Music Has Lost Another Great Man....Earl Palmer Is Gone!

I first heard Earl Palmer play in a Cosimo Matassa's studio in New Orleans in 1961. I was astounded by his ability and style. He was simplicity at it's best until the turn-arounds and then he did magical things such as press rolls, staggered eighth notes and, at times, nothing at all. Amazingly, everything he played (or didn't), worked.

The last time we worked together in the studio was at Wally Heider's Studio 3 in Hollywood in 1974. During that period, there were a group of Hollywood musicians called The Wrecking Crew who played on 90% of all the hits which came from Southern California.

I had written a song for Pat Glasser at Metromedia Music which was picked up by producer Larry Cox for the group Climax of "Precious And Few" fame.

I received a call from Larry around 11 AM the day the song was to be recorded. Larry said they were having a problem copping the feel for my song and since I had played the guitar on the original demo, asked if I would come by to cut the part. I was thrilled and hustled the block or so over to Heider's.

When I arrived, the rhythmn section musicians were already set up. On the session were Tommy Tedesco guitar), David Gates (keyboards), Joe Osborne (bass), Earl Palmer (drums) and myself (gut string guitar).

I had known Earl for a long time and went over to say hello. He held up his hand for me to be quiet for a moment. I noticed he had two sets of ear-phones on his head and was listening intently to the set hooked to a portable radio. He was listening to a baseball game somewhere in the country. As far as I could tell, he listened all the way through the session and never lost a beat. Earl was truly a master.

That was a session I'll never forget. My song is titled, "Walkin' In The Georgia Rain" and is certainly a tribute to what a great producer adds to the recording process. Larry Cox is undoubtedly one of the finest producer/engineers alive today. Unfortunately, I hear he is not at all well at the moment.

Earl Palmer has played and contributed to more hit records that I can count. If you would like to own a CD with many of Earl's contributions, check out "Backbeat" on Ace Records. There are 30 songs which enshrine the early years of Rock & Roll. The artists include Little Richard, Lloyd Price, Smiley Lewis, Amos Milburn, Etta James, Fats Domino and Shirly and Lee to name just a few.

To be honest....it's beginning to hurt too much lately to keep placing these obituaries on BluePower. For fifteen years we've played the blues and R&B for a small but consistent audience. It seems now that the end is very near as all the great writers, musicians, producers and record company men and women who created the music are passing on.

All we can do now is say, "Thanks for the music and Godspeed."

Yours Truly....
John Rhys/BluePower.com
Click here to see the obituary for Earl Palmer.

Click here to to listen to "Walkin' In The Georgia Rain."