TT 509: Paul Motian with Arlo Guthrie
The year was 1969
Paul Motian played drums for Arlo Guthrie at Woodstock, but in that famous footage, Motian can barely be seen.
In the new discovery below of the same band on The Dick Cavett Show (sent to me by Vinnie Sperrazza this morning) we can see Motian clearly. He looks unexpectedly old (although not yet 40) and absolutely relaxed. A professional. Keeping his vibe just enough in the mix while simply playing the gig.
The overall performance fits with my grand theory that an essential element of the Keith Jarrett music with Paul Motian was “Woodstock jazz,” a topic covered further in the long overview.
I checked in with Cindy McGuirl, and she sent me the relevant portion of Motian’s datebook.
Arlo Guthrie: gigs at Central Park on Monday (two shows), Dick Cavett Tuesday, Woodstock Friday (one set), Cape Cod Sunday.
(Call Keith Thursday, because Keith leaves for Dublin on Friday.)
Cindy runs the superb Paul Motian Archive, where more of Motian’s gig books and many other gems are available for perusal.
The bassist is Bob Arkin, brother of famous actor Alan Arkin. A profile in the New York Times from 2014 by Corey Kilgannon is utterly charming https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/13/nyregion/an-arkin-brothers-standing-commitment.html
Fascinating to see all this. Really good performance of a really good song; you hear how strong Dylan's vocal influence was on Arlo, too. And seeing the datebook is very cool. I looked up "Harold Levethal," and that's almost certainly a misprint since it was "Harold Leventhal," with an "n," who was Guthrie's manager. The big question, however, is: who was Dr. Barth and how is it possible he was only charging $10 for an appointment!