Howard Wales

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Howard Wales is an American keyboardist who has played and published with many great musicians in the course of his career since the 1960s.

Career

Howard Wales was a private friend of the Grateful Dead leader Jerry Garcia , with whom he played on several CDs. He made his first professional appearances in 1963 when he accompanied Ronnie Hawkins on a tour in Canada. About this tour it came to a contract with Little Anthony & the Imperials in 1964 , but where he stayed only briefly, since he joined the Four Tops . After several other positions (Coasters, The Casinos , Freddie King and Lonnie Mack ), he became an accompanist for rhythm and blues legend James Brown in 1967 .

After moving to San Francisco , he joined the band AB Skhy and released an album of the same name. After the hoped-for success did not materialize, he quickly joined the local band Grateful Dead as a guest musician . He had previously met Jerry Garcia at jam sessions at Club Matrix with John Kahn and Bill Vitt . In 1970 he was on the album American Beauty . In the same year he also played in a performance by Jimi Hendrix in Los Angeles . In 1971 he teamed up with Jerry Garcia and released the fusional album "Hooteroll?" At the same time he played with Harvey Mandel and was on his 71 album "Baby Batter". He played with Mandel until 1974 before starting his solo career. In 1970 he was also on the album "Music of El Topo" (Shades of Joy) to be heard.

It wasn't until 1976 that he released his first solo album called "Rendezvous With The Sun". The next few years he was no longer represented on any new album. For this he was on tour from 1977 to 1981 and took a creative break from 1982 to 1989. He then worked on his second album "The Monk in the Mansion", which was only released in 2000. For this he teamed up again with Jerry Garcia and in 1998 brought out the CD "Side Trips, Volume One". In addition to this album, he also worked with other artists during this time. In both 2001 and 2006 he released new solo albums.

Discography (selection)

With Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead

  • American Beauty - Grateful Dead (1970)
  • Hooteroll? - Howard Wales, Jerry Garcia (1971)
  • Side Trips, Volume One - Howard Wales, Jerry Garcia (1998)
  • The Golden Road (1965-1973) - Grateful Dead (2001)

With other artists

  • Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye - The Casinos
  • AB Skhy - AB Skhy (1969)
  • Music of El Topo - Shades of Joy (1970)
  • The Runner - Jeff Jolly Band (1996)
  • Planetary Warrior - Harvey Mandel (1997)
  • Changer L'Horizon - Rod & the Shotgun Blues (1998)
  • Berkeley Soul - Sy Klopps (2000)
  • What Would Otherwise Be - Snake Jacobs (2000)
  • Raw Material - Jeff Jolly (2001)

Solo albums

  • Rendezvous with the Sun (1976)
  • The Monk in the Mansion (2000)
  • Complex Simplex (2001)
  • Between Two Worlds (2006)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Wales, Howard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American keyboardist
DATE OF BIRTH before 1960