Al Kooper

Al Kooper (born Alan Peter Kuperschmidt, February 5, 1944) is an American songwriter, record producer and musician, known for organizing Blood, Sweat & Tears, although he did not stay with the group long enough to share its popularity.[1] Throughout much of the 1960s and 1970s, he was a prolific studio musician, playing organ on the Bob Dylan song "Like A Rolling Stone", French horn and piano on the Rolling Stones song "You Can't Always Get What You Want", and lead guitar on Rita Coolidge's "The Lady's Not for Sale", among many other appearances. He also produced a number of one-off collaboration albums, such as the Super Session album that brought together guitarists Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills. In the 1970s he was a successful manager and producer, notably recording Lynyrd Skynyrd's first three albums. He has also had a successful solo career, written music for film soundtracks, and has lectured in musical composition. He continues to perform live.

Al Kooper
Al Kooper during an interview in 2009
Background information
Birth name	Alan Peter Kuperschmidt
Also known as	Roosevelt Gook
Born	February 5, 1944 Brooklyn, New York, US
Genres	Blues, R&B, pop rock
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter, producer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, bass, Hammond organ, keyboards, percussion, mandolin
Years active	1958–present
Labels	ABC Records
Associated acts	Mike Bloomfield, The Blues Project, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Bob Dylan, The Royal Teens
Website	alkooper.com

Early life

Kooper, born in Brooklyn[2] to Sam and Natalie Kooper, grew up in a Jewish family[3] in Hollis Hills, Queens, New York.

Career

Professional debut

Kooper's first professional work was as a 14-year-old guitarist in the Royal Teens, best known for their 1958 ABC Records novelty 12-bar blues riff, "Short Shorts" (although Kooper did not play on the recording[4]). In 1960, he teamed up with songwriters Bob Brass and Irwin Levine to write and record demos for Sea-Lark Music Publishing. The trio's biggest hits were "This Diamond Ring", recorded by Gary Lewis and the Playboys, and "I Must Be Seeing Things", recorded by Gene Pitney (both 1965). When he was 21, Kooper moved to Manhattan's Greenwich Village, then teeming with artists, writers, and musicians.

With Dylan

He performed with Bob Dylan in concert in 1965, including playing Hammond organ with Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival, and in the recording studio in 1965 and 1966. Kooper also played the Hammond organ riffs on Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone". It was in those recording sessions that Kooper met and befriended Mike Bloomfield, whose guitar playing he admired. He worked extensively with Bloomfield for several years. Kooper played organ once again with Dylan during his 1981 world tour.

Blues Project

Kooper joined the Blues Project as their keyboardist in 1965; he left the band shortly before their gig at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, although he did play a solo set at the famous festival, as evidenced by bootlegs of the event. He formed Blood, Sweat & Tears in 1967, leaving due to creative differences in 1968, after the release of the group's first album, Child Is Father to the Man.[5] He recorded Super Session with Bloomfield and Stills in 1968,[6] and in 1969 he collaborated with 15-year-old guitarist Shuggie Otis on the album Kooper Session. In 1975 he produced the debut album by the Tubes.

As musician

Kooper has played on hundreds of records, including ones by the Rolling Stones, B. B. King, the Who, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Alice Cooper, and Cream. On occasion, he has even overdubbed his own efforts, as on The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper and other albums, under the pseudonym "Roosevelt Gook".[7]

As record producer

After moving to Atlanta in 1972, he discovered the band Lynyrd Skynyrd, and produced and performed on their first three albums, including the singles "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Free Bird". In 1972 he rejoined the Blues Project at a charity concert promoted by Bruce Blakeman at Valley Stream Central High School.

TV scores

He wrote the score for the TV series Crime Story and for the film The Landlord and wrote music for several made-for-television movies. He was the musical force behind many of the pop tunes, including "You're the Lovin' End", for The Banana Splits, a children's television program.

Studio

During the late 1980s Kooper had his own dedicated keyboard studio room in the historic Sound Emporium recording studio in Nashville, next to studio B.

Rock Bottom Remainders

Kooper's status as a published author enabled him to join (and act as musical director of) the Rock Bottom Remainders, a band made up of writers, including Dave Barry, Stephen King, Amy Tan, and Matt Groening.

Honors, awards, and legacy

Kooper celebrating his 68th birthday at the Regatta Bar in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Feb. 4, 2012

In May 2001, Kooper was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music.[8] Kooper is retired from teaching songwriting and recording production at Berklee College of Music, in Boston, and plays weekend concerts with his bands the ReKooperators and the Funky Faculty. In 2008, he participated in the production of the album Psalngs,[9] the debut release of Canadian musician John Lefebvre.

Kooper was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum, in Nashville, in 2008.[10]

In 2005, Martin Scorsese produced a documentary titled No Direction Home: Bob Dylan for the PBS American Masters Series in which Kooper's contributions are recognized.

Memoir

Kooper published a memoir, Backstage Passes: Rock 'n' Roll Life in the Sixties (1977), which was revised and published as Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards: Memoirs of a Rock 'n' Roll Survivor (1998). The revised edition includes indictments of "manipulators" in the music industry, including his one-time business manager, Stan Polley. An updated edition, including supplementary material, was published by Backbeat Books in 2008.[11]

Discography

Studio albums

• I Stand Alone (February 1969)
• You Never Know Who Your Friends Are (October 1969)
• Easy Does It (September 1970)
• New York City (You're a Woman) (June 1971)
• A Possible Projection of the Future / Childhood's End (April 1972)
• Naked Songs (1973)
• Act Like Nothing's Wrong (January 1977)
• Championship Wrestling (featuring Jeff "Skunk" Baxter) (1982)
• Rekooperation (June 1994)
• Black Coffee (August 2005)
• White Chocolate (2008)

Live albums

• Soul of a Man (February 1995)

Soundtracks

• The Landlord: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (music by Al Kooper) (with the Staple Singers and Lorraine Ellison)

Compilation albums

• Al's Big Deal - Unclaimed Freight (An Al Kooper Anthology) (1975)
• Rare and Well Done: The Greatest and Most Obscure Recordings 1964-2001 (2001)

Collaborations

• Super Session (with Stephen Stills and Mike Bloomfield) (1968)
• The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper (February 1969)
• Fillmore East: The Lost Concert Tapes 12/13/68 (with Mike Bloomfield, recorded 1968, issued April 2003)
• Kooper Session: Super Session Vol. 2 (with Shuggie Otis) (1970)
• Johnnie B. Live (with Johnnie Johnson) (1997)

Other Appearances

Year	Artist	Album name	Role(s)
1965	Bob Dylan	Highway 61 Revisited	Piano, organ
1966		Blonde on Blonde	Organ, guitar
	Tom Rush	Take a Little Walk with Me	Electric guitar, celesta, liner notes
	The Blues Project	Live at The Cafe Au Go Go	Organ, vocals
		Projections	Keyboards, vocals
1967		The Blues Project Live at Town Hall	Keyboards
	The Who	The Who Sell Out	Organ
1968	Blood, Sweat and Tears	Child is Father to the Man	Organ, piano, vocals, ondioline
	The Jimi Hendrix Experience	Electric Ladyland	Piano
	Don Ellis	Autumn	Producer
1969		The New Don Ellis Band Goes Underground
	The Rolling Stones	Let It Bleed	piano, French horn and organ
	B.B. King	Live & Well	Piano
1970	Bob Dylan	Self Portrait	Guitar, horn, keyboards
		New Morning	Organ, piano, electric guitar, French horn
1971	The Who	Who's Next	Hammond organ
	Bo Diddley	Another Dimension	Keyboards, guitar
	Rita Coolidge	Nice Feelin'	Organ
1972		The Lady's Not for Sale	Lead guitar
1973	Betty Wright	Hard To Stop	Arranger, composer, keyboards, main personnel
	Frankie & Johnny[lower-alpha 1]	The Sweetheart Sampler	Producer
	Atlanta Rhythm Section	Back Up Against the Wall	Synthesiser, ARP
	Lynyrd Skynyrd	Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd	Producer, engineer, bass, Mellotron, back-up harmony, mandolin, bass drum, organ
1974		Second Helping	Producer, backing vocals, piano
	Roger McGuinn	Peace on You	Guitar, piano, clavinet, arrangements, conductor
1975	Lynyrd Skynyrd	Nuthin' Fancy	Producer
	The Tubes	The Tubes
1979	Leo Sayer	Here	Organ, synthesizer, keyboards, performer
	4 on the Floor	4 on the Floor	Producer
1981	George Harrison	Somewhere in England	Keyboards, synthesisers
	Ringo Starr	Stop and Smell the Roses	Piano, electric guitar
1985	Bob Dylan	Empire Burlesque	Rhythm guitar
1986		Knocked Out Loaded	Keyboards
1989	Roy Orbison	Mystery Girl	Organ
1990	Bob Dylan	Under the Red Sky	Hammond organ, keyboards
1991	Dave Sharp	Hard Traveling	Guest artist
	Green On Red	Scapegoats	Producer
1996	Neil Diamond	Tennessee Moon	Hammond organ
1998	Phoebe Snow	I Can't Complain	Guest artist, Hammond organ
2000	Dan Penn	Blue Nite Lounge	Keyboards

Sources

• Mike Bloomfield, Me and Big Joe, Re/Search Publications, 1999, ISBN 1-889307-05-X, ISBN 978-1-889307-05-3.
• Jan Mark Wolkin and Bill Keenom, Michael Bloomfield -- If You Love These Blues: An Oral History, Backbeat Books, 2000, ISBN 978-0-87930-617-5 (with CD of uniussed music).
• Ken Brooks, The Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper with Paul Butterfield and David Clayton Thomas, Agenda, 1999, ISBN 1-899882-90-1, ISBN 978-1-899882-90-8.
• Al Kooper, Backstage Passes: Rock 'n' Roll Life in the Sixties, Stein & Day, 1977, ISBN 0-8128-2171-8, ISBN 978-0-8128-2171-0.
• Al Kooper, Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards: Memoirs of a Rock 'n' Roll Survivor (updated ed.), Billboard Books, 1998, ISBN 0-8230-8257-1, ISBN 978-0823082575.
• Al Kooper, Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards (new ed.), Hal Leonard, 2008, ISBN 0-87930-922-9, ISBN 978-0-87930-922-0.
• Ed Ward, Michael Bloomfield: The Rise and Fall of an American Guitar Hero, Cherry Lane Books,1983, ISBN 0-89524-157-9, ISBN 978-0895241573.

Notes

1. Al Kooper, Frank Ruby and John Paul Fetta

References

1. James, Gary, "Gary James' Interview With Al Kooper" at Classicbands.com
2. Strong, Martin C. (2000). The Great Rock Discography (5th ed.). Edinburgh: Mojo Books. pp. 543–544. ISBN 1-84195-017-3.
3. Wilentz, Sean (April 8, 2013). "Like a Rolling Stone: Rock legend Al Kooper opens up to Princeton's Sean Wilentz about making music with Bob Dylan, and more". tabletmag.com. Nextbook Inc. Retrieved May 10, 2015.
4. Friedman, Tyler, "Al Kooper: An Appreciation," Perfect Sound Forever, April 2007)
5. Tobler, John (1992). NME Rock 'N' Roll Years (1st ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd. p. 232. CN 5585.
6. Tobler, John (1992). NME Rock 'N' Roll Years (1st ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd. p. 259. CN 5585.
7. "Tom Rush's "Take a Little Walk with Me" Liner Notes". www.richieunterberger.com. Archived from the original on November 28, 2010. Retrieved November 17, 2010.
8. "Elvin Jones, Al Kooper Receive Honorary Doctorates - Mixonline". Mixonline.com. Retrieved October 24, 2017.
9. Archived March 7, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
10. Daniel Kreps (October 29, 2008). "Kid Rock, Keith Richards Help Induct Crickets, Muscle Shoals into Musicians Hall of Fame | Music News". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 19, 2014.
11. "Hal Leonard Performing Arts Publishing Group - Thanks For Visiting". www.halleonardbooks.com.

External links

• Official Al Kooper website
• Al Kooper's Myspace page with Bio
• Extensive audio interview with Terry Gross on NPR's 'Fresh Air' program, January 3, 2004