A Spiritual Journey

A note: Charles is no longer with us...he was killed in a head-on collision returning from a gig he had played...with a band we had started as a side project, while we were still putting together this group. His death occurred almost ten years after the period of time I am describing here. I played the gig with him the night he was killed, and his death affected me and many of his other friends profoundly. His death was a tragedy and a great loss. He was one of the most gifted musicians I have ever worked with, as well as a great friend, and I do all I can to remember him, and honor his memory.

The first musician I had in mind for the new band was a black bass player I had met while I was in Chicago. Charles Calmese was a great musician, and he had a natural understanding of, and a gift for playing bass. He had received two Platinum albums for his work with The Steve Miller Band, and had also played with Johnny Winter, James Cotton, and many other acts from Chicago, and around the country. We were good friends, and every time he came to Conn. with a band he was working with at the club, we would spend a lot of his off-stage time together. Charles was searching for a project of his own...since he usually worked as a sideman or a "hired gun". As my new project started to take shape, Charles became more and more interested in it, because he could see this was being approached on a level that his own experience had taught him was necessary...and our friendship, and the music I was writing for the group, was also very appealing to him. We had the same view on what would "sell", and also...on how bands worked best when they are composed of close friends. By late 1977, Charles could see the momentum I was mustering for this project. He saw all the concert gear, he heard the songs, and he realized that this was what he had been looking for. But he was playing with a band from Chicago, The James Cotton Blues Band that he was very close to, and in fact I was good friends with, and so he needed time to leave that group without damaging it, by giving James Cotton time to replace him, and making sure his friendships there wouldn't suffer as a result of his leaving. It was around March of 1978 when Charles came to Conn. with that band, and informed me that he would be staying in Conn. after the gig, and that he had made the decision to live there and make this band his next project. I was totally elated. I had my first band member signed on, and the level of his ability just reinforced in my mind that this band was going to be the one...    

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