BY THE DAWN of the Seventies, though he was only 19, Carlos Alomar, a Puerto Rican-born New York citizen and son of a strict Pentecostal minister, had made a lifetime’s worth of memories. Not only had he regularly dominated the stage at Harlem’s Apollo Theater, but he’d backed Chuck Berry and James Brown and even served as the house band for Sesame Street’s first few episodes before moving on to session work for RCA Studios, which was booming by 1970.
Soon, Alomar joined the Main Ingredient, an NYC-based soul and R&B group that had a hit with “Everybody Plays the Fool,” which bolstered Alomar’s cachet, as did a notable guest spot with Ben E. King on Supernatural. And while all that was wonderful, none held a candle to what was next — a gig beside David Bowie as he entered his most experimental period.
The connection between Bowie and Alomar — who’d soon become the former’s musical director — was immediate. Their backgrounds couldn’t have been more different, and their inherent sensibilities were far-spaced, too. But it worked, as evidenced by 1975’s Young Americans.
However, the next album — 1976’s Station to Station — was truly special; it was the inaugural album featuring the D.A.M. Trio. “As far as the D.A.M. Trio goes,” Alomar says, “you had me on guitar, Dennis Davis on drums and George Murray on bass. We had a tight, cohesive sound. It underpinned much of David’s music during that era. We were a crucial part of his transition through different musical phases. And this fact is also undeniable: the D.A.M. Trio’s legacy equals, if not surpasses, that of the Spiders from Mars.”
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Caparison Dellinger-JSM V2
WAY BACK IN the dark ages (a.k.a. the Eighties), there were two distinct types of guitar shredders who occupied opposite sides of the spectrum: the hard rock player whose weapon of choice was a super Strat versus the country picker who inevitably opted for a Telecaster.
The Ultimate Guitar Shop
Christie’s Jeff Beck Auction offers a revealing look at numerous iconic instruments from the legendary guitarist’s entire career from the Yardbirds to Johnny Depp
Blown Away
Jeff Beck's landmark Blow by Blow dramatically transformed the future for instrumental electric guitar music. Fifty years later, it still remains an inspirational force
TAKE NO PRISONERS
In this exclusive excerpt from Dreaming Japanese, Marty Friedman's new autobiography (co-written by frequent GW contributor Jon Wiederhorn), the ace guitarist details his auditions with Ozzy, Megadeth and - what's this about Madonna?
MAGNIFICENT
Tearing up the blueprint with an octave G string, Johnny Marr's new seven-string Martin signature model is a distillation of all the British icon's most rebellious opinions on acoustic (and yes, there's also a six-string version)
Xotic XSS Super S-Style electric guitar
AS FUNNY AS this sounds, when a brand sends me a new guitar model outfitted with only one pickup, I say to myself, “That’s bold.” Releasing a spartan guitar like the Xotic XSS Super S-Style seems like such a throwback to a time when a guy with the initials EVH changed the entire guitar-world landscape by playing guitar with a solitary humbucker and making every guitarist around the globe realize that might be all we need.
IF GUITAR GOD IS A WOMAN
With renewed confidence and a slew of new guitar-forward songs, Larkin Poe's Rebecca and Megan Lovell are upping the ante of their blues-rock sound once again on seventh album Bloom
TC Electronic Plethora X1 TonePrint Loader
JUDGING BY THE abundance of effects that the TC Electronic Plethora X1 TonePrint Loader makes available to guitarists, it is obvious that TC knows what it means to have a plethora. Just the same, if having too much of a good thing brings you joy, then TC Electronic's Plethora will bring much delight with its many desirable and stellar-sounding effects - each offering a wealth of options.
1950-69, 1986-PRESENT FENDER ESQUIRE
IT’S PRETTY DAMN cool that the very first commercially produced solidbody electric guitar, the Fender Esquire, can still kick serious butt today; you can’t say that about too many 75-year-olds. Many guitarists often forget that the Esquire came before the Telecaster and that a two-pickup version of the Esquire, which came a few months after the single-pickup version, was essentially the first Broadcaster/Nocaster/ Telecaster. But here I’m just going to focus on the single-pickup version.
Tallon Electric "The Noise"
UNLESS YOU’VE BEEN living under a rock, you’ll know that collaborative pedals between artists and manufacturers are all the rage now.
