Asbury Jukes lead guitarist, Glenn Alexander: Renaissance Man
UP CLOSE
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Glenn Alexander
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UP CLOSE ⭐️ Glenn Alexander ⭐️
(Originally published November 22, 2021)
During the course of Levon Helm’s all too short life, he held what came to be known as Midnight Rambles at his home studio in Woodstock, NY. The drummer of one of America’s most beloved groups, The Band, he, along with Dylan sideman Larry Campbell and Paterson’s own Jimmy Vivino (The Fab Faux/Conan O’Brien), formed a house band that became the hottest ticket in America. The Rambles were informal affairs where folks were encouraged to bring food for the buffet. Kids and pets freely roamed. A-Listers like Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris, Dr. John, Hubert Sumlin, Norah Jones, Pinetop Perkins and Phil Lesh came to jam. With a capacity of but 200 guests, the place was overflowing every Saturday night.
On one particular night, the late New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint was on piano. Elvis Costello was on rhythm guitar. Glenn Alexander, from Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes, played lead guitar.
Glenn remembers it fondly.
“With Levon, you never knew what he was going to do. He liked to just call out songs so I was hoping I knew them! I’m standing next to Elvis who obviously took center-stage on his own material. Levon calls out a tune. Elvis leans in to me to ask the key. I tell him but he leans back in and asks me the chords. I tell him. Elvis was rather good-natured about it all and just went with it. Levon always inspired such good vibes. Now Levon calls out another tune and the same thing happens.
“What key is this in?”
“C.”
“What are the chords?”
“So I run the chords off to him as fast as I could while Levon is introducing the song.
“Now the third tune comes up and Elvis, once again, leans into me.
“`Elvis,’ I say, `I don’t know these songs any better than you do. I’m just pretty much playing by ear. You’re on your own, dude.’
“He took it like a man, and we got through the set. I mean, sure, Elvis is an extraordinary songwriter. But, in that situation, he’s just jamming.”
“If I hadn’t taken the Asbury Jukes gig when offered, I don’t think Shadowland would’ve ever happened.”
Originally hailing from Wichita, Kansas, Glenn has the kind of chops most guitarists would die for. He’s played straight-up jazz with legendary drummer Chico Hamilton [1921-2013]. He’s backed up soul singer Darlene Love. He’s played jazz-rock fusion with Jan Hammer (Mahavishnu Orchestra). He made an album with the great Indian violinist L. Shankar and Stewart Copeland (The Police). He plays Southern Rock in Shadowland.
“I don’t consider Shadowland Southern Rock,” he protests. “South Jersey maybe. I mean, sure, it has some of those flavorings. It’s the sound I grew up with. Influenced by the Allman Brothers. But with horns.
“If I hadn’t taken the Asbury Jukes gig when offered, I don’t think Shadowland would’ve ever happened,” he continues. “Playing Southside’s brand of rock’n’soul put me in those circles with Max Weinberg and Richie “La Bamba” Rosenberg which led directly to Shadowland.”
Glenn can also be heard on Southside Johnny’s two exquisite tribute albums. Detour Ahead: Music of Billie Holiday and Grapefruit Moon: The Songs Of Tom Waits. “I’m proud of those two albums,” he says. “La Bamba’s arrangements on the Waits, and his concept, with his big-band, was extraordinary. And Southside delivered some incredible vocal performances on that record. I feel the same way about the Billie Holiday record too. That was John Isley’s idea. He plays sax in the Jukes. He worked with Southside on that. I know there’s a lot of great jazz singers but Billie Holiday? Those songs? And the way Southside sings them? It feels real to me. I mean, sure, he’s gruff, he’s rough, but that voice! He just sang his butt off on both those records.”
It’s been a long and circuitous journey for the singer/songwriter/guitarist.
“Another thing that led me to want to write and record this kind of music was that in the mid-‘90s, when all I played was jazz, I signed a massive management deal for basically what was instrumental fusion music. They wanted to remake me into a smooth-jazz star like Kenny G and I didn’t want to do that. I kept writing. They kept rejecting my music as not being part of their goal. Finally, my so-called manager called me into his office and told me that from now on, he was going compose the material with me. Imagine that. Well, that did it. So I bailed. Unfortunately, he refused to let me out of my contract and for three years I was legally unable to record jazz or even play gigs. He kept coming after me to take percentages of things he had nothing to do with. He sent lawyers after me. They went through my taxes and everything. It was complete and utter bullshit. So I stopped. That, right there, was the end of jazz for me. It was depressing.
“So I started to focus on the things that made me want to get into music in the first place: Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top, Blood Sweat & Tears and a ton of blues. Writing, singing and playing rock’n’roll was really where I was at from the start. And it all comes out when I gig with the Asbury Jukes. Johnny loves all that stuff too. He’s a real musicologist. He could reel off arcane labels and artists with the years and the backup bands. Talk to him for awhile and it’s a lesson in American Pop Culture. He’s taught me so much.”
Alexander, it should be noted, is a College Professor at Sarah Lawrence College.
Enter L.A.X.
There was a period of time during his jazz forays when he had a band called Stretch. It was a Power Trio Extraordinaire. But unlike Cream or Rush, they leaned more towards instrumental Fusion. Hard music to play. Complex. Their running gig at The Court Tavern every Wednesday in New Brunswick lasted five years. The lines formed around the block. Bill Elder was the original drummer, a real powerhouse, ultimately replaced by Van Romaine, an even more intense man-monster with eight arms. When bassist Dave LaRue couldn’t turn down an offer to join the amazing Dixie Dregs (instrumental Georgia icons started by Deep Purple’s Steve Morse), Alexander went solo. Then the roof of his career caved in with the bad management deal.
Out of the burning embers of Stretch, L.A.X. was formed when Dave Larue came back to the fold and—with Glenn plus that monster drummer—did a tour of Australia which solidified their chops. Stretch with vocals. Glenn calls L.A.X. “Dixie Dregs meets the Allmans with a little Stevie Ray Vaughan thrown in for good measure.”