A professional musicians for more than 3 decades, David Bennett Cohen “isn’t the average hippie gone Wall Street”. Best known for his innovative keyboard playing as an original member of the ’60’s rock band, Country Joe and the Fish, he is an equally accomplished guitar player who has been involved in numerous music scenes throughout his varied career.
Ucombo Music Review editor Meg Dilts had the opportunity to interview him on his long musical career and his latest CD release entitled “Cookin’ With Cohen” this week.
Meg: Hi David, thanks again for giving us the opportunity to talk with you about your long and prolific musical career. The critiques have called you “a certifiably smokin’ barrel house rumba boogie-woogie piano player”, but you were trained classically initially. How did it all start?
DBC: I took piano lessons when I was a kid. From about age 7 to 13 or so. I can honestly say that I hated them. My first piano teacher was a fellow named Ben. He essentially turned me off to the piano. We developed this routine after a while. He would put some music in front of me and I would struggle to read it. Really struggle. After a few very painful moments, I would say something like, “Ben, you play so beautifully, why don’t you show me how it goes?” He would puff out his chest and play it for me. After I heard it, I could play it fine. When I was about 12 or 13, I got an acoustic guitar, and that began a love affair. My High School days were spent this way – I would get home from school around 3:30, and play my guitar for about 6 hours, do, maybe, 15 minutes of home work and go to sleep. Somewhere in the middle of all this I would eat some dinner, but that was pretty much it for High School. When I decided to be a musician, it was as a guitar player. When I was about 16 or so, I heard some Boogie-Woogie piano on TV. I was hooked and started to learn as much as I could find. I listened to the Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson album and that led to Otis Spann and Muddy Waters, Professor Longhair, Champion Jack Dupree, Jimmy Yancey, etc. This was in the ’50’s and I was part of the Washington Square Folk music scene, so even though I played a little piano, I was essentially known as a guitar player. When I got to CA in 1965, I got into the scene and played with several bands. Dylan’s Highway 61 had just come out and Country Joe was looking for an organ player. There was an old piano in the corner of the club we used to hang out at and every once in a while I would bang out some B-W or maybe play St Louis Blues. Barry Melton, who was playing with Joe at the time really liked the way I played the piano, so he told Joe, “Well, David can play organ.” So, I was asked to join the band. I had never played organ in my life and the only ones I had seen were the big theatre or church organs and I was really intimidated by them. But, I wanted the gig, so I joined and started out by playing guitar but then they bought me a Farfisa organ and I started to learn it. At first, I stole my guitar licks and applied them to the organ. Amazingly, I got these reviews that said things like, “What a unique style,” but I was really learning on the job. Eventually, I did learn how to play it properly and it rekindled my interest in B-W and Blues piano.
Meg: And when did you become fascinated by boogie-woogie piano?
DBC: Well, as I said, I was intrigued and started to learn B-W around 16. I saw Meade Lux Lewis on TV and I thought it was the most fun piano I had ever heard. I had a friend in college, Bob Fox, who played guitar and piano, too, and we would trade licks and such. But, mostly, I wanted to be a guitar player. Bob was also part of the Wash Sq scene. He passed away several years ago. After I left CJ and F, I played in several bands, one of which was the Blues Project. I learned early on that if I wanted to work steadily, I had to play piano. Everybody else, it seemed, was playing guitar. By this time, I was known as a keyboard player and I really began to appreciate the piano. It is an amazing instrument. The lowest note is lower than a bass and the highest, higher that a piccolo. Plus, with 10 fingers, you can play really big chords. Blues, to me, is the most joyful music there is. I think, maybe, that’s because it comes from so much suffering. But I really enjoy the feeling of release that happens when the Blues works.
Meg: What was the music scene like when you were growing up?
DBC: The Washington Square scene in the late ’50s and early ’60s was a moment in time that changed the history of music. People like Danny Kalb, John Sebastian, Happy and Artie Traum, Eric Weissberg, David Grisman and so many others were part of it. Then, in 1960, Dylan showed up and the evolution of Folk music took another leap forward. It was a magical time and I am so proud to have been a part of it. And, of course, behind it all and, in a sense, overseeing everything was Pete Seeger. He was the ideal that we all strove for. Not just musically, but poltically, socially and as a personal example to all of us.
To read the rest of the interviews, visit Ucombo Music Reviews.
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