James Gurley of Big Brother and the Holding Company

[randyhersom]

Reported on the eMusic message board, referencing Nightwatcher's House of Rock blog.

http://nightwatchershouseofrock.blogspot.com/

[GA Russell]

Here's his LA Times obituary:

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-james-gurley24-2009dec24,0,1577562.story

James Gurley dies at 69; guitarist with Big Brother & the Holding Company

He became the center of the psychedelic band's free-form style with his spellbinding finger-picking on the electric guitar. The group launched Janis Joplin to stardom.

James Gurley, second from left, was known for his spellbinding finger-picking on the electric guitar. Others in the band, which became a sensation with its 1968 "Cheap Thrills" album, were, from left, Peter Albin, David Getz, Sam Andrew and Janis Joplin, who was launched to stardom. (Sam Andrew)

• Related
• James Gurley | 1939 - 2009

By Valerie J. Nelson December 24, 2009

James Gurley, a virtuoso guitarist with Big Brother & the Holding Company, the psychedelic rock band that launched Janis Joplin to stardom, died Sunday, two days before his 70th birthday.

Gurley was pronounced dead at a Palm Springs hospital after suffering a heart attack at his Palm Desert home, according to the band.

"James was the spirit and the essence of the band in its early days," Sam Andrew, a Big Brother singer-guitarist, wrote on the band’s website. "James was the most unusual person I ever met, a pioneer, a real original. . . ."

In 1965, Gurley was playing guitar on San Francisco's coffeehouse circuit when Chet Helms, Big Brother's manager, invited him to jam with the nascent band.

Gurley's spellbinding finger-picking on the electric guitar "proved to be the missing component," according to a biography on the band's website, and he became the center of Big Brother's free-form style.

Many of his peers consider Gurley the fountainhead of psychedelic guitar-playing, which "gets improvisational and goes out to this place where the beat is assumed," Barry Melton, lead guitarist for Country Joe & the Fish, told Guitar Player magazine in 1997.

"The music is kind of out there in space, and James Gurley was the first man in space! He's the Yuri Gagarin of psychedelic guitar," Melton said.

Gurley "was the star of Big Brother," the group's drummer, Dave Getz, said on the band's website, "and then Janis came along."

As they played informal concerts in a basement ballroom of a San Francisco boardinghouse, Helms told the band, "You need this chick I know in Austin," Dennis McNally, a historian for the Grateful Dead, said in a 2005 Times interview.

"The band went, 'Right, right.' He sent a friend of his to Austin to bring Janis out here, and the rest is history," McNally said.

With Joplin joining the group as lead singer in 1966, Big Brother soon turned into one of the Bay Area's leading attractions. Her fierce, "blues-soaked delivery provided the perfect foil to the unit's instrumental power," according to "The Encyclopedia of Popular Music."

Big Brother became a sensation with its 1968 "Cheap Thrills" album, which featured Gurley's intense, raw sound on such hits as “Piece of My Heart” and "Ball and Chain.”

After Joplin left the band in 1968 for a solo career, the group disbanded. She died of a heroin overdose in 1970.

Big Brother reconvened in 1969, with Gurley and Andrew in the lineup, but after releasing two more albums, the band broke up again in 1972.

In 1987, the early members of Big Brother reunited and Gurley toured with them for a decade but left after a falling out.

"James was a large personality," Getz wrote on the band's website. "He had real charisma. He was as unique an individual as they come. For a moment in time he was 'the man.' "

Born Dec. 22, 1939, in Detroit, Gurley was the son of a stunt-car driver and learned at an early age to be adventurous.

As a boy, he sometimes served as a "human hood ornament" by riding on the front of cars while his father drove through walls of fire and other obstructions, according to a biography on the band's website.

By age 19, Gurley was teaching himself to play acoustic guitar, partly by listening to records by Lightnin' Hopkins, a country blues guitarist.

Gurley also was inspired by a 1963 performance by jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. "I heard a lone saxophone raging like a madman," he told the Palm Springs Desert Sun in 2007. "I said, 'That's the way to play, like a madman.' And that's what developed my style: Play it like crazy."

After Joplin joined Big Brother, she and Gurley had a brief affair that ended when his wife, Nancy, confronted them while holding the Gurleys' young son, according to the 2000 Joplin biography "Scars of Sweet Paradise."

On "Pipe Dreams," his 2000 solo album, Gurley included a song "For Nancy (Elegy)," a requiem to his first wife. When she died of a heroin overdose in 1970, Gurley was charged with murder for injecting her with the drug but was eventually sentenced to probation.

"I was a wild man, alcohol and drugs," Gurley told the Oakland Tribune while in San Francisco in 2007 for the 40th anniversary concert marking the city's Summer of Love. "I'm just glad to be here myself."

Since moving to Palm Desert in the 1970s, he had performed with a New Wave band with his oldest son, Hongo, and recorded with New Age drummer Muruga Booker.

When asked what advice he would give a young guitar player, Gurley once responded: "Don't listen to anybody."

In addition to his son Hongo, Gurley's survivors include his second wife, Margaret; and another son, Django.

The band is planning a public memorial to be held early next year in the Bay Area.

[Tony Pusey]

Time to dig out Cheap Thrills, put on Combination of the Two and just marvel, one last time as Gurley takes off...Good bye James Gurley.

[Matthew]

Many of his peers consider Gurley the fountainhead of psychedelic guitar-playing, which "gets improvisational and goes out to this place where the beat is assumed," Barry Melton, lead guitarist for Country Joe & the Fish, told Guitar Player magazine in 1997.

"The music is kind of out there in space, and James Gurley was the first man in space! He's the Yuri Gagarin of psychedelic guitar," Melton said.

I hope Gurley truly rests in peace, but the above quote -- what bs

[king ubu]

The Yuri Gagarin of psychedelic guitar?

r.i.p. - will spin some Janis Joplin these days...

[Chalupa]

Wow. What a life. Loved his guitar playing. RIP.

[AllenLowe]

that quote is exact and accurate - at his best, his guitar solos are the most truly adventurous ever in rock until that time - way in advance harmonically of Hendrix, even, to my years. There are only a few select places on record or tape where he ventures out, though I'm guessing it happened plenty in person - one has to see that documentary (900 Nights) that was made on Big Brother, also hear the live at Winter Palace CD (which I think I played for Cliff THornton a few years back, if he remembers, and he was duly impressed). Big Brother's problem was that the band was so drug-addled and inconsistent (I think it was Gurley who accidentally killed his wife with a hot shot). But at his best, he was a rock guitarist like no other. You just gotta find the right performances.

FWIW, I talked to Nick Gravenites about Gurley a few years ago, and he agreed.

and just as an added thought, the best thing about hearing guitar playing in that era that was so hard hitting and aggressive is that it has a wonderful analog sloppiness - meaning that there are no digital stages of sound reproduction to "even out" the wave form and make the volume more uniform - it's wild and wooly stuff, much more organic and connected to human variations of volume and texture (digital tends to make everything more uniform) - here's one good example of Gurley's stuff:

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=nzz_vosi1TU

and not the most successful performance, but clearly they've been listening to Ravi Shankar play ragas:

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=dl-6IG3WAL4

here's a quote re: Gurley:

"He also was inspired by a 1963 performance by jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. "I heard a lone saxophone raging like a madman," he told the Palm Springs Desert Sun in 2007. "I said, 'That's the way to play, like a madman.'"

nobody else was really doing a halfway decent job of translating these ideas to rock guitar, yet - the jazz guys didn't have the touch, Bloomfield tried on East West but, much as I love his playing, he really didn'y have a clue.

Only James Gurley.

Edited December 24, 2009 by AllenLowe

[AllenLowe]

bumping, because Gurley needs to be remembered.

[Matthew]

that quote is exact and accurate - at his best, his guitar solos are the most truly adventurous ever in rock until that time - way in advance harmonically of Hendrix, even, to my years. There are only a few select places on record or tape where he ventures out, though I'm guessing it happened plenty in person - one has to see that documentary (900 Nights) that was made on Big Brother, also hear the live at Winter Palace CD (which I think I played for Cliff THornton a few years back, if he remembers, and he was duly impressed). Big Brother's problem was that the band was so drug-addled and inconsistent (I think it was Gurley who accidentally killed his wife with a hot shot). But at his best, he was a rock guitarist like no other. You just gotta find the right performances.

FWIW, I talked to Nick Gravenites about Gurley a few years ago, and he agreed.

and just as an added thought, the best thing about hearing guitar playing in that era that was so hard hitting and aggressive is that it has a wonderful analog sloppiness - meaning that there are no digital stages of sound reproduction to "even out" the wave form and make the volume more uniform - it's wild and wooly stuff, much more organic and connected to human variations of volume and texture (digital tends to make everything more uniform) - here's one good example of Gurley's stuff:

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=nzz_vosi1TU

and not the most successful performance, but clearly they've been listening to Ravi Shankar play ragas:

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=dl-6IG3WAL4

here's a quote re: Gurley:

"He also was inspired by a 1963 performance by jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. "I heard a lone saxophone raging like a madman," he told the Palm Springs Desert Sun in 2007. "I said, 'That's the way to play, like a madman.'"

nobody else was really doing a halfway decent job of translating these ideas to rock guitar, yet - the jazz guys didn't have the touch, Bloomfield tried on East West but, much as I love his playing, he really didn'y have a clue.

Only James Gurley.

There are only a few select places on record or tape where he ventures out..

That all my be true, but my contention is that, every biography I've read of the guitar players from that era, it is near unanimous that the two major influences were Jeff Beck & Eric Clapton. They were the ones people listened to and based their playing off. Gurley did have some great solos, but if you weren't in on the San Francisco scene, how would you know? Anyway, I don't want to empty my bladder pissing on someone's grave -- Gurley did major work, and his passing is a loss. RIP

[AllenLowe]

that's ok, I agree that he was likely not a big influence, he was very much his own academy - but, you know, people like Martin Williams said the same thing about Lennie Tristano, that his historical importance was limited because few pianists, in particular, followed his lead. But that's a poor way to grade history, I think; it works from the canon of certain kind of hierarchies, which I think are misleading (and how many pianists truly followed Monk?).

and on the other hand, we don't really know for sure how much influence Gurley had - I will tell you from experience that rock history is writ poorly and from either warped pop or terminally contextualized academic perspectives. I would be interested to get a more detailed history of that scene before I came to any such conclusions.

[Brad]

I'm very sorry to hear this. He was a giant. RIP.

[Matthew]

......

and on the other hand, we don't really know for sure how much influence Gurley had - I will tell you from experience that rock history is writ poorly and from either warped pop or terminally contextualized academic perspectives. I would be interested to get a more detailed history of that scene before I came to any such conclusions.

Amen to that! Too often it's the liners that give the history of the era, and I'm always suspicious of how people remember the rock era of 1963-1969. Maybe one of these days someone will be able to write a good, insightful, account of rock during the 1960's.

[Brad]

Are there any decent histories out there?

[AllenLowe]

I have one that's in manuscript and looking for a publisher

it covers 1950-1970;

but, it terms of published survey histories I would say no, unfortunately, though there are many good books that cover various aspects of rock.

but the only real surveys I've seen are by academics like Garafolo (and his is just awful, very ideological as in whites just stole everything) -

I am thinking of starting a blog this year, and one of the things I intend to do is point out the good books in this whole area (pop and jazz).

(just as an aside, my book was turned down by 3 university presses; at least two of those had political objections, but that's another story) -

Edited December 24, 2009 by AllenLowe

[Matthew]

I have one that's in manuscript and looking for a publisher

it covers 1950-1970;

but, it terms of published survey histories I would say no, unfortunately, though there are many good books that cover various aspects of rock.

but the only real surveys I've seen are by academics like Garafolo (and his is just awful, very ideological as in whites just stole everything) -

I am thinking of starting a blog this year, and one of the things I intend to do is point out the good books in this whole area (pop and jazz).

(just as an aside, my book was turned down by 3 university presses; at least two of those had political objections, but that's another story) -

It's too bad Allen that you can't get it published, I'm sure it would be a great read. Nice idea about the blog also, I enjoy your more lucid moments (and lesser ones also!).

[Brad]

Allen,

Have you ever tried doing it yourself. There's a company out there I think called blurb.com where you can print as many as you want, no minimums. I think you'd find a ready audience here for a book like that.

[GA Russell]

Here in Raleigh we have lulu.com which publishes as many/few as you would like. It is owned by Bob Young, formerly of Red Hat, and the owner of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

The price of their books is good, but they had a high shipping cost the last time I ordered from them.

[AllenLowe]

yes, that's what I've been thinking, just unsure if I'll go that way (depends on how lucid I'm feeling that day )

hoping first to find someone who wants to give me an advance -

the problem with the pop publishing world is that most books are either driven by personality (the story of Meat Loaf, that kind of thing) or are academic and have that peculiar, dull sheen of that world's tenured bacilli.

but back to Gurley - there are a few astoundingly good guitar solos of his, floating around. Nine Hundred Nights, as I mentioned, has at least one very good one, and the Winterland CD is recommended. As I recall, his solo after the Joplin vocal on Ball and Chain at Monterey is also amazing.

Drugs really killed that band (as well as his wife Nancy) -

[papsrus]

I have a foggy memory of the band from when I first started listening to music as a young teenager -- 13-14 maybe. Forget the album -- I think it was a live album, pretty sure. Big Brother, Quicksilver Messenger Service, the Dead. ... Have no recollection of how I got turned on to these bands at the time, because certainly none of my friends were listening to them then.

I'd also be quite interested in your book, Allen. Please keep us posted on the blog. (Perhaps a way to get some excerpts out?)

RIP Mr. Gurley.

[Matthew]

Well, Allen, ever since this thread, I have been thinking about what you said here. Just taking the San Francisco scence, and trying to figure out who influences who is a chore. I have this bootleg comp that features Dark Magic by Moby Grape from the Avalon Ballroom in December 31, 1966, and Peter Lewis, Jerry Miller, and Skip Spence, are doing all kinds of batstuff crazy things during their solos. So, it just seems to me that in the hot-house atmosphere of the SF scene, who knows who was the leader. Jefferson Airplane's Jorma Kaukonen was also doing some pretty amazing stuff. It's an interesting era, and I probably dismissed Gurley way too quickly. Allen, get that book published!