Julie Matthews on Unsung Heroes
Julie Matthews writes:
This is my last blog for this week and I wanted to use it to pay tribute to all the wonderful sidemen and women that fill our record collections and stages alike.
These are the exceptionally talented people who have no desire for their name to be in bold on the poster or on the front cover of the CD, yet without them our CDs and concerts would be like trying to produce oil paintings with pencils.
I'm talking of the bass players, drummers, melodeon players, pianists, guitarists, the list is endless.
Can you imagine Sir Eglamore without the exquisite guitar part played by ? The first thing that comes to mind when someone says Baker Street is the distinctive sax part; da da daaaa da da daaa,Ìý but how many people know the name of the saxophonist who played it; ?
This isn't a crusade for us to put the spotlight on them; most of them would hate that, it's a simple thank you for the immense contribution they make to our music scene.
Everyone who has ever had their name on a poster could draw up a list of brilliant sidemen they respect and admire and everyone's list would be different.Ìý Maybe you'd like to post a list of unsung heroes here on this site?
Let me start the ball rolling with the tip of my iceberg, to name but a few;
, , , Ian Carr, Howard Lees, Neil Marshall, , , Neil Fairclough, , Martin Brunsden, , , , ...oops, I've run out of my allotted space and the list has only just started... thanks for the music guys.
Julie
Comment number 1.
At 9th Sep 2008, elligrapellie wrote:what'sthe name of that base player who looks like Moses and often plays for people like James Taylor. I was lucky enough to see James Talor in concert and this guy was playin. He was amazing - unfortunately I dont think he is around anymore
Unsung Heroes would be a great song, not just about off the poster musicians but all those people who just make peoples' lives better but dont get noticed -a bit like the character in the film 'its a wonderful life'
I bet that song has already been written - I bet you've already written the song
keep writing those amazing songs Julie
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Comment number 2.
At 12th Sep 2008, david burland wrote:Leland Sklar was the bass player with James Taylor for many years he does indeed qualify many times ovwer to be named Unsung Hero
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Comment number 3.
At 12th Sep 2008, evansakes wrote:I object to the suggestion that Leland Sklar looks like Moses!
Methuselah maybe....but Moses, no! :-)
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