Hey All...quick question regarding the standing of Bobby Keys in the band in the early 70s. It seems that he was a staple in the Stones camp starting with his solo on Live With Me. He toured with them in '70-'73, stayed at Nelcotte, and even (according to Keith in Life) served as Mick's best man in his wedding to Bianca in '71. He was obviously tight with Keith too...so what happened? I know the bathtub story on the European tour in '73 caused him to be given the boot from the tour, and that he didn't tour with them again until '89, but given his prior standing that seems pretty harsh. Anybody know more of the story?

SUBQUESTION! I believe Bobby was kicked off the '73 European tour before the second to last show. That would mean he would have missed the legendary Brussels show. Is that him that we hear on Brussels or not? And if it's not...who is it? I've no doubt they could have found somebody else to play sax in a pinch if they had to, but would they let them solo? That sax section on the Brussels Your Can't Always Get What You Want has always blown me away. It seems crazy that they would let somebody else solo like that literally their first show filling in!

Anybody know more of the story?
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I always heard that for Mick, quite simply if the drugs got in the way of the group/music/tour you were out and with Bobby they did, he missed a gig, so he was cut.


In baseball there is one unbendable rule, if you bet on baseball you are banned for life, no questions asked. It is posted in every clubhouse and the few who have gotten caught breaking it have never gotten back in.

Some rules are not made to be broken.

it's trevor lawrence at the brussels gig - bob couldn't play like that if his life depended on it....love bobby, though....

From Keith's book life, it seems Bobby's fall from Mick's grace was money. He ran up bills on the tour (most famously the champagne bath) and finished the tour owing the Stones money for working for them. This was unacceptable to Mick, and Keith agreed enough not to stop his dismissal.

Did Lawrence play sax with Bobby all tour? Was he there playing with Preston's band?

According to Nico Zentgraf: [www.nzentgraf.de]

1973
1st September - 19th October: THE ROLLING STONES. European Tour.
Line-up: MJ (voc, harm)/KR (gtr, voc)/MT (gtr)/BW (bass)/CW (dr)/
Billy Preston (p, org, clavinet)/Trevor Lawrence (sax)/Steve
Madaio (tp, tb, perc)/Bobby Keys (sax; probably only until October 13)
Note: At some shows Marshall Chess was invited to join the band for the encore to
play some tambourine.

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Keep On Rolling

Bobby became unreliable during the 73 Tour. He was shipped back home and replaced with T. Lawrence. My guess is Jagger axed him...

There was an interesting thread here comparing the gigs from Munich (1973-09-28) and Frankfurt (1973-09-30) and the obvious differences in the sax playing. So BK could have been fired on Sept. 29. (Zentgraf opts for Oct.13)

But Keith managed to have him back around/in the band despite Jagger's death sentence :
-for the July 11, 1975 L.A. gig
- during the SG sessions
- at the July 24 &26 gigs
- during the summer 78 RCA sessions
- the 1979 Nassau recording sessions
- the Barbarians tour

I'll stop here...

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Rolling Hansie
According to Nico Zentgraf: [www.nzentgraf.de]

1973
1st September - 19th October: THE ROLLING STONES. European Tour.
Line-up: MJ (voc, harm)/KR (gtr, voc)/MT (gtr)/BW (bass)/CW (dr)/
Billy Preston (p, org, clavinet)/Trevor Lawrence (sax)/Steve
Madaio (tp, tb, perc)/Bobby Keys (sax; probably only until October 13)
Note: At some shows Marshall Chess was invited to join the band for the encore to
play some tambourine.

There were no encores on the UK/Euro 1973 Tour.

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dcba
Bobby became unreliable during the 73 Tour. He was shipped back home and replaced with T. Lawrence. My guess is Jagger axed him...

There was an interesting thread here comparing the gigs from Munich (1973-09-28) and Frankfurt (1973-09-30) and the obvious differences in the sax playing. So BK could have been fired on Sept. 29. (Zentgraf opts for Oct.13)

But Keith managed to have him back around/in the band despite Jagger's death sentence :
-for the July 11, 1975 L.A. gig
- during the SG sessions
- at the July 24 &26 gigs
- during the summer 78 RCA sessions
- the 1979 Nassau recording sessions
- the Barbarians tour

I'll stop here...

....so much for Jagger being a cold hearted bitch

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tornandfrayed72
Hey All...quick question regarding the standing of Bobby Keys in the band in the early 70s. It seems that he was a staple in the Stones camp starting with his solo on Live With Me. He toured with them in '70-'73, stayed at Nelcotte, and even (according to Keith in Life) served as Mick's best man in his wedding to Bianca in '71. He was obviously tight with Keith too...so what happened? I know the bathtub story on the European tour in '73 caused him to be given the boot from the tour, and that he didn't tour with them again until '89, but given his prior standing that seems pretty harsh. Anybody know more of the story?

He came out on the '81 tour to play Brown Sugar, but that's all.

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71Tele

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tornandfrayed72
Hey All...quick question regarding the standing of Bobby Keys in the band in the early 70s. It seems that he was a staple in the Stones camp starting with his solo on Live With Me. He toured with them in '70-'73, stayed at Nelcotte, and even (according to Keith in Life) served as Mick's best man in his wedding to Bianca in '71. He was obviously tight with Keith too...so what happened? I know the bathtub story on the European tour in '73 caused him to be given the boot from the tour, and that he didn't tour with them again until '89, but given his prior standing that seems pretty harsh. Anybody know more of the story?

He came out on the '81 tour to play Brown Sugar, but that's all.

BS and Let it Bleed.

Bobby was kicked out of the '73 tour because he was too deep into heroin, and the champaign bad in Rotterdam was the limit for Jagger. He was supposed to play several shows on the '75 tour, but had obligations with (if I remember correctly) Joe Cocker.

Mathijs

Does anyone know what Bobby was arrested for in Sweden when Keith had to bail him out as he mentions in the above video just past the one minute mark.

I was watching LSTNT dvd and i end up thinking what an amazing sax player this Earnie Watts is...
GREAT sounds. I wonder if there is any info of him talking about the stones, the tour, etc. Is he alive?

BTW: Ian Stewart plays practically in EVERY song in the film. Never took notice of this before. He was actually THERE always, not just for some ocasional numbers.

ernie is still very much alive and active. he's fabulous....never undersood the criticism he routinely encounters here. he's played with zappa and many others in various jazz/rock circles. he gave the '81 tour the juice it was sorely missing.

Good thing it's not him on the Brussels show, the sax in YCAGWYW is boring as hell, playing the same lick 20 times, almost ruins the song, especially after Mick Taylor's sublime solo.

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stones78
Good thing it's not him on the Brussels show, the sax in YCAGWYW is boring as hell, playing the same lick 20 times, almost ruins the song, especially after Mick Taylor's sublime solo.

whereas others would argue that trevor takes mick's solo and lifts the song to another level entirely.

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StonesTod

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stones78
Good thing it's not him on the Brussels show, the sax in YCAGWYW is boring as hell, playing the same lick 20 times, almost ruins the song, especially after Mick Taylor's sublime solo.

whereas others would argue that trevor takes mick's solo and lifts the song to another level entirely.

Sometimes a higher level is not a better level.

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kleermaker

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StonesTod

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stones78
Good thing it's not him on the Brussels show, the sax in YCAGWYW is boring as hell, playing the same lick 20 times, almost ruins the song, especially after Mick Taylor's sublime solo.

whereas others would argue that trevor takes mick's solo and lifts the song to another level entirely.

Sometimes a higher level is not a better level.

who said higher? i guess it's implied with the lifting part...but....well....hmmm...there are better levels that are lower?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-01-07 19:14 by StonesTod.

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StonesTod
ernie is still very much alive and active. he's fabulous....never undersood the criticism he routinely encounters here. he's played with zappa and many others in various jazz/rock circles. he gave the '81 tour the juice it was sorely missing.

Well, since I've been one of the critics, I think it's a question of whether his smoother style works well with the Stones. A matter of taste, no criticism of Ernie personally intended.

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71Tele

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StonesTod
ernie is still very much alive and active. he's fabulous....never undersood the criticism he routinely encounters here. he's played with zappa and many others in various jazz/rock circles. he gave the '81 tour the juice it was sorely missing.

Well, since I've been one of the critics, I think it's a question of whether his smoother style works well with the Stones. A matter of taste, no criticism of Ernie personally intended.

smooth? really? as in kenny g? ernie's a solid, raunchy saxist to my ears....

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StonesTod

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71Tele

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StonesTod
ernie is still very much alive and active. he's fabulous....never undersood the criticism he routinely encounters here. he's played with zappa and many others in various jazz/rock circles. he gave the '81 tour the juice it was sorely missing.

Well, since I've been one of the critics, I think it's a question of whether his smoother style works well with the Stones. A matter of taste, no criticism of Ernie personally intended.

smooth? really? as in kenny g? ernie's a solid, raunchy saxist to my ears....

OK.

..and heroin

How is it that Bobby made into LSTNT? He is credited as one in the band, etc.
was it Keith being loyal to his friend? or was it Mick needing some "rocanrroll" touch/ image for the film?

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StonesTod

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kleermaker

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StonesTod

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stones78
Good thing it's not him on the Brussels show, the sax in YCAGWYW is boring as hell, playing the same lick 20 times, almost ruins the song, especially after Mick Taylor's sublime solo.

whereas others would argue that trevor takes mick's solo and lifts the song to another level entirely.

Sometimes a higher level is not a better level.

who said higher? i guess it's implied with the lifting part...but....well....hmmm...there are better levels that are lower?

Since that sax solo squeaks and cracks and leads to nowhere else than the middle of nowhere until Taylor releases player and audience alike I can't conclude anything else. Unless the "others" are wrong.

Apart from Bobby kicked out for a short time he was the perfect Sax player for the Stones. Great dirty tone, less is more.

Right on Mr. Damned! He was the perfect Texas twist to give the English boys that whiff of authenticity. A great musician and avery nice gentleman as well. I had the pleasure of running into him in the immigration line in Shanghai, the day after their show there. I saw him approximately four persons ahead of me, so I slithered out of line up behind him and said, "god damn Bobby, this boy from Detroit has to thank you for the beautiful music you gave us last night!" And a big texas shit eating grin spread across his face as he extended his hand and said, "thank you so very much young son!" And I was on cloud nine!

Very nice story whitem. I can really picture this.

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Keep On Rolling

I never heard the bath story until Keiths book. Sure I saw some where a picture of BK being taken from the hotel to hospital for an OD though.

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diego
Ian Stewart plays practically in EVERY song in the film. Never took notice of this before. He was actually THERE always, not just for some ocasional numbers.

According to...it was one of 'em - Mick, Keith or Bill - he wouldn't play on all the songs, he'd sit there and chime in here and there and the songs he hated and did not play on at all he'd read some golf magazine.

Something along those lines. So yeah, he was there, ha ha...