Jim Keltner

Jim Keltner is one of a group of session musicians who achieved near super-stardom at the start of the 1970s, amid the explosion of recording work by the ex-members of <a href="spotify:artist:3WrFJ7ztbogyGnTHbHJFl2">the Beatles</a> -- along with <a href="spotify:artist:6r1Xmz7YUD4z0VRUoGm8XN">Leon Russell</a>, Klaus Voorman, <a href="spotify:artist:0IecGJbdBeYSOVtSPRehh5">Billy Preston</a>, Jim Gordon, and <a href="spotify:artist:6OqxyqEQbfqk2UKqfznUek">Bobby Whitlock</a>, to name just a few, his name became closely associated with that first flash of post-<a href="spotify:artist:3WrFJ7ztbogyGnTHbHJFl2">Beatles</a> creativity by <a href="spotify:artist:4x1nvY2FN8jxqAFA0DA02H">John Lennon</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7FIoB5PHdrMZVC3q2HE5MS">George Harrison</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:6DbJi8AcN5ANdtvJcwBSw8">Ringo Starr</a>. But he was already one of the busiest drummers working in Los Angeles, and his playing -- even discounting the records by the former <a href="spotify:artist:3WrFJ7ztbogyGnTHbHJFl2">Beatles</a> at the time and since -- was heard on some of the most popular records of the era, by everyone from <a href="spotify:artist:6PAt558ZEZl0DmdXlnjMgD">Eric Clapton</a> to <a href="spotify:artist:4FtSnMlCVxCswABUmdhwpm">Carly Simon</a> to <a href="spotify:artist:7jmTilWYlKOuavFfmQAcu6">Barbra Steisand</a>. Keltner was born in Tulsa, OK in 1942, and was initially inspired to start playing because of an interest in jazz. But the popularity of jazz was in retreat when he came of age during the late '50s and early '60s, and it was the explosion of pop/rock in the mid-'60s that enabled him to break into recording work in Los Angeles. He first began to attract attention in the music world for his work on the records of <a href="spotify:artist:0XTxadWXVyfB8eTIYOjMYj">Gary Lewis & the Playboys</a>. As far as the public knew, <a href="spotify:artist:5aSnz1nvFeSHw02Ijw0VO3">Gary Lewis</a> himself played the drums on his records, but the arranger and leader on the <a href="spotify:artist:5aSnz1nvFeSHw02Ijw0VO3">Gary Lewis</a> recordings was Oklahoma-born multi-instrumentalist <a href="spotify:artist:6r1Xmz7YUD4z0VRUoGm8XN">Leon Russell</a>, who brought in session musicians to augment (and often supplant) the work of <a href="spotify:artist:5aSnz1nvFeSHw02Ijw0VO3">Lewis</a> and his band on the records, especially the singles. Keltner's earliest recording session was on "She's Just My Style," and he was soon an integral part of the group's sound, along with another Oklahoma-born transplant to Los Angeles, bassist Carl Radle. Despite these recording sessions and other work associated with <a href="spotify:artist:5aSnz1nvFeSHw02Ijw0VO3">Lewis</a>' group, Keltner's music career was hardly paying a living, and for several years at the outset he was supported by his wife. Toward the end of the '60s, he finally began getting regular session work, and eventually became one of the busier drummers in Los Angeles.

Between them, Keltner and Jim Gordon, and their older contemporary <a href="spotify:artist:5W6Vbf1DmTUOpvsXq4lQFJ">Hal Blaine</a>, accounted for a huge portion of the best drumming heard in the city. His earliest credited performances on record were with <a href="spotify:artist:38CPjAAqYV8lTYi6clzbjG">Gabor Szabo</a> on the album Bacchanal (1968), and over the next year he participated on a massive number of recordings, including albums by <a href="spotify:artist:38CPjAAqYV8lTYi6clzbjG">Szabo</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:3XOVABzceOUTbR3iEz0ImO">Cal Tjader</a> in jazz, singer/songwriter <a href="spotify:artist:5XK9gtqSZeDp52Hg50diLY">Barbara Keith</a>'s Verve debut, harmony duo <a href="spotify:artist:4FirQ33WFYSxKUY7KRjGqU">Wendy & Bonnie</a>'s debut, and British pop/rocker <a href="spotify:artist:2DWQX92uew7DlsgN0yD775">Dave Mason</a>'s Alone Together. It was his work in association with <a href="spotify:artist:6r1Xmz7YUD4z0VRUoGm8XN">Leon Russell</a> that would have the biggest effect, directly and indirectly, on Keltner's name recognition, initially through his playing on <a href="spotify:artist:6dTCMsjfH2odCFlNb36SCG">Delaney & Bonnie</a>'s Accept No Substitute. That record attracted the attention of British soul shouter <a href="spotify:artist:3pFCERyEiP5xeN2EsPXhjI">Joe Cocker</a>, who recruited <a href="spotify:artist:6r1Xmz7YUD4z0VRUoGm8XN">Russell</a> and everyone else he could out of the <a href="spotify:artist:6dTCMsjfH2odCFlNb36SCG">Delaney & Bonnie</a> band for his album Mad Dogs & Englishmen. And it was playing with <a href="spotify:artist:3pFCERyEiP5xeN2EsPXhjI">Joe Cocker</a> that led to an explosion of work for Keltner in 1970 and 1971, on records by <a href="spotify:artist:4FtSnMlCVxCswABUmdhwpm">Carly Simon</a> (Anticipation), <a href="spotify:artist:7jmTilWYlKOuavFfmQAcu6">Barbra Streisand</a> (Barbra Joan Streisand), <a href="spotify:artist:6J3pUmw6KX1LqyLQkP0k9U">Booker T. Jones</a> (Booker T. & Priscilla), <a href="spotify:artist:7FIoB5PHdrMZVC3q2HE5MS">George Harrison</a> (The Concert for Bangladesh), and <a href="spotify:artist:4x1nvY2FN8jxqAFA0DA02H">John Lennon</a> (Imagine). Keltner was actually the first choice as drummer for All Things Must Pass -- <a href="spotify:artist:6dTCMsjfH2odCFlNb36SCG">Delaney & Bonnie</a> keyboard-player <a href="spotify:artist:6OqxyqEQbfqk2UKqfznUek">Bobby Whitlock</a>, who helped <a href="spotify:artist:7FIoB5PHdrMZVC3q2HE5MS">Harrison</a> put the band for that album together, wanted Keltner, but he was on tour with <a href="spotify:artist:38CPjAAqYV8lTYi6clzbjG">Gabor Szabo</a> at the time, which was how Jim Gordon ended up sharing the drumming chores with <a href="spotify:artist:6DbJi8AcN5ANdtvJcwBSw8">Ringo Starr</a> on the triple album and also ended up with <a href="spotify:artist:2rc78XDH9zuJP6bm78lU8Z">Derek & the Dominos</a>.

But playing on Imagine was enough to boost Keltner's profile. In those days, in the immediate wake of the <a href="spotify:artist:3WrFJ7ztbogyGnTHbHJFl2">Beatles</a>' breakup, that album (like almost everything else issued by the ex-members) sold by the millions, and many of the listeners, curious about precisely what the former <a href="spotify:artist:3WrFJ7ztbogyGnTHbHJFl2">Beatles</a> were doing and who they were working with, paid extremely close attention to the credits on those records. After the release of Imagine (and <a href="spotify:artist:2s4tjL6W3qrblOe0raIzwJ">Yoko Ono</a>'s Fly) and The Concert for Bangladesh, he was a major name before the public -- and just in case anyone doubted just how good a player he was, when former <a href="spotify:artist:3WrFJ7ztbogyGnTHbHJFl2">Beatles</a> drummer <a href="spotify:artist:6DbJi8AcN5ANdtvJcwBSw8">Ringo Starr</a> recorded his first full-fledged pop album, Ringo, Keltner was on it; and it went on to become a number one album. He also played on <a href="spotify:artist:4x1nvY2FN8jxqAFA0DA02H">Lennon</a>'s One to One benefit concert for the Willowbrook State School, which was later released commercially as a live album and video; and <a href="spotify:artist:7FIoB5PHdrMZVC3q2HE5MS">Harrison</a> subsequently got him to join the band on his 1974 tour of the United States. By that time, Keltner was so ubiquitous on ex-<a href="spotify:artist:3WrFJ7ztbogyGnTHbHJFl2">Beatles</a> recordings and performances, that he was perceived by some on-lookers as virtually the "fifth Beatle" as <a href="spotify:artist:0IecGJbdBeYSOVtSPRehh5">Billy Preston</a>, Klaus Voorman, or any of the other late-era and post-era regular participants in their work. But in the months and years following those performances, he was also a very visible presence on records by the likes of <a href="spotify:artist:6v8FB84lnmJs434UJf2Mrm">Neil Young</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:74ASZWbe4lXaubB36ztrGX">Bob Dylan</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6PAt558ZEZl0DmdXlnjMgD">Eric Clapton</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3HQyFCFFfJO3KKBlUfZsyW">Randy Newman</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0B6QEFtRnneEzb4iqjI0Nw">Arlo Guthrie</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3RTzAwFprBqiskp550eSJX">Harry Nilsson</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1vnIL4DMlivP55ioM6KitW">Rita Coolidge</a>, Jesse Ed Davis, <a href="spotify:artist:5xLSa7l4IV1gsQfhAMvl0U">B.B. King</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4KDyYWR7IpxZ7xrdYbKrqY">Bonnie Raitt</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5dCuFngSPyOOnTAvrC7v2s">Freddie King</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1LZEQNv7sE11VDY3SdxQeN">the Bee Gees</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:73ndLgs6jSrpZzjyzU9TJV">Jack Bruce</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:32vWCbZh0xZ4o9gkz4PsEU">Dolly Parton</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:4PcLkq6IefIYiRWLXOfwKA">Porter Wagoner</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5TKEKLhk0wTKM5m61BtKQC">Bill Wyman</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6P7H3ai06vU1sGvdpBwDmE">Steely Dan</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:3z6Uf5IZkN4TogRpRpgD84">Gary Wright</a>. Keltner played on many, many hundreds of records across the '70s, '80s, and beyond, solidifying his musical reputation. He was also one of the notable survivors of those decades -- where colleagues such as Carl Radle and Jim Gordon succumbed to illness, physical and otherwise, Keltner has gone right on making great music, decade after decade. Among the more curious appearances he's made on record and on-stage, he worked on <a href="spotify:artist:67ea9eGLXYMsO2eYQRui3w">Who</a> drummer <a href="spotify:artist:7i9m03TFsX9pDuP4CFDw3o">Keith Moon</a>'s Two Sides of the Moon solo album, and played with <a href="spotify:artist:6DbJi8AcN5ANdtvJcwBSw8">Ringo Starr</a>'s All-Starr Band, and -- (in the guise of "Buster Sidbury") -- was part of <a href="spotify:artist:7FIoB5PHdrMZVC3q2HE5MS">George Harrison</a>'s <a href="spotify:artist:2hO4YtXUFJiUYS2uYFvHNK">Traveling Wilburys</a>. In the early '90s, in the wake of a series of sessions that he played for <a href="spotify:artist:4Sld5LOPbAm1QSq9U32fFV">John Hiatt</a>, Keltner became part of the supergroup <a href="spotify:artist:25pr3OydT7O7v6ZOzSXrsE">Little Village</a>, with <a href="spotify:artist:4Sld5LOPbAm1QSq9U32fFV">Hiatt</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1CPwHx5lgVxv0rfcp7UXLx">Ry Cooder</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:3BqaUtuQmqIHg7B5Bc7fP7">Nick Lowe</a>. Keltner has remained busy into the 21st century, on tour with <a href="spotify:artist:4zMX9gWf1DKhvsYHUCbBF7">T Bone Burnett</a> and on record with <a href="spotify:artist:2zyz0VJqrDXeFDIyrfVXSo">Jerry Lee Lewis</a> (Last Man Standing), and he even gets the occasional chance to return to his original first love, jazz. He is admired by two generations of drummers following in his wake, and 40 years into his career is still regarded as one of the finest drummers in the world. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi