BUZZY LINHART-legendary singer, musician and vibes, bass, guitar-Hendrix

I saw him open for The Beau Brummels at The Main Point in Bryn Mawr,PA in 1975.

 

HA! I have that on vinyl. Forgot that! Quite a unique and wonderful LP. Bunky & Jake!

 

Not sure how it was that Buzzy popped up on my radar, probably in the mid to late 70s, but sure am glad I took a chance on a few of his albums that I was fortunate to find in the cheapie bins. Also don't recall if anything was ever written about him in Rolling Stone magazine.

 

I haven't heard about that before. But Buzzy told me he plays (uncredited) on Stephen Stills Manassas lp, the second one I believe. He says Stills tried to get him to join the band.

 

Buzzy also sings harmony on one track ("Cissy's Baby") from the first Jake & the Family Jewels album.

 

I just got his 1972 record (Buzzy Linhart)

 

Jeez, Buzzy Linhart, I played Music to death back in the day, really loved it! He played at my High School (Jericho, NY) in '71. I remember being in the HS bathroom and Buzzy came in to take care of business. Of course it's laughable now but it was my 1st close encounter with a 'celebrity'! Got all tongue-tied and what not. Man oh man, that's a memory I haven't thought about in over 45+ yrs, gotta love the SH forums!

 

Great story! Thanks guys for all the love for Buzzy. What a talent..and so under-appreciated today.

 

I cant find any info on WIKI about this album...... I got it not knowing what kinda music he did!!!!

I LOVE IT........... Especially the LIVE piece on side 1!!!

Is this his first album? (1972)

 

From Wiki: Linhart had significant visibility as an actor in the mid-1970s. He also achieved some notoriety from his appearance in the opening sequence of the cult movie The Groove Tube, as a hippie hitchhiker. He was also a regular on the 1976 television show Cos, starring Bill Cosby[1]. However, there appears to be little or no surviving footage from the series, Cos; unlike the several subsequent Bill Cosby television series.

 

I seem to remember reading that Buzzy was extremely proud of his naked hippie hitchhiker role.



That's Buzzy pulling up his jeans while running after a hippie chick in a short clip...wait for it.

 

This is his first...Buzzy 1968 (see above for tracks)





A veteran of the New York coffee house circuit who recorded with Jimi Hendrix, Buzz Linhart recorded this classic debut in London in 1968.
Featuring backing from Welsh psychedelic favourites the Eyes Of Blue, it's a superb collection of acid-influenced folk and pop, including the epic, sitar-tinged raga Sing Joy, and is sure to appeal to all fans of hippie singer songwriting.

 

And this is his 1972 album...

Background from Discogs:

Profile:​

Buzzy Linhart was born in Pittsburgh in 1943. By the early age of seven he was already interested in music and theater. He started as a drummer and soon was playing the vibes, marimba, guitar, harmonica and some piano.
Buzzy Linhart was originally known for his mallet skills, becoming a vibraphone virtuoso at a young age. After spells backing noted Greenwich Village doyen Fred Neil and others, he recorded his first solo album in London in late 1968, released the following year.More

Sites:​

buzzylinhart.com

In Groups:​

Montreal, Seventh Sons

Variations:​

All | Buzzy Linhart | Viewing Buzz Linhart
B. Linhart, Buzz Linhardt, Buzzy Linhardt, Linhart

.................................

Seventh Sons. Raga (4AM At Frank's) is his earliest.....1964



Buzzy and crew (James Rock, Serge Katzen) look like a Zappa or Beefheart cover, a couple years before most had embraced the "freak" look. And the Raga jam contained on this strange LP what may be one of the first freakout raga psych jams.

I haven't explored it lately but Buzzy's home page may give more info:

Music Publisher | Singer Songwriter | the 1960s | 1970s Music

 

There are some very cool LPs at Buzzy's site...never seen them before, this is of great interest to me:



Peace in the Country: Buzzy Linhart Unplugged

by Buzzy Linhart

© Copyright - Buzzart Enterprises Inc. / Buzzart Enterprises Inc. (889211555536)
The only album of Buzzy Linhart performing acoustically, singing 12 of some of his best songs, and accompanying himself with world-class acoustic guitar playing.
Genre: Pop: Beatles-pop
Release Date: 2015

 

Is this the one you found? 1972, Is Music or Music



Gatefold Cover.

The actual name of the artist / band is "Music", not Buzzy Linhart.

Engineer assistants to Eddie Kramer were: Dave, Kim, J. J. and Bob Ludwig
Recorded at Electric Ladyland, Sound Exchange and Vanguard Studios, N.Y.C.

Eleuthera Records A Flower of Kornfeld* Adventures
Distributed by Buddah Records ELS 3601

* Artie Kornfeld is ONE of the 4 principals who staged the original 1969 Woodstock Festival (The Woodstock Music and Arts Fair) in Bethel, New York, in August 1969.

• 
  
  
  • Bass Guitar, Percussion, Lead Guitar – Douglas H. Rauch*
    Drums – John Siomos
  • Percussion, Lead Guitar – Doug Rodriques*
  • Producer, Engineer – Eddie Kramer
  • Written-By, Rhythm Guitar, Vibraphone, Percussion – Buzzy Linhart

-discogs

 

Or this?

The Black Album



AllMusic Review by Joe Viglione / All Music Guide

There are two Buzzy Linhart albums entitled Buzzy, one released in 1969 on Philips, and this third solo release on Buddah records in 1972. There's a jazzy "Eye 1-2-C-U Shuffle," which could be the Electric Flag with Linhart on vocals.

The band -- featuring Danny Trifan on bass, guest star Moogy Klingman on organ, future Steely Dan/Doobie Brothers session man supreme Jeff "Skunk" Baxter on acoustic and electric guitars, Ten Wheel Drive's Luther Rix, and mixing by Todd Rundgren -- creates what may be the most intimate of Linhart albums released on a major label.

There's a great cover of Elton John and Bernie Taupin's "Take Me to the Pilot" with the equally great line "he's a virgin" with Buzzy quipping "aren't we all?." Interesting that Uni Records pushed much Elton John product out in this early-'70s period when Buddah had three Linhart discs in release (one on a subsidiary called Eleuthera Records, a band project called Music, with a majority of the songs written by Buzzy). On February 28, 2002, AMG spoke with the singer/songwriter's son, Xeno Linhart (note that the publishing company on some of the songs is Xeno Music, with Ascap as the Performing Rights Organization). Xeno claimed that "Apparently, shortly after recording The Time to Live Is Now, there was a drummer swap. Luther Rix and Kevin Ellman swapped bands so Luther and Bette Midler could be together, and bringing in an Indian drummer into the Trio to do the ragas seemed right. But Kevin left soon after to go with Moogy Klingman and become Utopia. All this in just a few months, and then there are the next sets of players. But the order of recording is not really the same as the order of release.

There really are two albums called Buzzy. The 18-minute version of "Sing Joy" [is] on Buzzy Phillips 1969, later on Best of Buzzy Linhart (1972) and the more memorable 8:30 version [appears] on Buzzy Kama Sutra/Buddah 1972 The Black Album, as it is called for its mostly black cover (by photographer Ira Wexler). The first Buzzy is quite unique in its arrangements. Best of Buzzy (1972) on KamaSutra/Buddah is a repackaging of the Buzzy (Phillips) and other material. So, the two "Sing Joy" (tracks) show up in a few places. It is worth some study itself, as it was the first raga Buzzy wrote (1964), and then re-wrote a few times. It is also a major component of the 30-minute long live raga jam by Seventh Sons, "4 A.M. at Franks" (also released as "Raga," both on ESP Disks). We have restored and remastered the cut for inclusion on a collection of improvised one-take recordings to be called 'Avant Buzz.'

So, there is a lot of Buzzy's material with the date 1972, but it was just a timing issue, and probably a mistake by record companies to flood the market with so much of his material all at once and not making it clear that some was recorded years earlier." On Barry Gordy's "You Got What It Takes" -- a hit for both Marv Johnson and the Dave Clark Five in the '60s, Linhart gives it a musician's treatment. Nothing on this album seems to be crafted with the charts in mind, though on "Rollin' On" Buzzy lifts melody and lines from Bacharach/David by fusing "What the World Needs Now" into his song. L. Luther Rix's "Boogaloother" is a delight with passages straight from the Ten Wheel Drive songbook. "Sing Joy" changes the mood, evolving from the percussive sounds into a rocking "Tutti Frutti" tracked live at Studio A of New York's Record Plant.

The Black Album may be the least commercial of Buzzy's efforts, but it is solid musicianship and contains sounds that drew from, as well as inspired, past and future works of Ten Wheel Drive, Bette Midler, Utopia, Jimi Hendrix, and Steely Dan, and it is all quite staggering.

 

More Buzzy:

Electric Lady Dream: The Eddie Kramer Sessions (New York City, 1969)

Purchase this Album

​

Buzzy Linhart’s second album, “MUSIC,” was recorded in New York City in 1969. Eddie Kramer engineered and he and Buzzy co-produced it.

The recordings that we have selected for this album were recorded at the famous Electric Lady Studio, created and established by the one and only Jimi Hendrix.

Fortunately, Eddie Kramer saved the original reel to reel audio tapes (along with many other recordings and music memorabilia). Many years later he put them up for auction. We contacted him directly, and he graciously sold the original tapes to us at the original asking price.

When the tapes were delivered to Buzzart we were delighted to find a recording of the song “BIRDS.” Buzzy had co-written this song with the late Moogy Klingman, a gifted songwriter with whom Buzzy had co-written several other songs, including the mega-hit “FRIENDS.” BIRDS was not used on the MUSIC album and we are pleased to add this haunting song to this album.

We have rearranged the order of the songs, remastered the recordings with up-to-date recording technology, and included BIRDS in Buzzart’s release of these recordings.

Our objective is to focus on the recordings made at ELECTRIC LADY. One song that was on the MUSIC album, “SEARCHIN,'” was not recorded at ELECTRIC LADY, and we did not include it on this album.

As usual, Buzzy had a great band for these recordings. Moogy Klingman played piano and organ. Doug Rodrigues played lead guitar and percussion. Douglas Rauch played bass, percussion and lead guitar on MOTHER’S RED LIGHT. John Siomos played drums. David Bromberg played Dobro guitar on KILPATRICK’S DEFEAT.

These recordings are among the earliest produced at Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady studio.
Purchase this Album
Genre: Rock: 60’s Rock
Release Date: 2012

 

And oh yes...one of the first and strangest, in a good way (that isn't classical), one long piece, continued on two sides, LPs! 30+ minutes long.

 

Yup thats the one THE BLACK ALBUM (His 4th album)

Its excellent


Thanx for looking that up buddy

 

It is a wonderful album.

 

Just ran across this news (Buzzy Linhart, Singer-Writer-Performer: Heart Attack ):

Buzzy Linhart, Singer-Writer-Performer: Heart Attack
by Best Classic Bands Staff


Buzzy Linhart

Update (June 10): The following update to this story was posted on Linhart’s Facebook page: (It notes that the singer-musician suffered a “heart attack, seizures, and other complications on Tuesday, May 29. He spent four days in CCU, a few days in hospital, then was moved to [a] nursing home in Berkeley, CA.” The poster said that he still hasn’t “been told of the severity of the event with regards to the heart, (damage, blockage, disease, etc.), however, all of the results of diagnostic procedures show excellent brain activity.”

Our original May 31 news item follows:

According to a Facebook post from his son, singer, musician and songwriter Buzzy Linhart has been hospitalized in California after experiencing what’s described in the post as a “major seizure event.” Linhart, who is closely associated with the Greenwich Village folk-rock scene and co-wrote Bette Midler’s song “(You Got to Have) Friends,” has been in the ICU at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley since May 29.

“He is sedated, intubated and resting after a lot of testing today,” said the post that day. “MRI came back normal, so we are hopeful he will emerge from sedation in the morning. Roommate Lenny acted quickly so the care was delivered quickly, so for now all we can do is rest, pray, and fire up the Buzzy Linhart music.”

A followup post on Wednesday stated, “All brain tests have been clear—no signs of damage and no lingering seizure activity,” and a more recent one, dated today (May 31), indicated that Linhart is now breathing on his own and showing signs of improvement.

[Update: At 10:45 p.m. ET on May 31, Linhart’s friend Dave Fisher posted on Facebook: “Buzzy is awake. He’s recognizing everyone and talking. Got him to laugh.”]

 

I hope he is ok!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Still amazes me. Buzzy is such an unknown brilliant talent. Back to the Cafe Wha, Greenwich Village daze!

Shoo That Fly, 1974
https://www..com/watch?v=UBbEbdfwOjg

 

Any news on dear Buzzy??

 

There It Goes Again