Studio musicians who performed on Carpenter albums

[Johnny Angel]

I was curious about some of the musicians who played on various Carpenter albums, what they looked liked, a little about their lives and careers as studio musicians, etc...

I found a few...

Tim May - acoustic and electric guitar
http://www.timmayguitar.com/
His own album:
http://cdbaby.com/cd/timmay

Earle Dumler - English horn and oboe
http://www.united-mutations.com/d/earl_dumler.htm

Tom Morgan - harmonica
http://www.tmorganharmonica.com/

Red Rhodes - steel guitar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Rhodes

Ron Tutt - drums
http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Ron_Tutt.html
http://www.drumsoloartist.com/Site/Drummers3/Ron_Tutt.html

Had a heart attack in 1999 when he was playing with Neil Diamond's band
http://www.neildiamondhomepage.com/reviews/72999.htm

Larrie Londin - drums
http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Larrie_Londin.html

Paulinho DaCosta - percussion
http://www.paulinho.com/
http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Paulinho_DaCosta.html

Jim Gordon - drums
His career and tragic life
http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Jim_Gordon.html

Hal Blaine - drums
http://www.halblaine.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Blaine
http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Hal_Blaine.html

Can you add others?

The one person I've always been curious about is Gayle Levant who played harp. I've not been able to find out anything about her, other than the fact that she performed on countless albums for various artists...

 

[Actorman]

Did original Mouseketeer Cubby O'Brien play on any recordings or was he only a member of the touring band?

 

[Johnny Angel]

Sheridon Stokes - recorder and flute
(He played the beautiful flute solos on NOW and MAKE BELIEVE IT'S YOUR FIRST TIME
as well as recorder on AT THE END OF A SONG.)
http://www.flute-music.com/artists/artists.htm#SS

 

[Johnny Angel]

Did original Mouseketeer Cubby O'Brien play on any recordings or was he only a member of the touring band?

I was able to find this information, so far:

Cubby O'Brien played drums on two songs on A KIND OF HUSH:

Sandy
Goofus

and on LOVELINES

Little Girl Blue
When I Fall In Love

 

[Rudy]

Tom Scott was on "B'wana She No Home", wasn't he?

 

[Harry]

Pete Jolly played keyboards on some Carpenters recordings. And there's a discography of his A&M recordings right here at A&M Corner.

http://www.amcorner.com/jolly/index.php3

Harry

 

[Johnny Angel]

Tom Scott was on "B'wana She No Home", wasn't he?

Tom Scott - tenor sax and flutes
http://www.tomscottmusic.com/

PASSAGE
B'wana She No Home - tenor sax and alto flute
All You Get From Love Is A Love Song - tenor sax

MADE IN AMERICA
(Want You) Back In My Life Again - tenor sax
Touch Me When We're Dancing - tenor sax
Beechwood-45789 - tenor sax

VOICE OF THE HEART
Sailing on the Tide - flutes
Prime Time Love - tenor sax

 

[Johnny Angel]

Pete Jolly played keyboards on some Carpenters recordings. And there's a discography of his A&M recordings right here at A&M Corner.

http://www.amcorner.com/jolly/index.php3

Harry

Pete Jolly - keyboards
http://www.spaceagepop.com/jolly.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Jolly

PASSAGE -
B'wana She No Home - piano

LOVELINES
When I Fall In Love - keyboards

 

[Harry]

Pete Jolly played keyboards on some Carpenters recordings. And there's a discography of his A&M recordings right here at A&M Corner.

http://www.amcorner.com/jolly/index.php3

Harry

Pete Jolly - keyboards
http://www.spaceagepop.com/jolly.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Jolly

PASSAGE -
B'wana She No Home - piano

LOVELINES
When I Fall In Love - keyboards

He's also all over CHRISTMAS PORTRAIT.

Harry

 

[Johnny Angel]

Pete Jolly played keyboards on some Carpenters recordings. And there's a discography of his A&M recordings right here at A&M Corner.

http://www.amcorner.com/jolly/index.php3

Harry

Pete Jolly - keyboards
http://www.spaceagepop.com/jolly.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Jolly

PASSAGE -
B'wana She No Home - piano

LOVELINES
When I Fall In Love - keyboards

He's also all over CHRISTMAS PORTRAIT.

Harry

Sorry for the oversight, Harry... I was looking at PaulMac's website for musician breakdown on each album, and I overlooked it...

http://www.vex.net/~paulmac/carpenter/albums/christmas_portrait_lp.html

 

[Rudy]

I think Pete also played on "I Can Dream, Can't I?".

 

[Johnny Angel]

I think Pete also played on "I Can Dream, Can't I?".

You may be right... but I've been unable to find a breakdown for the HORIZON album, song by song, which bothers me a little, since it's my favorite Carpenters album... Also, the way it was recorded where you can literally hear each individual instrument on each track, you would think there would be a breakdown as to who played what on which track.

The album liner notes for HORIZON just give a performer list for the entire album. The CD liner notes are the same. PaulMac's site doesn't give a break down, either. Neither does Richard's site, www.richardandkarencarpenter.com Is there a breakdown for the Horizon album anywhere on the internet?

 

[Dave]

I enjoyed Ronnie Tutt's work behind Elvis Presley in his touring band and of all the TCB members he employed I followed Tutt's career on other peoples' albums the most!

I saw the Video of Elvis playing in Concert with the original band members reunited back in 1998 and it was at the same venue months later Ron was playing in Neil Diamond's band that same year... It was two years ago that I could'a seen Neil and his famous band again there, 'specially when they added an extra show and I hope someday I can catch those sameguys again! (Maybe also bring some of those tons of albums they played on...)

A shame Mr. Tutt doesn't have his own site (Though I have gone to Neil Diamond's website and read about him and those other "who's who" of musicians there...) and I do hope Ronnie has recovered well enough from his heart-attack in 1999 that it'll never reoccur again...

Long Live!



Dave

 

[Dave]

I was curious about some of the musicians who played on various Carpenter albums, what they looked liked, a little about their lives and careers as studio musicians, etc...

~And~​

The one person I've always been curious about is Gayle Levant who played harp. I've not been able to find out anything about her, other than the fact that she performed on countless albums for various artists...

I just happened to have attempted to get a pic of "Hollywood's Most-Heard Harpist" at the following site, which might have just at least a BRIEF bit of info on her...:

http://images-partners.google.com/i...:www.tmorganharmonica.com/images/Harpist1.jpg​

--And, yes, it is at Tommy Morgan's site, too; there seems to be a bit of a "recent collaboration" which made an album of his , which she, among other "surviving Old-Time Hollywood musicians", is on... inkshield:

--Might I also add that she was once married to musical arranger Artie Butler (Ms. Artie Butler, according to Neil Sedaka's liner notes in his 1978 album, All You Need Is The Music...) Though Artie wrote to me saying he and Gayle have seperated, so now he "answers his OWN phone...!!!"



Dave

 

[Johnny Angel]

Wow, Dave, THANKS for that... It's not a very large picture, but at least, I have an idea of what she looks like...

Artie Butler is another name I'm familiar with just from the liner notes from many of my vinyl albums...

I went to Tommy Morgan's site and browsed around, but couldn't find any other info about her, not even the picture from the link...

I'm still amazed that there is SO little information about her, considering the fact that she has performed on hundreds (if not thousands) of recordings...

I wonder if she played harp on any of the Carpenter's television specials where you see a full orchesta... Occasionally, as the camera pans the orchestra, there's a glimpse of a harpist... I wonder if that's her....?

 

[DJS]

I whole heartedly agree with the positive comments about Ron Tutt, I have seen him play with Neil Diamond 6 times over the last 15 years or so when Neil comes to the UK. I also watched him on Elvis - Thats The Way It Is DVD last week on the 30th anniversary passing of Elvis Presley. This film shows Ron in rehearsal and in concert during the 69 show's at the Hilton International Hotel.

Incidentally, The Neil Diamond Band have their own website at
www.diamondville.com, where you can find more photo's and happenings regarding Ron.

 

[SakuraSYayoi]

I think Pete also played on "I Can Dream, Can't I?".

When we open the flap of LP or mini LP "Horizon", we can read 'Keyboards: Pete Jolly' at the credit of "I Can Dream Can't I".


I remember Karen mentioned Tom Scott at a radio interview in 1981.

Who played the recorder on "Sing"? Did Karen and Richard talk about mono and stereo of "Sing" at another radio interview?


I read some articles about Karen or Richard, Cubby and Gayle this year. And another article mentioned Karen and Richard Carpenter's pets and yet another one mentioned Richard's personal assistant.

In early summer I read an article about someone whose drummer is Cubby O'Brien, probably at New York Times site.

I think Cubby played the drums on Christmas album.

This winter I read about Academy Awards rehearsal, there was Gayle Levant's comment in the article.


I just searched for her, and found an article about recording for computer game. This July article. The game will be released in several days. There are her photo at her harp and a video which has a little bit.

Gayle Levant playing the harp, probably taken last December
http://www.soundtrack.net/img/features/exclusive/2007-07-10-moha/dec-harp.jpg

Article and video
http://www.soundtrack.net/features/article/?id=238

Sakura

 

[SakuraSYayoi]

From WashingtonPost.com

While the stars took the stage, the musical backbone of the show _ the orchestra _ remained ensconced beneath it.

"It would be fun to be seen," said harpist Gayle Levant, who is playing her 13th Academy Awards this year. "It would be fun to have a camera come around here so we could wave and say `We're here, it's live, we're doing it.'"

The Hollywood native typically plays on movie and television scores. She called the Oscar gig "the biggest honor in the world."

( Beyonce, Taylor, Newman to Rock Oscars
By SANDY COHEN
The Associated Press
Saturday, February 24, 2007; 11:04 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy....html?nav=rss_artsandliving/entertainmentnews )

 

[Johnny Angel]

Thanks SO MUCH for those photo and the article and video... After so many years of seeing her name in the credits on various Carpenter albums, it sort of takes the mystery out of who she was, what she looked like...

 

[SakuraSYayoi]

You are welcome, Robert.

I forgot to add the following,
According to American Harp Journal Article Database;

Author: Carrol McLaughlin
Title: On the Lighter Side: The World of Gayle Levant
Summary: On the Lighter Side: The World of Gayle Levant
Location: Vol. 14, no. 1, Summer 1993, pp. 54-56
Availability: available for purchase

I posted about Joe Osborn to other boards before. I read that an net article told his old bass guitar was going to be exhibited last year or so. I visited his page and found that the bass guitar which had Karen's and other artists' signatures as a background photo of his page and some photos of the bass exhibited.
Several years ago Joe showed Karen's signature at his bass on Japanese TV program about Carpenters. There was Olivia Newton-John's gold record behind him. The gold disc photo was also at his page.

In 2005 he played "Close To You", "We've Only Just Begun", "Superstar" (and "California Dreaming") at Rising the Bottom Concert.
I read about it at Bass Magazine and Chicago Tribune article. Several months ago I could see other songs at the concert on video site, but there were not Carpenters songs. The Bass Magazine cover was a photo of 5 bassists of the Rising the Bottom Concert.
There were his bigger photos at Rising the Bottom Concert on lakland.com. There is at least one smaller photo of him on the site.
There were other videos about Joe, which included interview. I think he was talking about his "E". A few days later I visited again to listen to his words and found the videos were deleted.

The following is from 2005, Chicago Tribune

Richard and Karen Carpenter came to his garage studio one day to play behind
an auditioning trumpeter.

"Sometime that day, Karen sang a song. Remember 'Ebb Tide,' the old
standard? She sang that. She was 16, and already had that voice. She sang it
like she'd been singing it 50 years."

That was the beginning of a long friendship and working relationship with
the Carpenters.

"They didn't have any money," Osborn recalls. "Richard had all these songs
he wanted recorded. So we did it off and on for a couple of years. Finally
Richard took the tapes to A&M, and they got a record deal."

Osborn's playing now is done at SandBox Recording in his hometown of
Shreveport, La., a studio owned by his son, Darren.

"We're working with a couple of artists who could do something," says the
67-year-old Osborn. "I wouldn't give you 15 cents for any of the artists
coming out now. But I may be on to something that'll someday be heard
commercially."

Sakura