Jef Labes
| Jef Labes | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Jeffery Labes |
| Genres | Rock, R&B, folk, blues, jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | keyboards, recorder |
| Labels | Atlantic, Warner Bros., Atco, London, Gold Castle, Elektra, Mercury, Jazzman |
| Associated acts | Van Morrison, Bonnie Raitt |
| Website | www.jeflabes.com |
Jef Labes is an American keyboardist, best known from his work with Van Morrison and Bonnie Raitt. He has also arranged for string and woodwind instruments on numerous albums.
Labes started his recording career with the Boston-based Apple Pie Motherhood Band, playing piano and organ on the albums Apple Pie & Motherhood (1968), composing four of the tracks himself and Apple Pie (1969), this time composing one track. The band split up later in 1969 and would not make another album.
In the same year Labes moved to to join Van Morrison as a live musician. At this time Labes had been shown the music for three songs off Morrison's "classic" album Astral Weeks in the studio, and was recording with the band Morrison had used for the album. All these musicians were replaced in the summer of 1969, leaving only Labes. The new musicians, along with Labes, were used for the recording of Morrison's third solo album Moondance. In an interview with Clinton Heylin, Labes points out the inconvenience of recording in New York for the album: "We lived in Woodstock. So any time we did a session, we'd drive down a hundred miles and then we'd drive back." Labes left Morrison's band shortly after the release of Moondance to move to Israel for a couple of years.
In 1971 Labes recorded with Jonathan Edwards and appeared on his self entitled debut album Jonathan Edwards. In Lindsay Planer's allmusic review of the album, Labes is praised for his "rural-flavored piano licks" and the "definite sense of drama" he brings to the album. In 1972 both Labes and Edwards joined Orphan on their album Everyone Lives to Sing.
After this association with Jonathan Edwards, Labes returned to Van Morrison's band, playing piano and writing string arrangements for his seventh studio album Hard Nose the Highway, released in 1973. He is also credited on the album as assistant producer. Morrison had recently assembled an eleven-piece band for his concerts, The Caledonia Soul Orchestra, which Labes had joined to play piano and organ in early 1973, replacing the previous keyboard player James Trumbo. The band included the string section Labes had arranged for on Hard Nose the Highway, so he was asked to arrange string parts for some more of Morrison's songs for the live performances. The double live album It's Too Late to Stop Now was released the following year of highlights from three concerts in the summer of the tour. After the tour ended Morrison dismantled the band and Labes was, this time, replaced by Trumbo. Although he was not touring with Morrison, Labes was asked to play on two tracks on Morrison's next studio album, Veedon Fleece, whilst his string and woodwind arrangements were dubbed onto most of the other recordings on the album.
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