Jerry Yester
Jerry Yester (born January 9, 1943 in Birmingham, Alabama , USA) is an American folk rock musician, producer and arranger.
Life
Jerry Yester grew up in Burbank, California. He started playing guitar when he was 15 and performed at high school parties with the rock and roll band Tom Driscoll and The Tomcats . In 1960 he founded the duo The Yester Brothers with his brother Jim Yester , with whom he played in folk clubs in Los Angeles. In 1962 he met the folk blues singer Judy Henske , whom he married in the same year. When Jim joined the military, Jerry first joined the New Christy Minstrels and in 1963 the Modern Folk Quartet (MFQ). With MFQ he played two folk-pop albums in the following two years. In addition, he participated in numerous recording sessions with other musicians. So he starred on the 1965 single Do You Believe in Magic? of The Lovin 'Spoonful piano and provided the background vocals. He had met the founding members of the band, John Sebastian and Zal Yanovsky , in 1964 and recorded some demo tracks with them.
The Modern Folk Quartet had a modest success with the single Night Time Girl and tried to switch to "electric folk rock" with the Phil Spector- produced recording This Could Be The Night , but soon split up. In 1966, Yester hired himself primarily as a session musician, for example when recording the Ronettes or on the singles Ebb Tide by the Righteous Brothers and Elusive Butterfly by Bob Lind .
In 1967 he produced the album Renaissance by his brother Jim's group, The Association , and the second album by singer Tim Buckley , Goodbye And Hello . He arranged the song Me About You for the album Happy Together by the rock band The Turtles and played guitar on the album Headquarters of the Monkees . A short time later he joined the Lovin 'Spoonful, with whom he played for exactly a year. At the same time, he founded a producer association with Zal Yanovsky , whom he had replaced with Lovin 'Spoonful. The first product was Yanovsky's solo album Alive And Well In Argentina , released in 1968.
After the Lovin 'Spoonful had already broken up, Yester helped drummer Joe Butler with his single Never Goin' Back , which was released as the last official Lovin 'Spoonful single in 1968. In 1969 he and Zal Yanovsky produced Tim Buckley's third album, Happy Sad , the Fifth Avenue Band 's LP of the same name and several recordings of the Turtles.
In the same year he recorded the album Farewell Aldebaran with his wife Judy Henske . It was released on the Straight record label founded by Frank Zappa and Herb Cohen . Farewell Aldebaran is considered to be the culmination of Yester's career as a singer, composer and arranger. On the album, which gained cult status soon after its release, he played 12 instruments to his own compositions with a mixture of classical and experimental music, folk, blues, hard rock and lavish orchestral arrangements. The sales of the LP were nevertheless disappointing.
In 1970 he founded a new band called Rosebud with Judy Henske , which recorded an album of the same name in the same year. In contrast to the previous album , Rosebud was more influenced by the then popular country rock style. The following year, both Henske and Yester and the band split and Henske married former Rosebud guitarist Craig Doerge .
Yester produced other albums in the following years, including some of the singer Pat Boone , the group Aztec II Step and the 1973 recorded LP Closing Time by Tom Waits .
In the 1970s he performed with The Association , reformed the Modern Folk Quartet and wrote arrangements for Tom Waits, Manhattan Transfer and Spanky and Our Gang . In 1984 he moved to Hawaii, where he first founded a dance combo and then recorded a few records with the Modern Folk Quartet with his brother. In 1991 Jerry and Jim founded a new formation called Lovin 'Spoonful , together with founding members Joe Butler and Steve Boone , which continue to perform live to this day.
Jerry Yester lives in Harrison, Arkansas and has his own recording studio, Willow Sounds, where he produces local and guest musicians such as the No Neck Blues Band , Dennis Lee , Gavin Coyle and Eric Bibb . In addition to Lovin 'Spoonful, he performs weekly at the Grand Tavern, part of the Grand Central Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, where he accompanies himself on the piano.
In 2009 he founded the folk band Yester with his brother Jim and his daughters Hannah Yester and Lena Boone .
In 2010 he went on a tour with a solo program through Germany, which began in Alsheim Castle and which also included a concert broadcast by the radio station SWR1.
Discography
New Christy Minstrels
- Presenting: The New Christy Minstrels (Album, 1962)
Les Baxter's Balladeers
- Les Baxter's Balladeers (album, 1963)
Modern Folk Quartet
- The Modern Folk Quartet (album, 1963)
- Changes (album, 1964)
- Moonlight Serenade (album, 1985)
- Live In Japan (album, 1989)
- Bamboo Saloon (album, 1990)
- Christmas (album, 1990)
- Wolfgang (album, 1991)
- Highway 70 (album, 1995)
Lovin 'Spoonful
- She Is Still A Mystery / Only Pretty, What A Pity (single, 1967)
- Everything Playing (album, 1967)
- Money / Close Your Eyes (single, 1968)
- Revelation: Revolution '69 (album, 1968)
- Never Going Back / Forever (single, 1968)
- Live At The Hotel Seville (album, 1999)
Jerry Yester & Judy Henske
- Sound Of Summer Showers / Ashes Have Turned (Single, 1966)
- Farewell Aldebaran (album, 1969)
- Rosebud (album, 1971)
Jerry Yester Solo
- I Can Live Without You / Garden Of Imagining (single, 1967)
- Just Like The Big Time… Only Smaller (album, 1990)
- Yester (album, 2009)
- Sentimental Jorney (album, 2010)
Web links
- Jerry Yester discography and web links
- Jerry Yester / Lovin 'Spoonful Lyrics
- List of Jerry Yester's productions ( Memento of May 21, 2007 on the Internet Archive )
- Lovin 'Spoonful record cover
- Official website of the Modern Folk Quartet
- Official website of Lovin 'Spoonful
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Yester, Jerry |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American folk rock musician, producer and arranger |
DATE OF BIRTH | January 9, 1943 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Birmingham, Alabama |