PeteM wrote:
Virtuoso musos understandably become a talking point and the focus of many aspiring musicians. But I enjoy hearing about those musos that the virtuosos can't do with out - the guys and gals that take a back seat but are the driving force behind the front liners, both for their musicianship and their professionalism. Two such guitarist come to mind Phil Palmer and Andy Fairweather Low. Here are two links for those who also like to hear about the unsung heros.
I have heard a bit of Phil Palmer - he was on one of Joan Armatrading's records after she'd done two with Jerry Donohue. He's a very good player. I know that Andy Fairweather-Low has played with Clapton, but I don't know much about his skills on the guitar (he's a good singer - IIRC sang with The Amen Corner in the 60s).
They're guns for hire essentially, but they're in the category of players who get hired more for what they can do than to simply do what they are asked. Just like Larry Carlton. Maybe we should consider them sidemen for hire.
One guy I've mentioned before on this forum and who fits into this discussion is double bass player Danny Thompson. Danny T has played with a bewildering range of people (Roy Orbison, a couple of years in the house band at Ronnie Scotts, sessions for Cliff Richard, Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel, an album with Toumani Diabate... I'm not even going to try to attempt a full or even representative list) and he was a member of Pentangle for some years and is a recording artist in his own right.
But where he fits in here is that he has been a very important foil and band member for two great British guitarists. No... not Page, Beck, Gilmour or Clapton or any combination thereof, he has had long partnerships with John Martyn and Richard Thompson.
One of the reasons is his versatility, he can cover a lot of stylistic territory. This makes him very handy in Richard Thompson's band - in one show they will cover rock 'n roll, some heavy-ish guitar-led rock, jazz, some tunes in traditional English and Irish styles....
With Martyn it was different. He and Danny T had something akin to telepathy going on, they could head off in all sorts of directions and know that the other guy would magically still be there.
Both "leaders" certainly noticed Danny T's gift for imparting a sense of motion to a tune, and his knack for coming up with parts (sometimes on the spur of the moment) that are surprising and yet entirely appropriate, and they gave him his head in that regard. He's also a fab soloist.
I think there is another quality that this kind of player has. They have to be good human beings as well - not just get the job done on stage but also be the sort of guy that can go on long tours and be fun to be with but not rock any boats.
