Marty Stuart on Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers:

Watching Mazzie’s new YouTube video tonight (the topic of which is examples of the Gospel influence in white Rock ’n’ Roll---yet he neglected to cite Elvis!) made me realize I had neglected to acknowledge one of the greatest-of-them-all American Rock ’n’ Roll bands: Derek & The Dominos!

Eric Clapton is of course not American, but imho anyone could have been the guitarist/singer in that band, the rhythm section being as good as it was. Organist/singer Bobby Whitlock, bassist Carl Radle (Mazzy mis-pronounces Radle as Raddle, with a short "a".), and drummer extraordinaire Jim Gordon---a band as good as good gets. Those three plus Clapton were not only Derek & The Dominos, but also the core band on George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass album.

That’s how Derek & The Dominos came to be; George had met Bobby when he (George) and Clapton went on the road with Delaney & Bonnie (that’s right---George Harrison was briefly a member of D & B’s band!). Bobby was the organist/singer in the band, and apparently George liked what he heard, ’cause when George was ready to make his ATMP album, he asked Eric and Bobby to put together a band for the recordings.

I’ve extolled the talent of Jim Gordon before, and Mazzie agrees with me (as does Bobby Whitlock). Mazzie in the video, speaking of a number of the albums of Delaney & Bonnie, Leon Russell, and Joe Cocker, all of which contain the playing of Whitlock, Radle, and Gordon:

"One of the most amazing rhythm sections. One of the tightest bands ever in Rock ’n’ Roll, and has that really great, great Soul sound. The drummer is Jim Gordon. Jim Gordon is arguably---probably---the best driving force drummer in Rock ’n’ Roll, in terms of he’s got the greatest groove in Rock ’n’ Roll. If you want that driving groove, Jim Gordon was the guy."

Well, along with Roger Hawkins (Muscle Shoals), Earl Palmer (New Orleans), Kenny Buttrey (Nashville), Jim Keltner (Tulsa), and a few other Southern boys. ;-)

"But Prog bands, they make music which assumes complicated song structures and hard-to-physically perform instrument parts are ends unto themselves. And the music is made as, it sounds to me, a form of bragging: see how good I/we am/are? At the risk of drawing the ire of perhaps some (or even many) here, I must disclose that I feel the same about the music of Frank Zappa. Sorry. ;-)"

And there seem to be an analagous, "bragging" attitude among Prog fans-- "Prog is the best music and we are the most sophisticated music aficionados" or some such nonsense.

I feel the same about shredder guitarists like Steve Vai (who of course, played with Zappa, early on)... they seem to be on a quest to see how little they can communicate with as many notes as possible-- the exact  opposite of say, BB King!  

The live Derek and the Dominos material is certainly a much better showcase for the rhythm section than for Clapton, whose long solos seem pretty uninspired, compared to the studio versions od the same tunes.. Perhaps if EC had been sharing a stage with Duane for those shows, he would've risen to a higher level. 

Excellent point about the Prog audience, @stuartk! I’ve known some of those guys, who were exactly as you describe. Smug superiority to spare. I neglected to mention how much I dislike the attempt to combine Rock with Classical, a ridiculous notion imo. If I want to hear Pictures At An Exhibition, it sure ain’t gonna be by ELP. However, Matthew Fisher’s insertion of a J.S. Bach line in "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" is brilliant!

Clapton’s playing over the years has sure been hit-or-miss, all over the map. Seems like he wants to be first one thing, then another. I respect the guy, but own only one of albums---the debut.

   "I neglected to mention how much I dislike the attempt to combine Rock with Classical, a ridiculous notion imo"

I don't know if it's ridiculous but I don't like it. 

"Clapton’s playing over the years has sure been hit-or-miss, all over the map".

Yeah. I don't care for (or own) 461 O. Blvd. or anything after that but am still a fan of the earlier recordings. I stil own and listen to Layla, Fresh Cream, Disraeli Gears, Blind Faith, the John Mayall Beano album and the London Howlin' Wolf Sessions. That's definitely enough EC for me. 

I kept my copy of Fresh Cream (and the John Mayall album, as well as it’s followup with Peter Green playing guitar), but ditched Disraeli Gears long ago. Did you hear Atlantic Records President Ahmet Ertegan’s reaction to hearing the album tapes? He characterized the music as "psychedelic h*rsesh*t." ;-)

I was surprised that after having disbanded Cream (in reaction to hearing Music From Big Pink), Clapton formed another band with Ginger Baker, whose drumming style is diametrically opposed to that of Levon Helm and Jim Gordon.

After the Blind Faith side project, Steve Winwood was back with Traffic full-time, and drummer/songwriter Jim Capaldi wanted to move to the front of the stage (on piano). He enlisted the services of two of his favorite drummers (mine too)---Jim Gordon and Roger Hawkins. Wish I had seen THAT lineup live!