Jim Keltner

Jim Keltner is one of a group of session musicians who achieved near super-stardom at the start of the 1970s, amid the explosion of recording work by the ex-members of the Beatles -- along with Leon Russell, Klaus Voorman, Billy Preston, Jim Gordon, and Bobby Whitlock, to name just a few, his name became closely associated with that first flash of post-Beatles creativity by John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. But he was already one of the busiest drummers working in Los Angeles, and his playing -- even discounting the records by the former Beatles at the time and since -- was heard on some of the most popular records of the era, by everyone from Eric Clapton to Carly Simon to Barbra Steisand.

Keltner was born in Tulsa, OK in 1942, and was initially inspired to start playing because of an interest in jazz. But the popularity of jazz was in retreat when he came of age during the late '50s and early '60s, and it was the explosion of pop/rock in the mid-'60s that enabled him to break into recording work in Los Angeles.

Among the more curious appearances he's made on record and on-stage, he worked on Who drummer Keith Moon's Two Sides of the Moon solo album, and played with Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band, and -- (in the guise of "Buster Sidbury") -- was part of George Harrison's Traveling Wilburys. In the early '90s, in the wake of a series of sessions that he played for John Hiatt, Keltner became part of the supergroup Little Village, with Hiatt, Ry Cooder, and Nick Lowe. Keltner has remained busy into the 21st century, on tour with T Bone Burnett and on record with Jerry Lee Lewis (Last Man Standing), and he even gets the occasional chance to return to his original first love, jazz. He is admired by two generations of drummers following in his wake, and 40 years into his career is still regarded as one of the finest drummers in the world.

Excerpts courtesy~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide

Discography

Hammerax Gear:

Various Hammerax percussion instruments

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