By Chuck Kirkpatrick

The LAYLA sessions

I've been asked hundreds of times about this recording session; the mics, the amps, who played what when & where.

I hate to say that 40+ years has taken its toll on most of my memory, but I will attempt to recall what I can about what is probably one of the top 10 most significant recording sessions in history.

I had already been working at Criteria for several years, and when Atlantic Records decided to set up camp in Miami, our business quadrupled. We had three studios booked 18 hours a day, recording dozens of Atlantic/Atco artists. At this particular time, my tastes in music were pretty much narrowed to vocal harmony groups, and the "Proctor Amusement Company" band was the showcase for my vocal arranging chops. I pretty much had to 'tolerate' everything else - rock, soul, rhythm&blues - during the course of a working day at Criteria. When I was told that I'd be assigned to an Eric Clapton session, my thoughts were, 'Oh no...another loud distorted guitar band....'. Little did I know my entire musical perspective would change within weeks.

I expected Eric Clapton to arrive looking like the disheveled, drugged-out, speech-slurring funky stereotype of a "blues musician". When he introduced himself wearing a white tailored suit and speaking with the classiest British accent, I was quite surprised. Eric was the perfect gentleman and in complete control. The rest of the band were all very quiet and polite guys, save for Bobby Whitlock. Bobby was the youngest of the crew and I think perhaps the most insecure at the time, having been plucked from relative obscurity and thrown into a session with seasoned veterans. Jim Gordon had done a ton of sessions in L.A. for dozens of artists, and Carl Radle had racked up his own impressive share of credits.

What few people may know is that "Derek & The Dominoes" began jamming and writing stuff in England months before they came over here to record. One of the more interesting things I got to hear were the 2 track live tapes that were made during these sessions with the most minimal equipment.

The sessions began early September of 1970 in Criteria's famous studio B - the very first room in Criteria's history. After the addition of the cavernous studio A was completed in 1968, B was renamed.

Jim Gordon's drums were recorded inside a circular drum booth, built by studio handyman, Al McAdam. It had a raised plywood floor (which I believe to this day attributed to the very round sound of the toms and kick). The drum booth was not totally enclosed, but had an opening 3/4 of the way around to allow the drummer to maintain visual contact, and to be able to hear what was going on outside in the room. The mics used were basically Neuman U-87's. My original choice of C-12A's was vetoed simply because the Neumans were used by everybody else at that time.

About 85% of the time, Eric played through a Fender Champ amp with one 8" speaker turned all the way up and mic'd with a Shure 546. His rhythm parts were recorded with him playing through either a blonde Fender Bassman or Bandmaster using the stock 2-12 cab. Radle went direct and mic'd amp (may have been an Ampeg B-15 or Bassman....can't remember) with the signals mixed. Whitlock played the studio's B-3 and Steinway 9' grand piano.

The first day or two was spent just setting up and getting sounds. The spark that lit the fire under this session was just about to happen; that being the meeting of Duane Allman and Eric Clapton.

Following the infamous Allman Brothers concert, where Duane opened his eyes mid-solo to see his mentor Eric staring right back at him from the front row, the after-party returned to Criteria sometime around midnight. I was waiting patiently (or rather impatiently as "it" had not hit me yet what I was about to witness) to begin working on the album. In the dim light of studio B, I remember seeing Eric and entourage enter through the side hallway-door, followed by Duane and several Allman Brothers. There was a shaking of hands and the almost schoolboy-like innocent loss-for-words as two idols who had worshipped each other from afar came face to face for the first time.

After several minutes of conversation, the two made their way to the set-up and picked up their guitars. I could not tell you now what was played nor for how long that night, but the next day the sessions were underway with Duane as the official 5th member of Derek and the Dominoes.

It should be noted that because of the workload at the studio, it was necessary to use rotating engineers. Besides myself, Ron and Howard Albert, Karl Richardson, and studio owner Mack Emerman also participated in this session.

I recall only one outside musician playing on this session, and that would be Albhy Galuten. At that time, Albhy was functioning as little more than the house joint-roller and 'go-fer'. His quirky ways and nearly always barefoot appearance made him a source of entertainment around the studio. Little did any of us know of his true talents and intelligence. When "Key to the Highway" was tracked, Whitlock was on Hammond B3. Albhy somehow quiet slipped into the studio and on to the Steinway piano bench. He played a very simple but effective part on the track and everyone liked it - except Whitlock, who now felt "threatened" by Albhy and promptly called Atlantic's New York office and had him thrown out of the session.

One of the first tracks I remember working on was "Keep On Growing". Eric began with a simple rhythm part, then overdubbed multiple solos. I believe Duane was bought in later to add his own solo. Vocal overdubs for "Growing" were done with Clapton and Whitlock sharing a singe Electro-voice 635 dynamic microphone. During one take, Eric and Bobby came back in 8 bars too early after the guitar solo, singing the one word "Lately.....". They both stopped singing and waited for the next 8 bars to pass before coming in again. When that "Lately" popped in during playback, they asked me to erase it. In my boldest moment of the entire session I said, "It really sounds kinda neat...why don't you leave it?" Thus, my one small contribution.

"Thorn Tree in the Garden" featured Eric, Duane, and Bobby all on acoustic guitars and was recorded totally live using two microphones as a stereo pair.

"Layla" was initially just the four. Duane would later be overdubbed, Because of the nature of the song's two-guitar intro (one playing the lick and sustaining the last note as the second enters playing the 'sliding' rhythm part), I cannot remember which part Eric played first. He may have done both parts together (cutting off the sustained note to start the rhythm) and then overdubbed later. There were at least 6 or 7 tracks of guitar on that one.

One of my favorites, "I Looked Away", was all Eric on guitar with minimal overdubs.

Perhaps the most memorable day of all three weeks was the day both Duane and Eric came in to overdub guitar solos on "Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad". Taking turns, each went out in the studio to do his solo section of the tune. Tom Dowd was to my left at the producer's desk. As the takes proceeded, you could sense a sort of old-west 'fastest gun' vibe beginning to set in between Eric and Duane. Each time one would come in and listen back, the other would say, "I can do my part better" and go back out to play again. Well, the first two or three takes by both men were 'keepers' in Dowd's opinion, but these two were 'in the corral' now and ready to come out blazing. I remember looking over at Dowd after about the 16th take and seeing him shaking his head in his hands in disbelief. Every solo got better and better, and you could see sparks flying off the fingers of both players. My God...I witnessed a shoot-out between Eric Clapton and Duane Allman!

By now, my whole musical psyche was definitely changing. One could not hear or witness what I had and not be affected. By the end of this three week session, I was a different musician and person. The guitar took on a whole new meaning for me as did my approach to playing it. During the course of all this, "Proctor Amusement Company" had become "Game", and with Mack's blessing we were rehearsing regularly in studio A. We were teaching ourselves Dominoes tunes before the album was even released!

When the sessions were finished, the whole place was buzzing from the energy. We all anticipated a quick release with rave reviews. Much to everyone's surprise, Atlantic did not release the album for nearly 6 months, and the promotion behind it was minimal. As a result, the album initially "died on the vine". It would be a year or two before enough people really listened to the album and realize what a masterpiece it was.

Since then, there have been many re-releases of "Derek and the Dominoes", most notably, the re-mixed and re-mastered version which I don't really care for. There was a very different method of stereo panning used by Tom Dowd that would be considered far from the norm now, but worked in its own way. The remastered version was totally different. There's the infamous vinyl boxed set which includes replications of the track sheets where yours truly's signature 'block-print' is seen on many. As testament to my initial indifference, my entry into the engineer log was simply "Staff" and not my name, which to this day I sorely regret.

I still have to pinch myself when I remember what I can about my being there for what I call the greatest guitar record ever made.



Chuck Kirkpatrick has worked on numerous million selling and legendary recordings. While working as a house engineer at the now legendary Criteria Studios in Florida Chuck's impressive ‘60s and early ‘70s, historic engineering feats included a number of well-known rock artists. Chuck currently performs with the group "Rock And Roll Circus" and can be reached at ckirkp1021@aol.com.
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