Howard Wales
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Howard Wales (February 8, 1943 — December 7, 2020) was an American keyboardist who worked in a wide variety of styles. He is perhaps best known for his collaborations with Jerry Garcia in the early 1970s.
Wales was a session player for many musical acts, including Ronnie Hawkins, Freddie King, James Brown and the Four Tops. Though he was adept at playing keyboards for rock and R&B artists, he was also interested in avant-garde music. Later in his career he released several solo albums in this style.
For some months in 1970, Wales led Monday night jazz-rock jam sessions at the Matrix, a club in San Francisco. Jerry Garcia usually played guitar at these free-form performances. The two were often joined by John Kahn on bass and Bill Vitt on drums. An album recorded at these sessions and released in 1998 is Side Trips, Volume One. A studio album featuring this same group of musicians, Hooteroll?, was released in 1971.
Wales contributed to the 1970 Grateful Dead album American Beauty. He payed organ on the songs "Truckin'" and "Candyman", and piano on "Brokedown Palace".
Wales was born in Wisconsin. He died in California on December 7, 2020 at the age of 77.
Discography
- A.B. Skhy – A.B. Skhy (1969)
- Music of El Topo – Shades of Joy (1970)
- American Beauty – Grateful Dead (1970)
- Hooteroll? – Howard Wales and Jerry Garcia (1971)
- Baby Batter – Harvey Mandel (1971)
- Rendezvous with the Sun – Howard Wales (1976)
- The Monk in the Mansion – Howard Wales (1992)
- Side Trips, Volume One – Howard Wales and Jerry Garcia (1998)
- Complex Simplex – Howard Wales (2001)
- Between Two Worlds – Howard Wales (2006)
- Harvey Mandel and the Snake Crew – Harvey Mandel (2006)
- Life Is a Trip – Howard Wales (2009)
- Faces – Howard Wales (2012)
- Overview – Howard Wales (2014)
- Undisclosed Location – Howard Wales (2018)
