As I prepared for this interview, it turned out that there wasn’t much information available on drummer and keyboardist Bill Vitt; an album credit here or there and an audio interview but no website or detailed biography. That ended up not being a problem since the 70 year old musician was an easygoing subject who was willing to tackle the past, present and future.
His lengthy performing and recording career includes work with Michael Bloomfield Band, Sons of Champlin, Tom Fogerty (Creedence Clearwater Revival), Pee Wee Ellis, Ivan Neville, Sonny & Cher, Freddie King, the Coasters, James Cotton, Charlie Musselwhite, Chris Hayes (Huey Lewis & the News), Nick Daniels (Dumpstaphunk, Neville Brothers), Eddie Harris, Tony Saunders, Billy Connors (Chic Corea), Felton Cruise (Miles Davis) and Eydie Gorme.
But, Vitt’s best known for his drumming in the ad hoc grouping of Merl Saunders (keyboards), Jerry Garcia (vocals, guitar) and John Kahn (bass) which played together at Berkeley’s Keystone club. Taking place in a pre-internet age, these jam sessions presented an opportunity to try something new in public without it being immediately judged.
A set of recordings that came out of those dates – Live at Keystone Vol. 1, Live at Keystone Vol. 2 and Keystone Encores – displayed an ensemble that was deeply locked in a shared groove, instinctually understood the art of swing and dialed into the artful dance of improvisation.
Although Saunders, Garcia, Kahn and Vitt played numerous gigs over a four-year span, the Keystone releases were based on two dates — July 10 and 11, 1973 — and then separated to make up the three albums. The recently-released “Keystone Companions” puts those concerts into their original running order and adds seven previously unreleased tracks. The four CDs displays the breadth of this band in its combination of originals and covers — the reggae of Jimmy Cliff, a couple Bob Dylan classics, Motown, Great American Songbook, blues, rockabilly and jazz. The packaging includes vintage photos, poster, a beer coaster and matchbook. A double vinyl LP reissue of “Live at Keystone” has also been released.
The box set was the reason to contact Vitt but my conversation with him flowed from his recollections of his Keystone days, his musical background and what he learned from his jazz musician father to session work in Los Angeles, his brief retirement from music in favor of running a winery and his current endeavors including work on a new solo album with Bill Champlin (Sons of Champlin), Tony Saunders and Nicks Daniels (Dumpstaphunk) and performing in SSV and Keystone Revisited, which tackles the material contained on the Keystone releases.
JPG: How did you get involved with the original jam sessions?
BV: It was ’69. There was a little club called the Matrix in San Francisco and it was just a show place. There was no dancing or anything. And they had a four-track studio built in the club. A lot of the now famous San Francisco bands debuted there. They put their bands together there. Tower of Power is one of them.
A friend of mine named Howard Wales, a keyboard/organ player; he and I were playing a duo there. Backed up Freddie King, James Cotton people like that. Jerry Garcia came in one night and jammed with us. And he started coming in on a regular basis. Then, I got us a bass player named Richard Feebas who was signed with the Oakland Symphony at the time. Shortly after that, another bass player named John Kahn, who I was doing a lot of sessions with and playing in other bands with, he came and replaced Richard. Eventually, within a couple years Merl Saunders replaced Howard Wales. So, that was the core of the band, the four of us at that point.
As we started playing more gigs, Tom Fogerty (Creedence Clearwater Revival) played with us a lot and Armanda Peraza, percussionist, Martin Fierro, horn player (saxophonist). It was still a jam thing. We never rehearsed. We just went out and played. So, that’s pretty much how it started.
We did do one record with Howard Wales called Hooteroll? It was on Columbia.
JPG: When Garcia originally played at the Matrix was it a matter of him showing up and then he was called onstage or did Howard or someone else invite him down?
BV: Howard and Jerry were good friends. I don’t remember exactly how it came down but it was probably Howard said, “Hey, come on down and sit in with us.” At that time a lot of these bands were just building up a reputation and getting record deals so pretty much everybody knew everybody. So, we had a lot of people coming to sit in with us from time to time. Jerry, he’s a hard worker. He made every gig and practiced all the time. He was really serious about his music. So, it was a lot of fun playing with him.
JPG: Then, how did it move to Keystone?
BV: We started playing local gigs and that was a good place to play. It was a big club. The money was good because we packed the place, and Freddie Herrera, the owner of Keystone, brought in name bands and built the place up. He also added another club in the North Beach of San Francisco called the Keystone. So, he had two different clubs going.
The club in San Francisco, he sold that to a guy who turned it into a jazz club. We played at Keystone a lot. That was a happening place. I think they had music seven nights a week. It was a very hot spot. It was kinda like the Fillmore and Winterland, a really good place to play.
JPG: When you were playing at Keystone, did you have any idea that the shows were being recorded by Betty Cantor?
BV: Oh yeah! In fact I just did a thing with Betty with a friend of mine. We just did a CD and she did the engineering and recording. As far as I know I think she recorded all of those dates. Her boyfriend at the time, who passed away, [Rex] Jackson, he was another guy who was recording with her. So, she has the credit of doing all the recording, and she did a great job.
I just listened to the new release, and I can’t believe the quality. I haven’t listened to that stuff for 30 years. I was really amazed at the quality. Whoever remastered it, everything was really nice. I was very impressed. I was doing so much work back then that I never got a chance to really listen to what I did. That’s playing with a lot of different bands and recording with different bands, I just didn’t have time.
So, I got a chance the last couple of days to actually listen to it in my car and was very impressed, actually.
JPG: Are you able to compare this release to the original Keystone releases?
BV: I don’t know. The first one with Howard Wales, Hooteroll? was a really good record. Alan Douglas produced that and he had quite a reputation in New York. We spent a lot of time on that record. There was a lot of really neat stuff going on. And then, the stuff we did with Merl Saunders had a different flavor to it.
I don’t know. We did a lot more gigs than I thought we did (slight laugh) considering all the records that have come out. I didn’t realize that we played that many gigs and were recorded but apparently so.
I was just really impressed. I couldn’t believe it. Usually old music, I don’t even listen to it but I was impressed, I must say.
JPG: You had to go into different areas during those shows, for example, a jazzy flavor on “High-Heal Sneakers” and “My Funny Valentine” to something funky on “Keepers.” What about your background? Was it jazz or…?
BV: Ohhhh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I had quite a bit of experience before I joined them. Actually, I moved to L.A. for three years in the mid-‘60s to be a studio musician. That was my goal and that’s what I ended up doing. And I recorded with people like Eydie Gorme and Cathy Carlson. I did most of my work with Don Costa who was Frank Sinatra’s producer. So, I got a lot of work out of Don Costa.
Then, I decided that I really missed northern California. So, I moved back up here. Within a week or two I got a gig with Michael Bloomfield. Actually, we were called the Electric Flag then. I got the last gig or two with the Electric Flag when Buddy Miles went off to do another thing. So, it turned into the Michael Bloomfield Band, which I stuck with for awhile. Then, I was playing with Bill Champlin. It was the Sons of Champlin. They made changes and added a new drummer and bass player, and I was the new drummer and did that for awhile. Then, I played with a lot of other bands, too, but the Garcia band was one of my priorities. It was a lot of fun.
Keystone Revisited with Vitt on far right
JPG: You mentioned Frank Sinatra’s producer. Did you ever work with Sinatra?
BV: No. I played in…it was Don Costa’s studio on Fairfax in Los Angeles. They actually built a big room where they recorded the orchestra live and he recorded in that room but I never did run into him when I was there, and I did a lot of sessions there. I ran into other people that were well-known back then, people like Cher, more the rock ‘n’ roll kind of people.
JPG: You said you missed northern California. Are you originally from the San Francisco area…?
BV: I grew up in Sacramento, moved to Marin in ’68 and then I’ve been in and out of Marin ever since. I’m back in Marin now. I retired a couple of times. Then, decided to get back into it. I’ve done a couple of CDs and I’m working on a third CD now. So, I spend some of my time in L.A. working on that. My old friend Bill Champlin is doing some of the singing on it. Tony Saunders is doing most of the bass work. So, it’s like old friends helping me out with this.
I had a gig in New Orleans for three-and-a-half months in ’81 and I played with a couple of the guys who played with the Neville Brothers. The bass player Nick Daniels is in a band now called Dumpstaphunk. He’s going to be on my new CD. He’s gonna sing on it. He’s coming in December to L.A. and do one or two songs with me. He and I have been together a long time. We’ve done a lot of stuff together. Great bass player. Great singer.
JPG: You mentioned that you retired, why did you do that and what brought you back to music?
BV: The first time I did I bought a house in Alexander Valley in Sonoma County, wine country. A classical musician friend of mine and I bought a winery, opened up a winery. So, I was in the wine business for a few years starting in 1982. The first year I made a cabernet and won a gold medal at a competition. Beginners luck kind of thing. I really got into it. My friend owns the winery now. Still active with that.
I started a seven-piece band called Mirage, which was part of the Sons of Champlin and other good players. I played keyboards and sang. We did that for awhile, but I was pretty much dormant as far as playing drums.
Then, I moved to New Mexico around 2006. Bought a house down there. Hung out and played keyboards in a couple of local bands. Then, I decided, “You know what? I want to go back to the Bay Area and play drums and do my thing.” And that’s what I did. I came back to my old stomping grounds, Marin County in 2010, and decided to get back and on work on things.
JPG: Did you go to music school?
BV: My dad as a jazz musician so I started really early. I took piano lessons, probably, when I was four years old. Did my first recital when I was five. Then, I got into Carl Perkins, Gene Vincent kind of stuff, and switched over to drums about then. Then, I got really turned on to jazz. So, I did a lot of jazz gigs. Played with Sonny & Cher. Backed ‘em up a few times when I was really young. So, I’d been playing a long time. I did major in music in college, and I also went to music school when I was 12, 13 years old. So, I’m a musician from day one.
JPG: Growing up were there particular drummers that influenced you? You usually hear a drummer mentioning someone from early rock ‘n’ roll days, such as Elvis Presley’s drummer D.J. Fontana or on the jazz side someone like Gene Krupa or Buddy Rich for Carl Palmer.
BV: I wasn’t a big Krupa fan but Tony Williams was my idol back then. He played with Miles Davis. Bernard Purdie, on some of the old Aretha Franklin records, I liked the way he played drums. Roger Hawkins with Muscle Shoals played on a lot of good R&B stuff that came out of that area.
But Tony Williams was my main idol back then, and he was straight ahead jazz. So, that’s where I got a lot of my jazz licks.
*JPG: That makes sense when listening to you on Keystone Companions. There’s a certain feel to it and a light touch.
BV: Yeah, I think that as well.
JPG: As far as schooling, did you ever graduate or just learn theory and some of the basics?
BV: No, actually, I studied piano when I was really young, and I still play keyboards. I use it to write with. I had a lot of good training. My father was my first piano teacher. Then, I had another guy named Jerry Murphy out in Sacramento who was a killer jazz player. So, I learned quite a bit when I was very young.
Then, in school most of my classes were music classes. I was a junior when I got a call to go on the road with Jack Bedient and the Chessmen. They were like a Las Vegas type band. They made really good money. In fact one of my professors I asked him, “I don’t know what to do, whether to stay in school…” and he said, “How much does it pay?” I told him and he said, “Hey man, that’s more than I make.” (laughs) So, that got me going. And then I just stuck with it the whole time.
JPG: What did your dad play and what did you learn from him?
BV: He was a sax player and a piano player. He also played vibes. When I was young he had a big band. So, my mother and I would pick him up after the gig at 2:30 in the morning. This was back when big band were actually really happening in the late ‘40s. I vaguely remember a lot of that stuff. When he had three kids, he finally went to school, got his degree and started teaching music. He kept playing. In fact he played right up until he died except he was starting to get to the point where he would go to the gig but he couldn’t remember where it was. And he’d come back and say, “I couldn’t find the gig.” He was getting a little senile…but he played right up in his 80s, 84 years old.
JPG: Was there anything he did or say that stayed with you as far as being a proper musician?
BV: Yeah, a lot of stuff. I’ve been a leader in a lot of bands. Him being a bandleader for a long time with a different band I kinda picked up on what that entailed, running a band. Also, learned basic musicianship from him; just certain things that longtime hardcore musicians, they usually have that. I don’t know how to explain it. Musicianship is the best word I can come up with. I learned how to read. I learned a lot of things a lot of musicians these days just can’t do. And, of course, these days there’s really not much of a call for sight reading musicians unless you’re playing symphony music or that sort of thing.
When I was in L.A. doing sessions we had the full charted music in front of us the whole time; the big time, when you filled out W4s or whatever [tax form] they were at every session. An arranger handed you the charts. It was very organized. You’d do two tunes every three hours. Then, when I moved back up here, sometimes, we’d spend a whole year on one record. So, big difference. A little more laidback up here. (laughs)
JPG: Going from that one musical world to a much more laidback approach, was it hard to adjust?
BV: You know what? I just didn’t like the vibe in L.A. Actually, there’s a lot of things about L.A. that I really liked and still enjoy myself when I go down there. At that time there was a lot of political stuff going on. It was the ‘60s. And I was very left wing and very involved with a lot of that kind of stuff. Up here, there was a consciousness about that stuff. In L.A. I don’t even think they knew what was going on in the real world. It was dog eat dog, let’s make money and hurry up. Up here it’s more comfortable for me anyway. I have friends that grew up in Marin County that live in L.A. now and they love it. So, it’s just a personal thing. West L.A., that’s where I hang out. That’s where I stay when I go down to record.
JPG: You liked political climate in Bay Area better than L.A. Were you active in any organizations or movements?
BV: Back then, there was a lot of things going on. A lot of stuff. I was really busy doing sessions and playing gigs. So, I wasn’t really physically active but I was active in a lot of ways. I can’t go into that too much. Back then, we stopped the [Vietnam] war is what we did.
JPG: Care to compare that time to the current political climate, state of activism?
BV: In my opinion there’s nothing going on today. We’re kinda of out there in space. Luckily, we have a president who is…okay, but the good ol’ boys still run the show. Anybody from the Bay area will admit to that.
*JPG: The Occupy Movement didn’t inspire you at all? *
BV: After the ’60s and early ‘70s everybody kind of stopped. Unfortunately, it didn’t evolve when it should have evolved. Anyway, part of growing up. I don’t like what’s going on now but at least we have a decent president is all I can say.
JPG: Back to music, are you recording all of your next solo album down in L.A.?
BV: Most of it I’m doing down there and some of it I’m doing via Pro Tools, exporting and importing files. So, I’m doing it in both places.
JPG: State of Grace came out in 2008. That was your last one?
BV: Then, I did another one that was a jazz CD. It’s not on the internet, put it that way.
JPG: When this new one’s completed how do you plan on releasing it? By yourself on the internet or do you have a label?
BV: I’ll release it myself. They don’t give record deals to old guys like me. (slight laugh) I’m kidding but I’ll do what I did with the last one. I’ll put it on all the sites and when I’m playing gigs I’ll sell the CD at the gigs.
JPG: Any timetable on its release?
BV: No, I’ve been working on it a year now. I was hoping to be done. I’m about 90 per cent there. It will be soon. It’s a blend of R&B, jazz and funk. Hopefully, I’ll have it done in the next few months.
JPG: I read that you played some recent gigs.
BV: Great American Music Hall?
JPG: That might have been it.
BV: That was Merl Saunders’ birthday party. That was three, four years ago. That was with a bunch of people, Tony Saunders on bass… I actually played keyboards on that gig. A lot of famous local musicians showed up at that gig.
But I did trio gigs, jazz gigs, with Judy Hall & the Bill Vitt Band. I sit in with Sy Perkoff, who’s a great jazz player. I do different things on the side. So, I’m really busy.
JPG: There was a more recent gig I found. You performed at the Sweetwater last August.
BV: That was with Mitt Stein and Tony Saunders. A hot trio. Killer trio. We played there a couple of times. It’s a jazz funk kind of thing. A really cool band.
The new band Keystone Revisited will be at Sweetwater [on Dec. 7]. That’s Tony Saunders, guitar player named Michael Hinton who played with Merl Saunders in the past, and a keyboard player named Steve Abramson, who is originally from Pennsylvania.
JPG: Now, based on the name, are you playing the numbers that are on Keystone Companions ?
BV: Exactly. That’s pretty much what we’re doing. All the tunes off of that. We did a tour in the Pacific Northwest. Now, we’re doing some local stuff. It’s a fairly new band. We put it together two months ago, something like that.
JPG: Back to Keystone, you, Merl, Jerry and John had played together for a few years…
BV: I played with the band for four years. I was playing with Bill Champlin at the same time, and I had to make a choice. I put a lot of energy into rehearsing with what was called the Sons of Champlin but at that time we had a different name. There was a lot of time signature changes in Bill’s songs, really cool stuff. So, we rehearsed like eight hours a day. So, I put that time in and I thought, “You know what? I better stick with this band because I paid my dues…” Jerry was starting to work a lot with the Dead, also. At the end, before I left, we weren’t playing that many gigs ‘cause the Dead were really hittin’ then.
JPG: Listening to the two shows on the Keystone Companions box set it sounds like the four of you were hitting on all cylinders. Were there rehearsals that made it so tight?
BV: I don’t remember any rehearsals. It was a jam band. We just got up and played. Sometimes, before we got onstage somebody’d say, “Here’s that Stevie Wonder tune. Why don’t we try that tonight?” Verbally, run down the chords and go out and play it.
JPG: Did you have a vague clue as far as how the rhythm was going to go or whether it was going to be played in a more jazz style or…?
BV: It depends on the song. Some songs we played were just straight ahead funk. Some of them like “My Funny Valentine,” that’s totally open to play more of a jazz style, depending on the song. Some of the songs on the new release you’ll see that I’m playing really straight ahead on some of the funk songs.
One of the reasons, and I was just thinking about that the other day, the fact that Betty said, “I’m gonna record you tonight” kinda tightened my range a little bit. I didn’t play so far out and stayed more in the pocket rather than stretching out. And that may have had something to do with it. I don’t remember but I was thinking about that and I thought, “Ahhhh…maybe that’s why a lot of these are real straight ahead.” Anyway, for recording, you’re making a record so you don’t do stuff like that [stretch out].
JPG: Listening to it now, are you glad you stayed “in the pocket”?
BV: Yeah. There’s one song I listened to the other day. I think it’s “Keepers.” It was played straight ahead but it sounded really good.
JPG: Was there anything in particular that stood out about those Keystone shows?
BV: I don’t know. A lot of that time we were in the studio mixing. You consider that you played one set and record it. Then we spend two or three weeks mixing it and hearing it over and over and over again. (slight laugh) The gig was just a little piece of that. But all the gigs were fun. I really enjoyed playing with that band. And John Kahn and I were like a team. When they needed a bass/drums they’d hire us. A lot of people, they wanted myself and John to play on the rhythm tracks. So, we were really tight. That really helped that band, the fact that we played together so much. We had a good thing going on between us.
JPG: When Jerry Garcia came in – I read that Merl Saunders wasn’t too familiar with him when he joined because of his background – but you lived in the San Francisco area so you probably knew who he was.
BV: Oh, yeah. And I actually played with Merl before in an organ trio. But you do have a point. One of the unique things about that band was the different backgrounds because Merl Saunders was a jazz player. That’s how he was known in the Bay area. He was signed with Fantasy [Records]. He had a big band album that was released. He was like Jimmy Smith…he was one of the only real organ players. Merl was all new to Jerry. That’s how they learned from each other because they both had something different to offer, and I think that had a lot to do with the fact that a lot of that stuff sounded really good. It was just a different blend.
They got along really well. “What are you doing? That’s really cool.”
JPG: It doesn’t sound like egos were involved where one person wanted to add more…
BV: No, the ego thing was nonexistent in that band. That’s one of the reasons I liked playing in that band. We just played. That’s all we did.
