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Garth Hudson
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Eric Garth Hudson (b. August 2, 1937 in Windsor, Ontario) is a Canadian musician. As the organist and keyboardist for Canadian-American rock group The Band, he was a principal architect of the group's unique sound. A master of the Lowrey organ, Hudson's orchestral tone sense and style anticipated many of the sonic advances of the polyphonic synthesizer. His other primary instruments are piano, electronic keyboards, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone and accordion. He has been a much-in-demand session musician, performing with dozens of artists.
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Encyclopedia
Eric Garth Hudson (b. August 2, 1937 in Windsor, Ontario) is a Canadian musician. As the organist and keyboardist for Canadian-American rock group The Band, he was a principal architect of the group's unique sound. A master of the Lowrey organ, Hudson's orchestral tone sense and style anticipated many of the sonic advances of the polyphonic synthesizer. His other primary instruments are piano, electronic keyboards, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone and accordion. He has been a much-in-demand session musician, performing with dozens of artists. He also plays in a duo with his wife, Maud, and in 2002 joined his friend Sneaky Pete Kleinow (died January 6, 2007) in another group, Burrito Deluxe, an offshoot of The Flying Burrito Brothers. He also has his own twelve piece band, The Best!.
Biography
Early life
Garth Hudson's parents, Fred James Hudson and Olive Louella Pentland, were musicians. His mother played piano, accordion and sang. His father played drums, C melody saxophone, clarinet, flute and piano. Garth was born in Windsor and moved with his family to London, Ontario around 1940. He attended Broughdale Public School, Medway High School and the University of Western Ontario. Classically trained in piano, music theory, harmony and counterpoint, Garth first played professionally with dance bands in 1949 at the age of twelve and wrote his first song at the age of 11. In 1958, he joined a rock and roll band, the Capers. He was also reported to say that he gained some performance experience from playing at his uncle's funeral parlour. Then, in December 1961, the 24-year-old Hudson joined The Hawks, the backing band for Ronnie Hawkins, which already consisted of 21-year-old Levon Helm on drums, 18-year-old Robbie Robertson on guitar, 18-year-old Rick Danko on bass and 18-year-old pianist Richard Manuel.
Fearing that his parents would think he was squandering his years of music education by playing in a rock and roll band, Hudson joined the band on the condition he be given the title "music consultant" and that his bandmates each pay him $10 a week for music lessons. If anyone had questions about music theory, they'd turn to Hudson. And while pocketing a little extra cash, Hudson was also able to mollify his family's fears that his education had gone to waste and that he was indeed a music teacher (Revealing a bit of the thinking behind his early fears, in The Last Waltz Hudson told interviewer-director Martin Scorsese: "There is a view that jazz is 'evil' because it comes from evil people, but actually the greatest priests on 52nd Street and on the streets of New York City were the musicians. They were doing the greatest healing work. They knew how to punch through music that would cure and make people feel good.")
Lowrey organ
Upon joining The Hawks, Hudson also took the opportunity to negotiate a new Lowrey organ as part of his package. This is significant as he was one of the few organ players within the rock & roll/rhythm & blues community to pointedly eschew the Hammond organ. The Lowrey organ offered a different mix of features and Hudson stayed with Lowrey right through Ronnie Hawkins/The Hawks, Bob Dylan and The Band, playing three different models: originally a Festival (FL) console which was replaced by a Lincolnwood TSO-25 during 1969. Later still, Hudson played a horseshoe console H25 model, as depicted in The Last Waltz.
The Band: 1965-1976
Under the strict supervision of Hawkins, The Hawks became an accomplished band and split from Hawkins in 1963. They recorded two singles and toured almost continually, playing in bars and clubs, usually billed as Levon and the Hawks. Hudson started work as a session musician in 1965, playing organ on an album by John Hammond, Jr..
In 1966, they were introduced to Bob Dylan by manager Albert Grossman's assistant, Mary Martin. Dylan recruited them to accompany him for his controversial 1966 "electric" tour of the United States and the United Kingdom. Afterward they toured some more as Levon and the Hawks. Hudson, Danko and Robertson participated in recording sessions for Dylan's Blonde on Blonde. Eventually, the group settled in a pink house in West Saugerties, New York near Woodstock. Dylan was a frequent visitor and Garth recorded their collaborations, resulting in The Basement Tapes.
By 1968, the group recorded its debut album, Music from Big Pink. The album was recorded in Los Angeles (at Capitol) and New York (at A&R Studio). Capitol originally announced that the group would be called "The Crackers", but when Music From Big Pink was released they were officially named The Band. The album includes Hudson's organ showcase, "Chest Fever", a song that in The Band's live shows would be vastly expanded by a solo organ introduction entitled "The Genetic Method", an improvisational work that would be played differently each performance. An example can be heard on the live album Rock of Ages. His saxophone solo work can be heard on such songs as "Tears of Rage" (from Big Pink) and "Unfaithful Servant" (from The Band. He added synthesizers to his arsenal of instruments on the 1975 album Northern Lights - Southern Cross, the first album recorded in The Band's Shangri-La recording studio in Malibu, California.
Hudson provided innovative accompaniment. For example, the song "Up On Cripple Creek" features Hudson playing a clavinet through a wah-wah pedal to create a swampy sound reminiscent of a jaw harp or the croak of a frog This clavinet/wah pedal configuration was later adopted by many funk musicians.
After years of continuous touring, The Band made its final bow as a touring band with a lavish final concert on Thanksgiving Day 1976 at Winterland in San Francisco, an all-star tribute concert documented in The Last Waltz.
Levon Helm has gone on record many times saying that the only person in the group who wanted to put an end to The Band was guitarist Robbie Robertson.
Band reformed: 1980s-1990s
The Band recorded one more album after The Last Waltz, Islands, and then dissolved. By then, Hudson had married his singer/actress wife, Maud. He had his own property, Big Oak Basin Dude Ranch, in Malibu, which was destroyed by wildfires in 1978, after extensive renovations that included an impressive studio.
He was active during this period as a session musician, performing on movie soundtracks and albums by many other artists, including Emmylou Harris, Van Morrison and Leonard Cohen (Recent Songs). He composed music for Our Lady Queen of the Angels, a multimedia show created for the Los Angeles bicentennial in 1980.
The Band reformed in 1983, with all the original members except Robbie Robertson. Richard Manuel lived at Hudson's ranch in 1978. He died in 1986. Supplemented by a rotating roster of additional musicians, The Band continued to tour. It released three albums in the 1990s.
Recorded Feed The Birds on Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films, 1988 (one of Various Artists).
In 1990 Hudson, along with bandmates Levon Helm and Rick Danko, took part in Roger Waters' massive performance of The Wall at the Berlin Wall.
As a member of The Band, Hudson was inducted into the Juno Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
Through the years, he has kept in contact with his old bandmates, playing on solo efforts by Rick Danko, Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm.
Solo efforts: 2001-present
Hudson released his first solo album September 11, 2001 entitled The Sea To The North.
On July 13, 2002, he was honored with the Canada South Blues Society's Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 2002, he joined with former Flying Burrito Brothers' pedal steel player Sneaky Pete Kleinow to form Burrito Deluxe, with Carlton Moody of the Moody Brothers on lead vocals and guitars, bassist Jeff "Stick" Davis of Amazing Rhythm Aces and drummer Rick Lonow. The group recorded two albums, Georgia Peach and The Whole Enchilada, before Kleinow departed in 2004 due to health problems.
In June 2005, Garth formed his own 12-piece band The Best! with his wife, Maud on vocals.
In 2005, Garth and Maud Hudson released Live at the Wolf, a piano and vocal album recorded live at the Wolf Performance Hall in London, Ontario, Hudson's hometown.
On November 20, 2005, Garth received the Hamilton Music Award for Best Instrumentalist.
He continues as a much-in-demand session player, performing with such artists as Neko Case (Fox Confessor Brings the Flood), Teddy Thompson (Separate Ways), The Secret Machines (Ten Silver Drops), The Sadies (Live 2006), The Lemonheads, Jonah Smith (2006 self-titled debut), Yesterday's News, and others.
A few of the artists Garth performed with in 2006 are Ronnie Hawkins, The Sadies, Neko Case, Heavy Trash, John Hiatt, North Mississippi All-Stars, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, and Chris Zaloom, some of which were recorded.
Hudson and his talent on piano are prominently featured in the 2007 Daniel Lanois DVD documentary Here Is What Is.
Film credits
Hudson is credited in the following films:
- 1978 The Last Waltz (performer)
- 1980 Raging Bull (additional music composer)
- 1983 The King of Comedy (additional music)
- 1983 The Right Stuff (additional music composer)
- 1986 Man Outside (actor - Cheney/additional music)
Artists with whom Garth Hudson has performed:
External links
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