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Raised in a military family, I lived in Germany, Japan and Taiwan before I reached the ripe old age of 12. My dad was a great guitarist and he taught me how to play when I was 10. I didn't have any particular musical heroes but I indulged heavily in Motown and blue-eyed soul sounds. After a stint in the US Marine Corps, I joined The Night Crawlers, a Daytona Beach band with a #54 Billboard hit "Little Black Egg". The band broke up soon thereafter and I was invited by Murray Wilson to come out to California. I had met Murray, father of The Beach Boys, in Florida in 1964 and we struck a friendship. He was kind enough to let me stay at their Malibu house until I joined a San Fernando Valley band. The hippie movement was in full gear and the Sunset Strip was where the action was if you wanted to connect with musicians. That's where I met and became friends with the likes of Clapton, Morrison, Hendrix, Buddy Miles, the boys from Iron Butterfly and many more. One night, we were unloading our equipment at the Hollywood Palladium to warm up Neil Diamond when someone asked: "are there any Fla. boys on this ticket?" I turned to answer and it was my Daytona party/jam buddies - Gregg and Dwayne Allman. They asked me if I would be interested in joining their band "The Hour Glass." YES! HELL YES. Long story short, they got dejected after a long wait for their album release and decided to return to Fla. to form The Allman Brothers Band. For my part, I had too much invested in California and I stayed. Timing was on my side, I was invited to replace the lead guitarist for The Strawberry Alarm Clock and engulfed myself in a bit of rock & roll fame. |
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I don't exactly remember when but, at some point, I met and jammed with the boys from Jumbo. The chemistry was what I had been looking for all along and I left SAC to join them. In a nutshell, Jumbo was, and still is, the best rock & roll band I've worked with. There were no ego issues and the music was fresh and exciting. Best of all, we liked and respected each other...somewhat of a rare commodity in rock bands. I do miss Mike's mom great home-made cooking. It was always an event and just about the only decent meals we got...and it was free. My career as a rock & roll musician hasn't been all glamour, it's hard work with lots of bumps in the road but it beats being behind a desk! Check out my band at www.jimmypitman.com |
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