KooperKast

Al Kooper tells of hanging with Dylan before and after the infamous Newport Folk Festival, the Greenwich Village scene in 1965, with Jack Elliot, on the road with Dylan in LA, Alice Ochs, giving way to The Band as Dylan's road band. The photo is by legendary programmer and pilot Phil Greenspun.

Hear Al tell about how he played with Mimi and Dick Fariña and then with Bob Dylan at the infamous 1965 Newport Folk Festival.

Al Kooper talks about hearing Dionne Warwick as a youngster and his love for her work , working with her sisters, and his great respect for the work of Burt Bachrach.

Al Kooper talks about visiting Brian Wilson and hearing Pet Sounds before it was release, giving Brian a gift, friendship with Carl Wilson, and general appreciation for the Beach Boys.

Al Kooper talks about visiting Birdland as a youth, and sitting close in the kid's section, becoming close to the band members and later hiring them as session musicians.

Al moves to Atlanta and hears Lynyrd Skynyrd play, signs them to his new label, and produces their first record.  He runs into Pete Townshend of The Who, tells them about Skynyrd, and they end up going on a major tour, opening for the Who.

Skynyrd becomes a major success, with Sweet Home Alabama in the top 10 as a single from the 2nd album. But things get difficult making the 3rd album, with a rival in the studio.  Then a few years later, a tragic plane crash.

In this very short but intriguing Appaloosa episode we hear about Al’s first project as producer after Blood Sweat and Tears.  But Al had 2 members of Blood Sweat and Tears play on the Appaloosa album, which is an interesting side story.

Al talks about renting George Martin’s studio in London and getting some gentle and welcome advice from George, also about a legendary meeting of George Martin with Brian Wilson.

Al tells about playing on George's solo album the day after Lennon was shot, and a surprise visit in LA some years later.

Al fills us in on a number of factors about the iconic record, producer John Simon, the origin of the album cover, and a bit about BB. King.

Al gets a call from Danny Kalb about coming to a jam session... thus starts a new chapter in Al's career. Until Al wanted to add horns...

In 1967, Joni Mitchell broke up with Blues Project drummer Roy Blumenfeld and she ran into Al Kooper at a bar that night. Al walked her home and Joni sang some songs for him. He was so impressed with her music that he called friend Judy Collins at 2am to get her to take Joni to the Newport Folks Festival the next day. Judy said yes, but grumbled about being woken up. Joni's appearance at Newp...

A little different take on the famous Like A Rolling Stone session where Al met Bloomfield and became Dylan's organ player. The episode starts with Al and Frank Zappa chasing the same woman, who became Gail Zappa.

Al talks about getting Deep Purple to hire his favorite guitar player and how it really didn't work out; then the same fellows shows up in a bizarre incident. Just another chapter the the life of the Zelig of Rock, Al Kooper.

How Denny Cordell got Al to play on early Tom Petty sessions, resulting in The Heartbreakers going on the road the first time opening for Al's act, which was a very large band with horns and backup singers. Al sat in with the Heartbreakers on a few Petty songs to help generate some buzz.

Al tells about his upcoming CD of  demo recording going back to the 1960's and since then. He then launches into a great story about where on of the songs came from, the result of an epic quest to find Little Beaver, the great R&B guitarist.