i grew up with a guy who was basically a drumming prodigy - he had that wild neal peart skill set, could slay polyrhythms with speed and dexterity. a few years out of high school, i saw him playing in a bluegrass band, where he was basically doing train beats and minimal grooves. at first i thought it was a waste of his skills until i thought about it - he had to learn and know everything before he could master doing next to nothing.
steve cropper always sort of struck me the same way. he could say more in eight notes than yngwie could in a hundred.
Steve Cropper is one of my musical heroes. He was incredibly important for Stax Records’ ongoing success in the 1960’s by playing, writing and pretty much doing the producing on hit after hit. Huge huge huge. Sad to see him go.
Cropper features pretty heavily in the Stax story, from a back room in record shop, having the label taken over by criminals, and eventually getting screwed by Atlantic, he was there for all of it.
RIP Claudio ‘Mozart’ Rispoli. Pioneer and producer of some killer Italian house as Double Dee, Soft House Company and Jestofunk, and before that main man with Baldelli at afro-cosmic temple Baia degli angeli
