Jerry Scheff - PLAYING BASS WITH ELVIS,DYLAN,THE DOORS.

Out on March the 1st ... the Autobiography of JERRY SCHEFF.

A stalwart presence behind some of the greatest names of popular music, Scheff has also played with Roy Orbison, Elvis Costello, the Association, Neil Diamond, Johnny Mathis, the Everly Brothers, John Denver, and Nancy Sinatra, to name just a few.

Eschewing hype, Scheff provides a behind-the-scenes perspective, from having worked sleeves rolled up, side by side, with the great artists in their factories. The book opens with the TCB band's learning of the King's death while en route to a tour date, a pivotal moment for him, the rest of the band, and the world at large. He then proceeds on a nonlinear journey that mirrors the process of true life-reflection, from his roots in San Francisco to his touring all over the world.

This is a tale of a man who has truly grown a career from a genuine love of music and of his instrument, proving how following that gift can bring a person to places beyond his wildest dreams. It is an exciting inside view of the evolution and craft and work of making rock and roll - a must-have for true music craftsmen and music junkies in general."

Available: March 1st

 

Thanks for the heads-up ! On the Amazon wish list now.

 

Thanks Mike,looks like a good book to get!.

Here is one of many interviews he has done down the years!.

http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/interview_jerryscheff.shtml

 

I'll definitely have to get this one!

 

He played bass with Elvis for years and years and THAT's the photo they use for the cover??? Sheeesh!

That said, it should be a great read!

 

Yeah, no kidding! Terrible pic.

I'm glad this is coming out...had no idea he was working on it. I was just watching the new Doors DVD, Mr. Mojo Rising...the story of LA Woman and while I'm glad Jerry was at least mentioned, I was dissapointed that they didn't interview him at all. His take about coming in during that time, when the band was about to lose Jim, and them recording and producing an album completely on thier own--would have brought some intersting perspective from his point of view. I suppose this book will provide that now.

 

In the MGM Documentary (orig,and SE version) Jerry seems to be having a ball with EP,here is a picture from 1970 in Vegas having a laugh with the boss at that time!.

Yes,should have used another picture for his book cover!.

 

His son is the current lead singer of Chicago Jason Scheff

 

I thought the same thing.

 

He’s amazing on Elvis Costello’s King of America.

 

This was the first thing that bothered me about that DVD, I really wanted and expected Jerry to be a part of the film.

And he should have been.


But as we know, that's The Doors!

 

And Richard Thompson's "You Me Us".

 

He is amongst my favourite bass players. Somehow, though, he seems to have quit working in the recording studio scene by the mid 90s in favour of the TCB Band tours.

 

He is a member of the Barney Kessel Trio on the live "The Fantastic Guitar Of Barney Kessel ~ ON FIRE" album.

 

I gotta tell my brother about this book! He bought an electric upright bass from Jerry back in the nineties.

 

Jason wrote "Bigger Than Elvis" for his Dad..when He'd gotten a copy of the song for his Birthday,Jerry wept "Lke A Baby",Jason remembers!

 

Looks great. He was also in the Holy Mackerel band with Paul Williams in the late 60s.

 

I was wondering if it was true that he has in the past,been looked over when it came to the DOORS.
Reading about the DVD you guys brought up on this thread,it seems to be true.

 

Was sent a link to quotes from the book!.

Jerry was barely 27 when he auditioned for Elvis, and he really didn’t want the job. In fact, some of his friends laughed at him and called it a “waste of time”. Yet, we all know that Jerry, a white bass player with a love for black blues music, and Elvis ‘matched’. Jerry describes in unbelievable detail how that first meeting went. “Elvis was wearing a V-neck sweater pulled over a sports shirt and a pair of chinos. I believe James Burton was standing with him but I didn’t recognize him. The rest of the guys were Elvis’s Memphis Maffia: Red and Sonny West, Lamar Fike, Joe Esposito, Charlie Hodge and a well known LA session drummer named Gene Pello. I had worked with Gene before: we had done some Motown session together and he was a clean, energetic drummer with a good sense of time. James told me later that his first choice of drummer had been Richie Frost, but he wasn’t available. I walked over to Elvis and said “Hi, I’m Jerry Scheff the bass player.” I remember standing in a cloud of aftershave vapor - it’s amazing, the things that stick in your mind. (…)”

Throughout the book, Jerry writes with his heart on his tongue. Many stories on the Colonel, but Jerry concludes: “When he passed away in 1997, I received calls from quite a few news paper reporters asking about my feelings about his death. I said I had no feelings at all.”

About Larry Muhoberac: “After he was gone, I really missed his smooth, inventive adaptive approach to playing the piano. He was creative and didn’t just play parts and licks, he played songs. There was no ham-fisted left hand in your bass face, claming all the mid-range…”

On Glen Hardin: “After the shows, Glen liked to shoot craps at the casino. He made a big show of not drinking before the show, or at least not obviously drinking. But afterwards he had the waitresses running back and forth with scotch and water. Before he passed out, Glen would take control of the crap table. He usually had chips flying all over the place (…). I was in my dressing room one night before the first of two shows and Glen came in with his pants and coat buckets bulging. “Jerry Scheff”, he said – he likes to call people by both names – “look at this.” He started pulling han dfuls of black $100 chips from his pockets. (…) He said that he woke up in the afternoon on his bed with his clothes still on and he was covered from neck to belt buckle with chips. “The security guards must have stood me on a skateboard and rolled me to my room, laid me on my bed and poured chips over me…”

The book continues with similar stories about the band members (and the fit Elvis had when he discovered that Jerry and Kathy Westmoreland had something going – later that night he introduced the band this way: “Ronnie Tutt on drums, Jerry Scheff on Kathy Westmoreland”), and of course the other artists he worked with, like Bruce Springsteen (there was no love lost between them it seems), Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, John Denver…

Jerry also understands why Elvis never did record ‘Fire Down Below’, although Tom Diskin thought it would be a new Burning Love: “Having to sing this song in a spangly jumpsuit in 1976-1977 would have been a double indignity for him.”

But what most readers will find strange, is the ending of the book. We won’t go into detail, but this is Jerry’s vision: “I wound up at 70 years old, playing a European Tour with the TCB Band and a conductor in my face (note: he does not mention the name Joe Guercio). It felt OK, a bit of showbiz, until we did ‘An American Trilogy’. When we got to the most poignant part of the song – “hush little baby don’t you cry” – the conductor started moving his body and arms like a vulture fighting over its spoils, three feet away from my face. I asked him at rehearsals to cut back his intensity. He yelled back at me, and that was the end of these kind of shows for me. (…) I don’t think I will ever dance on Elvis’s grave again.



(Review by Peter Verbruggen for ElvisMatters)

http://www.elvismatters.be/index.php?pagina=nieuws&id=6470