Traffic drummer Jim Capaldi dead at 60

CNN ^ | Jan 28th, 2005

[missyme]

Legendary rock drummer and Hall of Fame inductee Jim Capaldi died on Friday after a brief fight with stomach cancer, his publicist said.

The 60-year-old Capaldi, born in England of Italian immigrant parents, died in his sleep at the London Clinic in the early hours with his wife and family at his bedside.

Capaldi, whose driving rock rhythms and songwriting ability helped make groundbreaking band Traffic a household name in the 1960s and '70s with -- among others -- Steve Winwood and Dave Mason -- also had an illustrious solo career.

[eddie willers]

Traffic will never be forgotten just for the first side of "John Barleycorn Must Die" alone:

Yep....that and side two of "Abbey Road" are darn near perfect.

[wardaddy]

I drive by Roan Mt about 5-7 times a year. My aunt's cabin on the back side of Beech looks across the valley to Roan.

Our place is at Hound Ears...about 2 miles east of Grandfather.

[JCEccles]

Comparing Capaldi's chops to Baker and Appice isn't fair. But Jim's songwriting compares well. I'll be 41 in March; "Low Spark"

"We were children once, playing with toys . . ."

What a great, great song. Capaldi did what he had to do, and he always did it tastefully and well.

I just went to ITunes and pulled down "Low Spark." This is probably the first time in 25 years I have listened to it. The percussion is understated, nuanced and complex. There is a lot of white space in the song, and that only serves to emphasize the soft jazz swing, notes, and beats from the various instruments.

[BobS]

"Welcome to the Canteen, probably Traffic's best work"

It was their best because it wasn't planned or scripted. It just flowed along until it was captured.

[BobS]

Maybe it's time to get s-faced again for me. For You- listen to 'Dear Mr. Fantasy' very closely. Those words had meanings.

I will mourn his passing tonight. I will go about life tomorrow. I have no other choice. We have no other choice.

[wolficatZ]

Rest in peace brother.

I don't have any Traffic in my collection, but they created some darn good music.

I'm going to listen to Band of Gypsies right now in rememberance.. (?!)

[BobS]

Just came back here. The 'Dear Mr. Fantasy' version from "Welcome to the Canteen" had everyone's heart into it.

Play for God, now, Jim Capaldi, and do it excellently. Because when I get there, I want to be close to the stage. Not like the last time.

[dennisw]

It's an odd record!

[dennisw]

JIMI HENDRIX AND TRAFFIC - A SESSION

Contains a jam session with Jimi Hendrix and the members of Traffic.

From the bootleg CD, Jimi Hendrix & Traffic: A Session (CD, Oh Boy 1-9027, Luxembourg).

A purely instrumental affair, alternately dated as 1968 or 1970, this studio material is among the most intriguing unreleased pieces of either performer. The lineup is listed as Jimi Hendrix (guitar), Steve Winwood (piano), Chris Wood (flute), Rick Grech (bass), and Jim Capaldi (drums), but the actual lineup of these recordings is uncertain. Only Hendrix is identifiable with certainty. The overall sound resembles Traffic, and the piano and flute parts seem particularly recognizable as Steve and Chris, respectively.

[dennisw]

Dave Mason Statement About Death of Jim Capaldi

by Paul Cashmere

29 January 2005

Traffic co-founder Dave Mason today issued a statement following the death of his 60s band-mate Jim Capaldi.

Mason commented, "I was really saddened when I heard about Jim. I had been hoping that we would have the chance to do one last Traffic tour together before we all checked out. Jim was a great inspiration on so many Traffic songs, he was a tremendous songwriter."

"I'd known Jim since we were fifteen years old. We lived close by each other in Worcestershire. He had bands, I had bands, and we gravitated towards working together. We had the opportunity to make a significant contribution to the music business when we formed Traffic along with Chris Wood and Steve Winwood. Jim was a great collaborator and a great friend. I'll miss his lyrics, and his humor, he always had great jokes. I know we'll all miss him dearly."

Traffic were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year.

Capaldi was diagnosed with cancer a few months later.

He died in London today, at the age of 60.

Jim Capaldi

[Clemenza]

Sad about Mr. Capaldi's death, but Traffic still s-cked. Dave Mason was an OK solo act, however.

As for Winwood, his white-boy wannabe Ray Charles schtick never worked for me. His solo career coincided with the whole ThirtySomething era for me and s-cked.

[wolficatZ]

Wow, denissw, I'd love to hear that open sometime.

[AppyPappy]

We looked at buying a place on the backside of Beech. That's a great place to spend the summer.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Willikers! Don't you know better than to tease a obsessive music collector/fanboy like me with that sort of thing?!?!? I can't rest now until I find a copy.

[cardinal4]

"Staring at empty pages...."

[dennisw]

Somewhere in my mind vault I knew that Chris Wood had played (jammed) with Jimi Hendrix so I found this via google. Do some more research and maybe there are better recordings of this awesome summit meeting

[dennisw]

Dittos there on Low Spark. Chris Wood's sax shines there. He died of liver failure ~12 years ago. Alcohol as far as I could tell. His flute was a brilliant choice to bring to the group and brightened up all Traffic recordings.

[dmz]

doh!

of course you are correct.

[LS]

I've seen some stuff. Our band opened for Steppenwolf, James Gang, Mother's Finest; I men Greg Allman, Jim McGuinn, Lou Rawls, Betty White, Jim McCarty (of Mitch Ryder), Groucho Marx (!), all because of the band. My good friend from high school had his brain destroyed by LSD---a fantastic singer who should have been one of the greats, but is basically homeless. Another incredible talent who appeared on the short-lived "Howard Cosell Show" had his mind destroyed by pot. It's true, you can get addicted to pot---this guy was a case in point.

So, no, I never got the Dead.

[thombo]

"Gosh if a teenager wants a classy but current album for a gift,what to get em"?There's not a lot of selection out there.Had one of our engineers(mid 20's) at work copy Zep/"How the West Was Won". Told me cd was "awesome dude".IMO R+R peaked in early to mid 70's,and hasn't been the same since then.