I’m embarrassed to say that I had not heard of JJCale until he passed away toward the end of last week. CBS News had a really fine obituary:
If musicians were measured not by the number of records they sold but by
the number of peers they influenced, JJ Cale would have been a towering figure
in 1970s rock `n' roll.
His best songs like "After Midnight," "Cocaine" and
"Call Me the Breeze" were towering hits — for other artists. Eric
Clapton took "After Midnight" and "Cocaine" and turned them
into the kind of hard-party anthems that defined rock for a long period of
time. And Lynyrd Skynyrd took the easy-shuffling "Breeze" and
supercharged it with a three-guitar attack that made it a hit.
Cale, the singer-songwriter and producer known as the main architect of the
Tulsa Sound, passed away Friday night at Scripps Hospital in La Jolla, Calif.
His manager, Mike Kappus, said Cale died of a heart attack. He was 74.
While his best known songs remain in heavy rotation on the radio nearly 40
years later, most folks wouldn't be able to name Cale as their author. That was
a role he had no problem with.
"No, it doesn't bother me," Cale said with a laugh in an
interview posted on his website. "What's really nice is when you get a
check in the mail."
And the checks rolled in for decades. The list of artists who covered his
music or cite him as a direct influence reads like a who's who of the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame — Clapton, Neil Young, Tom Petty, Johnny Cash, Mark Knopfler,
The Allman Brothers, Carlos Santana, Captain Beefheart and Bryan Ferry among
many others.
Young said in Jimmy McDonough's biography "Shakey" that Cale and
Jimi Hendrix were the two best guitar players he had ever heard. And in his
recent memoir "Waging Heavy Peace," Young said Cale's "Crazy
Mama" — his biggest hit, rising to No. 22 on the Billboard singles chart —
was one of the five songs that most influenced him as a songwriter: "The
song is true, simple, and direct, and the delivery is very natural. JJ's guitar
playing is a huge influence on me. His touch is unspeakable."
It was Clapton who forged the closest relationship with Cale. They were in
sync musically and personally. Clapton also recorded Cale songs "Travelin'
Light" and "I'll Make Love To You Anytime" and included the Cale
composition "Angel" on his most recent album, "Old Sock."
Other songs like "Layla" didn't involve Cale, but clearly owe him a
debt. The two also collaborated together on "The Road to Escondido,"
which won the Grammy Award for best contemporary blues album in 2008.
Clapton once told Vanity Fair that Cale was the living person he most
admired, and Cale weighed the impact Clapton had on his life in a 2006
interview with The Associated Press: "I'd probably be selling shoes today
if it wasn't for Eric."
That quote was typical of the always humble Cale. But while Clapton was
already a star when he began mining Cale's catalog, there's no doubt the music
they shared cemented his "Clapton is God" status and defined the
second half of his career.
I also came across this endorsement of his genius on
Youtube:
Based on all that I went and bought his “TheDefinitive Collection.” The one thing that stands out is just how humble he sounds. His songs run contrary to the show business
need to hit people over the head with its ego.
He really is a fine guitarist, and he seems like a really good soul. Yeah,
I’m enjoying it. May he rest in peace.
Here he is on stage with Eric Clapton performing “After
Midnight.”
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