ALBUM BY ALBUM
Danny Kortchmar
The sideman’s sideman looks back on some of the albums he produced, played on and helped write
“I GET the most pleasure from collaborating,” says Danny Kortchmar, the ace guitarist, producer and songwriter who is also one of rock’s great sidemen. “The Beatles had a huge influence on me. And when I saw how much fun being in a band was, I had to join one.” Raised in New York City, the R&B-leaning ‘Kootch’ spent the ’60s in cult outfits like The King Bees, The Flying Machine and The Fugs before relocating to Los Angeles. There his reputation spread fast and he appeared on classic albums by James Taylor, Carole King, Jackson Browne, David Crosby, Graham Nash and more. Kortchmar also doubled as a cornerstone of The Section, a revered band of fellow sessioneers who toured and recorded in their own right.
In the ’80s and early ’90s he branched out into production with the likes of Neil Young and Don Henley and lent his talents to works by Bob Dylan, Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks and Billy Joel.
More recently, Kortchmar and Section stalwarts Leland Sklar and Russ Kunkel, plus sometime Section member Waddy Wachtel, formed The Immediate Family. The band remains a fluid postscript to the 78-year-old’s career. “Waddy and I fight sometimes,” he admits, “but it’s always about something musical. We’re both from New York, so we yell a lot!”
ROB HUGHES
On the JT: playing with James Taylor at Crystal Palace in south London, September 1973
MICHAEL PUTLAND/GETTY IMAGES
JAMES TAYLOR SWEET BABY JAMES
WARNER BROS, 1970
Reunited in LA with his one-time East Coast bandmate, Kortchmar adds tasteful support to Taylor’s solo breakthrough. Includes “Fire And Rain” and “Country Road”
James and I go way back. When we were teenagers, our families would both go up to Martha’s Vineyard and spend the summer on the island. He and I met on the porch of this little grocery store there one day, then we just started hanging out. After I graduated high school, I started a band in New York City. Then later, James hitchhiked down and we started The Flying Machine together. I always knew he had something very special. Prior to
Sweet Baby James,
Peter Asher had made an album with him for Apple and there was a lot of stuff on it – string and horn arrangements, little bridges that connected the tunes. But this time he did away with all that and moved James’ voice and acoustic guitar front and centre. Then he hired great musicians and made everything much more spare. I think that had a lot to do with the album’s success, because you really got to know what James was about. For me, it was pretty easy to do, because I’d already been playing with James
for many years. I was one
of the first people to hear “Fire And Rain”, for instance, or “Country Road”. I remember him playing me “Country Road” and it reminded me very much of him and I hitchhiking around Martha’s Vineyard. It really captured the feeling of that. Such a great song, very evocative.