- This topic has 5 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 4 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
-
Since the subject of British Blues Worth Listening To was recently posted (Thanks Adrian), I thought that we would be remiss to not mention the great Paul Kossoff.
Paul Kossoff was one of the founding members of Free, a tremendous blues rock groups that never truly realized its full potential.
Paul Rodgers, arguably the greatest voice to come out of the British Blues Invasion supported by 16 yr old Andy Fraser on bass and longtime friend Simon Kirke on drums
Solidify that lineup with the guitar of Paul Kossoff – Koss was a player that spoke volumes with just a few notes compared to the likes of Clapton, Beck, Page, Jimi, Alvin & Kim Simmonds.
Sweet concise blues licks with a vibrato to effective that Clapton pulled Koss aside during a tour and asked for a lessonJoe Bonamassa cites Paul Kossoff as being a major influence
Paul died at age 26 due to pulmonary embolism after a blood clot in his leg moved to his lung. He was in mid flight from NYC to London when he went into cardiac arrest and unfortunately, the rest is history
Some would cite Paul’s heavy use of the barbiturate Quualude as the cause for this; his drug abuse did cause him to be unreliable, missing rehearsals, time booked at recording studios and show – it was ultimately what brought Free to an early end as a band.
-
-
Hey Keith,
Give that guy a wall of Marshalls and stand back! Never got to see Kossoff but did see Paul Rogers in 2011 with Howard Leese as his guitar player. He just seemed effortless though the night. Maybe playing with Heart for 25 years had a bit to do with it. Paul Rogers the definition of a Rock singer!Mike
-
Paul Kossoff was an amazing player and it’s just a shame that drugs claimed his life as they did. He’s one of those players that you can hear a few licks and know that it was him
And you are right about Paul Rodgers – one of the best singers to ever come out of England and he was perfectly suited for Free and Bad Company
-
-
Well, as someone who was in the audience at several Free concerts from the early days, here are my lasting impressions for what they are worth.
Paul Kossoff never played a bad gig that I was ever at. And neither did the rest of the band.
PK had the best vibrato that I had ever heard at that time. Nothing has changed since.
And as good as PK was, the whole band, put together, were what made them amazing.-
Good memories and I agree as a unit, they were outstanding
It’s a shame that Koss isn’t remembered more these days than he is. His phrasing and vibrato still stands today far and above most players – I read a statement by drummer Simon Kirke that Koss was very insecure and didn’t feel that he measured up against players like EC, Page, Beck etc and it was part of the cause of his drug abuse. That’s sad because he was totally amazing in his approach to playing and had nothing to have felt insecure about
There isn’t a Free album that I dislike but Heartbreaker stands out for me. I put some serious wear into the grooves of my copy. Dunno specifically what it is about that release but as I mentioned in an earlier post – Koss said so much with such few notes and that vibrato made those few notes cut into your heart and soul. His talent and playing was brilliant on those tracks
He is a one of those players that I wish that I could have seen in a live setting
PK, Alvin Lee, Gary Moore, Rory Gallagher – 4 amazing players from the UK that I would have loved to have seen but thankful for the recordings that they left us
-
-
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
