Kaleidoscope (US band)
Encyclopedia
Kaleidoscope was an American psychedelic
folk
and ethnic band who recorded 4 albums and several singles for Epic Records
between 1966
and 1970
.
Lindley was an experienced performer on a variety of stringed instruments, notably the banjo
, winning the Topanga Canyon Banjo Contest several years in a row. While studying at La Salle High School
in Pasadena
, he formed his first group, the Mad Mountain Ramblers, who performed around the Los Angeles folk clubs. There, he met Darrow, who was a member of a rival group, the Re-Organized Dry City Players. Soon afterwards, around 1964, the pair formed a new group, the Dry City Scat Band, which also included fiddle player Richard Greene
(later of Seatrain
), but Darrow soon left to set up a new rock group, The Floggs. Lindley also began forming his own electric group. In the course of this he met Feldthouse, who had been raised in Turkey and, on returning to the US, had performed flamenco
music and as an accompanist to belly dancing groups. Lindley and Feldthouse then began performing as a duo, David and Solomon, when they met Chester Crill. They invited him to join their band, and by the end of 1966 added Darrow and drummer John Vidican, so forming The Kaleidoscope.
. The first single, "Please", was released in December 1966. It was produced by Barry Friedman (later known as Frazier Mohawk), as was their first album Side Trips, released in June 1967. The album showcased the group’s musical diversity and studio experimentation. It included Feldthouse's "Egyptian Gardens", Darrow’s "Keep Your Mind Open", and versions of Cab Calloway
's "Minnie the Moocher
" and Dock Boggs
' "Oh Death". Crill, for reasons he never made clear (but ex-bandmates speculated had to do with concerns overreactions from his "straightlaced" parents), was credited as "Fenrus Epp" on the first album and adopted various other pseudonyms on later recordings.
Between them, the group played a huge collection of stringed instruments in such psychedelic songs as "Egyptian Gardens" and "Pulsating Dream." They played fusions of Middle-Eastern music with rock in longer pieces such as "Taxim," which they performed live at the Berkeley Folk Festival on July 4, 1967. Live, band numbers were sometimes interspersed by solo instrumental turns from Feldthouse or Lindley, and occasionally Feldthouse brought belly dancers or flamenco dancers on stage. They could play in many different styles, including rock
, blues
, folk
, jazz
, Middle-Eastern and also featured music by Calloway and Duke Ellington
in their repertoire. Kaleidoscope were one of the progenitors of World Music
.
Their 1967
piece "Stranger in Your City"/"Beacon from Mars," recorded live in the studio, was also influential, with Led Zeppelin
's Jimmy Page
calling them his "favourite band of all time." It featured a solo by Lindley in which, on stage, he used a violin bow on electric guitar, probably inspiring Page to use the same effect later. Another influential guitarist, Eddie Phillips of UK psych group 'Creation', was using a violin bow on a guitar as early as 1966. The album A Beacon from Mars
was released in early 1968, to generally good reviews but poor sales. Liner notes to the CD reissue claim the original title was "Bacon From Mars" but it was misprinted. Unsurprisingly, this is a complete myth, initiated by a joke printed in the magazine ZigZag
during their three-part feature on Kaleidoscope.
Darrow left the group after recording the album and was replaced by bassist Stuart Brotman, previously a member of an early version of Canned Heat
. However, Darrow returned briefly for studio work when the group backed first Johnny "Guitar" Watson and Larry Williams
on their 1967 single "Nobody", and later Leonard Cohen
on "So Long Marianne" and "Teachers" on his first album
. Vidican was also replaced, by drummer Paul Lagos who had a jazz and R&B background, having played with Little Richard
, Johnny Otis
, and Ike and Tina Turner. Paul Lagos died on October 19, 2009.
The band recorded their third album, Incredible! Kaleidoscope, in 1968. It featured "Seven-Ate Sweet", a long progressive instrumental piece in 7/8 time signature which they had been playing live since the early days of the group. The album reached #139 on Billboard in 1969, the only Kaleidoscope album to chart. Around this time they also did soundtrack work on educational and other films, and also made an appearance at the Newport Folk Festival
.
Kaleidoscope’s fourth and final album (as a band), Bernice, featured more electric guitar work than the earlier albums, and more country influence. There were further personnel changes, adding singer-guitarist Jeff Kaplan, and bassist Ron Johnston who replaced Brotman during the making of the album. Feldthouse also left the group.
At the end of 1969, Kaleidoscope contributed two new songs ("Brother Mary" and "Mickey's Tune") to Michelangelo Antonioni
's Zabriskie Point
, and supported Cream on their American farewell tour. The band split up soon afterwards.
, Jackson Browne
and others, before forming his own band, El Rayo-X, in the early 1980s. Feldthouse performed at Renaissance Pleasure Faires, and with various flamenco and Middle Eastern groups. Darrow formed the Corvettes with Bernie Leadon
before becoming a leading session musician and solo performer. Crill became an underground comic writer for a time, co-writing the Mickey Rat series, and also produced the first 78rpm record by R. Crumb's group, Armstrong's Pasadenans. Brotman became involved with the LA folk dance scene and has done considerable work as a movie extra. In the 1980s he became active in the Klezmer Revival, playing bass and tsimbl for Brave Old World and most recently is a member of the San Francisco-based trio, Veretski Pass whose most recent CD, "Klezmer Shul," was released in 2011. He is also a regular instructor at KlezKamp, KlezCanada, and other ethnic music gatherings.
’s Pacific Arts label. Lindley also contributed, but distanced himself from the project by appearing as “De Paris Letante.”
Fourteen years later, Crill and Darrow organized a second reunion session, this time for Gifthorse Records. Greetings from Kartoonistan (We Ain’t Dead Yet) again brought together the same lineup, with Brotman contributing the instrumental, Klezmer Suite. (Though invited, Lindley declined to participate.)
Psychedelic music
Psychedelic music covers a range of popular music styles and genres, which are inspired by or influenced by psychedelic culture and which attempt to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues-rock bands in the...
folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and ethnic band who recorded 4 albums and several singles for Epic Records
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
between 1966
1966 in music
-Events:*January 3 – Hullabaloo shows promotional videos of The Beatles songs "Day Tripper" and "We Can Work it Out".*January 8 – Shindig! airs for the last time on ABC, with musical guests the Kinks and the Who...
and 1970
1970 in music
- Events :*January 3**Davy Jones announces he is leaving the Monkees**Former Pink Floyd frontman Syd Barrett releases his first solo album The Madcap Laughs....
.
Formation
The group was formed in 1966. The original members were:- David LindleyDavid Lindley (musician)David Perry Lindley is an American musician who is notable for his work with Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, and other rock musicians. He has worked extensively in other genres as well, performing with artists as varied as Curtis Mayfield and Dolly Parton...
(b. March 21, 1944, Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
) - Solomon Feldthouse (b. January 20, 1940, Pingree, IdahoPingree, IdahoPingree is an unincorporated community in Bingham County, Idaho, United States. Pingree is located on Idaho State Highway 39 southwest of Blackfoot and northwest of Pocatello....
) - Chris Darrow (b. July 30, 1944, Sioux Falls, South DakotaSioux Falls, South DakotaSioux Falls is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Dakota. Sioux Falls is the county seat of Minnehaha County, and also extends into Lincoln County to the south...
) - Chester Crill (a.k.a. Max Budda, Max Buda, Fenrus Epp, Templeton Parcely) (b. Oklahoma City, OklahomaOklahoma City, OklahomaOklahoma City is the capital and the largest city in the state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, the city ranks 31st among United States cities in population. The city's population, from the 2010 census, was 579,999, with a metro-area population of 1,252,987 . In 2010, the Oklahoma...
) - John Vidican (b. Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
)
Lindley was an experienced performer on a variety of stringed instruments, notably the banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
, winning the Topanga Canyon Banjo Contest several years in a row. While studying at La Salle High School
La Salle High School (Pasadena, California)
La Salle High School is a private, Roman Catholic college preparatory high school in Pasadena, California. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles.La Salle High School, founded in 1956, is a Lasallian school...
in Pasadena
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
, he formed his first group, the Mad Mountain Ramblers, who performed around the Los Angeles folk clubs. There, he met Darrow, who was a member of a rival group, the Re-Organized Dry City Players. Soon afterwards, around 1964, the pair formed a new group, the Dry City Scat Band, which also included fiddle player Richard Greene
Richard Greene (fiddle player)
Richard Greene is a violinist and "one of the most innovative and influential fiddle players of all time".-Biography:...
(later of Seatrain
Seatrain (band)
Seatrain was an American roots fusion band based initially in Marin County, California, and later in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Seatrain was formed after the breakup of the Blues Project in 1969...
), but Darrow soon left to set up a new rock group, The Floggs. Lindley also began forming his own electric group. In the course of this he met Feldthouse, who had been raised in Turkey and, on returning to the US, had performed flamenco
Flamenco
Flamenco is a genre of music and dance which has its foundation in Andalusian music and dance and in whose evolution Andalusian Gypsies played an important part....
music and as an accompanist to belly dancing groups. Lindley and Feldthouse then began performing as a duo, David and Solomon, when they met Chester Crill. They invited him to join their band, and by the end of 1966 added Darrow and drummer John Vidican, so forming The Kaleidoscope.
Recording and performance career
The group was founded on democratic principles – there was no "leader". They soon began performing live in clubs, winning a recording contract with Epic RecordsEpic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
. The first single, "Please", was released in December 1966. It was produced by Barry Friedman (later known as Frazier Mohawk), as was their first album Side Trips, released in June 1967. The album showcased the group’s musical diversity and studio experimentation. It included Feldthouse's "Egyptian Gardens", Darrow’s "Keep Your Mind Open", and versions of Cab Calloway
Cab Calloway
Cabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer....
's "Minnie the Moocher
Minnie the Moocher
"Minnie the Moocher" is a jazz song first recorded in 1931 by Cab Calloway and His Orchestra, selling over 1 million copies. "Minnie the Moocher" is most famous for its nonsensical ad libbed lyrics . In performances, Calloway would have the audience participate by repeating each scat phrase in a...
" and Dock Boggs
Dock Boggs
Moran Lee "Dock" Boggs was an influential old-time singer, songwriter and banjo player. His style of banjo playing, as well as his singing, is considered a unique combination of Appalachian folk music and African-American blues...
' "Oh Death". Crill, for reasons he never made clear (but ex-bandmates speculated had to do with concerns overreactions from his "straightlaced" parents), was credited as "Fenrus Epp" on the first album and adopted various other pseudonyms on later recordings.
Between them, the group played a huge collection of stringed instruments in such psychedelic songs as "Egyptian Gardens" and "Pulsating Dream." They played fusions of Middle-Eastern music with rock in longer pieces such as "Taxim," which they performed live at the Berkeley Folk Festival on July 4, 1967. Live, band numbers were sometimes interspersed by solo instrumental turns from Feldthouse or Lindley, and occasionally Feldthouse brought belly dancers or flamenco dancers on stage. They could play in many different styles, including rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, Middle-Eastern and also featured music by Calloway and Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
in their repertoire. Kaleidoscope were one of the progenitors of World Music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
.
Their 1967
1967 in music
The summer of 1967 is "The Summer of Love" in San Francisco. It also became an important year for psychedelic rock, with releases from The Beatles The summer of 1967 is "The Summer of Love" in San Francisco. It also became an important year for psychedelic rock, with releases from The Beatles The...
piece "Stranger in Your City"/"Beacon from Mars," recorded live in the studio, was also influential, with Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
's Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page
James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
calling them his "favourite band of all time." It featured a solo by Lindley in which, on stage, he used a violin bow on electric guitar, probably inspiring Page to use the same effect later. Another influential guitarist, Eddie Phillips of UK psych group 'Creation', was using a violin bow on a guitar as early as 1966. The album A Beacon from Mars
A Beacon from Mars
A Beacon from Mars was Kaleidoscope's second album. It was published in February 1968 by Epic Records along with the single I Found Out/Rampè Rampè...
was released in early 1968, to generally good reviews but poor sales. Liner notes to the CD reissue claim the original title was "Bacon From Mars" but it was misprinted. Unsurprisingly, this is a complete myth, initiated by a joke printed in the magazine ZigZag
ZigZag (magazine)
ZigZag was a British rock music magazine. It was started by Pete Frame and the first edition rolled off the printing presses on 16 April 1969...
during their three-part feature on Kaleidoscope.
Darrow left the group after recording the album and was replaced by bassist Stuart Brotman, previously a member of an early version of Canned Heat
Canned Heat
Canned Heat is a blues-rock/boogie rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965. The group has been noted for its own interpretations of blues material as well as for efforts to promote the interest in this type of music and its original artists...
. However, Darrow returned briefly for studio work when the group backed first Johnny "Guitar" Watson and Larry Williams
Larry Williams
Larry Williams was an American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer, songwriter, producer, and pianist from New Orleans, Louisiana...
on their 1967 single "Nobody", and later Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships...
on "So Long Marianne" and "Teachers" on his first album
Songs of Leonard Cohen
Songs of Leonard Cohen is the debut album of Canadian musician Leonard Cohen. It foreshadowed the future path of his career, with less success in the United States and far better in Europe, reaching #83 on the Billboard chart but achieving gold status only in 1989, while it reached #13 in UK and...
. Vidican was also replaced, by drummer Paul Lagos who had a jazz and R&B background, having played with Little Richard
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...
, Johnny Otis
Johnny Otis
Johnny Otis is an American singer, musician, talent scout, disc jockey, composer, arranger, recording artist, record producer, vibraphonist, drummer, percussionist, bandleader, and impresario.He is commonly referred to as The Godfather Of Rhythm And Blues.-Personal life:Otis, the son of Alexander...
, and Ike and Tina Turner. Paul Lagos died on October 19, 2009.
The band recorded their third album, Incredible! Kaleidoscope, in 1968. It featured "Seven-Ate Sweet", a long progressive instrumental piece in 7/8 time signature which they had been playing live since the early days of the group. The album reached #139 on Billboard in 1969, the only Kaleidoscope album to chart. Around this time they also did soundtrack work on educational and other films, and also made an appearance at the Newport Folk Festival
Newport Folk Festival
The Newport Folk Festival is an American annual folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the previously established Newport Jazz Festival...
.
Kaleidoscope’s fourth and final album (as a band), Bernice, featured more electric guitar work than the earlier albums, and more country influence. There were further personnel changes, adding singer-guitarist Jeff Kaplan, and bassist Ron Johnston who replaced Brotman during the making of the album. Feldthouse also left the group.
At the end of 1969, Kaleidoscope contributed two new songs ("Brother Mary" and "Mickey's Tune") to Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian modernist film director, screenwriter, editor and short story writer.- Personal life :...
's Zabriskie Point
Zabriskie Point (film)
Zabriskie Point is a 1970 film by Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni, widely noted at the time for its setting in the late 1960s counterculture of the United States...
, and supported Cream on their American farewell tour. The band split up soon afterwards.
Later careers
After the end of Kaleidoscope, Lindley became a highly respected session and live musician with Linda RonstadtLinda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...
, Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
and others, before forming his own band, El Rayo-X, in the early 1980s. Feldthouse performed at Renaissance Pleasure Faires, and with various flamenco and Middle Eastern groups. Darrow formed the Corvettes with Bernie Leadon
Bernie Leadon
Bernard Mathew "Bernie" Leadon, III is an American musician and songwriter, best known as a founding member of the Eagles. Prior to the Eagles, he was a member of two pioneering and highly influential country rock bands, Dillard & Clark and the Flying Burrito Brothers...
before becoming a leading session musician and solo performer. Crill became an underground comic writer for a time, co-writing the Mickey Rat series, and also produced the first 78rpm record by R. Crumb's group, Armstrong's Pasadenans. Brotman became involved with the LA folk dance scene and has done considerable work as a movie extra. In the 1980s he became active in the Klezmer Revival, playing bass and tsimbl for Brave Old World and most recently is a member of the San Francisco-based trio, Veretski Pass whose most recent CD, "Klezmer Shul," was released in 2011. He is also a regular instructor at KlezKamp, KlezCanada, and other ethnic music gatherings.
Kaleidoscope reunions
In 1976, ex-members Brotman, Crill, Darrow, Feldthouse and Lagos reconvened for the reunion album, When Scopes Collide, which was released on Michael NesmithMichael Nesmith
Robert Michael Nesmith is an American musician, songwriter, actor, producer, novelist, businessman, and philanthropist, best known as a member of the musical group The Monkees and star of the TV series of the same name...
’s Pacific Arts label. Lindley also contributed, but distanced himself from the project by appearing as “De Paris Letante.”
Fourteen years later, Crill and Darrow organized a second reunion session, this time for Gifthorse Records. Greetings from Kartoonistan (We Ain’t Dead Yet) again brought together the same lineup, with Brotman contributing the instrumental, Klezmer Suite. (Though invited, Lindley declined to participate.)
Discography
- Side Trips (1967)
- A Beacon from MarsA Beacon from MarsA Beacon from Mars was Kaleidoscope's second album. It was published in February 1968 by Epic Records along with the single I Found Out/Rampè Rampè...
(1968) - Incredible! Kaleidoscope (1969)
- Bernice (1970)
- When Scopes Collide (1976)
- Bacon from Mars (1983) (compilation)
- Rampe, Rampe (1983) (compilation)
- Egyptian Candy (A Collection) (1990) (compilation)
- Greetings From Kartoonistan... (We Ain't Dead Yet) (1991)
- Beacon From Mars & Other Psychedelic Side Trips (2004) (compilation)
- Pulsating Dreams (2004) (compilation of the four Epic albums and other recordings of that period)