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Topic: Greg Leisz and Al Perkins |
b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 22 Sep 2017 8:50 am |
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b0b shared the article on Facebook yesterday, this was my take on FB:
Al Perkins made the list as well for pedal steel which was cool. And the thing about both Greg Leisz and Al is that they are such great all around musicians that they have also done session work on standard guitar - Greg in particular. He has a ton of studio credits on guitar along with pedal steel, lap steel, and dobro. In that video of Greg included with the article, I picked up a few things in watching his bar hand. And one of the reasons he has been so successful with session work is that he avoids the stereotypical approach to the instrument. He can play the classic E9th country style when needed, but his skills are so diverse that he can change colors like a chameleon and adapt his steel playing to the song and the situation.
I always liked the quote below from k.d. lang in an article on Greg that came out a number of years ago. As most of us here know lang has featured Greg on a number of her recordings over the years
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He’s managed to forge a distinctive style — what he calls “head space†— from some of the least flexible instruments in the guitar pantheon. According to an oft-repeated quote from k.d. lang, Leisz “single-handedly liberated pedal steel from the bondage of country.â€
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Mark |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 22 Sep 2017 9:34 am
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Oh yeah, man - one of my favorite instrumental albums in many years.
Several years ago my wife and I saw Frisell's band with Greg at Yoshi's Jazz Club in Oakland and we scored the table next to the stage right in front of Greg. That was excellent.
Last year at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in San Francisco at one of the stages the headliner was Jackson Browne with Greg, a different take on Jackson in a duo setting than with long time collaborator David Lindley. Greg was mostly on lap steel, with a little pedal steel and electric guitar. It was the first time they played a gig of this kind as a duo. Outstanding.
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Mark |
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Rich Weiss
From:
Woodland Hills, CA, USA
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 22 Sep 2017 1:31 pm
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Rich, I listened to the tune - Greg really made the thing work.
Ringo is a legend in his own right, but if it weren't for Mr. Leisz - I might not have gotten past the first minute.
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Mark |
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Rich Weiss
From:
Woodland Hills, CA, USA
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Posted 22 Sep 2017 1:58 pm
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| Mark Eaton wrote: |
| ..but if it weren't for Mr. Leisz - I might not have gotten past the first minute. |
Lol. I agree. But props to Ringo for the effort, and for featuring Greg. |
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Kevin Swan
From:
Medina, Ohio
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Posted 23 Sep 2017 1:40 pm Leisz and Frisell
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I've seen Greg play with Bill Frisell a half dozen times, including the Yoshi's gig on East/West. He's really what brought on "adult-onset pedal steel" for me, when I hit the half century mark, around ten years ago. The way Leisz and Frisell play together borders on some kind of musical telepathy, in part because I find them both to be very generous players, always looking to make music WITH everyone on the stage, rather than AT them. If you haven't, take a look at them playing John Lennon's songs live:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_w-t_F1w6E
And that Ringo song? I doubt they could have put Leisz any higher up in the mix without completely drowning out Ringo's vocals. (But it may have crossed their minds!)
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"Just because you're not a drummer doesn't mean you don't have to keep time." Thelonious Monk |
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Chris Walke
From:
St Charles, IL
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Posted 25 Sep 2017 7:48 am
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I've read that while Frisell does give a good bit of direction to his ever-changing roster of bandmates, he never directs Leisz. They share an incredible musical telepathy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XQonGhVajA |
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