MAC & KEYS: One year ago this week we lost two titans who helped shape the sound, course, and texture of roughly a half-century of rock music, not to mention that of their frequent collaborators and employers, the Rolling Stones, who benefitted greatly from their skillful, soulful mastery on the horns and keys. I’d like to think of my small tribute and remembrance as a toast to Bobby and Mac, whose contributions may have come from the side of the countless stages they graced, but whose playing and personalities were frequently at the heart of all the spirited rock & roll we all heard — and continue to hear. Their legacies will live on as long as people have ears — and taste.
Bobby Keys
Ian McLagan
Official portraits and lineup cards of the band notwithstanding, both in the studio and on stage the Rolling Stones have always wisely employed, and relied upon, a small nucleus of collaborators, co-conspirators, and simpatico sidemen to help them flesh out and embroider “that Stones sound” we all grew up on. And despite the Stones’ best efforts for much of the past 50 years to disprove the theory that nothing lasts forever, this week’s news that saxophone colossus Bobby Keys and pianist/organist Ian McLagan, two titans to the side of the Stones stage, have died brings a stark, sudden, and sad reminder that even the Stones (and those close to them, especially) are not immune to the laws of nature.
View original post 1,256 more words
RPM: Jonathan Perry's Life in Analog 