Al Kooper

Al Kooper (born February 5, 1944, Brooklyn, New York) is an American songwriter and musician, probably best known for organizing the group Blood, Sweat & Tears.

Like a Rolling Stone Session

Kooper's most notable playing with Dylan likely are the striking organ parts on "Like a Rolling Stone". Kooper had been invited to the session as an observer, and hoped to be allowed to sit in on guitar, his primary instrument. After hearing a guitar player who turned out to be Mike Bloomfield warming up, and recognizing that Bloomfield was a much better player, Kooper put his guitar aside and went to the control room. During the recording of Like a Rolling Stone, Paul Griffin moved from organ to piano. Kooper told producer Tom Wilson that he had a good organ part for the song, and before Wilson could answer, he (Wilson) got a phone call. So since he didn't get a "no" answer, Kooper went and sat down at the organ, though he had rarely played organ before the session. Wilson allowed Kooper to stay at the organ during the recording. You can hear the organ coming in just behind the other members of the band at many places in the song, to make sure he was getting the chords right. During playback, Dylan famously said, "Turn the organ up," and a classic rock organ part was born.

Related Topics:
Mike Bloomfield - Tom Wilson

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