Danny Kortchmar

Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar (born April 6, 1946) is a guitarist, session musician, and songwriter. Kortchmar's work with singer-songwriters such as David Crosby, Carole King, Graham Nash, Carly Simon and James Taylor helped define the signature sound of the singer-songwriter era of the 1970s. Jackson Browne and Don Henley have recorded many songs written or co-written by Kortchmar. Kortchmar is credited as Daniel Kortchmar, Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar, Danny Kortchmar, Dan Kortchmar and even Danny Kootch on different recordings.

Biography

Kortchmar first came to prominence in the mid-1960s playing with bands in his native New York City, such as The Kingbees and the Flying Machine, which included the then-unknown James Taylor; in Taylor's autobiographical composition "Fire and Rain", the line "sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground" is a reference to the break up of that band. During 1966, Kortchmar traveled to England, where he spent time as a session musician. In 1967 Kortchmar joined The Fugs,^[1] appearing on their 1968 Tenderness Junction album before following bassist Charles Larkey to California, where they joined Carole King in forming a trio named The City. The group produced an album in 1969, Now That Everything's Been Said, which received scattered good reviews but was not a commercial success. The group subsequently broke up, but Kortchmar continued backing King on her more successful solo career, including the groundbreaking 1971 album Tapestry. In 1970, Kortchmar reunited with Taylor on his breakthrough album Sweet Baby James.^[1] Kortchmar's work with Taylor and King made him one of the top LA session guitarists in the 1970s.

Kortchmar worked on his own, reuniting with Larkey in the band Jo Mama in 1970 and 1971 and recording solo albums Kootch (1973) and Innuendo (1980), but he experienced his greatest success backing other artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Warren Zevon, Harry Nilsson and Jackson Browne. In the 1970s he made three albums with Leland Sklar, Russ Kunkel, and Craig Doerge, as The Section. He wrote music for the Cheech & Chong film Up in Smoke and he has also produced recordings by Don Henley,^[1] Neil Young, Jon Bon Jovi, Stevie Nicks, Billy Joel, Hanson, Tracy Chapman, Louise Goffin and others. He is featured on guitar on Carole King's 1975 album, Thoroughbred.

He had a cameo as Ronnie Pudding (Spinal Tap's bass player in their early years) in the "Gimme Some Money" video segment of the 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap.

Kortchmar started a new group, the Midnight Eleven, in 2004, and the band released its first album in 2005.^[2]

In 2006 he co-produced Hanson's album The Walk, which was released in the U.S. in the summer of 2007.^[2]

Also in 2006, Kortchmar participated in the Japan tour of the Verbs, a unit consisting of Steve Jordan and Meegan Voss.^[3]

Recently, Kotchmar has formed the group "Slo Leak" playing primarily blues rock on 2 cds.

Discography

Solo

• 1973 Kootch (Warner Bros.)
• 1980 Innuendo (Asylum)

With associated groups

• 1969 The City / Now That Everything's Been Said (Ode)
• 1970 Jo Mama / Jo Mama (Atlantic)
• 1971 Jo Mama / J Is for Jump (Atlantic)
• 1971 (re-released 1996) James Taylor and the Original Flying Machine
• 2005 Midnight Eleven / Midnight Eleven

References

External links

• Danny Kortchmar website
• Danny Kortchmar interview on mvyradio
• Danny Kortchmar at the Internet Movie Database