Garth Hudson
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| Garth Hudson | ||
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 Garth Hudson, performing during The Last Waltz.
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| Background information | ||
| Birth name | Eric Garth Hudson | |
| Born | August 2, 1937 Windsor, Ontario |
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| Genre(s) | Rock and roll, rock, pop, Jazz, R&B, country, folk | |
| Occupation(s) | Solo artist, Session musician | |
| Instrument(s) | Organ, piano, keyboards, accordion, saxophone, synthesizers | |
| Years active | 1958-present | |
| Label(s) | Capitol, Corazong, Make It Real, Other People's Music | |
| Associated acts |
The Band, Bob Dylan, Ronnie Hawkins, Canadian Squires, Levon and The Hawks, Paul London and the Capers, Burrito Deluxe, The Shutouts, The Bandini Brothers, presently his own band Garth Hudson and The Best! | |
| Website | www.garthhudson.com www.garthandmaud.com www.myspace.com/garthhudson |
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Eric Garth Hudson (b. August 2, 1937 in Windsor, Ontario) is a Canadian musician. The virtuoso organist and keyboardist for Canadian-American roots rock group The Band, he was the most accomplished musician of the group. 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 in another group, Burrito Deluxe, an offshoot of The Flying Burrito Brothers. He also has his own twelve piece band, The Best!.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] 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 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 uncles 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, 17-year-old Robbie Robertson on guitar and 18-year-old Rick Danko on bass and 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."
[edit] 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 was simply called The Band and it recorded its debut album, Music from Big Pink, which 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.
[edit] 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, soon after he had purchased the place.
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 for a time during an attempt at rehabilitation from drug and alcohol abuse. He died in 1986. But supplemented by a rotating roster of additional musicians, The Band continued to tour. It released three albums in the 1990s.
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.
[edit] 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.
June 2005, Garth forms 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 and others.
[edit] 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)
