So you can write songs too!

Growing up in the Cincinnati area (Oxford,Ohio) I developed (what has turned out to be) a life long interest in Jazz. A brief though, unprofitable journey into a local jazz group marked the beginning of my composing career. I remember asking the trumpet man (also the leader of the group) to play a concert D over our Cmaj7 chord. When he asked if I were sure, I realized that I really knew what sound I was trying to achieve and said, "Yes, I'm sure." This was the beginning of composition in my life. It has led to a number of groups and experiences.

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David Goldflies Semi Acoustic Jazz Duo Days

Soon after the post Allman Brother break up ('83?) splinter bands all fizzled out, I entered a very creative period in my life. I was left with all my skills, a little money and time on my hands in Bloomington, Indiana. Not playing in a group was a new experience for me since I hadn't tapped into my talents as a single performer (guitar, vocals, violin) yet. I basically hung around the campus of Indiana University and jammed with different musicians.

At one jam in a particularly dirty basement,

a fellow by the name of Larry Clyman walked in and began playing guitar. It was instant communication between my bass and Larry's exceptional touch on the guitar. We wrote our first song, "Esus," in two days, played our first gig in four days, cut our first recording in three weeks and started doing opening act gigs for artists with the (then new) Windham Hill label within six weeks. It must have been the right stuff at the right time. A huge amount of composition went on during that time. We spontaneously took advantage of all of our writing opportunities. For instance, while we were having one of Larry's guitars repaired by a luthier in Nashville, Indiana we used two of the luthier's guitars and wrote (created on the spot) the song "Workshop". Songs poured out of us for about 9 months. We both eventually moved on, but this was one of the most creative periods that I've ever experienced.

Picture of Larry and David

Click below for some excerpts of "The Duo" tunes

Music from the Workshop!187k .wav

For those who like this raw, honest, simple approach to jazz, I highly recommend listening to an obscure album entitled Alone Together by Jim Hall and Ron Carter. Very inspiring!

I was performing on a Guild Acoustic "Mariachi" bass.

It was a little tricky getting a good sound live with the instrument, as there was a tendency to get feedback. I ended up frequently stuffing the bass full of towels and using the internally mounted "hot dot" pickups supplied by Guild. In the studio the bass had a remarkably "upright like" sound. I still own the bass and recently used it on a cut of the Bay Area Musicians Organizations" (BAMO) CD. I hope to re-release The Duo album that Larry and I cut. It still sounds great and is archived on DAT.

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One Tan Arm by David Goldflies
with Miles Osland

One Tan Arm was pretty much a stroke of luck. The group started out as a Tuesday night jam band at the Z-Pub, a local watering hole in Lexington, Kentucky. All of the tunes were written on the bass and later arranged for the full band.

The music took on a life of its own!

The band was really at its best live, so I included three live tracks along with the studio cuts on the CD. The tune "Obsession" was written during my five year tenure with the Allman Brothers Band as an extension of the groove on the Grammy nominated instrumental "Pegasus" by Richard "Dickey" Betts. The tunes "Obsession" and "Blues Jam" were recorded live at the Z-Pub. "Lucy Paducah" was recorded at our One Tan Arm record release party at Lynaugh's Pub, also in Lexington, Ky.

A picture of the David Goldflies Group

Doug Patton, David Goldflies, Miles Osland, Mike Lacy, Hal Cuise

The exceptional musicianship of Miles Osland, Hal Cruise and Mike Lacy made this music as easy as falling off a log. All of the sessions were live. There was very little overdubbing used to produce the final recordings. Friend and sound man Doug Patton (at the left above) mixed our live shows and generally spread around the excitement we all felt playing this material. CD's available.

Audio Clips From *One Tan Arm*
On the Calm Seas .wav 11.025 khz - 175k Finger Paint .wav 11.025khz - 172k

David Goldflies (ROOK) with Jim Fairs

While in the Allman Brothers Band,

I lived on Anna Maria Island in the Gulf of Mexico. Jim Fairs played music in the area and had a good reputation in the local studios. Jim was originally from the Chicago area and played with the regionally successful group called The Crying Shames. I met Jim at a jam session at the now defunct Silver Dollar Bar in Bradenton Beach, Florida. We became friends and shared approximately 400 breakfasts together at local greasy spoons on the beach. We would talk about the perfect band, discuss various strategies to record a particular instrument, perhaps talk about mic polarity settings or just talk about our current girlfriends (or lack thereof). You know the kind of friend I mean. We had many common interests and had tremendous mutual respect for each other's talent.

A picture of Jim Fairs Jim Fairs

During this period we recorded some tunes of mine at a local studio called Telstar Recording in Sarasota, Florida. Telstar was owned and operated by Rick Moulton. (Bud Snyder was Rick's assistant. Now Bud is mixing on the road for the Allman Brothers Band). Jim produced the sessions.

Ah, the midwest.

Tall broad-trunked trees, fossils, geodes (those ugly rocks with the beautiful crystals inside), fresh cut grass, thunderstorms, and corn fields. What a life! Peaceful, pristine, living in a farm house with a bright, attractive young woman. Who could ask for more? As soon as I found myself in this benevolent situation, I got a call from my friend Jim Fairs, one of the top five musicians I've ever known, asking me to come to a warehouse in downtown Chicago to play bass for his new group. Never one to miss a chance to lower my standard of living by 300%, I started commuting back and forth from Bloomington, Indiana to Chicago.

Playing with the Jim Fairs group was completely different from recording and touring with the Allman Brothers Band.

The Brothers did a lot of live shows, so the rehearsals were just to map out the music in broad strokes while the players filled in the gaps with lots of improvisation. The Jim Fairs group was a stark contrast. Rehearsals were exacting and exhausting but very rewarding.

The Jim Fairs Group
In order of appearance:

Drummer Arti Beldacci: Human clock. Precise, tasteful, and versatile.
Jim Fairs on guitar and vocals.
David Goldflies: Bass.
Glenn Rupp: played screaming rock guitar leads.
Occasionally a "chick" singer with great voice and even better attitude (not shown) named Page F__K would harmonize with Jim on lead vocals.

Jim Fairs strong suit was studio production.

Jim could make the most average or even terrible, equipment sing. What he did with the excellent gear of Tanglewood Studio in a suburb of Chicago was breathtaking. Put mildly, Jim shines very brightly in the studio.

Jim Fairs has been a major source of inspiration for me both professionally and personally. I feel very fortunate having been able to spend the time I did getting to know and work with this master musician.

David Goldflies (Rook) - The Early Days

The first time ever in a recording studio,

     I played bass on a work song from the depression era called "Black Betty". The songwriter was Hudie Ledbetter, better known as Leadbelly. He had quite a colorful background. He had been a convict and had worked on many chaingangs. Much of his music contained the rhythms of prison life during the depression. The story has been told that the Governor toured the prison where Leadbelly was doing time. When the Governor heard him sing he granted Leadbelly a pardon on the spot. Whether or not this is true, it's nice to think of music having the kind of power to change one's life.
     "Black Betty" became a national hit in 1975 by the group Ram Jam. The original recording was done by the group Star Struck, a regional rock group based in the Cincinnati area with which I played and recorded for about a year and a half.
     Here is the original bio of the band, written by the bands drummer David Fleaman. I had only been playing bass three years. This document was brought out to my house only recently (1/98) by a fan of the band who kept a copy of the bio all of these tears. Check it out!
     The version of "Black Betty" that made the airwaves was edited and homogenized for the public. The original version smoked! Drummer Dave Fleaman, complete with a huge gong and double bass drums, drove the band into a rocking frenzy during the solo section which unfortunately was edited out of the radio release.

Picture of David Goldflies in the Starstruck band.

The members of Star Struck were:

Bill Bartlett: Guitar and Vocals

Tom Kurtz: Guitar

David Fleaman: Drums

David Goldflies: Bass

By the time that Black Betty was a hit,

     the group Star Struck had broken up. All of the original members except for Bill Bartlett were replaced and the group Ram Jam became the "source" of "Black Betty", as far as the public was concerned. Ram Jam released an album, toured and faded into obscurity with no more hits.
     Today, Bill Bartlett is playing in the Southwestern Ohio/Southeastern Indiana area. Bill is a genius on the guitar. If you seek out one of his performances it's like hearing the Charlie Parker or Bach of rockabilly guitar. Bill has been a life-long inspiration to me. Oh yes, Bill was also a founding member of the Lemon Pipers. If you remember they had a hit in the early 60's called "Green Tambourine".
     Playing in Star Struck turned out to be just the right background for what was to come next in my musical life: recording and touring with the Allman Brothers Band.