Jim Keltner

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Jim Keltner
Birth name James Lee Keltner
Also known as Buster Sidebury
Born (1942-04-27) April 27, 1942 (age 82)
Tulsa, Oklahoma, US
Genres Rock, R&B, jazz
Occupation(s) studio musician
Instruments Drums, percussion, ukulele
Years active 1970–present
Associated acts Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, Delaney Bramlett, John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band, George Harrison, Traveling Wilburys, Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band, The Manhattan Transfer, Steve Miller Band, Gary Lewis & the Playboys, Neil Young, Sheryl Crow, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Harry Chapin, Joe Cocker, J J Cale Harry Nilsson

James Lee "Jim" Keltner (born April 27, 1942) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work; he also played the ukulele. He has contributed to the work of many well-known artists. Keltner is originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was characterized as "the leading session drummer in America" by Bob Dylan biographer Howard Sounes.[1]

Career

Keltner was initially inspired to start playing because of an interest in jazz, but the popularity of jazz was declining during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and it was the explosion of pop/rock in the mid-1960s that enabled him to break into recording work in Los Angeles. His first gig as a session musician was recording "She's Just My Style" for the pop group Gary Lewis and the Playboys.[2][3]

Keltner's music career was hardly paying a living, and for several years at the outset he was supported by his wife. Toward the end of the 1960s, he finally began getting regular session work and eventually became one of the busiest drummers in Los Angeles. His earliest credited performances on record were with Gabor Szabo on the 1968 album Bacchanal.[2]

It was his work with Leon Russell playing on Delaney & Bonnie's Accept No Substitute that attracted the attention of Joe Cocker, who recruited Russell and everyone else he could out of the Delaney & Bonnie band for his album Mad Dogs & Englishmen. Playing with Joe Cocker led to work in 1970 and 1971, on records by Carly Simon (Anticipation), Barbra Streisand (Barbra Joan Streisand), Booker T. Jones (Booker T. & Priscilla), George Harrison (The Concert for Bangladesh), and John Lennon (Imagine).[2]

The ex-Beatles

Keltner is best known for his session work on solo recordings by three members of The Beatles, working often with George Harrison, John Lennon (including Lennon solo albums, as well as albums released both by the Plastic Ono Band and Yoko Ono), and Ringo Starr.[3]

Keltner played on many key ex-Beatle solo releases, including Harrison's 1973 album Living in the Material World and Lennon's 1974 album Walls and Bridges. When Ringo Starr recorded his first full-fledged pop album, Ringo, Keltner was featured on several tracks. Following this, Keltner joined George Harrison on his 1974 tour of the United States.[2]

In 1975 Keltner was featured on the Harry Nilsson album Duit on Mon Dei, with Ringo Starr and Beatles associate Klaus Voormann.

Keltner's relationship with the former Beatles was such that his name was used to parody Paul McCartney on albums released by Harrison and Starr in 1973. Early that year, McCartney, the only Beatle not to have worked with Keltner, included a note on the back cover of his Red Rose Speedway album, encouraging fans to join the "Wings Fun Club" by sending a "stamped addressed envelope" to an address in London. Later that year, both Harrison's Living in the Material World and Starr's Ringo contained a similar note encouraging fans to join the "Jim Keltner Fan Club" by sending a "stamped undressed elephant" to an address in Hollywood.[4][5]

Keltner played the role of the judge in the video for George Harrison's 1976 Top 30 hit, "This Song".

In 1989, Keltner toured with Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band.

Little Village

In 1987, Keltner, along with guitarist Ry Cooder and bassist Nick Lowe, played on John Hiatt's Bring the Family. Four years later the four musicians reunited as the band Little Village, recording an eponymous album.[3]

In the early '90s, in the wake of a series of sessions that he played for John Hiatt, Keltner became part of the supergroup Little Village, with Hiatt, Ry Cooder, and Nick Lowe.[2]

Traveling Wilburys

Keltner played drums on both albums released by the 1980s supergroup the Traveling Wilburys, playing under the pseudonym Buster Sidebury.[3]

List of artists

Keltner, as a freelance drummer, has worked with a long list of artists.

1970s

Jim Keltner recorded two albums with his band Attitudes for Harrison's Dark Horse label. The band also included Danny Kortchmar, David Foster and Paul Stallworth, and recorded Attitudes in 1975 and Good News in 1977.

He is featured on Carly Simon's 1971 album, Anticipation.

Keltner play drums on The Bee Gees 1973 album Life in a Tin Can.

In 1973, Keltner was the session drummer on Bob Dylan's Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, which includes the hit "Knockin' on Heaven's Door". Keltner says that session "was a monumental session for me because it was such a touching song, it was the first time I actually cried when I was playing".[3][6]

Jim Keltner is credited as the drummer on the 1979 album by Roy Clark and Gatemouth Brown, Makin' Music.[7]

1980s

Keltner specialized in R&B, and developed a deceptively simple drumming style that melds a casual, loose feel with extraordinary precision.[3] He is said to have influenced Jeff Porcaro and Danny Seraphine of Chicago.

Demonstrations of his style and range can be found in "Jealous Guy" on John Lennon's Imagine, the hit single "Dream Weaver" by Gary Wright, "Josie" on Aja by Steely Dan, "Watching the River Flow" by Bob Dylan and The Thorns' debut, in which he accompanies Matthew Sweet, Pete Droge and Shawn Mullins.[3]

Keltner performed on many classic recordings by J. J. Cale and often worked with bassist Tim Drummond.[3]

He played on four Richard Thompson albums: Daring Adventures (1986), Amnesia (1988), Rumor and Sigh (1991) and you? me? us? (1996).

Also, he was a session drummer for the reunited Pink Floyd on the album A Momentary Lapse of Reason.

1990s

In the mid-1990s, Keltner joined the London Metropolitan Orchestra on its recording of "An American Symphony", on the movie soundtrack for Mr Holland's Opus.

In 1992, he played (together with Booker T. & the M.G.'s) at Bob Dylan's The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration.

In 1993, he toured with Neil Young and Booker T. & the M.G.'s.

2000s

In 2000, Keltner toured with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young on their "Tour of America".

In 2002, he briefly joined Bob Dylan's band during the European gigs while its main drummer, George Receli, recuperated from a hand injury. Later in the year, Keltner played in Concert For George, a tribute to Harrison a year following his death. Wearing the sweatshirt with a Bob Dylan logo, he reprised his role as the Wilburys' drummer, joining Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne for "Handle with Care." During that project and performance, he worked with Paul McCartney, along with other percussionists, including Ringo Starr.

In 2003, he toured with Simon & Garfunkel in their Old Friends tour.

In 2006, he toured with T-Bone Burnett in The True False Identity tour and was featured on Jerry Lee Lewis' album Last Man Standing. He played on Mavis Staples's album We'll Never Turn Back, produced by Ry Cooder.

He also lent his drumming skills to the tracks on Richard Shapero's full-length album entitled "Wild Animus: The Ram", recorded the same year.

In 2007, he appeared with Lucinda Williams on West. The album was listed No. 18 on Rolling Stone's list of the Top 50 Albums of 2007.

In 2008, Keltner appeared on Break up the Concrete by The Pretenders, on One Kind Favor by B. B. King and on Oasis's "The Boy with the Blues", a non-album-track from Dig Out Your Soul.

Also in 2008, Keltner participated in the production of the album Psalngs,[8] the debut release of Canadian musician John Lefebvre.

In 2009, Keltner played drums on singer/songwriter Todd Snider's entire Don Was produced album, The Excitement Plan.

2010s

In 2010, Keltner produced Jerry Lee Lewis's Mean Old Man duets CD. He played drums on Fistful of Mercy's debut album, As I Call You Down, which one of the band's members, Dhani Harrison, described in an interview as the first project of his that he felt worthy to bring to Keltner, who was an old family friend (Dhani is the son of George Harrison). Keltner also played on The Union by Leon Russell and Elton John, produced by T-Bone Burnett and released on October 10, 2010. He also appeared on the eponymous Eric Clapton album, on 8 of the 14 tracks.

Joseph Arthur's 2011 album, The Graduation Ceremony, features Keltner on drums, reprising a partnership that began with the Fistful of Mercy project.

For the 2012 release, Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International, Keltner sat in studio with Outernational band playing/covering Dylan's "When the Ship Comes In".

In 2012, he also played drums on John Mayer's "Something Like Olivia", the fifth track of the album "Born and Raised".[9]

That same year, he recorded with Italian instrumental band Sacri Cuori on their second record, Rosario.

In 2013, Keltner appears on the track "If I Were Me" from Sound City: Real to Reel with Dave Grohl, Jessy Greene and Rami Jaffee. Also, on "Our Love Is Here To Stay", a classic Gershwin jazz standard recorded by Eric Clapton for Old Sock.

References

  1. ↑ Howard Sounes. Down the Highway: The Life Of Bob Dylan Doubleday. 2001 p329. ISBN 0-552-99929-6
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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External links

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