February 5th – Al Kooper’s Birthday
Happy Birthday Al Kooper！ let’s listen to “Green Onions” Yeah! Today is Al Kooper’s birthday. Al was born in 1944 and while none of his solo records or the first Blood, Sweat and Tears albums can’t be found in my collection. Super Session with Mike Bloomfield (Side 1)and Stephen Stills (side 2), The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper are there. Also there are the album he recorded with Shuggie Otis and Rekooperation.Here’s some background on Al Kooper from Wiipedia…. Al Kooper (born Alan Peter Kuperschmidt, February 5, 1944) is an American songwriter, record producer and musician, known for organizing Blood, Sweat & Tears (although he did not stay with the group long enough to share its popularity), providing studio support for Bob Dylan when he went electric in 1965, and bringing together guitarists Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills to record the Super Session album. He has had a successful solo career since then, written music for film soundtracks, and has lectured in musical composition. He continues to perform live. …..In 1960, he joined the songwriting team of Bob Brass and Irwin Levine and wrote “This Diamond Ring”, which became a hit for Gary Lewis and the Playboys. When he was twenty-one, Kooper moved to Greenwich Village . He performed with Bob Dylan in concert in 1965, including playing Hammond organ with Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival, and in the recording studio in 1965 and 1966. Kooper also played the Hammond organ riffs on Dylan’s “Like…
