Bowie's Piano Man - The Biography of Mike Garson, by Clifford Slapper
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Bowie's Piano Man - The Biography of Mike Garson, by Clifford Slapper
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“It is pointless to talk about his ability as a pianist. He is exceptional. However, there are very, very few musicians, let alone pianists, who naturally understand the movement and free thinking necessary to hurl themselves into experimental or traditional areas of music, sometimes, ironically, at the same time. Mike does this with such enthusiasm that it makes my heart glad just to be in the same room with him.” David Bowie on Mike Garson SYNOPSIS Mike Garson has played piano on sixteen David Bowie albums, including Aladdin Sane, with his celebrated piano solo on its title track, Diamond Dogs, Young Americans, 1. Outside and Reality. He has also played live with Bowie on countless tours and shows, and remains his most long-standing and frequent band member. For some time Clifford Slapper has been working very closely with Garson to write a book which explores the life of this extraordinary and eccentric modern musician. It documents in detail how as a pianist he was catapulted overnight from the obscure world of New York's avant-garde jazz scene to a close and long connection with Bowie. In addition, Garson is recognised as a classical virtuoso, a jazz master and one of the world’s greatest exponents of improvisation. He has also recorded and performed live with other rock legends such as the Smashing Pumpkins and Nine Inch Nails. All of this is covered by this first ever biography of Mike Garson. Its starting point was several days of in-depth and frank conversation with Garson himself, and covers a wide range of themes which will be of interest to all Bowie fans, but also to anyone with a passion for music, social history or the process of creative inspiration. Input has also come from many interviews with those who have worked with him over the years, including Earl Slick, Trent Reznor, Sterling Campbell, Reeves Gabrels, Dave Liebman and many others. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Clifford Slapper is a musician and writer. After a degree in history from London University followed by various roles in education, he became one of the most sought after pianists in the UK, having performed with David Bowie, Boy George, Suggs, Lisa Stansfield, Jarvis Cocker, Galen Ayers, Angie Brown, Stereo MCs and Gary Kemp amongst many others. As a composer and arranger he has been involved in diverse and unusual projects. Together with Billie Ray Martin he created a ground-breaking series of live and partially improvised film-scores in London and Berlin for Polanski’s Repulsion, and he has been writing for many other artists. As a pianist he features on recent releases by Marc Almond and Holly Johnson, and has performed for fashion labels including McQueen and Marc Jacobs. He has also appeared in television comedy productions, having played the piano part for Bowie's appearance with Ricky Gervais on "Extras" (HBO/BBC, prod. Charlie Hanson) and played the piano as Dudley Moore in a BBC recreation of the sketches of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, presented by Jonathan Ross. He also produces and presents regular performance club nights across London incorporating cutting-edge live artists of all kinds. Aside from magazine articles, this book will be his first published work.
Bowie's Piano Man - The Biography of Mike Garson, by Clifford Slapper- Amazon Sales Rank: #508393 in eBooks
- Published on: 2015-06-15
- Released on: 2015-06-15
- Format: Kindle eBook
Review "Bowie's Piano Man: the life of Mike Garson" by Clifford Slapper (Fantom, 2015) "The must-have book in this field" Ricky Gervais "wonderful addition to the Bowie bibliography...a class book for a class act" ✭✭✭✭ Classic Pop magazine Awards issue 2015 BEST BOOK "a welcome tribute to a great musician...Slapper gives us musical insights" ✭✭✭ MOJO "really great and fascinating! A fabulous book" Gerry Leonard (David Bowie guitarist) "Clifford Slapper - whose own claim to Bowie fame involves being the piano-playing hand double for Dave's appearance on "Extras" - does an admirable job of picking apart Garson's life and career...Bowie loyalists - and fellow piano men - will lap up Garson's insider insights, as well as keen observations from the likes of Tony Visconti and Trent Reznor." ✭✭✭ Record Collector "Quite simply it's a great book: engaging, inspiring and entertaining; written extremely well and sympathetically about one of the greatest pianists of our times" Blues And Soul Magazine "Readable, rigorous, revealing, Bowie's Piano Man is musicology of the highest order. After reading Slapper's breakdown of Garson's playing at the Hammersmith Apollo, during Bowie's legendary farewell to Ziggy Stardust in 1973, it is impossible to listen to the recording again without an even greater appreciation for the music. This biography is much more than a simple account of one man's life. It is almost a history of the piano in popular music, such is the range of influences - from avant-garde jazz to Stravinsky and Rachmaninov - that comes within the author's purview. Slapper's insights into the nature of performance itself would make an equally enthralling book. His forensic analysis of the corrosively addictive nature of fame is among the most convincing I've ever read. Like Garson's thrillingly exquisite improvised solo on "Aladdin Sane", Bowie's Piano Man takes you on a journey without co-ordinates, until you find yourself in a place you had no plans to visit. But you'll be glad as hell you took the trip anyway. Brilliant!" Tribune Hot Press Music Book of the Fortnight : "Pieced together from days' worth of lengthy, revealing conversations with the magnificently-named Clifford Slapper, "Bowie's Piano Man" is a rich, never-before-told account of the eventful career of one of music's oft-unheralded players. As the Thin White Duke himself says, "it makes my heart glad just to be in the same room with him". The next best thing is learning about him in print. The fact it features contributions from the likes of Trent Reznor and Tony Visconti makes it an even more intriguing read." Hot Press: Ireland's top music magazine "The book is superb; essential reading for genuine Bowie fans, and indeed anyone who loves music. It's a truly fascinating journey, especially for musicians, writers, artists, and all music industry people." Mark Shaw (Then Jerico) "Bowie fans will obviously adore this thorough and well researched biography. The fact that Slapper is also a pianist, really helps convey the story." Cellophaneland arts review site "I've been a massive fan of Mike Garson for years and years. I can't believe that this is the first book ever written about him. It's so good to be able to find out answers to questions I've pondered for ages. I think it also helps that it was written by another amazing piano player, Clifford Slapper. I think it brings a unique angle to the book. Loved it to death. It's fantastic." Glenn Gregory (Heaven 17)
From the Author At the age of 11, I ran home through the streets of Wembley to my parents' "Dansette" record player with its legs off, clutching the first record I had ever bought: an album of 12-inch vinyl in a gatefold sleeve. It was David Bowie's Aladdin Sane, in the spring of 1973, and as the bright orange RCA label started spinning at 33 and a third revolutions per minute, I was transfixed. The opening two chords of "Watch That Man", a G and a C, were an apt fanfare for the start of my adolescence. In particular, it was the piano playing by Mike Garson on that album which was a revelation. I had been playing the piano since I was seven, but this gave a whole new purpose to my studies. It sounded bright, at turns both melodious and unnervingly discordant. Like shards of broken glass, his rapid, cascading high notes danced over his rumbling, thunderous bass runs. I knew then, this was what I wanted to do. I went on to become a pianist myself, always inspired by Garson as well as Bowie, and I have played with many artists (Boy George, Jarvis Cocker, Gary Kemp, Marc Almond, Holly Johnson) who have declared themselves hugely influenced by Bowie and albums such as Aladdin Sane, Pin Ups, Diamond Dogs, Young Americans and David Live - all of which Garson played on. Like Woody Allen's Zelig, Mike Garson seems to reappear at various points in modern music history, each time able to give perfect expression to that moment, whilst still retaining his own identity. Martha and the Vandellas, Stan Getz, Lulu, Nine Inch Nails, St. Vincent, Luther Vandross, Smashing Pumpkins, Gwen Stefani, Freddie Hubbard: these and dozens of others have had their sound enhanced by the Garson touch. It was appropriate that this young American jazz pianist's first appearance on a David Bowie album should be on Aladdin Sane in 1973 - which Bowie described as "Ziggy goes to America". When Ziggy had got to America the year before, manager Tony DeFries had phoned up Mike Garson and asked him to tour the States with Bowie. Garson was an avant-garde musician of the New York underground, and his reaction was along the lines of "David who?" but twenty minutes later he was at the audition in a Manhattan Studio. Just a few seconds in to his playing over the first few chords of "Changes", Mick Ronson said "you're in!" and he has never looked back since, playing on nineteen Bowie albums and numerous live appearances, including Bowie's last live spots to date in 2006. Also in 2006, I finally worked with David Bowie myself, playing the piano for his hilarious cameo appearance on the Ricky Gervais television comedy, Extras. He sat at a piano and sang to Ricky Gervais' character, whilst miming his piano-playing to my own playing on a second piano, off-camera. It was surreal to 'be the hands' of my musical hero that day. He was a dream to work with: fast, witty, intensely intelligent, supremely professional and yet modest - and very funny. Equally intriguing was my first meeting with Mike Garson in Los Angeles two years later. At one point, without knowing I had played for the Extras show, he told me how he had enjoyed seeing an English comedy on cable TV with Bowie in it, apparently playing piano. He had spoken to Bowie and joked with him, "I see you're playing the piano pretty well yourself, now. I guess you won't be needing me any more!" Garson told me that Bowie had replied, "No, Mike, that wasn't me, it was some English guy playing." It was an enjoyable twist for me to be able to tell Garson then, "I was that guy!" We bonded over this coincidence. We discovered much common ground whilst sharing stories of our work as pianists. It became apparent that Garson is an exceptional man with a fascinating and inspiring story of his own. I said, "There are many biographies of David Bowie; has anyone ever written a biography of you?" He replied, "No, but I think you would be the perfect person to write it!" I recorded 25 hours of intense conversation between us, Garson specifying his preference that the biography I would write should start from this dialogue between two pianists. In addition I interviewed about fifty other people who have worked with him or known him well, including legendary producer Tony Visconti and French music writer Jérôme Soligny, who described him as a "cathedral of music". Star artists queued up to contribute to the first biography of their much loved fellow musician. Current Bowie guitarists Gerry Leonard and Earl Slick were both effusive in their praise for Garson's work, and Leonard has prounounced the resulting biography "really great and fascinating, a fabulous book". Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails called me to speak about Garson whilst on tour, and rang off two hours later, only when called for a sound check for that night's show. Garson never drank or took drugs, which makes him not only a reliable witness, but one of the only participants in the 1970s rock scene who actually remembers anything. His outlook on life is inspiring, enlightening - and often very funny. I spent much of the interviews laughing with him at the tide of hilarious stories from his working life, all told in the strong vernacular of his Brooklyn roots. The book has three relationships at its heart. The first is between myself and the fellow pianist who has helped shape my life twice - once in 1973, to become a pianist and again in 2006 to become a writer. The second is between him and his music. But then there is David Bowie, who in 1972 helped to transform the direction of Garson's life. They have had ever since a very special creative rapport based on their shared passion for artistic sincerity, integrity and spontaneity. On the last ever Ziggy Stardust show, at Hammersmith in July 1973, Bowie asked Garson to go on stage alone first and play several of the songs from that night's set just on solo piano. This trust has often been repeated, such as when Bowie again asked Garson to go on stage first alone and start the set at Glastonbury in 2000 in front of 100,000 fans. In the 1990s and 2000s songs such as "Life On Mars?" were often performed with just Garson's piano accompanying Bowie's voice. Garson tells me that Bowie is the best producer he has ever worked with, because ultimately he lets Garson be himself. But he also says that he has often fulfilled his brief by playing the piano as he feels Bowie would play it, if he were the pianist.
From the Back Cover Mike Garson played the legendary piano parts on David Bowie's Aladdin Sane album, and also on Diamond Dogs, Young Americans and 16 other Bowie albums. At Bowie's final concert as Ziggy Stardust, in July 1973 at Hammersmith Apollo, Mike came on first and played a solo piano set of Bowie songs. He is a prolific classical composer, jazz master and improviser. He has also recorded and performed live with rock, pop and soul legends including the Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Gwen Stefani, Jeff Beck, Luther Vandross, St. Vincent and with jazz greats including Stan Getz, Stanley Clarke and Freddie Hubbard. All of this is covered in this first ever and fully authorised biography of Mike Garson.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Bowies Piano Man The Life of Mike Garson By Daphne Sherman “The main thing I found about this book, and which really impressed me, aside from the absolutely brilliant way it is written, is the way it portrays Mike Garson’s philosophy. The book is not only about the man who is a musician, who played piano for David Bowie, it also explains Mike Garson’s philosophy in life. He has never gone after the money – except from necessity, in the beginning. It was hard work, which paid off and brought his success. Success does not ‘just happen’, it happened because of his hard work. Everybody should read this book as it shows how hard he worked, and conveys the message that if he could do that, then so can others. The message I got from the book is that Mike Garson is an incredible inspiration, as someone living his life through effort, and he is an inspiration for the way he thinks.People used to ask my husband, Ben (Ben Sherman, founder of the shirt company and fashion brand) the secret of his success. He would say he got lucky. But if you think about it, luck is in fact preparation coupled with opportunity, and if you are not prepared when the opportunity comes, then it is called bad luck! The thing about Mike Garson is that through hard work, he was always prepared. When the opportunity came to play piano for Bowie, he was totally prepared to take on that role. He has continued to practise for eight hours a day even now, so he is always in preparation for the next opportunity. People say, ‘I can’t do this, it’s too late for me’, but nothing is ever too late.The introduction to the book explains how it came about, with the author having asked the subject whether anyone had ever written a biography of him before, and him replying ‘no, but I think you would be the perfect person to write it’. He said this even though Clifford Slapper had never written a book before. Now, a few years later, the book has been successfully written and published. Mike Garson seems to have a real ‘sixth sense’in his intuition. He must have had this feeling about Clifford Slapper, to have known that this was a person who could do this. He must have somehow seen it in him.This book is one of the best reads I’ve had. The author, Clifford Slapper, has more than made this interesting. It's intriguing, informative, and while it's rare for me to laugh out loud while reading a book - I have in this one. There's one thing I would add to the title – “Bowie’s Piano Man: the 'inspirational' life of Mike Garson”. In fact, through the incredible example that is Mike Garson, this book could be added to the list of books recommended to the army of readers seeking ways to improve their lives.”
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. A very interesting view from someone in the heart of a lot of it By A Customer Read mainly as a huge fan of bowie. Really interesting to get the look in from some who is a musical genius as well. DEFINITELY WORTH THE READ.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Five Stars By Andrew J. Sandel Every pianist should read this book... whatever type of music you are into.
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