Fact #166125

Al Kooper (producer/performer) : I was a Columbia producer but I had no-one to produce so I came up with that as an idea. Mike Bloomfield and I had very parallel careers at that point. We'd met at the Dylan sessions for Like A Rolling Stone, then we both were in blues bands, then we both left those bands to start horn bands, then we were both kicked out of the horn bands we'd started. It's a pretty amazing set of coincidences, so I saw that and I said, 'We should make a record together.'

At that point, I should say, I was very unhappy with the way producers had previously recorded him. He always sounded intimidated on record compared to how he sounded live. I thought he was brilliant, right up there with Hendrix. So I suggested a jam session, like jazz people do. I kinda got the idea from the Grape Jam record (by Moby Grape) which both of us had played on anyway. I figured he wouldn't feel under any pressure because he knew me so well and he wouldn't look at me like a producer.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black, October 2006.)

Harvey Brooks (bassist) : Moby Grape had the first rock jam album, also on Columbia, recorded in January/February 1968. Kooper and Bloomfield did guest spots on that album, and I think Kooper was inspired by the Moby Grape project to take it one step further, without all the extra production, and breaking it down to its simplest form. Super Session was recorded in May 1968.
(Source : https://lp.reverb.com/articles/super-session-the-classic-studio-jam-with-al-kooper-mike-bloomfield-and-stephen-stills-turns-50)


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Al Kooper (performer/producer) : I didn't have anything to do and that's why I did it. Neither did Bloomfield. We found out that our careers were amazingly parallel. In that we both played with Dylan, we were both in blues bands, and we both quit them to form horn bands [Bloomfield assembled The Electric Flag]. And we were both kicked out of our horn bands. And so it just seemed that we should come together.

It was very casual, thrown together, hastily assembled album. The thing that's important about it is that none of us were trying anything, it was just totally relaxed. We didn't have anything to prove except go in there and play music. And of course it was bigger than anything any of us had out at the time. Before that, I assume we all probably tried too hard.
(Source : unknown)

Al Kooper : The thing that's important about Super Session is that none of us was trying anything.  It was totally relaxed, and we didn't have anything to prove.  We just went in there and played music.  That was the nice thing about it.  And of course when the album came out, it was bigger than anything any of us had out at the time.

I was trying to emulate the Blue Note jazz records of the 50's in concept - put a bunch of guys that can really play in a room and let 'em jam. Make rock n' roll more of an art form, comparing it to those jazz records.
(Source : unknown)

Harvey Brooks : Al Kooper picked the tunes. I was vaguely familiar with the tunes, some more than others. We had a total of no rehearsals. Kooper and Bloomfield went over tunes in a pre-production phase, which I was not part of.
(Source : https://lp.reverb.com/articles/super-session-the-classic-studio-jam-with-al-kooper-mike-bloomfield-and-stephen-stills-turns-50)

Al Kooper : I was trying to capture him (Mike Bloomfield) the way that I knew him to be, because I was very dissatisfied with his other recordings. I felt like my mission, the best thing I could do as a producer, would be to get all this great playing out of him that I knew he had but no one had been able to document on tape.
(Source : interview in Blues Power, 1995)

Al Kooper : I lived in New York but we did that album in LA, and then unfortunately Mike left after one night. I woke up and there was a note on his pillow. It said, 'Bad insomnia. Couldn't sleep. Went home.' I had a session booked that night with the other musicians. I had to come up with somebody. This was my first project for Columbia Records so it had to be good.

So that's how Steve Stills came into it. I just called up every guitar player I knew in California. I also called Jerry Garcia and Randy California of Spirit but Steve was the one that called back.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black, October 2006.)

Harvey Brooks : As a producer, Kooper was responsible to maintain his concept. Al was on the phone all day to pull the session together, coming up with Steve Stills to replace Bloomfield. I showed up at the session and Bloomfield had become Steve Stills. I said, ‘OK,’ and got right into the next tune.

I played only with my fingers on this album. I generally don’t use a pick unless there are passages that require more speed or definition than my fingers can handle.
(Source : https://lp.reverb.com/articles/super-session-the-classic-studio-jam-with-al-kooper-mike-bloomfield-and-stephen-stills-turns-50)

Al Kooper : The only thing I regret - though it was a wise move - is I couldn’t let [Stills] sing. I hadn’t done any business on it first … he was signed to Atlantic, and this was a Columbia record, and I had no time to negotiate. I hired him for the session. And, you know, the lawyers worked it out.
(Source : interview in SoundBard, 2015)

Harvey Brooks : We needed one more tune to finish the album. I played it (Harvey's Tune) on guitar and Kooper liked it. He took [the tapes] to New York to do the overdubs, and his horn arrangement with Joey Scott made the tune come alive.
(Source : https://lp.reverb.com/articles/super-session-the-classic-studio-jam-with-al-kooper-mike-bloomfield-and-stephen-stills-turns-50)