Fly On The Wall

Brooks came out of a New York music scene in the early 1960s. One of the younger players on his instrument, he was a contemporary of Felix Pappalardi and Andy Kulberg and other eclectic bass players in their late teens and early twenties, who saw a way to bridge the styles of folk, blues, rock, and jazz.

Al Kooper gave Brooks his first boost to fame when he asked him to play as part of Bob Dylan's backing band on the sessions that yielded the album Highway 61 Revisited (1965)[1] — in contrast to the kind of folkie-electric sound generated by the band on his previous album, Bringing It All Back Home (1965). Producer Bob Johnson and Dylan were looking for a harder, in-your-face electric sound, and Brooks, along with guitarist Michael Bloomfield and organist Al Kooper, provided exactly what was needed. Brooks was also part of Dylan's early backing band which performed at Forest Hills, Queens and the Hollywood Bowl in 1965. This band also included Robbie Robertson (guitar), Al Kooper (keyboards) and Levon Helm (drums).

The Doors and The Electric Flag
From the Dylan single and album, Brooks branched out in a multitude of directions, as he went on to play on records by folk artists including Fred Neil, Eric Andersen at Vanguard Records, Richie Havens, Peter,Paul and Mary, Tom Rush and Jim & Jean at Verve Records,[1] transitional electric folk-rockers such as David Blue (whose producer was looking for a sound similar to that on Highway 61 Revisited), and various blues-rock fusion projects involving Bloomfield and Kooper.

Brooks met Michael Bloomfield at the Highway 61 Revisited sessions and was recruited to join Bloomfield's Electric Flag based in Mill Valley, California. The Flag only lasted in its original line-up for about a year, and recorded three albums. A soundtrack for the film The Trip (1967). The Electric Flag, A Long Time Coming (1968) and The Electric Flag, An American Music Band (1968). After the Electric Flag disbanded, Brooks took up temporary residence at the Chateau Marmont hotel on Sunset Strip. From there he played on Cass Elliot's Dream a Little Dream (1968), and with Nick Gravenites and Pete Welding he produced Quicksilver Messenger Service (1968) for Capitol Records. Brooks also played on The Doors' The Soft Parade (1969) album on the songs "Touch Me", "Tell All the People", "Wild Child" and "Wishful Sinful".[1] Producer Paul Rothchild wanted to give the Doors a fresh sound. He hired Brooks to play and help organize the rhythm tracks and Paul Harris to write some string and horn arrangements. Brooks also played live with the Doors at the Forum in Los Angeles and Madison Square Garden in New York and was on the Michael Bloomfield/Al Kooper/Stephen Stills Super Session (1968) release.[1] His song "Harvey's Tune" appeared on this album.

Miles Davis
Brooks moved east to meet Crosby, Stills & Nash in Sag Harbor, New York. Musical and business disagreements caused Brooks and Paul Harris to leave the band and move over to John Sebastian's house to begin pre-production on John B. Sebastian (1970) album. The Manhattan sessions to finish the album were produced by Paul Rothchild and recorded at Jerry Ragovoy's Hit Factory.

After buying a loft in what was to become The Soho section of Greenwich Village Brooks got a call from Jack Gold, vice president of Columbia Records, offering him a job as staff producer. He connected with producer Teo Macero, who led him to Miles Davis. Brooks contributed to Bitches Brew (1970) and Big Fun (1974). On the sessions in August and November 1969, two bassists were used. Brooks played electric bass while Dave Holland simultaneously played acoustic bass.

1970s–present
From the 1970s Brooks recorded on New Morning by Bob Dylan, Seals & Crofts' Summer Breeze and Down Home albums, and Paul Kantner's Blows Against the Empire. He also recorded with John Martyn, The Fabulous Rhinestones, Fontella Bass, John...

For Trey Gunn, the merging of storytelling, visual imagery and music have always been the point of contact for his creative life. Photography, painting, language and film play together to reinforce and inspire the musical experience he has sought throughout his rich career.A native Texan who now resides in Seattle, Gunn, began his musical life at the age of 7 playing piano. His interest in music grew through various instruments: electric bass, electric and acoustic guitar, keyboards, and the touch guitar. He completed a degree in classical music composition at the University of Oregon before moving to New York City where his professional life blossomed.In 1992 he was asked to join David Sylvian and Robert Fripp in a collaborative project that toured throughout the United States, Europe and Japan. The band released "The First Day" and "Damage" – a live recording from the Royal Albert Hall in London – both on Virgin Records. During this period Gunn also found time to record his first solo album "One Thousand Years.” This recording began his work merging storytelling, dreamtime and music.In 1994 he joined King Crimson – a group many contend as the most aggressively, adventurous rock band of all time. Over the next decade he participated in seventeen King Crimson CDs, two DVDs and hundreds of performances. For his role in this configuration of the group (Adrian Belew, Robert Fripp, Pat Mastelotto and Gunn), he helped evolve a new and unique instrument. This 'tapped' instrument, the Warr Guitar, is a 10-string touch guitar with the range of a piano. It can be heard, in-depth, on his 14 solo recordings and multiple releases produced by Gunn.

For Trey Gunn, the merging of storytelling, visual imagery and music have always been the point of contact for his creative life. Photography, painting, language and film play together to reinforce and inspire the musical experience he has sought throughout his rich career.

A native Texan who now resides in Seattle, Gunn, began his musical life at the age of 7 playing piano. His interest in music grew through various instruments: electric bass, electric and acoustic guitar, keyboards, and the touch guitar. He completed a degree in classical music composition at the University of Oregon before moving to New York City where his professional life blossomed.

In 1992 he was asked to join David Sylvian and Robert Fripp in a collaborative project that toured throughout the United States, Europe and Japan. The band released "The First Day" and "Damage" – a live recording from the Royal Albert Hall in London – both on Virgin Records. During this period Gunn also found time to record his first solo album "One Thousand Years.” This recording began his work merging storytelling, dreamtime and music.

In 1994 he joined King Crimson – a group many contend as the most aggressively, adventurous rock band of all time. Over the next decade he participated in seventeen King Crimson CDs, two DVDs and hundreds of performances. For his role in this configuration of the group (Adrian Belew, Robert Fripp, Pat Mastelotto and Gunn), he helped evolve a new and unique instrument. This 'tapped' instrument, the Warr Guitar, is a 10-string touch guitar with the range of a piano. It can be heard, in-depth, on his 14 solo recordings and multiple releases produced by Gunn.

Founding member of The Dictators, one of the original New York punk bands, in which he wrote all of the songs, played bass guitar and keyboards and sang backing vocals and occasional leads. He has been involved with a variety of other musical projects, most notably the heavily Dictators-populated Manitoba's Wild Kingdom and Joey Ramone's first studio album, Don't Worry About Me. He additionally co-wrote four Ramones songs with Joey.Shernoff's current projects include garage rock band The Masterplan, featuring members of The Fleshtones and the Waxing Poetics. In the fall of 2009, he embarked upon a series of solo shows playing songs he wrote or co-wrote and telling the stories behind them. In the spring of 2010, those shows would become "When Giants Walked the Earth - A Musical Memoir" with 50 tour dates in the Eastern U.S. and Canada. Shernoff sang "California Sun" in the official Major League Baseball promotional video for the 2010 All-Star Game. On March 24, 2012 Andy played the Reason Rally, the largest secular gathering in American history, on the National Mall in Washington DC. He released his first solo EP Don't Fade Away in October 2012. A follow-up EP, On The First Day Man Created God, was released in February 2013.

Founding member of The Dictators, one of the original New York punk bands, in which he wrote all of the songs, played bass guitar and keyboards and sang backing vocals and occasional leads. He has been involved with a variety of other musical projects, most notably the heavily Dictators-populated Manitoba's Wild Kingdom and Joey Ramone's first studio album, Don't Worry About Me. He additionally co-wrote four Ramones songs with Joey.

Shernoff's current projects include garage rock band The Masterplan, featuring members of The Fleshtones and the Waxing Poetics. In the fall of 2009, he embarked upon a series of solo shows playing songs he wrote or co-wrote and telling the stories behind them. In the spring of 2010, those shows would become "When Giants Walked the Earth - A Musical Memoir" with 50 tour dates in the Eastern U.S. and Canada. Shernoff sang "California Sun" in the official Major League Baseball promotional video for the 2010 All-Star Game. On March 24, 2012 Andy played the Reason Rally, the largest secular gathering in American history, on the National Mall in Washington DC. He released his first solo EP Don't Fade Away in October 2012. A follow-up EP, On The First Day Man Created God, was released in February 2013.

Genya Ravan's career started in 1962 in a Brooklyn club called The Lollipop Lounge, which is also the title of her autobiography. On a dare, she jumped up to sing, which she states were the first time she had heard her voice. She was asked to join the band The Escorts, which featured Richard Perry as one of the members. In 1963, she formed Goldie and The Gingerbreads after meeting drummer Ginger Bianco in a Greenwich Village bar. After seeing the band at a party for the Rolling Stones, Atlantic Records Chairman Ahmet Ertegun signed them to Atlantic subsidiary Atco Records. Goldie and The Gingerbreads were the first all-girl rock band in history to be signed to a major label.

Genya Ravan's career started in 1962 in a Brooklyn club called The Lollipop Lounge, which is also the title of her autobiography.
On a dare, she jumped up to sing, which she states were the first time she had heard her voice. She was asked to join the band The Escorts, which featured Richard Perry as one of the members.

In 1963, she formed Goldie and The Gingerbreads after meeting drummer Ginger Bianco in a Greenwich Village bar.
After seeing the band at a party for the Rolling Stones, Atlantic Records Chairman Ahmet Ertegun signed them to Atlantic subsidiary Atco Records.
Goldie and The Gingerbreads were the first all-girl rock band in history to be signed to a major label.

Two time Grammy Award winning bassist and a native of the heralded Morrisania section of the Bronx, Jerry Jemmott has been a performer since the age of five, starting as a tap dancer with Mary Bruce’s Star Buds in Harlem, performing at Carnegie Hall in their annual reviews.This Rhythm ‘n Blues/Jazz bassist, a disciple of Paul Chambers and Charles Mingus, was a key architect of the Atlantic Records and Muscle Shoals sound of the 1960s & 1970s.Jerry's body of work illuminates the times both then and now as he played on the recordings of “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”, “People Got To Be Free”, “The Universal Prisoner”, "Games People Play," “Think”, “Eleanor Rigby”, “The Weight”, “Attica Blues”, “Why I Sing The Blues”, “The Thrill Is Gone", made a recent cameo solo performance in the film “Mitchellville” and had a starring role in the feature documentary ‘Jaco’.

Two time Grammy Award winning bassist and a native of the heralded Morrisania section of the Bronx, Jerry Jemmott has been a performer since the age of five, starting as a tap dancer with Mary Bruce’s Star Buds in Harlem, performing at Carnegie Hall in their annual reviews.

This Rhythm ‘n Blues/Jazz bassist, a disciple of Paul Chambers and Charles Mingus, was a key architect of the Atlantic Records and Muscle Shoals sound of the 1960s & 1970s.

Jerry's body of work illuminates the times both then and now as he played on the recordings of “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”, “People Got To Be Free”, “The Universal Prisoner”, "Games People Play," “Think”, “Eleanor Rigby”, “The Weight”, “Attica Blues”, “Why I Sing The Blues”, “The Thrill Is Gone", made a recent cameo solo performance in the film “Mitchellville” and had a starring role in the feature documentary ‘Jaco’.

Knopfler introduced his older brother, guitarist Mark Knopfler, to his bassist flatmate John Illsley. After gaining the interest of drummer Pick Withers, the four founded the rock band Dire Straits. One of Mark's friends came up with the band's name, which was supposedly a reference to their financial situation at the time the band was beginning to gain notice in the music industry.David however, asserts on his website that "[the] notion that the band were literally in dire straits is largely retrospective myth making and not really factually supportable. We all had day jobs until we got a whacking big advance from Polygram."Knopfler played rhythm guitar beside his brother, who was lead guitarist in the band. He appeared on Dire Straits' first two albums: Dire Straits (1978) and Communiqué (1979). The stress of composing, arranging songs, recording the then-requisite two albums and tours to support them took its toll on the brothers, and David left the band during the recording of their third album, Making Movies (1980), leaving him uncredited on the album.