The Dallas Sessions
[ STEVE HOUGHTON ]
Due to the pandemic and my retirement from Indiana University last May, I found myself with lots of time on my hands. I started organizing my music room and found a large stack of old reel to reel master tapes. Upon investigation, it was clear that they were indeed the masters from the Dallas Sessions with Lyle and our band, High Rise back in 1978.
From L to R: Pete Brewer, Larry White, Lou Fischer, Pat Coil, Steve Houghton, Ron Snider
Thinking that they would not even play, being 42 years old, I was about to throw them out. However, I called my friend Mark Hood, a great engineer and asked if they could be saved. He mentioned a rather tedious, complex process of baking the tapes in order for them to regain their strength and composition, with the goal of getting them digitized. He jumped at the challenge and after much work on his part, we have four amazing Lyle tunes! I know you will enjoy the great music of our friend, assisted by some great musicians who happen to be some of my best friends, to this day.
A brief back story:
After getting off the road with Woody Herman, I eventually made my way down to Dallas, TX. in 1977. I was extremely fortunate to have a nice living and playing situation in Dallas, able to work almost every day with my good pals, who were either Woody Herman or North Texas alums. We spent most days in the studio, recording jingles and then 3-4 nights a week working with various bands. Our jazz fusion band at the time, High Rise was a very popular group, comprised of the following players:
Pete Brewer – Woodwinds
Pat Coil – Keyboards
Larry White – Pedal steel guitar
Ron Snider – Percussion
Lou Fischer – Electric and acoustic bass
Steve Houghton - Drums
Due to the fact that we all worked quite a bit in the Dallas studios, we were able to secure some free studio time. I called Lyle who was living on the East Coast and asked him if he wanted to come down to play and record? He said yes! He brought a pile of new music and asked that we invite Marc Johnson to join us. The results were spectacular, providing a musical peak of what was to come.
The Dallas Sessions, unearthed “Mars,” which later became “Close to Home,” “Cross The Heartland,” “New England Housewares,” and “Long Life.” Lyle utilized our band’s unique instrumentation, which provided him a wide sound palette. Interestingly, most of this music continued to evolve into Lyle’s recordings over the years. We were proud to be a small part of this process.
Sadly, Larry White and Ron Snider both passed away November 2020, within a week of each other. Larry and Ron were two of the greatest human beings and musicians on this earth. R.I.P. guys. We hear you!
Mars - It’s simply one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard and Lyle’s mastery of the studio was in full display. His piano ostinato set the mystical mood and then we heard his Oberheim sounds emerge, from below and above. The simple melody is one that I never forgot, all of these years later. This song has everything and the guys played beautifully. Awesome!
Cross The Heartland - This tune featured Ron playing tablas and cimbalom (Hungarian dulcimer) in the beginning, creating a wonderful sound and feel. Pete and Larry go for a great ride on the out vamp. I’ve never heard steel guitar played in that manner.
New England Housewares - All I remember about this one is Lyle telling us to ”go for it!”
Part 1 - The band just moved between harmonies, shifting whenever Lyle nodded. You hear Lou and I just reacting to Lyle’s blowing, sometimes in time, often times not. In my view, Lyle doesn’t really “rip it” in most of his recordings, but he did here. Underneath you hear and feel Pete’s bass clarinet, Marc’s bowed bass tremolos, Larry’s steel, and Pat’s synth work, building to a great resolution.
Part 2 - This starts abruptly, with a rather heroic melody with Larry and Pete creating a unique sounding melodic voice, eventually transitioning to a “Jack Johnson-ish” shuffle to take us out. Lyle loved this bluesy shuffle feel and his comping reflects his joy.
Long Life - On this original version, Marc Johnson played the hauntingly beautiful melody on bowed bass, which was stunning and heartfelt. I remember the playback being very emotional as is Lyle’s solo version.
“Tape baking” by Mark Hood
Beginning in the mid 1980s, recording engineers noticed that some types of magnetic tape used for audio recording were beginning to get “sticky.” Successive layers of tape on a reel would adhere to one another and the tape would also adhere to all of the guides and heads it came into contact with on the tape recorder. The tape would actually “shed” some of its magnetic coating as it stuck to these surfaces, clogging the heads and the mechanisms and losing some of its valuable audio information in the process. Many tapes became so sticky that they would not play at all.
It is now evident that almost all magnetic audio tape used from the late 1960s up to the 21st century is suffering from this “sticky shed syndrome,” and the problem becomes worse with time, even when the tape is stored under ideal conditions. The precious audio on the tape remains stored in the magnetic coating of the tape, but attempts to play the tape may prove impossible and permanently damage or obliterate the content.
It was discovered that “sticky shed syndrome” (also called “binder hydrolysis”) is caused by a chemical reaction triggered by moisture in the air which causes the binder (the “glue” that holds the magnetic particles to the plastic tape base layer) to degrade and become soft and gooey. Amazingly, engineers discovered that this process can be temporarily reversed by careful “baking” of the tape in a scientific incubator, convection oven or even a good food dehydrator!
The tape is “baked” at a temperature of 120 – 130 degrees Fahrenheit for a period of 4 to 24 hours, depending on the tape type, the tape width and the severity of the sticky shed problem. This baking process appears to reverse the softening of the binder sufficiently that the tape can often be played back successfully and its contents recovered and preserved digitally. The positive effects of the baking appear to last as long as 30 days, but the tape usually reverts back to its “sticky” condition with time.