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Dale Ockerman is an American keyboardist, guitarist and songwriter, who has worked with a variety of internationally recognized musicians since the late 1960s. He is best known for his association with the Doobie Brothers, where he was principal keyboardist and a guitarist with the reformed version of the band during the 1988–1996 period.
Prior to joining the Doobie Brothers, Ockerman had toured and co-written songs with Doobie Brothers' guitarist Patrick Simmons during the latter's solo tours. Two of his songs have been recorded by The Doobie Brothers and he appears on three of the CDs issued by the band. He also has a long-standing association with members of Moby Grape, and has contributed to the solo work of Jerry Miller and Bob Mosley. The Grape's Peter Lewis thought highly enough of 16-year-old Ockerman's talent that Lewis loaned him some of his prized guitars, a Martin D-28 and a Black Les Paul custom for a year, to further develop his playing skills. [1]
Ockerman's first professional performance was with the Quicksilver Messenger Service in 1971, when the band performed during the last weekend of Bill Graham's Fillmore West in San Francisco. After Quicksilver Messenger Service, Ockerman played with a number of California-based acts, including IAM, [2] Snail, Airtight, The Ducks, [3] Bill Champlin, Rita Coolidge, Steve Marriott, [4] Tom Johnston, [5] Michael McDonald and Coco Montoya. He also played with New Orleans musicians Zigaboo Modeliste, George Porter, The Wild Magnolias and Cyril Neville. He also recorded with many of these performers, as well as working as a session musician with Bill Champlin and Jim Keltner, including a re-recording of "Nature Boy", the 1940s number one hit for Nat King Cole, with song author, Eden Ahbez. Dale played piano, Prophet 5. guitar, melodica, and trumpet solo.
In recent years, Ockerman has been based in Santa Cruz, California, and has appeared regularly playing piano, guitar, trumpet, mandolin, and harmonica with the White Album Ensemble, [6] a group devoted to recreating Beatles music that was not performed by The Beatles in concert. The White Album Ensemble, as described by Dale Ockerman: "Since 2003, an eight to fifteen piece ensemble performing live versions of Beatles albums that the fabs themselves never performed live, beginning with Rubber Soul , through Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's , Magical Mystery Tour, The White Album, Let It Be, and Abbey Road . They use sitar, tablas, dilrhuba, tamboura, string quartets, choirs, whatever it takes to get the vibe across of the 'classics of our time'". [7] The group has played numerous concerts with the Santa Cruz County Symphony.
In 2008, members of the White Album Ensemble (Dale Ockerman, Doobie Bros bassist Tiran Porter and Stephen Krilanovich) joined Omar Spence in tribute concerts featuring the music of his late father, Moby Grape co-founder Skip Spence. The two concerts, at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz, and Don Quixote's International Music Hall in Felton, were recorded in anticipation of later 2009 release. Ockerman and Omar Spence met at Skip's memorial, where they jammed with Moby Grape. Skip was a founder and lead vocalist on the hit "Omaha". In 2012 Dale had Omar sing a few "John" songs on his latest album "What if...?" which also features ex-Doobie singer Richard Bryant as the "Paul" singer. Inspired by the success of the White Album Ensemble, Ockerman went on to form a Rolling Stones music group, the Beggar Kings, focusing strictly on the "golden age" of Stones albums, the Jimmy Miller produced Beggars Banquet , Let It Bleed , Sticky Fingers , and Exile On Main Street . The quick success of that has led to "Stones opening for Beatles" tongue-in-cheek concerts with strings, horns and choir.
Ockerman is also associated with Musicscool in Capitola, California, which was inspired by the film School of Rock. Ockerman teaches guitar, keyboards and other instruments, as well as bandcoaching, and using the school as a recording studio for two CDs. The school features a Hammond B3 organ and Leslie, once played by Booker T. Jones and Jimmy Smith, as well as a vintage Wurlitzer piano, Clavinet, and numerous guitars basses and percussion instruments.
A group of Ockerman's young guitar and keyboard students, ages 11 and up, have performed concerts in Santa Cruz as GuitArmy - an "army of guitars", performing mostly Led Zeppelin songs, replicating all song parts and overdubs, such as blending electric, acoustic, slide, and twelve string guitars, as well as piano, organ and clavinet. [8] GuitArmy features professional musicians Tiran Porter on bass and David Tucker, former (Maria Muldaur,([Tommy Castro]) drummer and Musicscool teacher) on drums. Lead vocalist James Durbin, then 19, also guested with the White Album Ensemble's "Across the Universe" concert in December 2008 and received a standing ovation for his vocal on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". Durbin was the focus of the Musicscool's Guitarmy, doing mostly ([Led Zeppelin]) songs. Next Durbin passed the audition and whizzed up to the finals, rose to #3 on American Idol in 2011. The "Homecoming concert" had American Idol calling Dale to put together a backup group for James, so Dale used the White Album Ensemble, adding horns and female vocalists. It was at 30,000 people the largest concert in Santa Cruz history. After some touring, Durbin called Ockerman from Turkey, with an idea to put GuitArmy back together, and perform a Doors / Led Zeppelin concert, which sold out (the band was all Musicscool Alumni).
Moby Grape is an American rock band founded in 1966. Part of San Francisco's psychedelic music scene, the band merged elements of rock and roll, folk music, pop, blues, and country. They were one of the few groups of which all members were lead vocalists and songwriters. The group's first incarnation ended in 1969, in part due to members Bob Mosley and Skip Spence suffering from mental illness. The group has reformed many times afterwards and continues to perform occasionally.
The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band formed in 1970 in San Jose, California, known for their flexibility in performing across numerous genres and their vocal harmonies. Active for five decades, with their greatest success during the 1970s, the group's current lineup consists of founding members Tom Johnston and Patrick Simmons, alongside Michael McDonald and John McFee, and touring musicians including John Cowan, Marc Russo (saxophones), Ed Toth (drums), and Marc Quiñones.
Cornelius Bumpus was an American woodwind, brass and keyboard player and vocalist from Santa Cruz, California.
Charles Thomas Johnston is an American musician. He is a guitarist and vocalist, known principally as a founder, guitarist, lead vocalist and songwriter for the rock group the Doobie Brothers, as well as for his own solo career. He has played off and on with the Doobie Brothers for 50 years, in several styles.
Cycles is the tenth studio album by American rock band The Doobie Brothers. The album was released on May 17, 1989, by Capitol Records.
Brotherhood is the eleventh studio album by American rock band The Doobie Brothers. The album was released on April 15, 1991, by Capitol Records. It was their second and final album for Capitol. It also marked the final appearances on a Doobie Brothers album by bassist Tiran Porter and original drummer John Hartman.
Alexander "Skip" Spence was a Canadian-born American singer-songwriter and musician. He was co-founder of Moby Grape, and played guitar with them until 1969. In the same year, he released his only solo album, Oar, and then largely withdrew from the music industry. He had started his career as a guitarist in an early line-up of Quicksilver Messenger Service, and was the drummer on Jefferson Airplane's debut album, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off. He has been described on the AllMusic website as "one of psychedelia's brightest lights"; however, his career was plagued by drug addiction coupled with mental health problems, and he has been described by a biographer as a man who "neither died young nor had a chance to find his way out."
Jerry Miller was an American songwriter, guitarist and vocalist. He performed as a solo artist and as a member of the Jerry Miller Band. He was also a founding member of the 1960s San Francisco band Moby Grape, which continues to perform occasionally. Rolling Stone included Miller at number 68 on their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time and Moby Grape's album Moby Grape at number 124 from listed 500 greatest albums of all time. Miller's longtime guitar was a Gibson L-5 CES Florentine guitar which he called "Beulah".
John McFee is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist, and long-time member of The Doobie Brothers.
Tiran Calvin Porter is an American bass and guitar player, vocalist and composer, best known as a member of The Doobie Brothers from 1972 to 1980 and 1987 to 1992.
Wow/Grape Jam is the second album by the rock band Moby Grape. It was first released in April 1968. It is different from most double album releases in that it was released as two different albums in separate covers, but packaged together and sold for only one dollar more than price of a single LP.
20 Granite Creek is the rock band Moby Grape's fifth album. After recording their last album for Columbia Records, Truly Fine Citizen, the band went on hiatus until 1971 when they reunited with Skip Spence and Bob Mosley and recorded this reunion album for Reprise Records; their only album for the label. David Rubinson, who produced most of the band's Columbia albums, was back as producer here, as well as serving as the band's manager.. The album title refers to an address near Santa Cruz, CA but there is no record that any band member ever lived there. The rights to this album are now owned by the band after previous manager, Matthew Katz, lost them when the band successfully sued him in 2007.
First Pull Up, Then Pull Down is the second album by Hot Tuna, released in 1971 as RCA Victor LSP-4550. The album was recorded live with electric instruments, instead of the acoustic instruments used on the previous album, Hot Tuna. The album rose to No. 43 on the Billboard charts. In 1996, RCA released the CD box set Hot Tuna in a Can, which included a remastered version of this album, along with remasters of the albums Hot Tuna, Burgers, America's Choice and Hoppkorv. In Canada, the album reached No. 30 in the RPM Magazine charts where it was shown as Hot Tuna Electric Recorded Live.
Peter Charles Lewis is one of the founding members of the band Moby Grape. Three of his better known songs with Moby Grape are "Fall on You" and "Sitting by the Window" from the self-titled first Moby Grape album and "If You Can't Learn from My Mistakes" from Moby Grape '69.
Don Stevenson is the American drummer and a singer and songwriter for Moby Grape, a band which was formed in San Francisco in 1966 and continues to perform occasionally today.
Live Grape is a 1978 album by Moby Grape, released by Escape Records, of live performances of the band at two venues in California, the Shady Grove in San Francisco and the Inn of the Beginning in Cotati.
Michael Kenneth Been was an American rock musician who achieved critical attention and rotation play on MTV in the 1980s with his band The Call. He later released an album of his solo work and toured with his son's band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. His song "Let the Day Begin" was the official campaign song of Al Gore's 2000 U.S. presidential campaign. His song "Oklahoma" was one of the top ten choices for Oklahoma's official state rock song and a line from the song provided the name for Another Hot Oklahoma Night: A Rock & Roll Exhibit at the Oklahoma History Center.
Snail is an American rock band best known for their Billboard charting single, The Joker. They toured nationally and shared the stage with Santana, Thin Lizzy, Sammy Hagar, Taj Mahal, and Iron Butterfly, as well as touring with Styx and The Doobie Brothers, among others. In 1978, the group performed on American Bandstand. The band has had various members but original members Bob O'Neill and Ken Kraft have remained throughout the band's history.
"Rockin' Down the Highway" is a song written by Tom Johnston that was first released by the American rock band the Doobie Brothers on their second studio album Toulouse Street (1972). It was also released as the B-side to the album's second single "Jesus Is Just Alright" on November 15, 1972.
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