Jim Messina
Encyclopedia
Jim Messina is an American musician, songwriter, singer, recording engineer, and record producer. He was a member of folk rock
legend Buffalo Springfield
, a founding member of country rock
pioneer Poco
, and half the popular soft rock
duo Loggins and Messina
.
, and musician, replacing bass player
Bruce Palmer
) on their last album
.
, another Buffalo Springfield member, formed Poco
after Buffalo Springfield broke up. Messina played lead guitar
and supplied vocals and some songwriting
to the band
. After recording
two studio albums and one live album, he left Poco.
, as an independent producer. Messina was first introduced to the idea of producing Kenny Loggins
in the summer of 1970 while still performing on the road with Poco. Loggins first met with Messina in December 1970 at Messina's home, where the two recorded a number of Loggins' compositions in Messina's living room. Loggins, at the time, was a songwriter for ABC Dunhill and not a performing artist. The songs he presented for his album leaned more toward being a folk artist, a style Messina felt might anchor Loggins in a past trend as opposed to being a part of a future trend.
In the course of deciding how to produce Loggins' first solo album, Messina met with Clive Davis, then president of Columbia Records. The inexperienced Loggins had no agent, no manager, no business manager, and no prior experience as a performing artist; Messina felt Loggins needed some kind of an edge.
Messina suggested that Davis consider letting Messina sit in on Loggins' first solo album in the same way that jazz artists had done in the past. Loggins also needed more upbeat and diverse material to help him gain appeal as a pop music artist. After reluctantly aggreeing, Clive the "Sitting In" concept to the end.
With music moving from folk, Messina presented Loggins a number of songs that spilled over from his days with Poco and Buffalo Springfield. He felt Loggins could do both country rock and R&B styles extremely well, especially after hearing Kenny perform "Danny's Song."
Among the material Messina contributed was "Listen to a Country Song", "Nobody But You", "Same Old Wine", and "The Trilogy", which included "Peace of Mind." He provided the rehearsal space, amps and instruments and lent his talents as an arranger, vocalist, and guitarist. Messina worked long hours with Loggins and encouraged him to purchase an electric guitar and play it on his solo debut album.
Messina assembled "The Kenny Loggins Band" by summoning old friends drummer Merel Bregante and bassist/singer Larry Sims (both formally of the Sunshine Company), horn and viola player Al Garth, Jon Clarke (performing with the Don Ellis Jazz Band), and a friend of Loggins, keyboardist Michael Omartian, who played on the album but dropped out once the touring began.
Kenny Loggins' first solo Album entitled, "Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina” “Sittin' In" was completed and made its debut in November 1971. Together with the band Messina had assembled they toured and sold over 20 million albums by the end of 1976.
After the release of "Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina Sittin' In", Messina went on to write, perform and produce seven more albums with Loggins. Those albums were: "Loggins and Messina" "Full Sail" "On Stage" "Mother Lode" "So Fine" "Native Sons" and "Finale".
In 1976, the duo split: Loggins wanted to strike out on his own. Both went on to solo careers.
In 1981, Messina signed with Warner Bros. Records and recorded and released his second solo effort, "Messina". A collection of songs that ranged in genre from Folk to Rock, to Latin and light Jazz. Pauline Wilson was the featured artist and sang a duet with Messina on, "Stay the Night".
In 1986 Jim Messina released his third solo album on Warner Bros. Records entitled, "One More Mile". The album leaned more toward rock and Messina used a number of the young and upcoming studio musicians as his rhythm section. It featured Edie Laymen and Pauline Wilson singing background and harmony parts. Jim's influence and love for the Hawaiian people is most apparent on the song, "The Island" on which he shows his influence of Slack Key, a Hawaiian style of playing the guitar.
In 2005, Messina joined Loggins and together they hit the road as a duo again. The result was a successful nationwide tour that produced a CD and DVD entitled "Loggins and Messina" Live - Sittin' in Again, at The Santa Barbara Bowl."
Messina also pulled from the vaults the original master analog recordings that he had produced and mixed for L&M at Columbia Records and together the duo released the digitally mastered album entitled, "The Best: Sittin' in Again". The duo reformed again in 2009 for an extensive tour.
Messina continues to tour and make records as a solo artist. In addition, he dabbles in the fine arts as a painter working both in watercolor and acrylics. Messina is a carpenter who enjoys building "Cowboy" furniture and old distressed Scottish and Irish style of pine furniture. Messina also works in metal and enjoys the art of welding metals. He continues to work in the field of electronics both as a studio owner and recording and mixing engineer.
He is the creator and owner of "The Songwriters' Performance Workshop" wherein he leads 6-day intensive workshops for songwriters and singers at retreats, resorts and hotels around the country.
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
legend Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield is a North American folk rock band renown both for its music and as a springboard for the careers of Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay and Jim Messina. Among the first wave of North American bands to become popular in the wake of the British invasion, the group combined...
, a founding member of country rock
Country rock
Country rock is sub-genre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock with country. The term is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds; reaching its greatest...
pioneer Poco
Poco
Poco is an Southern California country rock band originally formed by Richie Furay and Jim Messina following the demise of Buffalo Springfield in 1968. The title of their first album, Pickin' Up the Pieces, is a reference to the break-up of Buffalo Springfield. Highly influential and creative,...
, and half the popular soft rock
Soft rock
Soft rock is a style of music which uses the techniques of rock music to compose a softer, more toned-down sound. Soft rock songs generally tend to focus on themes like love, everyday life and relationships. The genre tends to make heavy use of acoustic guitars, pianos, synthesizers and sometimes...
duo Loggins and Messina
Loggins and Messina
Loggins and Messina are an American rock-pop duo consisting of Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina who achieved their success in the early to mid 1970s...
.
Buffalo Springfield
While with Buffalo Springfield Messina served as a recording engineer, producerRecord producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, and musician, replacing bass player
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Bruce Palmer
Bruce Palmer
Bruce Palmer was a Canadian musician notable for playing bass guitar in the folk rock band Buffalo Springfield.-Early years:Palmer was born and raised in Toronto Ontario, Canada...
) on their last album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
.
Poco
Messina and Richie FurayRichie Furay
Richie Furay is an American singer, songwriter, and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member who is best known for forming the bands Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Bruce Palmer, and Dewey Martin, and Poco with Jim Messina, Rusty Young, George Grantham and Randy Meisner...
, another Buffalo Springfield member, formed Poco
Poco
Poco is an Southern California country rock band originally formed by Richie Furay and Jim Messina following the demise of Buffalo Springfield in 1968. The title of their first album, Pickin' Up the Pieces, is a reference to the break-up of Buffalo Springfield. Highly influential and creative,...
after Buffalo Springfield broke up. Messina played lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
and supplied vocals and some songwriting
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
to the band
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
. After recording
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
two studio albums and one live album, he left Poco.
Loggins and Messina
After Poco, Messina signed a contract with Columbia RecordsColumbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
, as an independent producer. Messina was first introduced to the idea of producing Kenny Loggins
Kenny Loggins
During the next decade, Loggins recorded so many successful songs for film soundtracks that he was referred to as, King of the Movie Soundtrack.He began with "I'm Alright" , "Mr. Night", and "Lead the Way" from Caddyshack...
in the summer of 1970 while still performing on the road with Poco. Loggins first met with Messina in December 1970 at Messina's home, where the two recorded a number of Loggins' compositions in Messina's living room. Loggins, at the time, was a songwriter for ABC Dunhill and not a performing artist. The songs he presented for his album leaned more toward being a folk artist, a style Messina felt might anchor Loggins in a past trend as opposed to being a part of a future trend.
In the course of deciding how to produce Loggins' first solo album, Messina met with Clive Davis, then president of Columbia Records. The inexperienced Loggins had no agent, no manager, no business manager, and no prior experience as a performing artist; Messina felt Loggins needed some kind of an edge.
Messina suggested that Davis consider letting Messina sit in on Loggins' first solo album in the same way that jazz artists had done in the past. Loggins also needed more upbeat and diverse material to help him gain appeal as a pop music artist. After reluctantly aggreeing, Clive the "Sitting In" concept to the end.
With music moving from folk, Messina presented Loggins a number of songs that spilled over from his days with Poco and Buffalo Springfield. He felt Loggins could do both country rock and R&B styles extremely well, especially after hearing Kenny perform "Danny's Song."
Among the material Messina contributed was "Listen to a Country Song", "Nobody But You", "Same Old Wine", and "The Trilogy", which included "Peace of Mind." He provided the rehearsal space, amps and instruments and lent his talents as an arranger, vocalist, and guitarist. Messina worked long hours with Loggins and encouraged him to purchase an electric guitar and play it on his solo debut album.
Messina assembled "The Kenny Loggins Band" by summoning old friends drummer Merel Bregante and bassist/singer Larry Sims (both formally of the Sunshine Company), horn and viola player Al Garth, Jon Clarke (performing with the Don Ellis Jazz Band), and a friend of Loggins, keyboardist Michael Omartian, who played on the album but dropped out once the touring began.
Kenny Loggins' first solo Album entitled, "Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina” “Sittin' In" was completed and made its debut in November 1971. Together with the band Messina had assembled they toured and sold over 20 million albums by the end of 1976.
After the release of "Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina Sittin' In", Messina went on to write, perform and produce seven more albums with Loggins. Those albums were: "Loggins and Messina" "Full Sail" "On Stage" "Mother Lode" "So Fine" "Native Sons" and "Finale".
In 1976, the duo split: Loggins wanted to strike out on his own. Both went on to solo careers.
Solo
In 1979, Messina met with Don Ellis of Columbia Recordss subsidary A&R to plan his first solo album. He learned Ellis did not like Messina's new musical direction, towards Latin jazz with a Rock edge, because it did not sound like a Loggins and Messina album. Messina toured to support the debut LP, which sold 150,000 copies, about the same sales as "Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina "Sittin' In". However, without the support of the record company the album stalled and Messina asked Columbia Records president Bruce Lundvall for a release from the label.In 1981, Messina signed with Warner Bros. Records and recorded and released his second solo effort, "Messina". A collection of songs that ranged in genre from Folk to Rock, to Latin and light Jazz. Pauline Wilson was the featured artist and sang a duet with Messina on, "Stay the Night".
In 1986 Jim Messina released his third solo album on Warner Bros. Records entitled, "One More Mile". The album leaned more toward rock and Messina used a number of the young and upcoming studio musicians as his rhythm section. It featured Edie Laymen and Pauline Wilson singing background and harmony parts. Jim's influence and love for the Hawaiian people is most apparent on the song, "The Island" on which he shows his influence of Slack Key, a Hawaiian style of playing the guitar.
Reunion tours
In 1989, Messina joined in with Poco's original lineup, consisting of Jim Messina, Richie Furay, Rusty Young, George Grantham and Randy Meisner, for a successful reunion tour. The group released the album entitled, "Legacy." Messina played guitar and mandolin on the album and wrote or co-wrote four of the songs. Those songs he wrote and sang on were, "Follow Your Dreams," Look Within," and "Lovin' You Every Minute". The song Messina co-wrote was, "Call it Love" wherein Rusty Young sang the lead vocal on that song.In 2005, Messina joined Loggins and together they hit the road as a duo again. The result was a successful nationwide tour that produced a CD and DVD entitled "Loggins and Messina" Live - Sittin' in Again, at The Santa Barbara Bowl."
Messina also pulled from the vaults the original master analog recordings that he had produced and mixed for L&M at Columbia Records and together the duo released the digitally mastered album entitled, "The Best: Sittin' in Again". The duo reformed again in 2009 for an extensive tour.
Today
In 2009, Messina released the CD entitled "Under a Mojito Moon-Part 1", containing works recorded wherein the only guitar he played was his Flamenco guitar. The Latin based arrangements feature trumpet, percussion, drums, piano and nylon acoustic guitar in melodies reminiscent of the music of Cuba and Spain.Messina continues to tour and make records as a solo artist. In addition, he dabbles in the fine arts as a painter working both in watercolor and acrylics. Messina is a carpenter who enjoys building "Cowboy" furniture and old distressed Scottish and Irish style of pine furniture. Messina also works in metal and enjoys the art of welding metals. He continues to work in the field of electronics both as a studio owner and recording and mixing engineer.
He is the creator and owner of "The Songwriters' Performance Workshop" wherein he leads 6-day intensive workshops for songwriters and singers at retreats, resorts and hotels around the country.
Family
Messina has two children, Julian and Josey Messina. His son, Julian, is a musician and has been playing drums since he was four years old. Messina's wife, Michaela, is an opera singer and a music teacher, who holds a masters degree in education.Poco
- Pickin' Up the PiecesPickin' Up the PiecesPickin' Up the Pieces is the debut album by Country rock pioneers Poco, released in 1969. It was one of the earliest examples of the emerging genre of Country rock. Several of the songs here date back to Richie Furay's days in Buffalo Springfield...
(1968) - PocoPoco (album)Poco is the second album by the Country rock band Poco. The Messina-penned "You Better Think Twice" became a signature song for Poco. A copy of this record hangs in the Poco exhibit in the Country Music Hall Of Fame in Nashville along with the jacket Rusty Young wears on the back cover.-Track...
(1969) - Deliverin'Deliverin'Deliverin’ is the third album, and first live album, by the Country rock band Poco. Jim Messina quit the band in October 1970, prior to the release of the album.-Track listing:#“I Guess You Made It” – 3:58#“C’mon” – 3:10...
(1970) - LegacyLegacy (Poco album)Legacy is the 19th album by the Country rock band Poco, released in 1989. The album reunited the five original members of the group and contained two top-40 singles, "Call It Love" and "Nothin' to Hide."...
(1989)
Loggins and Messina
- Sittin' In (1971)
- Loggins & MessinaLoggins and Messina (album)Loggins and Messina is the second album by singer/songwriters Loggins and Messina, released in 1972.Following on the success of their first album, this album built on the strengths of their debut outing...
(1972) - Full Sail (1973)
- On StageOn Stage (Loggins and Messina album)On Stage is the fourth album by singer/songwriter duo Loggins and Messina, released in 1974 .This album is a live album. It was released as a double album and featured a side-long version of their hit song "Vahevala".-Track listing:...
(1974) - Mother LodeMother Lode (album)Mother Lode is the fourth studio album by singer/songwriter duo Loggins and Messina, released in late 1974 .-Track listing:Side One#"Growin'" Mother Lode is the fourth studio album (5th release) by singer/songwriter duo Loggins and Messina, released in late 1974 (see 1974 in music).-Track...
(1974) - So Fine (1975)
- Native SonsNative SonsNative Sons is the sixth, and final studio album and by singer/songwriting duo Loggins and Messina, released in early 1976 .-Track listing:Side One#"Sweet Marie" – 3:04...
(1976) - FinaleFinale (album)Finale is the second live double album by singer/songwriter duo Loggins and Messina, released in early 1977 ....
(1976) - The Best of FriendsThe Best of FriendsThe Best of Friends is a compilation album by singer/songwriter duo Loggins and Messina, released in late 1976 ....
(1977)
Jim Messina
- Oasis (1979)
- Messina (1981)
- One More Mile (1983)
- Watching The River Run (1996)
- Watching The River Run (Revisited) (2005)
- Under a Mojito Moon Part-1 (2009)