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Elton John on the keyboard geniuses who blew his mind: ‘With Zoot, you were in for a party’
Why do Britain’s guitar heroes become household names – yet its piano and organ players don’t? Let’s end this injustice, writes Elton John, as he pays tribute to all those thrilling showmen eternally confined to the wings
Georgie Fame was the epitome of cool: influenced by Mose Allison, hip to ska when its British audience was still largely confined to the West Indian community, always in a super-sharp Ivy League suit. Ian Stewart is the ultimate example of that: a brilliant player, an integral part of the Rolling Stones’ sound – you can hear how great he was on Honky Tonk Women or Brown Sugar – but he played in the wings, not in front of the audience. In the Small Faces, Ian McLagan changed and adapted a rhythm and blues style of playing until it perfectly fitted the psychedelic era: it’s him that’s really driving Itchycoo Park or the title track of Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake.
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