Bravo Skunk🎸《☆》Making due with a $25 guitar in a pinch👍🏾😁🍺Guitar Center wasn't heard of here in Jax Florida until around 2001 when the Franchise opened 3 outlets here. George's Music was the biggest Guitar store up to that point. I Love Guitar Center in spite of what its existence did to the ol Mom & Pop music stores✌🏼😎☯️
I love listening to skunk tell of his experiences on different artists he's worked with that made the song a classic . I'm 59year old and listened to the Doobies as a teen and still do and and so does do my daughters and grandkids. I have an album, Cds and cassettes collection of music from Jazz, Classic Rock, Disco, Classical and Classic County . I love your interviews because you let the artist tell their stories without any interruptions. Thank you.👍
I love this!! I've always been a huge fan of Jeff "Skunk" Baxter. Hey plays like nobody else which is an understatement at best. More than once in my career, I've had the distinct pleasure and honor of being called to sub on some live date, and found out afterwards I was replacing the irreplaceable Jeff "Skunk" Baxter!! The first time was at the infamous China Club in Hollywood before the Feds shut it down. Jeff showed up halfway through the gig and introduced himself to me on a break!! What an awesome night!! Thanks again, John.
Skunk "I want you to do what you do". What a statement to make. This mans talents are so far reaching it boggles the mind. He was and still is into so much. He also has a career in National Defense matters. We owe him a debt of gratitude on both accounts. Rock on Skunk rock on...
Skunk Baxter has endless, interesting stories. Guitarist James Vincent was also experimenting with the guitar synthesizer on his albums for CBS/Caribou in 1976-77.
Jeff Baxter is one of the most interesting people in modern music... If not THE most interesting. He's worked with everyone, and there seems to be nothing he cannot do and do well. What a remarkable and enjoyable man. I'm really looking forward to more of Jeff!
Worked with everyone, including the Defense Dept. Very few musicians double as defense technology consultants, but Jeff has done just that. Impressive range of ability.
I was playing these Donna Summer songs in bar bands when they were on the charts. She's not as disco as history makes her out to be, growing up singing in rock bands. This interview proves that.
I met my guitar hero after playing mine for 50 years at Sweetwater. He is a genius at everything he does and a fantastic friendly guy. So lucky I got to meet him and tell him I consider him the best player I've ever heard.
Intresting guy skunk is..Saw him at the Iridium back in June 2022,class act great band musical night every one in the band knew there part.very tight,much appreciated that night .Thanks Mr.skunk baxter.That opening tune you played Scottish blew me away.
What is really fun is I went and listened to a few Donna Summer songs and said I’ll be damned that is Jeff playing on those records…there’s nothing this dude can’t play and make it sound awesome….👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
This is one of my favorite i/v's of all time. I love Skunk. I love Giorgio Moroder. I love finding great cheap gear. I had no idea Moroder used Skunk or Skunk was playing on disco records in the late 70s. I have to research his back work. This is amazing.! Thanks!!!!!
Got to meet him at one of my shows, he thanked me after we played a Steely dan song. I was stunned. We had a nice long conversation at the break. A wonderful guy and fantastic treasure.
no one gives burns the credit they should get for creating some really good solid guitars with great pickups that sound amazing i have a Marvin and i also have another sleeper a ovation viper from the seventies that is beautifully made and has a lovely sound , a guitar i first saw on a Glenn Campbell tv show in the UK i also have a framus Nashville which again is weird and wonderful which i bought when i9 meet peter green and asked him what was the favorite guitars he had over the years and he said that was top two!!
Love these stories, thank you so much for this. To all my fellow guitar players, this is more proof, it’s the player, then the amp, then the guitar. Although there has only ever been one skunk.
Had the great pleasure of spending an evening at Jeffs house with Dr. Robert Sherman Wolfe, my best friend. Jeff was incredibly warm, generous and gracious. I love his work. Sadly, Dr. Wolfe or Wolfie as we called him suffered a Hypoxic Insult to the brain due to sleep apnea and though he remained alive, was never himself again. What a treasure they both were/are to humanity.
Had to pull up Hot Stuff and give it a listen. It sounds like a 25 dollar guitar. Fortunately, that sound is perfect for the song and of course he plays it wonderfully.
25 dollar guitar is a bit misleading… Burns were kinda like the British Fender, very well made guitars. The Baby Bison was a lower mid range model, so maybe equivalent to a Fender Mustang or something.
Another thing is that I've heard people muse about what fuzz might have been used on Hot Chocolate's Every 1's a Winner, and as it turns out that too was played on the first incarnation of the Roland guitar synthesizer.
"Hot Stuff" is one of the greatest records in history, and Jeff Baxter's guitar solo on that record is one of the greatest solos ever. He should have received a songwriting credit for how much he added to that song.
@glenk While it is certainly true that the player is more important than the tools the Burns guitar was far from a cheap piece of junk as it was simply a British guitar that wasn't all that wasn't necessarily well known to people in the U.S. so it was ridiculously undervalued at $25. The original price of the Burns wasn't all that much less than a Strat and the quality was comparible.
Donna Summers voice was ear candy and instantly recognizable! She was absolutely underrated in the musicians world because of the disco genre she helped define. She was so much more than the type of music she was known for. She was a truly unique talent that can never be replaced.
I'm a blues, rock ,fusion man but I did like Donna summers music she's was a good looking gal I'm a 68 year young white dude drummer singer and still like Diana Ross also
I have an eclectic taste in music. on my spotify playlist is every thing from ABBA to ZZTop and a ton of everything in between! Donna Summers is one of favorites.
I've bought several Gibson's like a j45 accostic and a 1949 es 125 for 100 bucks each they sound great and are worth 3 to 4 grand apiece now so never sell your old equipment I got a 100 buck Korean fender strat that plays and sounds just as good as my USA strats I've got a few epiphones that are out standing playing n sounding guitars also no look at Mitchel guitars they are making some great guitars like the sd 150 n 450 wow
Skunk is an amazing player. I think he forgot that Pink Floyds "Dark Side of The Moon", which started recording in May 31st of 1972 had a guitar synthesizer on it that David Gilmore played and recorded with on "Any Colour You Like".
JB industry secret under the radar talent,deserves to be put in The Rock and Roll of Fame, musicians Hall of Fame in Nashville,with that $25.00 guitar on display! Jeff worked with government on radar! That's another chapter of J.B!
My favorite guitar cost me $100. The others are retired. The guitar business is the most fickle industry there is. But you will never go wrong by selling "On the Spot" work horse guitars.
I love Jeff's gravitas and honesty. He is one of the greats.
Skunk is one of the most underrated guitarists out there. Plus, an extremely intelligent man.
A highly regarded military consultant from what I understand.
Underrated by people who don't listen to Steely Dan, maybe...
@@hyacinthlynch843 depends on who you ask lol
Who on God's green earth underrated Skunk?? That dude is a legend!! A brilliant guitarist
Not to mention the Doobie Bros
Bravo Skunk🎸《☆》Making due with a $25 guitar in a pinch👍🏾😁🍺Guitar Center wasn't heard of here in Jax Florida until around 2001 when the Franchise opened 3 outlets here. George's Music was the biggest Guitar store up to that point. I Love Guitar Center in spite of what its existence did to the ol Mom & Pop music stores✌🏼😎☯️
Awesome storyteller. I'm a huge fan of Skunk, never knew he played on Donna Summer records. I only knew him from Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers.
I love listening to skunk tell of his experiences on different artists he's worked with that made the song a classic . I'm 59year old and listened to the Doobies as a teen and still do and and so does do my daughters and grandkids. I have an album, Cds and cassettes collection of music from Jazz, Classic Rock, Disco, Classical and Classic County . I love your interviews because you let the artist tell their stories without any interruptions. Thank you.👍
I love this!! I've always been a huge fan of Jeff "Skunk" Baxter. Hey plays like nobody else which is an understatement at best. More than once in my career, I've had the distinct pleasure and honor of being called to sub on some live date, and found out afterwards I was replacing the irreplaceable Jeff "Skunk" Baxter!! The first time was at the infamous China Club in Hollywood before the Feds shut it down. Jeff showed up halfway through the gig and introduced himself to me on a break!! What an awesome night!! Thanks again, John.
My uncle is Melvin Ragin aka Wah Wah Watson and played on several 70’s hits!!!!!! RIP!!!
Skunk "I want you to do what you do". What a statement to make. This mans talents are so far reaching it boggles the mind. He was and still is into so much. He also has a career in National Defense matters. We owe him a debt of gratitude on both accounts. Rock on Skunk rock on...
This is the best story I've ever heard. Love the Doobies, love Donna Summer, love Giorgio Moroder!
J when you said that about Donna Summer incredible voice incredible time we were in we were so lucky that we happen to be in that time
Skunk Baxter has endless, interesting stories. Guitarist James Vincent was also experimenting with the guitar synthesizer on his albums for CBS/Caribou in 1976-77.
I can sit down with this man and hear his stories all day…
Aside from being a great guitarist, he’s an excellent storyteller and great human being…
Jeff Baxter is one of the most interesting people in modern music... If not THE most interesting. He's worked with everyone, and there seems to be nothing he cannot do and do well. What a remarkable and enjoyable man. I'm really looking forward to more of Jeff!
Worked with everyone, including the Defense Dept. Very few musicians double as defense technology consultants, but Jeff has done just that. Impressive range of ability.
I’m
I had no idea he did the Donna summers tracks. This blows my mind
Raw talent when you can just grab a guitar and own it. It all depends whose hands it's in. Nothing but God-given talent....
These guys back then were having way too much fun. I wonder how much "nose-candy" was consumed during those sessions.😎
"Toot-Toot...Beep Beep"
😃
I was playing these Donna Summer songs in bar bands when they were on the charts.
She's not as disco as history makes her out to be, growing up singing in rock bands.
This interview proves that.
I met my guitar hero after playing mine for 50 years at Sweetwater. He is a genius at everything he does and a fantastic friendly guy. So lucky I got to meet him and tell him I consider him the best player I've ever heard.
Boy those solos on "Hot Stuff" and "Bad Girls" are bananas in an awesome way! Mr Skunk putting the stink on it!
Intresting guy skunk is..Saw him at the Iridium back in June 2022,class act great band musical night every one in the band knew there part.very tight,much appreciated that night .Thanks Mr.skunk baxter.That opening tune you played Scottish blew me away.
I have that on 8 track. His work helped start me start my musicianship
I met Jeff in Hollywood out in front of the Rainbow Room. Great guy, very friendly. We talked guitars and he was very encouraging. ✌️😎🎸🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶
What is really fun is I went and listened to a few Donna Summer songs and said I’ll be damned that is Jeff playing on those records…there’s nothing this dude can’t play and make it sound awesome….👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
This is one of my favorite i/v's of all time. I love Skunk. I love Giorgio Moroder. I love finding great cheap gear. I had no idea Moroder used Skunk or Skunk was playing on disco records in the late 70s. I have to research his back work. This is amazing.! Thanks!!!!!
Skunk is one of my Living Heroes !!! What a career >> Thanx Ya'll >>>> J D
Not a disco fan but always liked Donna Summer. Bought Skunk’s album. 🙂👍⭐️🏴
Man, as a old rocker i always liked Donna Summer for this reason. Skunk makes everything better.
Got to meet him at one of my shows, he thanked me after we played a Steely dan song. I was stunned. We had a nice long conversation at the break. A wonderful guy and fantastic treasure.
Killington Jeff, Fran and Johnny A were there too.
no one gives burns the credit they should get for creating some really good solid guitars with great pickups that sound amazing
i have a Marvin and
i also have another sleeper a ovation viper from the seventies that is beautifully made and has a lovely sound , a guitar i first saw on a Glenn Campbell tv show in the UK
i also have a framus Nashville which again is weird and wonderful which i bought when i9 meet peter green and asked him what was the favorite guitars he had over the years and he said that was top two!!
Love these stories, thank you so much for this. To all my fellow guitar players, this is more proof, it’s the player, then the amp, then the guitar. Although there has only ever been one skunk.
Love to hear these stories from musicians who moulded the music I love.
lol very cool story, skunk baxter, Donna summer those were the days and my time now at 62 yrs old
Had the great pleasure of spending an evening at Jeffs house with Dr. Robert Sherman Wolfe, my best friend. Jeff was incredibly warm, generous and gracious. I love his work. Sadly, Dr. Wolfe or Wolfie as we called him suffered a Hypoxic Insult to the brain due to sleep apnea and though he remained alive, was never himself again. What a treasure they both were/are to humanity.
When Skunk was younger he used to be crazy on stage, cray cray baby.
Great stuff.....I was skate guard back in those days.... Remember those songs....
As a kid obsessed with playing guitar when Hot Stuff came out on the radio it was the coolest guitar solo going I had ever heard up to that point.
The stories this guy can tell. Thanks for sharing!
just goes to show that a 25 dollar guitar in the hands of skunk baxter sounds just as good has 5000 dollar guitar.
Jeff tells about this in his 1980 Guitar Player magazine interview! Of course, he can mod / hot rod a guitar because of his electronics wizardry too!
Had to pull up Hot Stuff and give it a listen. It sounds like a 25 dollar guitar. Fortunately, that sound is perfect for the song and of course he plays it wonderfully.
It was missing a piece no name . Probably worth 350 $ but nobody wanted to mess with it
25 dollar guitar is a bit misleading… Burns were kinda like the British Fender, very well made guitars. The Baby Bison was a lower mid range model, so maybe equivalent to a Fender Mustang or something.
Another thing is that I've heard people muse about what fuzz might have been used on Hot Chocolate's Every 1's a Winner, and as it turns out that too was played on the first incarnation of the Roland guitar synthesizer.
Such a nice man. I met him several years ago at CES in Las Vegas.
It may have been disco, but boy did Hot Stuff rock as hard as anything that year.
"Hot Stuff" is one of the greatest records in history, and Jeff Baxter's guitar solo on that record is one of the greatest solos ever. He should have received a songwriting credit for how much he added to that song.
$25.00 inspiration. I dig it.
It's not the tools, it's the carpenter.
Jeff covers this in more detail in his 1980 Guitar Player interview!
@glenk While it is certainly true that the player is more important than the tools the Burns guitar was far from a cheap piece of junk as it was simply a British guitar that wasn't all that wasn't necessarily well known to people in the U.S. so it was ridiculously undervalued at $25. The original price of the Burns wasn't all that much less than a Strat and the quality was comparible.
I was always into Rock, never into Disco, but I, too, loved me some Donna Summer.
Timo Laine's guitar-synth showcase "Symphonic Slam" was released three years prior in '76
That ilk (0:24)? Nothing wrong with Disco. It was fun music. I'll take that over most of today's stuff...
It’s dance music; not listening music. It works if you’re dancing. That’s the mistake most people seem to make about disco.
I hated disco, but Donna Summer was special!!!
And Skunk was CERTAINLY pivotal in many areas of the music business back then!!!😎👍
Thanks and Blessings John, this is so kooooool....
59 now heard Skunk way back on Ricci glad as time goes on I learned to realise how great he is of a guitar player.
Donna was a good singer.
Dad Rocked, but mom played Donna Summer … Steely Dan too, actually.
Donna Summers voice was ear candy and instantly recognizable! She was absolutely underrated in the musicians world because of the disco genre she helped define. She was so much more than the type of music she was known for. She was a truly unique talent that can never be replaced.
There ya go. Keep the gear simple, and practice.
those roland guitar synthesizers are neat. the one i got is gr-55.
Mannn....you always get the good stuff. 🙂 Love Skunk and loved Donna Summer. Fantastic history here.
Skunk is a guitar GOD!! And, he knows a shit-ton about missile guidance systems. He and Dr. Brian May should form a band.
Jeff’s Hot Stuff guitar solo is UFB!!
Skunk is great. I love his work with Steely Dan but thats a small part of his accomplishments. Down to earth guy that lived it all.
Loved the 25 dollar guitar story ! Skunk is one of the greatest guitar player !
I'm a blues, rock ,fusion man but I did like Donna summers music she's was a good looking gal I'm a 68 year young white dude drummer singer and still like Diana Ross also
I have an eclectic taste in music. on my spotify playlist is every thing from ABBA to ZZTop and a ton of everything in between! Donna Summers is one of favorites.
My Mom loved Disco and my Dad couldn't stand it. I kind of remember it being popular.
I've bought several Gibson's like a j45 accostic and a 1949 es 125 for 100 bucks each they sound great and are worth 3 to 4 grand apiece now so never sell your old equipment I got a 100 buck Korean fender strat that plays and sounds just as good as my USA strats I've got a few epiphones that are out standing playing n sounding guitars also no look at Mitchel guitars they are making some great guitars like the sd 150 n 450 wow
That one gibson tunner made all the difference
Plus Skunk can really sit on a stool good!!
Saw him in concert last year👍
Skunk is an amazing player. I think he forgot that Pink Floyds "Dark Side of The Moon", which started recording in May 31st of 1972 had a guitar synthesizer on it that David Gilmore played and recorded with on "Any Colour You Like".
The Skunk was a pioneer of Roland guitar synth technology 😮 who knew? I love my gr55 guitar synth.....nothing else like it
Riki dont lose that number !!!
Those burns go for more than that nowadays. The great Hank Marvin used one for years in the 60s
The Burn's Bisons have just quadrupled in value :-)
I have a like new Roland GR500 guitar synth. It’s a very fascinating, and curiously limited piece of technology. It’s got tons of character.
The "Hot Stuff" solo is one of the most underrated and amazing solos ever!
JB industry secret under the radar talent,deserves to be put in The Rock and Roll of Fame, musicians Hall of Fame in Nashville,with that $25.00 guitar on display! Jeff worked with government on radar! That's another chapter of J.B!
First guitar synth was likely actually on Larry Fast’s Synergy album, Cords, in 1978. It was also a prototype, developed by Russ Hamm.
If Skunk ever wants to double his money on that Bison... I would be happy to take it off his hands.
My favorite guitar cost me $100. The others are retired. The guitar business is the most fickle industry there is. But you will never go wrong by selling "On the Spot" work horse guitars.
Yeah he did a lil work for D.O.D also making timing and guidance systems for ballistic missles.
I love that guitar.
When the interviewer said "Donna Summer", I would've been rollin' on the floor if Jeff baxter would've said "Edgar Winter!" 😄
Very cool video never knew Skunk played on Hot Stuff. What Bruce is he refferring to?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Sudano
Hornsby maybe. Was wondering to.
He’s talking about Bruce Sudano, famous songwriter and former husband of Donna Summer
Great video - btw, what is the musical piece that you closed out with starting at 6:38? Thanks, love your work!
Ive got a burns bison and its great and everyone who trys it loves it 😊😊
Just incredible👍👍👍
Dude can make a hello kitty guitar sound good
Donna Summer, Chic and the Bee Gees are definitely monsters.
love the interviews
the internet is amazing, i never knew this before
It’s NOT the guitar that makes the player, it’s the players hands that makes the sound come alive
Skunk Baxter and Waddy Wachtel are two of the most under-rated guitarists of Old School Rock & Roll...
Brilliant stuff John 🔥🔥🎸🎸
Hello Jeff, from MMS
Reverb has a 1966 Burns Baby Bison guitar that looks exactly like Skunk's for sale for $2100. My how times change.
Skunk is the MAN :)
Great, now I have to listen to a Donna Summers record. lol
Got a studio of Jim Burns era Burns guitars, Brian May pointed me in that direction
I had a Burns Black Bison in 1964!
I think the first guitar/synth was The Who's "Goin' Mobile"
"If" by Bread had a guitar synth in 1971.
Oh, the Burns Bison might have been a deal... But that's a seriously cool guitar.
Junior Walker and the all Stars and many other bands, especially R&B, used Harmony and other inexpensive instruments.