His far-reaching scope is evident on most recordings he's done, including those with Wilco - a band he has played with for a decade - or with the Nels Cline Singers, who just released their fifth disc, Macroscope, on the Mac Avenue imprint.Īs with 2010's Initiate, Cline explores particularly diverse terrain on Macroscope. Cipollina's one of a kind massive amplifier stack was donated, along with one of his customized Gibson SG guitars, and effects pedals, for display in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in 1995.Guitar wiz Nels Cline says he used to envy people who could stick to one genre, like musicians who'd say, "All I do is play swing, or all I do is play bluegrass, or all I do is play prepared guitar." But for Cline, due tonight at Dazzle, focusing on one style has never really been his bag. Quicksilver Messenger Service fans paid tribute to him the following month in San Francisco at an all-star concert at the Fillmore Auditorium which featured Nicky Hopkins, David Freiberg, and John's brother Mario, an original member of Huey Lewis and the News. Even so, the album eventually reached #25 in the UK album charts.Ĭipollina died on from chronic emphysema at the age of 45 after a career in music that spanned twenty five years. However, they still were able to continue the tour in the UK, during which their "Roundhouse gig" was recorded, but rumors held that Micky Jones had to over-dub Cipollina’s guitar, as it was out of tune, before their Maximum Darkness album could be released. As they were a two-guitar band, the band met and rehearsed with John Cipollina of Quicksilver Messenger Service, who played with them at Winterland, and agreed to play a UK tour.These were a great success, and promoter Bill Graham paid them a bonus, and rebooked them, but the band had a shaky line-up, and one of its members left the band. John Cipollina was suggested to fill the place of Jones for the final gigs that were to be at the San Francisco Winterland. In 1974, the Welsh psychedelic band Man were embarking upon a tour of the UK and the United States, but within the final leg of their tour their guitarist Micky Jones developed pneumonia and most of the dates had to be cancelled. He played with finger picks, thumb picks, and used a whammy bar extensively which, he explained to Jerry Garcia, was to make up for his weak left (tremolo) hand. Throughout his career, Cipollina usually played Gibson SGs, but in the late '70s and into the '80s could also be seen playing a Carvin DC150, which was similar to a double-cutaway Les Paul, but with more modern factory installed electronics. 12 volt automotive running lights indicated which effect was being used.Ĭipollina also employed a Gibson Maestro Fuzz and Vox wah-wah/volume pedals. Other ventures include founding the Jazz/Rock band Freelight, with now famous country crooner, Pam Tillis.Ĭipollina used a custom foot switch setup to select reverb, tremolo, Astro Echoplex (the unit mounted on the right of the Twin Reverb), and Standel Modulux (on the left of the twin reverb). His work on fellow dueling guitarist Gary Duncan's electric arrangement/adaption of Dave Brubeck's "Take Five", retitled "Gold and Silver," which appears on the self-titled first album of Quicksilver, is an excellent example of how Cipollina took rock to places it usually didn't dare to venture. Cipollina's classical past no doubt influenced his guitar style, which was miles beyond the usual blues-scale, pentatonic work of many of the other psychedelic-era guitarists. His style was highly melodic and expressive. The treble pickups fed the two Fender amps: 1 Fender Twin Reverb with two 12-inch speakers and 1 Fender Dual Showman that drove the six Wurlitzer horns. Each Standel was equipped with two 15-inch speakers. The bass pickup fed into the two Standel bass amps on the bottom of the stack. All of his guitars were wired with two pickups, one for bass and one for treble. To create his distinctive guitar sound, Cipollina developed this one of a kind amplifier stack. "I like the rapid punch of solid-state for the bottom, and the rodent-gnawing distortion of the tubes on top." He is considered one of the fathers of the San Francisco psychedelic rock sound. He showed great promise as a classical pianist in his youth, but soon switched to the guitar as his primary instrument.Ĭipollina had a unique guitar sound, mixing solid state and valve amplifiers as early as 1965. John Cipollina (AugMay 29, 1989) was a guitarist best known for his role as a founder and the lead guitarist of the San Francisco rock band Quicksilver Messenger Service.īorn in Berkeley, California, he attended Tamalpais High School, in Mill Valley, California (as did his brother, Mario Cipollina).
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