Jim Gordon

I was listening to Jim Gordon today.If you have ever heard the rock song Layla then you have heard Jim Gordon. He is the drummer on the Layla album. Not only that, but Jim Gordon co-wrote Layla with Eric Clapton. Not only that, but it was Jim Gordon that created and wrote the actual music and piano solo for the song, and, even though drums are his primary instrument he played the original piano solo on Layla. I am not talking about Eric Clapton's commercially popular un-plugged version of Layla, rather, the original Layla album.

Here’s the story…

As the story goes, during the recording of Layla, late one night, after all the other musicians had left the studio, Jim Gordon stayed behind to work on some of his personal music. Eric Clapton overheard Jim playing a stunning piano riff. He asked him if he could use the riff in a new song he was thinking about and Jim Gordon agreed and helped to write what is now a legendary classic rock love song - Layla.

Being a drummer myself I always appreciated Jim Gordon's playing style. He really punctuates the sound and makes the drums pop out in every song. Just listen to the Layla album and you'll see what I mean. I learned a lot from Jim Gordon's playing style. He was one of the few drummers I ever tried to emulate when I was a young drummer.

I don't know the exact details of what happened to Jim Gordon but I know that he is in an asylum, a mental institution. That's right. The fact is that he killed his mother with a hammer. Apparently he kept hearing his mother's voice in his head...a persistent nagging....and one day he put a stop to it. This is a true story, unfortunately.

To this day I still listen to and find my self playing drums in the style of Jim Gordon.I always liked that "china" cymbal he plays on the Layla album. It sounds so apparent throughout every song.

Even my kids, 2, 4 and 7 year olds like a few songs on the Layla album, especially the first one titled, "I looked away."

Now, you have something to think about next time you listen to Layla.

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John Cesta is a contract programmer. John's current project is designer and lead developer of the automated hosting software at bestcfhosting.com, a ColdFusion MX hosting company. John is currently working on commercializing his programs and offering them to the IIS community at serverautomationtools.com

James Beck Gordon was a "real" musician. His work on countless uncredited sessions was formidable to say the least. Not only was he a naturally talented drummer, he was also versed in other instruments including strings and keys. But his feel and instincts behind the drums were what set him apart. He and Hal Blaine were the big two who caught my attention as a youngster learning the drums in the early 70s. I am indebted to Jim, Hal, and the rest of the great drummers I heard as a teenager. They made my little stereo sound a lot bigger than it was. The things they taught me - just from their sound and articulation - will be with me forever. I wish Jim the best for the rest of his stay, and Hal - keep rockin'! Steve

Your article regarding Jim Gordon was very nice. I have met Jim and unfortunately, he is in prison. He suffers with severe schizophrenia. It would have been better if he would have been placed in a psychiatric hospital and received proper treatment. I'm sure you must have listened to his playing on George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass." In my opinion, drumming doesn't get any better than on the tune "Art of Dying." Yes, I've raised my child on Beatles music and also, anything with Jim playing on it. Your article brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for your kind words.
All the best,
Beth Carter

It was great to read your article on Jim Gordon. I'm not a drummer. I try to play Clapton tunes on the guitar. but I love Jim Gordon's drumming, what particularly moves me is some of the stuff on 'EC on Tour with Delaney and Bonnie', like 'Only You Know and I Know'. It's a shame that Eric and Jim fell out with each other during the making of the second Dominoes album. Apparently Eric wanted Jim to play something differently and he got pissed off and told Eric that the Dixie Flyers were in town and that he should go and talk to their drummer. We all missed out on a potentially great sequel to the Layla album. I have always carried a special fondness for the drumming of Jim Gordon. God Bless. Keith G, Zurich Switzerland

One of my favorite Jim Gordon stories is from Bob...

In 72 thru 74, I was in a rock cover band; two awesome guitar players, bass and drums. We played a lot locally here in San Diego. My buddy Dennis, also a drummer who was fond of Jim Gordon's playing, was also a snow-ski bum at the time and would move to Mammoth Mountain for the winter months. One summer he said to us, "I bet I could get you guys a gig in Mammoth for the whole winter" (we were a pretty tight little four-piece). Long story short, we gave him a demo tape, and we got the gig for the next winter at a place called Mill City Mining Company (It's called someting else now). So the whole band moves up there, (Dennis is already there by now) and we rent a four bedroom A-frame and starts plying the gig.

Fast forward about a month or so into the gig. We know all the locals by now, and one night one of them ( an attractive female) says to us "Hey, I've got this friend who's coming up to stay with me for a few days from L. A. and she plays piano, could she sit in with you guys?' Well, you know the drill. Sure, OK, don't want to piss her off, it probably won't happen anyway. Oh, I forgot to tell you. Rhythm/lead player Ron has a Wurlitzer elecrtic piano on stage which he's working into the act; only plays a couple songs on it.

Sure enough, next weekend, here comes the local chick up to the stage with her friend, Peggy. "Can she sit in with you guys?" Uh..........yeah sure, uh.... what do you wanna play? Now picture this. Here's this little mousey 5-foot hippie-looking chick with scraggly brown hair, couldn't weigh more than 90 pounds soaking wet. Were all doin' the guy thing, looking at each other, all thinking "this is going to be a train wreck", we're the bitchen macho rock band. Well, in about 4 measures we realized the foolishness of being judgemental, 'cause she kicked our a--es! She was one hard-rockin', bluesy, ballsy player! At the break we were all kissing her a--, asking her what she was doing. "Oh, I just got off the road with James Taylor, and in about a month I'll be going on the road with Joe Cocker". (do a Google search on Peggy Sandvig to see who she's played with).

Anyway, she thought we were pretty good (we were!) and asked if she could bring some friends up next week from L. A. to sit in? YEAH, HELL YES! Who are they? "A drummer named Jim Gordon and a bass player named Charlie Larkey" (In case you don't know, Charlie was Carole King's bass player at the time. He also admitted to us that he was her husband, even tho they didn't really want that publicized at the time). When Dennis found out, he nearly flipped. (Remember I told you Dennis loved Jim G.s playing, too. And remember in the 70s, almost every studio album had one of 4 drummers: Jim Keltner, Jim Gordon, Russ Kunkel, or Johnny Guerin.) Well, Dennis and I were the dorks who could tell you who played drums on what song. The next Friday night, sure enough, Peggy, Jim and Charlie all showed up. As an aside, I had the foresight to set up my reel-to-reel recorder and a couple of mics that afternoon to document the momentous occasion. More on that later. We played a song or two at the beginning of a set and called up Peggy, Charlie, and Jim, leaving only our lead guitar/lead singer to play with them on stage (I started the recorder before leaving the stage).

Now, keep in mind, while Dennis and I idolized this guy, we had never actually SEEN a picture of him, so for all we knew, this could have been Joe Blow from Kokomo.

The jam started out a bit loose, as jams always do, but soon it started to come together. Dennis and I are standing at the side of the stage watching.

Now, here's the part of the story I love to tell. The band gets to the part of the song that would be the chorus, and Jim moves to the ride cymbal and starts playing his trademark ride cymbal pattern, and Dennis and I turn our heads toward each other and both say at EXACTLY the same time " THAT'S JIM GORDON!". It sounds like a scene from some hokey B movie, but I swear that's what happened.

At the break we schmoozed with Jim, Peggy and Charlie, and I got to talk at length with Jim. Which brings me to the reason I got in contact with you in the first place. The story you heard about Jim composing and playing the end-part of Layla on the piano is true. He told me that exact story that night. I had been asking him about different people he had played with, and the Layla story came up. He mentioned he played with Zappa, and I dug Zappa so I asked about him. He said he had just finished an album called Pretzel Logic with Steely Dan, and they were (and still are) one of my favorites. "But I thought Jim Hodder was the drummer in that band", I said, naievely. "Yeah, but he mostly plays live, I've done a lot of the studio stuff", Jim said. Needless to say, I purchased the Pretzel logic album the day it hit the stores and played it over and over again listening to the drum parts.

Check out "Rikki Don't Lose That Number", and listen to the ride cymbal in the bridge; that's the Jimster playing!

I also asked him about that high tom that sounded so cool. He said it was a 12" tom with only a top head tuned kinda low, and that the head was old and beat up. Remember that sound? When struck, it would drop in pitch.

I also asked about being a studio drummer, because I thought that would be such a cool job. He told me to buy "The Encyclopedia of Rock Drumming" by Joel Rothman and study it inside out, because you had to sight read to get studio gigs. I bought it, but never really got into it because I'm not much of a reader, I play by ear. It cost 25 bucks which was a lot in '73, and it's in a box somewhere in the garage. Hey, I was 23 then, I was a stars-in-the-eyes musician who thought I would "make it" someday and here I was hangin' out with the people who were "livin' the dream".

That's about all I can remember about that night, but I must say that Jim, Charlie, and Peggy were three of the nicest, soft-spoken, unassuming, down to earth people you'd ever want to meet. Even though Jim is still in Attica for murdering his mother with a hammer, but I'm sure his drug abuse played a big part in that whole thing.

John, I've been trying to find out just about any facts I could on Jim Gordon. I too, loved his drum style. Layla has ALWAYS been my favorite song EVER! I'm originally from the San Francisco Bay area and had many opportunities to see Jim with various bands back in the late sixties & early seventies. Traffic, Derrick & the Dominoes, etc. I had heard the story about him murdering his mother some years ago but I've always wanted to try & find out more. Anyway...................Thanks a bunch for the article. All the Best, Johnny Williams