Garth Hudson was a multi-instrumentalist best known for his unique playing of organ and saxophone with bands, and in his later years remained in demand among young musicians including Neko Case, Norah Jones and Wilco The virtuoso, who died early Tuesday morning at the age of 87, was at Ten Brock Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in upstate New York.
Hudson's old friend and colleague Jan Haust confirmed his death to the media rolling stones. He declined to reveal the cause of death but said Hudson "passed away peacefully" and that "yesterday was a day of music and handshakes".
One of the most creative keyboardists in rock music history, Hudson was born in London, Ontario on August 3, 1937, a few years before the rest of his band members, to a pair of talented musician parents: His mother was a pianist; His father played several wind instruments but worked as a farm inspector and entomologist.
Hudson was a child prodigy who once dismantled his father's old pump organ and reassembled it. At age 12, he played the accordion in a country band; his parents sent him to the Toronto Conservatory of Music, where he learned to play Bach's preludes. At his uncle's funeral home, he played Anglican hymns. (“As far as I know, the Anglican church has the best musical tradition,” he told author Barney Hoskins in a biography of the band Crossing the Great Divide.)
He soon developed a keen interest in rock music. As a member of the Capers, he played piano and saxophone and accompanied touring stars like Johnny Cash and Bill Haley when they came to town. Rock veteran Ronnie Hawkins eventually lured him into joining his backing band, The Eagles, which included Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Richard Manuel and Rick Danko. Robertson said: "There is no doubt in my mind that Garth was the most progressive musician in rock music at that time." After Hudson joined, Helm wrote in his memoirs: This wheel is on fire“We really think we’re the best band in the world.”
The Eagles soon parted ways with strict taskmaster Hawkins and signed with Bob Dylan, forming one of rock's greatest partnerships. Hudson was part of the draw. "Like anyone who meets Garth for the first time," Helm wrote of the singer's reaction to the Eagles' performance, "Bob was blown away." Hudson's decorative fill-in Amplifies the folk singer's poetry. “The beauty of working with Dylan is the imagery in his lyrics,” Hudson told an interviewer. “I was allowed to play with the words.” As bootlegged recordings document, the organ from “Song of the Thin Man” he played at these shows was actually in dialogue with the singer’s verses.
In the spring of 1967, after Dylan's motorcycle accident, the Eagles moved to Woodstock, New York, into a house called the Big Pink, where Hudson lived upstairs with Manuel and Danko. Hudson found this area magical and it would be his home base for most of his life. He grew a long beard and became more of a musical mountain man than any of his bandmates, collecting guns and knives, skinning skins, and building miniature pipe organs.
With his reserved attitude and technical virtuosity, he brought an air of gravitas to the group that set it apart from his peers during the Summer of Love. The freewheeling sessions with Dylan at Big Pink - recorded so well by Hudson on a Uher reel-to-reel tape recorder - were eventually recorded on basement tapesHudson provided upbeat backing on songs like "This Wheel's on Fire" and "Million Dollar Bash."
Hudson's primary keyboard during this period was a Lowrey organ that he continually modified, relatively unique among rock musicians who were loyal to the Hammond B-3. The Eagles officially became a band in 1967 when they released their debut LP. big pink musicHudson immortalized the Lowery's cathedral organ tone with "chest fever" (sometimes individually called the "genetic method"). The song—especially the extended intro—would become a signature performance for Hudson. It begins with excerpts from Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D minor" before launching into extended improvisations, a monumental fusion of classical influences, jazz excursions and R&B polish that ranks among the greatest organ playing in rock history. . (Legend has it that during the band's lifetime, Hudson never played the intro the same way twice.)
Hudson also used an early version of a Hohner clavichord in his gear, and he became famous for his use of a wah-wah pedal on "Up on Cripple Creek" (which imitated the sound of a chin harp) and the band's cover of "Mystery Train." to 1975 Northern Lights - Southern Cross The LP sees Hudson adding a number of synthesizers to his arsenal, along with his accordion, saxophone and other instruments.
By the band's farewell concert in 1976, it was recorded in the last waltzAfterwards, Hudson and his wife, Maude, moved to a place called the Dude Ranch in Big Oak Basin, California. In 1978, a bushfire destroyed the home they were renovating. Hudson remained in California, working as a session musician and touring regularly with various lineups of the band, which reunited in 1983, minus Robbie Robertson. At the funeral of band member Manuel, who committed suicide while on tour in 1986, Hudson played a selection of songs on the organ, including an Anglican hymn and Dylan's "I'm Gonna Be." "I Shall Be Released".
In 1991, Hudson moved back to the Woodstock area, where he continued tinkering (among other projects, he built a Derringer pistol and cast his own bullets) and writing music, playing with local bands, and Recording with a new generation of admirers including Wilco, Norah Jones, Neco Keys and Doug Paisley. He released his debut album "Melding Minds" the sea to the northin 2001, followed by other projects including Garth Hudson holds Canadian band celebrationa collection of covers created by various artists, 2010.
Like the other members of the band, Hudson experienced financial problems in his later years. He declared bankruptcy multiple times and was given a court-ordered stay in 2013 after a landlord who rented a storage unit from him sold many of his properties. Yet even after selling the publishing rights to the band's records to Robertson, Hudson never showed any bitterness about his fate. "The deal was done. It was a good job. I survived," he told the interviewer.
The music never stops. If anything, his playing only got better after the band ended. Writing about a performance in 2001, Greil Marcus noted that Hudson's playing was "everywhere at once." As soon as you think you hear a tune—"Sweet Home," "Shenandoah"—it's gone. He was the avant-garde pianist in the grindhouse of 1915, and forgotten chick flicks and the In the Dark Castle... epic became profound under his fingers.