Larry Knechtel

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Larry Knechtel

Postby RayL » Mon Sep 21, 2009 1:33 pm

The death on Larry Knechtel on August 20th slipped rather quickly down this 'People' list so with a new home for Shadowmusic, let's make amends by adding a few more details about someone whose piano playing enhanced so many great records.

A lot of Shadows fans are also Duane fans and the first time most of us would have seen Larry's name was as a member of the 'recording Rebels' on the greatest of Duane's albums, 'The Twangs The Thang' (TTTT) which was issued in the UK in January 1960. Larry seems to have joined Duane as a 'touring Rebel' as early as March 1959 (there are pictures of him as part of the band at the Brooklyn Fox Theatre) while in the same month multi-instrumentalist Al Casey (on piano) was completing the tracks for Duane's 'Especially For You' album.

Larry's first recording session with Duane was on November 20th 1959, the session which produced 'Blueberry Hill', 'Route No.1' and 'You Are My Sunshine' for TTTT. The whole album, which also introduced most UK listeners to the sound of the 6-string bass (unless they had the good fortune to hear Grady Martin's 1957 tracks with Johnny Horton), was hugely influential in instrumental circles. A fuller appreciaion of TTTT is currently being prepared for 'Pipeline' magazine.

Less than three weeks after the TTTT sessions, Duane returned to Audio Recorders in Phoenix, Arizona, to lay down the tracks for the 'Songs Of Our Heritage' album(SOOH). On this occasion Larry played vibraphone on several tracks, and the harmonica for 'On Top Of Old Smokey' is probably his, as harmonica is one of the several instruments that he played (although the session details simply say 'unknown').

From my seat in the first house at the Finsbury Park Empire on 13th April 1960 during Duane's tour of the UK, I can say with certainty that Larry played the theatre's grand piano (long stick) from a position on the left of stage with Jim Horn (sax/flute) next to him, Duane in the centre, Dave Campbell (Fender bass) on the right and Jimmy Troxel on a drum riser behind. (For amp enthusiasts, Duane had his mighty Magnetone and Dave played though a (presumably hired) Vox. There did not appear to be any amplification for the piano, hence the long stick).

Larry stayed with Duane for four years (probably as long as he could take if he had to rely on a 'house' piano at each new venue). He then joined the elite group of Los Angeles studio musicians who became known as 'The Wrecking Crew' and played on many, many sessions including Phil Spector's 'wall of sound' and the Mamma's and the Papas. (Spector had been present in the control room during some of the recordings for TTTT and SOOH, while he 'learnt the trade' from Lee Hazlewood). Also adept on bass guitar, Knechtel provided the wonderful slides and slurs that, added to Roger McGuinn's 12-string Rickenbacker, made The Byrds' 'Mr. Tambourine Man' so distinctive.

Undoubtedly his career highspot came in 1969 when he was asked by Paul Simon to provide the piano obbligato for 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'. The opening Eb chords played on a concert grand perfectly fit the mood of the song and build, verse on verse, to the climax.

Other career moves included playing in Bread with David Gates (his is the guitar solo in 'Guitar Man')and he worked again with Duane in 1987 for the album 'Duane Eddy - His Twangy Guitar & The Rebels' which included other luminaries such as Ry Cooder, James Burton, Steve Cropper, The Art Of Noise, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Jeff Lynne, Jim Horn and Jim Keltner.

In 2007 he was inducted into The Musician's Hall of Fame with his fellow members of The Wrecking Crew.

Larry Knechtel died on August 20, 2009, in Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital, Washington, at the age of 69 of an apparent heart attack.

Ray Liffen
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