. Ricci was such a virtuoso. He was legendary and his scintillating technique is still talked about by many great musicians who knew and heard him.

With cigarette in hand he would dazzle even the greatest of violinists, playing their works at breakneck speed with tremendous accuracy of intonation and artistic beauty on the more cumbersome cello. In fact, he could also pick up a violin, turn it upright like a miniature cello, and bedazzle everyone around him by playing virtuoso violin parts.

Ricci and the great violinist Arnold Aidus formed Stradivari Recordings, essentially for the preservation and distribution of their art. This kind of self-sustained recording venture was really ahead of its time.

Kermit Moore (1929-2013) A cellist, conductor and composer Moore was of African American heritage and was born in Akron, Ohio. While still in high school, he studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music. In Manhattan, Moore studied the cello with Felix Salmond at the Juilliard while simultaneously studying for a master's degree in composition and musicology at New York University.

Moore was one of the founders of the Symphony of the New World, the first racially integrated orchestra in the US. Together with his wife Dorothy Rudd Moore and others, he founded the Society of Black Composers. He was also a member and board member of the Musicians Club of New York.

Violinists - the other six

Carmel Malignaggi  Malignaggi has worked with B B King and several others.

Arnold Eidus (1922-2013) Eidus's father was a Jewish immigrant from Latvia and a violinist. His mother who was born in New York, played piano. A child prodigy, Eidus made his performance debut at Carnegie Hall aged 11. He studied at the Juilliard under Louis Persinger (who also taught Yehudi Menuhin, Isaac Stern and Ruggiero Ricci). He met his future wife, piano student Doris Dresher, at Juilliard.

Eidus was a versatile session accompanist who recorded and performed in the classical, jazz, pop, rhythm & blues and Latin genres. He recorded with Perry Como, Coleman Hawkins, Lena Horne, Freddie Hubbard, Wes Montgomery, Patti Austin, Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, Edgar Winter and countless others over a career that spanned six decades. In 1945, as part of the American Broadcasting Corporation's orchestra, he was a featured soloist in a New York recording of Paul Whiteman's re-orchestration of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. He recorded his classical repertoire for the RCA Victor, HMV, Phillips, and Stradivari record labels.

In 1946 Eidus became the first American violinist to win the coveted Jacques Thibaud Award in Paris. In the 1950s, he emerged as one of the most sought-after commercial violinists in New York, working in TV, radio and films, on the concert stage and in recording sessions. His classical repertoire included works by Kodály, Beethoven, Elgar, Copland, de Falla, Sibelius, Brahms and others.

In the US, Eidus performed as soloist with the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein, the Chicago Symphony under Izler Solomon, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Antal Dorati. In Europe Eidus performed as soloist with the London Symphony, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra, the Budapest Radio Orchestra, and at other prestigious venues.

Eidus served as Concertmaster for the American Broadcasting Company, performing on and directing a weekly chamber music series.

In 1950, Eidus and cellist George Ricci founded the Stradivari Records label. 

Guy Lumia (1937-1988) Of Italian heritage Lumia began studying violin at the age of seven. In 1948, he was accepted to study at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. In 1952, he began his studies at the Eastman School of Music, with André de Ribaupierre and Joseph Knitzer, where he graduated with honours, obtaining both his baccalaureate and master's degrees, along with the certificate of performer. and the artist diploma. He also studied with Raphael Bronstein at the Mannes School of Music in New York.

In the 1950s, he was a member of the first violin section of the Rochester Philharmonic while in Eastman. From 1952 to 1966, Lumia was also active with the Greenwich Piano Quartet. Another chamber music activity of the 1960s was the Long Island Chamber Ensemble. In 1961, he was a Fulbright scholar studying with Rene Benedetti in Paris. Lumia was a finalist in the Paganini Violin Competition in Genoa and a semifinalist in the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. He later studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. He studied more with Yehudi Menuhin in London.

Lumia was a concertmaster with the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra . In the early 1970s, he toured Europe as a soloist. In 1973, he joined the University of Bridgeport, Connecticut as a violin professor. In the 1984-1985 season, he was selected as a concertmaster with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, where he alternated with Raymond Gniewek. He continued with the Met for four seasons. Then, tragically, he died in New York City at just 51 years old due to complications from Type 1 Diabetes mellitus.

Raoul Poliakin (1917-1981) Poliakin was an Egyptian-born American arranger and conductor of popular orchestral music. He appeared on countless albums, including those of Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Sarah Vaughan, Peggy Lee, Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Wes Montgomery.

Born in Cairo, he received his musical education at the Sorbonne, where he studied violin with Rene Benedetti and conducted with Pierre Monteux. In 1941, he emigrated to the United States, where he became a member of several major symphony orchestras, playing under Leopold Stokowski, Sir Thomas Beecham, Fritz Reiner, Monteux and Ernst Ansermet.

As assistant conductor to Andre Kostelanetz, Poliakin produced a series of albums for Everest Records in the 1950s. As overall music director, he planned the classical repertoire and supervised the actual recording sessions. In addition, he conducted his own 54r piece orchestra and twenty voice chorale, The Poliakin Orchestra and Chorale, which recorded arrangements of light orchestral music.

In addition, he was a licensed amateur radio (ham radio) operator under the call sign K2AOS.

Gene Orloff (1922-2009) Orloff was a violinist concertmaster, arranger and contractor. The son of a Russian immigrant violin maker, Orloff would try and get his father's violin down from the piano and try to play it. He was only three at the time. By the time he was five, he was playing recitals in his home city of Boston. Later, he was playing concerts at venues which included performances at Carnegie Hall and with the Boston Symphony. Having won a scholarship at the Curtis Institute of Music, he left due to the schedule and found work as a commercial musician and, on occasion, was working for 15 hours per day.

During his time, the artists that Orloff performed with included Meat Loaf, The Bee Gees, Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand. His daughter Marcy said that one of his favourites was Van McCoy.

In the late 1940s, he was in Neal Hefti's orchestra on a recording date backing Charlie Parker and with Nat King Cole's trio/The Muleskinners, backing Woody Herman on vocals.

Working under Van McCoy's direction, he handled the arrangements for the horns and strings on the Faith Hope & Charity album by Faith Hope and Charity which was released in 1970. He also played on the Disco Baby album by Van McCoy & The Soul City Symphony which was released in 1975 and featured "The Hustle". He was also on Judy Collins Judith (1975).

Harry Cykman (1921-1994) Cykman was a child prodigy, making his debut as a violinist in 1930 (at age 9, but for promotional purposes, a year was shaved from his birth date). Despite his classical roots, as a working session musician, Cykman was often heard on jazz recordings, including those of organist Shirley Scott, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, Billie Holiday, and saxophonist Grover Washington, as well as Judy Collins (1975's Judith), composer Don Sebesky and Rupert Holmes (his 1974 debut album, Widescreen).

Violinists - the first six

Frederick Buldrini Buldrini was a Naumburg competition winner in 1936 and parlayed that early success into a fascinating recording career, often gravitating toward jazz projects and frequently playing with the greats. Some of his early recordings include several Frank Sinatra compilations and one with Sarah Vaughan.

In 1965, he worked on the aptly titled Ruth Brown ’65 and helped Milton Nascimento display Courage in 1968. The end of the decade found him in the studio making Round Trip with Phil Woods.

In 1970, he teamed up with Antonio Carlos Jobim on Stone Flower and Tide. In 1975, he was in the strings section for Joe Beck’s self-titled album Beck. A year later, he was in the strings section for John Tropea’s self-titled album and appeared with Bob James.

He has also played with Maynard Ferguson, Earl Klugh, Jimmy Ponder and, interestingly, Thijs van Leer on Nice to Have Met You. He played violin on the soundtrack of The Wiz.

He opened the 1980s by accompanying Aretha Franklin and then Chaka Khan, as well as appearing on the soundtrack of Fame. Another famous female with whom he recorded during this time was Janis Ian. He played too with Spyro Gyra, Luther Vandross and George Benson. He was involved in two quite different projects - Les Miserables and Philip Glass’s three-act opera Satyagraha.

Lewis Eley (d 1998) Violinist with the Long Island Philharmonic whose career as a session musician stretches at least as far back as Perez Prado’s Exotic Suite of the Americas, recorded in 1962.

In the sixties he often accompanied Sarah Vaughan and Wes Montgomery. He also played with Nina Simone and Walter Wanderley.

He didn’t slow down much in the ’70s, working with Jackie DeShannon, Chet Baker, Hank Crawford, Grover Washington, Jr. Bob James, Ralph MacDonald, Carly Simon and Frank Sinatra.

In the 80's he worked with Chaka Khan, Spyro Gyra, Luther Vandross, Stevie Nicks and Joe Jackson. He appeared on a pair of soundtracks from Spike Lee films in 1988 and 1989. In 1989, he also appeared on the Lenny Kravitz album Let Love Rule. One of his last recordings appears to be B B King’s 1991 release, Love Me Tender.

Kathryn Kienke Kienke has played with Janis Ian, Paul Simon, etc

Rosoff

Joseph Malignaggi (1921-1994) American violinist of Italian origin based in New York. Son of the Sicilian violin maker Paul Malignaggi. He was concertmaster and arranger for Frank Sinatra. He has appeared ion albums with B B King, Aretha Franklin, Rupert Holmes, etc.

Elliot Rosoff Rosoff was a violinist and recording engineer. A graduate of New York's Manhattan School of Music and has performed both as a solo recital artist and as an orchestra member. He was also active as a recording engineer and as a music coordinator for a variety of recordings, concerts and venues.

Norman Carr Carr's early credits include Stan Getz’s Focus, recorded and released in 1961. In 1964, he appeared on a pair of Carmen McRae albums. A year later, he was collaborating once again with Stan Getz on the soundtrack of Mickey One. He was in the string section for Godspell in 1973. The same year, he appeared on what could be deemed his most famous recording, playing violin on Gladys Knight & the Pips’ mega-hit, “Midnight Train to Georgia”, which won a Grammy in 1974.

In 1976 he served as concert master and played violin on Earl Klugh’s album, Living inside Your Love, he was in the strings section on O’Donel Levy’s Windows, recorded two albums with Jimmy McGriff, helped Lonnie Smith and Joe Thomas too.

He also worked with Diana Ross and company on the soundtrack of The Wiz. A year later, he appeared on Frank Sinatra’s boxed set, Trilogy. In 1980, Earth, Wind & Fire employed his services on Faces. The following year, he re-united with Earl Klugh on Crazy for You. In 1984, he was part of the strings section on the Ramsey Lewis-Nancy Wilson collaboration, The Two of Us.

One of his last recordings appears to be the Prince project, The Family, released in 1985.

French Horn Players

Tony Miranda (1919-2001) Miranda received his bachelor’s degree from Brooklyn College, and was a student in the opening year of the Tanglewood Berkshire Center in 1940. He served in the armed forces during World War II, was principal horn with the US Army Band in Washington, DC, and was serving in France when the war ended.

He was principal horn with the New York City Opera (for 12 years), the American Symphony under Arturo Toscanini, the New York Chamber Soloists, Musica Aeterna and the Little Orchestra Society, among others. He was also a member of the Long Island Philharmonic. Among his notable performances, Miranda performed the American premier of the Richard Strauss Horn Concerto No. 2 in Town Hall with Thomas Scherman and the Little Orchestra Society. He was a soloist with orchestras and in recitals and festivals across the country.

He also recorded extensively, with conductors including Toscanini, Morton Gould and Leonard Bernstein and musicians such as Luciano Pavarotti, Frank Sinatra, Percy Faith, Perry Como, the Beatles and Miles Davis. He performed on The Coca Cola Hour and The Sid Caesar Show.

James Buffington (1922-1981) Buffington was a busy studio and jazz player. An autodidact as a child, though his father played piano and trumpet he graduated from the Eastman School of Music and began playing in New York City in the 1950s, with Oscar Pettiford among others. He played with Mel Powell in 1954 and Teddy Charles in 1956.

He is perhaps best known for his work with Miles Davis on some of his Gil Evans sessions for Columbia Records. He has done extensive work as a session musician, and has recorded with Moondog, Carly Simon, James Brown, Urbie Green, Jimmy Cleveland, Ernie Royal, Britt Woodman, Don Butterfield, Donald Byrd, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, J. J. Johnson, Quincy Jones, Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, Michel Legrand, Lee Morgan, Paul Desmond, Eddie Sauter, Oliver Nelson, Wes Montgomery, Jimmy Smith, the Modern Jazz Quartet and Grover Washington, Jr.. Late in the 1970s he played with Freddie Hubbard, Gato Barbieri and George Benson; in 1980 he played on a Helen Merrill album.

Buffington released some solo work but it is far less well known.

Earl Chapin (1926-1997) A jazz player, Chapin's credits include those with Gil Evans And His Orchestra, Quincy Jones And His Orchestra, The Everest Woodwind Octet and The Quincy Jones Big Band.

Ray Alonge (1924-2000) Jazz player who also played  the alphorn and violoncello. He played with ... Mitch Miller, Stan Freeman, John Barrows, Jim Buffington, Gunther Schuller, etc.

Viola Players

Alfred Brown (1929-2013) Brown was one of the first African-American students ever to be admitted to the Eastman School of Music. He later graduated from Curti, and studied with William Primrose and Karen Tuttle. When he earned a spot in the NBC Radio Orchestra under the baton of Arturo Toscanini, he became one of the first professional African-American classical musicians in the US. He was also a founder member of the Symphony of the New World, the first integrated US orchestra, whose mission was to gain equality for African-American musicians on the concert stage. 

As a studio musician and producer, his discography numbers in the hundreds. He won the NARAS Award for Most Valuable Player in 1984.

He produced albums by Lena Horne and Ron Carter, as well as the first studio album for singer/songwriter Cris Williamson. He toured with Ray Charles, Paul Simon, Luther Vandross and Barbra Streisand and played on top TV shows, in Broadway shows, on countless pop and jazz albums and on many of Spike Lee’s film soundtracks.

He contracted musicians for everyone from Hugh Masekela to Britney Spears. He also put together a huge number of orchestras for film scores and TV commercials.

David Sackson (1912-2003) Sackson appears to have played with the original Glen Miller Band but went on to be a New York concert player in various orchestras and doing much session work too with Nina Simone, Janis Ian, etc.

 

Emanuel Vardi (1915-2011) A violinist and composer, Vardi was born in Jerusalem. Both his parents were musicians and he began to play at the age of three. In 1920 the family came to the US via Europe to escape Middle East pogroms. A child prodigy, he studied under Pete Seeger and at the Juilliard.

In 1942, he received the “Recitalist of the Year” award from the New York music critics for the best New York recital following his Town Hall debut. He had the distinction of being asked to perform a solo recital at the White House for President Roosevelt during World War II. He is one of only two violists in the world to have ever given a solo recital in Carnegie Hall.

He taught at the Manhattan School of Music and Temple University. Crossing the musical genres of classical and jazz, he toured and performed with jazz greats such as Louis Armstrong and Al Hirt.

In the early 1960s, he worked for Audio Fidelity Records in New York as a producer. In 1985, he was featured in a full-length article in Strad Magazine, and in 2003 he was honoured with a lengthy interview in the American Viola Society Journal, with his painting “Homage to a Great Violist” appearing on the front cover.

Due to an accident in 1993, he lost the use of his shoulder, forcing him to retire from the viola. After his accident he continued with his painting and art endeavours.

Richard Maximoff - Maximoff is a member of the Hampton String Quartet, a rock string section heard on many albums. He has played for artist from John Denver to Britney Spears.

Selwart Clarke (1933-1992) Clarke was an arranger, concertmaster, conductor, violinist and violist. His early credits include Ornette Coleman’s Town Hall in 1962. In 1964, he premiered Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s “Viola Concerto” with the Orchestra of America, a piece dedicated to him by the composer, who conducted. He was also a member of The National Orchestra Association and the New York City Ballet. 

He worked on numerous albums throughout the late ‘60s, including albums by Pearls Before Swine, Yusef Lateef, Les McCann, Roberta Flack, Pucho & the Latin Soul Brothers, Tamiko Jones, David Newman, Andrew Hill, Joe Zawinul and James Brown.

In 1970, he appeared on a pair of Louis Armstrong albums and others by Roberta Flack, Freddie Hubbard and Jimmy Scott. Other records on which he performed in the early ‘70s include: The Divine Miss M by Bette Midler; Edgar Winter’s White Trash; He’s Coming by Roy Ayers Ubiquity and Wild Flower by Hubert Laws.

In 1974, he featured on Deodato’s Whirlwinds, Janis Ian’s Stars, Don McLean’s Homeless Brother and Only the Best of Les McCann. Other credits include Rhythms of the World by Van McCoy, etc.

In 1977, he played on American Heartbeat by Martha Velez, La Catedral El Toro by Joe Farrell, etc. He ended the ‘70s on albums such as Champagne Charlie by Leon Redbone Z-licious by Zulema.

These appear to be his last original recordings, although the CD era is populated with re-issues and re-masterings bearing his name.

Seymour Berman - Berman was part of The Astral Scene in 1968 for The Astral Projection. He recorded with Tamiko Jones the same year on I’ll Be Anything for You. Around the same time, he also worked with Marlene Ver Planck on A Breath of Fresh Air and Astrud Gilberto on tracks that eventually appeared on Astrud for Lovers. In 1972, he helped Bobby Hutchison create Natural Illusions, switched to violin on Bobbi Humphrey’s Dig This, then back to viola on Marlena Shaw’s Marlena and Lou Donaldson’s Sophisticated Lou.

In 1974, he laid down tracks for Don Minasi’s When Joanna Loved Me, and Janis Ian’s Stars and the next year her Between the Lines. He joined Sister Sledge for Circle of Love and was part of the string section on Joe Thomas’s Masada. He helped Charles Earland on Odyssey and Joe Williams' Feelin’s from Within. In 1978, he was on Carol Douglas’s invitation to Come into My Life, was part of the strings on Horace Silver’s Silver ‘n Strings Play the Music of Spheres, and appeared on the soundtrack of The Wiz. He also appeared on Frank Sinatra’s 1979 boxed set, Trilogy. It was back to the movie studio in 1980 for the soundtrack of Fame.

Date of Release

The original LP was released in America at the end of 1973 but was only widely available from January 9, 1974. Hence the discrepancies in the stated year of release.

Change of Address

Early versions of the album have the "1841 Broadway, New York, N.Y." address on the bottom of the centre labels. Late in 1973 the address on the labels changes to "75 Rockefeller Plaza, N.Y., N.Y.". (Click picture to enlarge).

Atlantic Studios

This is the Cova Building where Atlantic had its studios 1969-1990.

Atlantic Studios was the recording studio of Atlantic Records. It was located at 1841 Broadway (at the corner of 60th Street), in New York City. According to the address written in the original liner notes (1957) of Charles Mingus' The Clown, it was initially located at 157 W 57th Street. The American record label first recorded in these studios in November 1947. The studio is the first to record in stereo, with the efforts of Tom Dowd.

Lambe lays it down on Tabernakel

Stephen Lambe tackles Tabernakel on pages 67-71 of his new book, between the departure of Pierre van der Linden and the arrival of Colin Allen, Focus wise. Lambe considers it a skilful and interesting album and notes that Focus fans like it - because, he says, it is most like Focus. However, he does not sound like a fan and seriously questions the inclusion of five lute tracks, preferring the George Flynn efforts.

He describes the album contents track by track. He likes the opener and the lute solo tracks that follow. He calls the House of the King track "a fun and energetic reworking" but is not entirely convinced. He rather passes over the rest of the tracks on the original side one with the exception of the final track, Javeh, which he suggests gets its title from its seemingly God given nature and Jan's Jewish background. He is still not happy, however, with the diversity of the material.

As for Lammy, he calls it "a sprawling, sometimes brilliant piece" that is unique in progressive rock. Although it "always intrigues" it is too disparate for Mr Lambe. He is particularly unhappy with the choir sections. At least he finds the Amen delightful.

It is interesting to read what Mr Lambe makes of the album but he just doesn't get it, sadly. I remember comparing notes with Jan once on what makes music interesting. I spoke about watching Status Quo in concert on TV in 1982 and being bored by the time of the third song. He spoke of the same response to a Rolling Stones concert in Amsterdam (1998 perhaps?) leaving half way through. It is the variety on Tabernakel that is one of its greatest strengths, not a weakness.

New Book on Focus

A new book has recently appeared on Focus in the Seventies. By Stephen Lambe, the book endeavours to guide the reader through the band's early history year by year, up to the end of the seventies. It deals with eight Focus albums song by song and gives the same treatment to Akkerman and van Leer's solo work 1970-1979. It claims to be a potted history of the band and an insight into the tensions which lead to such a creative - if short lived - peak and "an essential guide to the astonishing music the two men made while at the peak of their powers." Like so many books of this sort it labours under the difficulty of being so appallingly proof read (I'm not sure any attempt was actually made beyond using a computer spell check). The album by album analysis is not appealing to the casual reader either. The approach is to have Lambe voice his own opinion about the music, which is fine where you agree but more difficult where you do not. Apparently, Eruption is brilliant but Anonymus not so and the Introspection albums are too much of their time. It's nice to hear opinions, I suppose. It's greatest achievement is to have persuaded me to buy the latest Focus Collection, the fifty year anthology. Anyway, if you are a Focus fanatic do buy it. PS Mr Lambe, please please let me proofread a second edition.

Original Advert

 

Akkerman on Bream

 See this Sal Cataldi article here.

Jan Akkerman Discography

Studio albums
1968 - Talent for Sale [35:57]
1972 - Profile [37:37] 1972 - Profile (Vinyl LP) [37:56]
1973 - Tabernakel [37:33] 1973 - Tabernakel (Vinyl LP) [37:41]
1976 - Eli (with Kaz Lux) [38:36] 1976 - Eli (with Kaz Lux) [Vinyl LP] [38:47]
1977 - Jan Akkerman [40:11] 1977 - Jan Akkerman (Vinyl LP) [40:46]
1978 - Aranjuez (with Claus Ogerman) [43:30] 1978 - Aranjuez (with Claus Ogerman) (Vinyl LP) [43:31]
1979 - 3 [33:47] 1979 - 3 (Vinyl LP) [34:02]
1980 - Transparental (with Kaz Lux) [Vinyl LP] [39:29]
1981 - Oil in the Family [37:00]
1982 - Pleasure Point [1:06:03] 1982 - Pleasure Point (1998 Remastered) [1:05:48] 1982 - Pleasure Point (Vinyl LP) [41:07]
1982 - It Could Happen To You [37:23]
1983 - Can't Stand Noise [1:10:55]
1984 - From the Basement [1:12:27] 1984 - From the Basement (1998 Remastered) [1:12:24]
1987 - Heartware [1:02:15] 1987 - Heartware (1998 Remastered) [1:16:06]
1990 - The Noise of Art [49:38]
1993 - Puccini's Cafe [47:27]
1994 - Blues Hearts [43:58]
1996 - Focus in Time [48:11]
1998 - Blues Root (with Curtis Knight) [55:02]

1999 - Passion (Acoustic) [52:55]
2003 - C.U. [1:00:18]
2011 - Minor Details [1:16:38]

2019 - Close Beauty [64:35]

Live albums
1978 - Live Montreux Jazz Festival 1978 [34:32] 1978 - Live Montreux Jazz Festival 1978 (Vinyl LP) [34:49]
1997 - 10.000 Clowns On A Rainy Day [2:12:09]
1999 - Live at Alexanders [1:11:47]
1999 - Live! The Kiel/Stuttgart Concert (with Joachim Kuhn) [33:55]
2006 - C.U.2 - Live in Tokyo [1:10:39]

Compilations
1986 - The Complete Guitarist [50:07]
2018 - Akkerarchives [1:18:47]

Death Tim Bogert

Bassist Tim Bogert officially retired from music in 2009 following a motorcycle accident. He died on January 13, 2021 after a battle with cancer; he was 76 years old.