Paul Griffin
Paul Griffin (August 6, 1937 – June 14, 2000) was an American pianist and session musician who recorded with hundreds of musicians from the 1950s to the 1990s.
Born in Harlem, New York, he began as the touring pianist in the backing band for King Curtis and eventually worked with Bob Dylan, Steely Dan, Don McLean, the Isley Brothers, Van Morrison, the Shirelles, and Dionne Warwick. He may be best known for playing on the albums Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde, and Aja. He is extensively featured playing a virtuoso performance of gospel piano on Don McLean's single, "American Pie" [1]
He was an arranger for The Warriors (1979) and Four Friends (1981) and performed in On Location: Robert Klein at Yale (1982) and on the soundtrack for Blue Sunshine (1976). Griffin died at age 62 at his home in New York.[2]
Recordings
B. J. Thomas
Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head
Bob Dylan
Like a Rolling Stone (Gospel Piano)
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues (Tack Piano)
Queen Jane Approximately(Piano)
Positively Fourth Street (Piano)
Sitting on a Barbed Wire Fence (Piano)
Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? (Piano)
One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later) (Piano)
It Takes a Lot to Laugh, it Takes a Train to Cry (Piano)
The Isley Brothers
Twist And Shout
Chuck Jackson
Any Day Now
Dionne Warwick
Walk On By
George Benson
Goodies (Verve, 1968)
Hank Crawford
Mr. Blues Plays Lady Soul (Atlantic, 1969)
John Denver
Rhymes & Reasons
The Eagle And The Hawk
Richard Davis
Dealin' (Muse, 1973)
Dizzy Gillespie
It's My Way (Solid State, 1969)
Cornucopia (Solid State, 1969)
Bobbi Humphrey
Dig This! (Blue Note, 1972)
Herbie Mann
Latin Fever (Atlantic, 1964)
Glory of Love (CTI, 1967)
Brother Jack McDuff
Who Knows What Tomorrow's Gonna Bring? (Blue Note, 1970)
Jimmy McGriff
Tailgunner (LRC, 1977)
Don McLean
American Pie (1971)
David Newman
The Many Facets of David Newman (Atlantic, 1969)
Laura Nyro
Eli's Comin' (1968)
Houston Person
Houston Express (Prestige, 1970)
Bernard Purdie
Soul Is... Pretty Purdie (Flying Dutchman, 1972)
Marlena Shaw
Marlena (Blue Note, 1972)
Paul Simon
Tenderness, from the There Goes Rhymin' Simon album and the B side of the "Kodachrome" single
Peter, Paul and Mary
Weep for Jamie (Pump organ)
The Shirelles
"Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow"
Steely Dan
"The Fez" (co-author, electric piano, The Royal Scam, 1976)
Sign in Stranger" (The Royal Scam, 1976)
Peg (electric piano, Aja, 1977)
Sonny Stitt
Little Green Apples (Solid State, 1969)
Come Hither (Solid State, 1969)
Stanley Turrentine
The Man with the Sad Face (Fantasy, 1976)
Nightwings (Fantasy, 1977)
Cal Tjader
Soul Bird: Whiffenpoof (Verve, 1965)
Charles Williams
Stickball (Mainstream, 1972)
Kai Winding
Soul Surfin' (Verve, 1963)
The In Instrumentals (Verve, 1965)
More Brass (Verve, 1966)
Jimmy Witherspoon
Blues Around the Clock (Prestige, 1963)
References
