There are certain musicians and producers who are just the best. The go-to people for their thing.
When the Beatles wanted flavorsome keys they knew to call Billy Preston. When Peter Gabriel wanted to duet, Kate Bush was on speed dial. When pretty much anyone in the 60s, 70s and 80s needed a trumpet lead, they called Derek Watkins. When legends like Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond wanted to rediscover the magic, they knew Rick Rubin was the man. And when a talk show producer wanted an artist to crater their legacy via a hoedown version of a classic on live TV, they called David Lee Roth.
Larry Adler, the harmonica legend, was always ungenerous about Stevie Wonder’s harmonica playing – irked by the fact that Wonder became everyone’s on-call guest harmonica player in the 80s. Adler was a renowned curmudgeon. The British comedian Bob Monkhouse recalled a dinner with Adler. Monkhouse regaled the table with a few gags. Adler left a silence, before sharing, “Hey Bob, you should read my book, ‘How to tell a joke'”. Monkhouse responded, “Larry, you should read mine, ‘How to shove a harmonica up your ass.'”
I started bass guitar lessons this week with the magnificent Cyrille Gosselin. My aim is to become the go-to guy for all local Simple Minds cover bands whose bass player is stuck in traffic and will be arriving 8 seconds late for a gig.