LARRY KNECHTEL
Official Web Site
Career Biography
Larry Knechtel's prolific and varied music career to date spans over 50
years. Larry was born August 4th, 1940 in Bell, California. Larry
took piano lessons in his pre-teen years. Naturally gifted with
perfect pitch, Larry moved beyond sheet music and started playing by ear.
An interest in radio and electronics prompted him to build his own crystal
radio, which introduced him to the blues and early rock-n-roll which was
being aired by local R&B stations. Excited by what he heard,
Larry purchased 45's of black R&B artists and studied them intently.
He also joined an inner-city youth band which included players from
several local schools in the central Los Angeles area. This proved to be
a fertile experience which introduced him to other good players, some of
whom later became noted session musicians, among them saxophonist Jim Horn
and guitarist Mike Deasey. Caught up in the soulful feel of R &
B and Rock & Roll, Larry and his friends were jamming, performing, and
recording -- Larry recorded his first original single at age 16, an instrumental
titled 'Pigeon-Toed', which became a local hit and paid some modest
royalties. Larry became a member of Kip Tyler and the Flips, and frequently
played on 'demo' sessions for other local artists, which were actually recordings
produced for local airplay.
The Gene Connors Band -- Larry
on Electric Bass
Upon completing high school, Larry enrolled in a local college
to study electronic engineering, but his heart wasn't in it. When
Duane Eddy offered him a job touring with The Rebels in 1959, he
quit school and hit the road. After touring the US, Europe, and Australia,
Larry spent time in Arizona as did other members of the band. When
they weren't playing local gigs, they worked as extras in cowboy western
movies which were being filmed locally, the most notable of these is Thunder
of Drums, which features Duane Eddy and members of The Rebels in several
scenes. During this time, Larry borrowed an electric bass guitar
from Duane and soon was playing gigs on this instrument. Duane
subsequently cut the band lineup from 5 players to 4 and Larry became the
bassist. Unlike some artists, Duane used his road musicians on the
albums he recorded.
Following further tours with The Rebels, Larry returned to L.A.
to start a family and broaden his horizons. Initially, he worked
in club bands in which Larry was often the only white member of the otherwise
all-black lineup. Then he got a break which launched him into
the Hollywood recording scene. Saxophonist and former band-mate Steve
Douglas was the musical contractor for Phil Spector, and called Larry to
play on the 'Ronnettes' Christmast album. Larry then served as a keyboardist
on many of Spector's 'wall of sound' sessions, and soon was working with
other producers as Hollywood's pop recording industry began to bloom.
In 1964, Larry was recruited as the bassist in the house band for
the TV music show Shindig!. For a time, he was doing more sessions
playing bass than he was playing keyboards. He also became known as
a harmonica player. Some sessions saw him playing all three instruments.
As the L.A. pop music industry matured, Larry was a first-call
session player alongside other first-call musicians, among them his
high-school friends Jim Horn and Mike Deasey, guitarist Glen Campbell,
pianist Leon Russel, drummer Hal Blaine, bassists Joe Osbourne and Carol
Kaye, and other members of what was later dubbed The Wrecking
Crew. In particular, Larry, Hal, and Joe formed a tight rhythm
section which was the basis for many hit records for artists such as Fifth
Dimension, The Mammas and The Pappas, and Simon and Garfunkel, to name
but a few. The Crew also were the sound behind TV inventions The Monkees
and The Partridge Family, and various TV show themes such as Batman and The
Munsters.
The late sixties saw Larry and his Wrecking Crew colleagues constantly
in the studio, often doing three sessions in a single day. This period
saw some of Larry's most notable achievements -- He appeared with 4 different
artists at the Monterey Pop Festival, played bass for Elvis
Presley's 'Comeback' TV special, played Hammond B-3 organ on the
Beach Boys' landmark Pet Sounds album, played bass on debut
albums for The Byrds and The Doors, and arranged and performed Simon and Garfunkel's
Bridge over Troubled Water, for which he earned a Grammy award.
With
George Harrison
The early
70's saw further growth in the L.A. music industry, and more session players.
Larry continued to work sessions, but realized that many artists
and bands he was backing were succeeding better financially. When
asked to join the group Bread 1971, Larry agreed. He performed keyboards
and bass on Bread's next two albums Baby I'm A Want You and Guitar
Man, also playing the distinctive guitar solos on the title track of
the latter. Bread toured extensively, with Larry acting primarily
as a bassist during live shows. Bread's success allowed him to move
away from urban L.A. to a rural lifestyle in Washington state.
Shortly therafter, Bread broke up as a result of an acrimonious
falling-out between its two founding members, David Gates and James Griffin.
While the two sued each other, royalties were tied up in the courts,
forcing Larry and drummer Mike Botts to return to session work. Bread
did reunite briefly for another album and tour in 1976 only to meet with
marginal success and another breakup. Knechtel and Botts recorded
and toured with David Gates on solo efforts released during Bread's lapses.
Concurrently, Larry began collaborating with engineer Jay Senter, and
they co-produced several albums for rising artists, the most notable being
Sammy Johns' 1975 debut album, featuring the hit single 'Chevy Van'.
Larry built a well-equipped recording studio at his home in Washington,
but due its remote location saw only limited commercial use.
Returning briefly to Los Angeles in the early 80's, Knechtel found
the landscape much changed and opportunity limited. The industry
was increasingly focused on promoting raw-sounding bands which did not
require extensive production, studio musicians, or investment. The
days of the Wrecking Crew were long since over. For a time Larry did regular
sessions for Mike Post on various television soundtracks, and formed a
band with ex-Bread songwriter Rob Royer which showed promise but failed
to attract major label backing. Given the prospects, Larry returned
home to Washington.
The Guitar Man plays his Fender
Broadcaster
After finding indifferent success in Nashville, Larry retired to
his home in Washington in 1995. His retirement was short-lived,
as Bread members decided to reunite for a successful world tour the
following year. Since then Larry sold his ranch in NW Washington
and moved to the Yakima area, where he now resides.
Not to remain quiet indefinitely, Larry was recommended to producer
Rick Rubin as keyboardist for a track on Niel Diamond's 12 Songs
in 2005. This was followed by another more extensive involvement
in another Rick Ruben project, the Dixie Chicks' Taking The Long Way,
which won 5 Grammy awards. Larry toured and played media performances
with the Chicks throughout 2006, culminating in their performance at the
Grammy Awards in Feb, 2007. In November 2007, Larry was inducted
into the Musician's Hall of Fame, along with other members of the Wrecking
Crew. Larry continues to perform and record with a variety of
local and major-label artists.
On Hammond Organ with the
Dixie Chicks