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Title: Photo of Wrecking Crew Pianists Post by: c-man on April 12, 2020, 08:35:55 AM Anyone know what kind of keyboard instrument is shown here in the foreground? Seems to be an electric piano, but doesn't look at all like a Wurly chasis. Also, who's playing it - Al de Lory? It looks somewhat like him, but I'm not sure. Don Randi's on the upright, but who's that in the middle, on the grand? Leon Russell? The eyes (and eyebrows) are similar, but it's SO hard to find a photo of Leon without long hair!
(http://) Title: Re: Photo of Wrecking Crew Pianists Post by: Joshilyn Hoisington on April 12, 2020, 08:40:21 AM It's the early Wurlitzer, the 140b.
An that is indeed the young De Lory. And the young Russell Bridges! Title: Re: Photo of Wrecking Crew Pianists Post by: c-man on April 12, 2020, 08:47:12 AM Ah, thanks! Is this Gold Star?
Title: Re: Photo of Wrecking Crew Pianists Post by: guitarfool2002 on April 12, 2020, 08:50:19 AM Yes, Gold Star. That door behind Don Randi is where they'd sometimes put singers as it was an iso booth too.
Title: Re: Photo of Wrecking Crew Pianists Post by: c-man on April 12, 2020, 08:53:52 AM Great, thanks! So cool to have this shot!
Title: Re: Photo of Wrecking Crew Pianists Post by: guitarfool2002 on April 12, 2020, 08:56:49 AM Look close in the left foreground, they're mic'ing the little self contained speaker of the wurlitzer from a distance. That speaker was about the size of a typical car dash speaker. Part of those sounds came from how they were mic'ed then versus how future generations thought they were mic'ed or sent direct.
Title: Re: Photo of Wrecking Crew Pianists Post by: guitarfool2002 on April 12, 2020, 09:22:37 AM If I'm not mistaken, and maybe H can confirm since I think that was one of the batches of photos we sent back and forth and discussed years ago, that photo may be from Spector's "Christmas Gift For You" sessions at Gold Star, 1963. Am I remembering that correctly? If so, Brian was at those sessions and famously tried a piano take or two before Spector pulled him...lol.
So related to that photo, which is an earlier one of Leon Russell...paraphrased from a story taken from a Cher interview in a magazine: Look at Leon's hair. Seriously. ;D When Leon first came to LA and started to work his way into doing these sessions, Leon had a pretty wild head of hair that no one seemed able to cut properly or which he could manage. Lot of cowlicks, hair sticking up, etc. You can kind of see it in this photo. As he started to work sessions regularly and make better money as a result, someone recommended he go to this particular expensive hair salon for a haircut. This was outside Leon's realm, and the haircuts were quite expensive. So one day he shows up at the studio with an amazing haircut, he looked terrific. People asked him about his hair, and he said he went to this place that charged him a lot, but they styled his hair and put some kind of pink gel in his hair that made it easy to style and comb. And if you see photos of Leon from the more middle 60's, like when he was producing Gary Lewis and others, his hair did look pretty damn good, thanks to whatever that salon did for him. So it's funny to see that earlier photo after hearing Cher's story about Leon going to a real salon for the first time in his life after he made enough money playing piano to afford it! Then there's the legendary story about Leon showing up completely wasted drunk at a Spector session, preaching some kind of fire-and-brimstone rants, and telling off Phil while standing on top of the grand piano, but that video is readily available for anyone interested. :lol |