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Bill Szymczyk

January 06, 2023

William Frank Szymczyk (/ˈsɪmzɪk/; born February 13, 1943) is an American music producer and technical engineer best known for working with rock and blues musicians, most notably the Eagles in the 1970s. He produced many top albums and singles of the 1970s, though–aside from continuing to work with Joe Walsh–he retired from the music business by 1990. He re-emerged in the late 2000s, taking on select projects including the 2007 Eagles album Long Road Out of Eden and the 2008 eponymous debut of Brian Vander Ark.

Bill Szymczyk
Szymczyk in 2014
Background information
Birth nameWilliam Frank Szymczyk
Born (1943-02-13) February 13, 1943 (age 79)
OriginMuskegon, Michigan, United States
GenresRock
Occupation(s)Producer, engineer
Years active1967–present
LabelsABC Records, Tumbleweed Records

Unlike many music producers, Szymczyk has no background as a musician. He was originally a sonar operator for the U.S. Navy and took some audio production classes as part of his Navy training. Besides his work with the Eagles, he has produced hit songs and albums for such diverse artists as B.B. King, Joe Walsh, The James Gang, and Elvin Bishop.

Early life

Bill Szymczyk was born in Muskegon, Michigan on February 13, 1943.[1] His mother worked as a nurse, and his father held several jobs, including factory worker and maintenance at a school.[2] Growing up, his first introduction to music and electronics was when he built his own crystal radio from a kit. Using his radio, he became a fan of blues and R&B while listening to a station out of Nashville, Tennessee.[3]

He joined the United States Navy in 1960, where he worked as a sonar technician. It was in the Navy that he took his first course in radio and television production. Upon leaving the service in 1964, and without much of an idea of what to do for a post-military career, he enrolled at New York University's Media Arts School.[3]

Professional career

Szymczyk began working at a firm which produced demo recordings for Screen Gems Records and worked extensively with Brill Building songwriters such as Carole King and Gerry Goffin. He also worked as an assistant to music producers and songwriters Quincy Jones and Jerry Ragovoy, eventually working his way up to chief engineer at Ragavoy's Hit Factory recording studio in New York City.[4] His first work as the primary producer on an album came for a Harvey Brooks solo record.[5] He dropped out of NYU to work full-time in the music industry.[3]

He left the Hit Factory and took a job at ABC Records, taking a large pay cut in exchange for the opportunity to move from engineer to producer.[3] He successfully lobbied ABC to let him work with B. B. King, whose own record label was a subsidiary of ABC and who was a long time idol of Szymczyk's. After Szymczyk convinced King that he could improve his sound to make him more appealing to a wider audience, King himself agreed to let Szymczyk produce for him.[4] Among the albums he produced for King are the 1969 live album Live & Well, King's first ever top-100 album. He produced his follow-up studio album Completely Well, which featured "The Thrill Is Gone", the biggest hit of King's career and his signature song. He would continue to produce blues albums throughout the early 1970s for the likes of King and Albert Collins.[5]

Szymczyk was moved several times while working for ABC Records; first to Los Angeles when ABC acquired Dunhill Records and Szymczyk took over production for the West Coast operations, and later to Denver when he decided to form his own label, Tumbleweed Records. He worked for a while as a disc jockey at radio station KFML, and continued to produce albums in New York and Los Angeles, such as the J. Geils Band's 1971 album The Morning After, recorded at the Los Angeles Record Plant. He did extensive work at the Colorado studio Caribou Ranch.

After producing the James Gang's first three albums, he followed singer-guitarist Joe Walsh when he left the band, first as a solo artist with the Szymczyk-produced albums Barnstorm (the first recorded at the Caribou Ranch studio) and The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get and later with the Eagles. His most prolific collaborations have been with Walsh; the two have made over 15 albums together in many settings. Walsh himself moved to Boulder, Colorado in 1971 in order to work with Szymczyk and the location would inspire one of Walsh's biggest solo hits, 1973's "Rocky Mountain Way". Besides work with Walsh in his band The James Gang and as a solo artist, he also brought Walsh in to work on several albums he was doing with other musicians, using him as a session player for the B. B. King album Indianola Mississippi Seeds and the Michael Stanley albums Michael Stanley and Friends and Legends. It was at Szymczyk's suggestion that the Eagles bring in Walsh to give them a "rock" edge; Walsh has remained a core member of the band to this day.[5][6][7][8]

 
Bill Szymczyk (left) and Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound 2014

His long relationship with the Eagles began with their 1974 album On the Border, an album he took over from London-based producer Glyn Johns. He would be the sole producer for the next three Eagles studio albums, including 1976's Hotel California, the first to feature Joe Walsh. Szymczyk was instrumental in giving the Eagles a more "rock sound" and helping them to move away from their country rock roots.[5]

Among the other acts he worked with extensively through the 1970s include Michael Stanley and the J. Geils Band. While working with The Outlaws, he coined the term "Guitar Army" to describe the band's sound; the name continues as a nickname for the band.[9] He worked in the studio for the Edgar Winter Group's biggest hit, the Rick Derringer-produced "Frankenstein", and later produced Derringer's best known solo album All American Boy and its hit single, "Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo".[5] At the start of the 1980s he was a highly sought-after producer, and worked on such albums as Bob Seger's 1980 album Against the Wind and The Who's 1981 release Face Dances. During this time period, Szymczyk produced such hit singles as Elvin Bishop's "Fooled Around and Fell in Love",[10] The Who's "You Better You Bet", The Eagles' "Hotel California",[10] and Bob Seger's "Against the Wind".[5]

His workload tailed off in the mid-1980s, due mostly to his own financial success.[5] Aside from continuing to work with Joe Walsh, he retired from the music industry in 1990,[3] and then re-emerged in 2005, producing Dishwalla's self-titled fourth album. He returned to work with the Eagles on the 2007 album Long Road Out of Eden, and followed that with the 2008 solo debut of ex-Verve Pipe singer Brian Vander Ark.

He now lives in Little Switzerland, North Carolina with his wife Lisi. The couple have two sons, Michael and Daniel, and have become involved in their local community, having raised money for a local shelter for victims of domestic violence, among other charity work. He still works as a producer, but is more selective about projects he works on.[2]

Production style

Szymczyk's has frequently been noted as the sort of producer who pushes bands to expand their musical horizons; he has been brought in with the specific intent of changing a band's sound. He himself has credited this tendency to his lack of musical knowledge, stating: "I'm a professional listener. I listen and I react. I never was a musician, so I don't bring any preconceived prejudices to the table; I don't favour the guitar over the keyboard, and so forth. I just listen and try to figure out if I have anything I can bring to a song."[3]

For his work with the Eagles, he has been cited for his innovative mixing of drums, laboriously working to get the right microphones and placements for just the right sound. Rather than recording harmony vocals individually, and mixing them together later, as was common, Szymczyk preferred to capture the Eagles singing in ensemble, often spending many hours to record each phrase "just right".[3]

For the Elvin Bishop hit "Fooled Around and Fell in Love," it was Szymczyk who suggested the inclusion of the song on Bishop's Struttin' My Stuff album, feeling the blues-oriented album lacked a pop single. The song would go on to become Bishop's biggest hit.[11] Such a pattern was repeated throughout his career. The Eagles brought him in to refine and improve their "rock" sound,[3] and all of their biggest selling albums and songs were Szymczyk-produced. Martin Turner of Wishbone Ash has called him "my all time favourite producer". While the two did not always get along during recording, usually over Turner's bass-playing style, Turner does credit Szymczyk with giving the band a more commercial sound on one of their most successful albums, 1974's There's the Rub.[12]

Selected discography

See also: Albums produced by Bill Szymczyk

All credits as producer unless otherwise noted.

B. B. King

Silk/Michael Stanley/Michael Stanley Band

  • Smooth as Raw Silk (1969)
  • Michael Stanley (1972)
  • Friends and Legends (1973)
  • You Break It... You Bought It (1975)
  • Ladies Choice (1976)
  • Stagepass (1977)

The James Gang

Joe Walsh

Eagles

The J. Geils Band

Jo Jo Gunne/Jay Ferguson

  • Bite Down Hard (1973)
  • Jumpin' the Gunne (1973)
  • All Alone in the End Zone (1976)
  • Thunder Island (1978)
  • Real Life Ain't This Way (1979)

Others

References

  1. ^ Benson, Carl (2005). Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound (2nd ed.). CRC Press. p. 1085. ISBN 0-415-93835-X. Retrieved August 3, 2009.
  2. ^ a b Keel, Beverly (December 8, 2005). . American Profile Magazine. Archived from the original on October 15, 2008. Retrieved May 29, 2008.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Daley, Dan (November 2004). "Bill Szymczyk". Sound on Sound. Retrieved May 29, 2009.
  4. ^ a b Daley, Dan (February 1, 2005). . Mix Magazine. Archived from the original on June 27, 2009. Retrieved May 29, 2009.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Kurutz, Steve. "Bill Szymczyk". Allmusic. Retrieved May 29, 2009.
  6. ^ Brown, G. (June 22, 2003). . Denver Post (reprinted at Joe Walsh Online). Archived from the original on July 4, 2008. Retrieved May 29, 2009.
  7. ^ Grundy, Stuart and John Tobler (1983). . BBC Publications (reprinted at Joe Walsh Online). Archived from the original on June 28, 2008. Retrieved May 29, 2009.
  8. ^ "Eagles' Complete Discography: Don Henley Looks Back". Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
  9. ^ Merchant, Teri (May 8, 2008). . Southern Fried Magazine. Archived from the original on March 30, 2009. Retrieved May 29, 2009.
  10. ^ a b Buskin, Richard (September 2010). "Classic Tracks: The Eagles 'Hotel California'". soundonsound.com. SOS Publications Group.
  11. ^ "Elvin Bishop interview". Songfacts. Retrieved May 29, 2009.
  12. ^ . Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash official website. Archived from the original on August 27, 2014. Retrieved May 29, 2009.

External links

  • Bill Szymczyk at AllMusic
  • Bill Szymczyk Interview - NAMM Oral History Library (2016)

January 06, 2023
bill, szymczyk, william, frank, szymczyk, born, february, 1943, american, music, producer, technical, engineer, best, known, working, with, rock, blues, musicians, most, notably, eagles, 1970s, produced, many, albums, singles, 1970s, though, aside, from, conti. William Frank Szymczyk ˈ s ɪ m z ɪ k born February 13 1943 is an American music producer and technical engineer best known for working with rock and blues musicians most notably the Eagles in the 1970s He produced many top albums and singles of the 1970s though aside from continuing to work with Joe Walsh he retired from the music business by 1990 He re emerged in the late 2000s taking on select projects including the 2007 Eagles album Long Road Out of Eden and the 2008 eponymous debut of Brian Vander Ark Bill SzymczykSzymczyk in 2014Background informationBirth nameWilliam Frank SzymczykBorn 1943 02 13 February 13 1943 age 79 OriginMuskegon Michigan United StatesGenresRockOccupation s Producer engineerYears active1967 presentLabelsABC Records Tumbleweed Records Unlike many music producers Szymczyk has no background as a musician He was originally a sonar operator for the U S Navy and took some audio production classes as part of his Navy training Besides his work with the Eagles he has produced hit songs and albums for such diverse artists as B B King Joe Walsh The James Gang and Elvin Bishop Contents 1 Early life 2 Professional career 3 Production style 4 Selected discography 4 1 B B King 4 2 Silk Michael Stanley Michael Stanley Band 4 3 The James Gang 4 4 Joe Walsh 4 5 Eagles 4 6 The J Geils Band 4 7 Jo Jo Gunne Jay Ferguson 4 8 Others 5 References 6 External linksEarly life EditBill Szymczyk was born in Muskegon Michigan on February 13 1943 1 His mother worked as a nurse and his father held several jobs including factory worker and maintenance at a school 2 Growing up his first introduction to music and electronics was when he built his own crystal radio from a kit Using his radio he became a fan of blues and R amp B while listening to a station out of Nashville Tennessee 3 He joined the United States Navy in 1960 where he worked as a sonar technician It was in the Navy that he took his first course in radio and television production Upon leaving the service in 1964 and without much of an idea of what to do for a post military career he enrolled at New York University s Media Arts School 3 Professional career EditSzymczyk began working at a firm which produced demo recordings for Screen Gems Records and worked extensively with Brill Building songwriters such as Carole King and Gerry Goffin He also worked as an assistant to music producers and songwriters Quincy Jones and Jerry Ragovoy eventually working his way up to chief engineer at Ragavoy s Hit Factory recording studio in New York City 4 His first work as the primary producer on an album came for a Harvey Brooks solo record 5 He dropped out of NYU to work full time in the music industry 3 He left the Hit Factory and took a job at ABC Records taking a large pay cut in exchange for the opportunity to move from engineer to producer 3 He successfully lobbied ABC to let him work with B B King whose own record label was a subsidiary of ABC and who was a long time idol of Szymczyk s After Szymczyk convinced King that he could improve his sound to make him more appealing to a wider audience King himself agreed to let Szymczyk produce for him 4 Among the albums he produced for King are the 1969 live album Live amp Well King s first ever top 100 album He produced his follow up studio album Completely Well which featured The Thrill Is Gone the biggest hit of King s career and his signature song He would continue to produce blues albums throughout the early 1970s for the likes of King and Albert Collins 5 Szymczyk was moved several times while working for ABC Records first to Los Angeles when ABC acquired Dunhill Records and Szymczyk took over production for the West Coast operations and later to Denver when he decided to form his own label Tumbleweed Records He worked for a while as a disc jockey at radio station KFML and continued to produce albums in New York and Los Angeles such as the J Geils Band s 1971 album The Morning After recorded at the Los Angeles Record Plant He did extensive work at the Colorado studio Caribou Ranch After producing the James Gang s first three albums he followed singer guitarist Joe Walsh when he left the band first as a solo artist with the Szymczyk produced albums Barnstorm the first recorded at the Caribou Ranch studio and The Smoker You Drink the Player You Get and later with the Eagles His most prolific collaborations have been with Walsh the two have made over 15 albums together in many settings Walsh himself moved to Boulder Colorado in 1971 in order to work with Szymczyk and the location would inspire one of Walsh s biggest solo hits 1973 s Rocky Mountain Way Besides work with Walsh in his band The James Gang and as a solo artist he also brought Walsh in to work on several albums he was doing with other musicians using him as a session player for the B B King album Indianola Mississippi Seeds and the Michael Stanley albums Michael Stanley and Friends and Legends It was at Szymczyk s suggestion that the Eagles bring in Walsh to give them a rock edge Walsh has remained a core member of the band to this day 5 6 7 8 Bill Szymczyk left and Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound 2014 His long relationship with the Eagles began with their 1974 album On the Border an album he took over from London based producer Glyn Johns He would be the sole producer for the next three Eagles studio albums including 1976 s Hotel California the first to feature Joe Walsh Szymczyk was instrumental in giving the Eagles a more rock sound and helping them to move away from their country rock roots 5 Among the other acts he worked with extensively through the 1970s include Michael Stanley and the J Geils Band While working with The Outlaws he coined the term Guitar Army to describe the band s sound the name continues as a nickname for the band 9 He worked in the studio for the Edgar Winter Group s biggest hit the Rick Derringer produced Frankenstein and later produced Derringer s best known solo album All American Boy and its hit single Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo 5 At the start of the 1980s he was a highly sought after producer and worked on such albums as Bob Seger s 1980 album Against the Wind and The Who s 1981 release Face Dances During this time period Szymczyk produced such hit singles as Elvin Bishop s Fooled Around and Fell in Love 10 The Who s You Better You Bet The Eagles Hotel California 10 and Bob Seger s Against the Wind 5 His workload tailed off in the mid 1980s due mostly to his own financial success 5 Aside from continuing to work with Joe Walsh he retired from the music industry in 1990 3 and then re emerged in 2005 producing Dishwalla s self titled fourth album He returned to work with the Eagles on the 2007 album Long Road Out of Eden and followed that with the 2008 solo debut of ex Verve Pipe singer Brian Vander Ark He now lives in Little Switzerland North Carolina with his wife Lisi The couple have two sons Michael and Daniel and have become involved in their local community having raised money for a local shelter for victims of domestic violence among other charity work He still works as a producer but is more selective about projects he works on 2 Production style EditSzymczyk s has frequently been noted as the sort of producer who pushes bands to expand their musical horizons he has been brought in with the specific intent of changing a band s sound He himself has credited this tendency to his lack of musical knowledge stating I m a professional listener I listen and I react I never was a musician so I don t bring any preconceived prejudices to the table I don t favour the guitar over the keyboard and so forth I just listen and try to figure out if I have anything I can bring to a song 3 For his work with the Eagles he has been cited for his innovative mixing of drums laboriously working to get the right microphones and placements for just the right sound Rather than recording harmony vocals individually and mixing them together later as was common Szymczyk preferred to capture the Eagles singing in ensemble often spending many hours to record each phrase just right 3 For the Elvin Bishop hit Fooled Around and Fell in Love it was Szymczyk who suggested the inclusion of the song on Bishop s Struttin My Stuff album feeling the blues oriented album lacked a pop single The song would go on to become Bishop s biggest hit 11 Such a pattern was repeated throughout his career The Eagles brought him in to refine and improve their rock sound 3 and all of their biggest selling albums and songs were Szymczyk produced Martin Turner of Wishbone Ash has called him my all time favourite producer While the two did not always get along during recording usually over Turner s bass playing style Turner does credit Szymczyk with giving the band a more commercial sound on one of their most successful albums 1974 s There s the Rub 12 Selected discography EditSee also Albums produced by Bill Szymczyk All credits as producer unless otherwise noted B B King Edit Live amp Well 1969 Completely Well 1969 Indianola Mississippi Seeds 1970 Live in Cook County Jail 1971 Silk Michael Stanley Michael Stanley Band Edit Smooth as Raw Silk 1969 Michael Stanley 1972 Friends and Legends 1973 You Break It You Bought It 1975 Ladies Choice 1976 Stagepass 1977 The James Gang Edit Yer Album 1969 James Gang Rides Again 1970 Thirds 1971 James Gang Live in Concert 1971 Joe Walsh Edit Barnstorm 1972 The Smoker You Drink the Player You Get 1973 So What 1974 But Seriously Folks 1978 You Bought It You Name It 1983 Ordinary Average Guy as engineer 1991 Songs for a Dying Planet 1992 A Future to This Life Robocop The Series Soundtrack 1995 Joe Walsh s Greatest Hits Little Did He Know remastering 1997 Eagles Edit On the Border 1974 One of These Nights 1975 Hotel California 1976 The Long Run 1979 Eagles Live 1980 Long Road Out of Eden 2007 The J Geils Band Edit The Morning After 1971 Bloodshot 1973 Ladies Invited 1973 Nightmares and Other Tales from the Vinyl Jungle 1974 Hotline 1975 Blow Your Face Out live 1976 Jo Jo Gunne Jay Ferguson Edit Bite Down Hard 1973 Jumpin the Gunne 1973 All Alone in the End Zone 1976 Thunder Island 1978 Real Life Ain t This Way 1979 Others Edit Ford Theatre Time Changes 1969 Danny Holien Danny Holien as producer and engineer 1971 Edgar Winter Group They Only Come Out at Night as technical director 1972 Johnny Winter Still Alive and Well as technical director 1973 Rick Derringer All American Boy 1973 Wishbone Ash There s the Rub 1974 Johnny Winter Saints amp Sinners as engineer 1974 Elvin Bishop Struttin My Stuff 1975 Rick Derringer Spring Fever 1975 REO Speedwagon This Time We Mean It as executive producer 1975 Elvin Bishop Hometown Boy Makes Good 1976 Outlaws Hurry Sundown 1977 Outlaws Bring It Back Alive live 1978 Bob Seger amp The Silver Bullet Band Against the Wind 1980 The Who Face Dances 1981 Santana Shango 1982 Melvil James The Passenger 1987 Dishwalla Dishwalla 2005 Brian Vander Ark Brian Vander Ark 2008 Brian Vander Ark Magazine 2011 Tide Brothers High Water Mark 2016 Michael Szymczyk Retro Magnetic 2019 Kona Mondays In April Live at The Bootleg Theater as mixer 2022 References Edit Benson Carl 2005 Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound 2nd ed CRC Press p 1085 ISBN 0 415 93835 X Retrieved August 3 2009 a b Keel Beverly December 8 2005 Life in the Slow Lane American Profile Magazine Archived from the original on October 15 2008 Retrieved May 29 2008 a b c d e f g h Daley Dan November 2004 Bill Szymczyk Sound on Sound Retrieved May 29 2009 a b Daley Dan February 1 2005 Classic Tracks B B King s The Thrill Is Gone Mix Magazine Archived from the original on June 27 2009 Retrieved May 29 2009 a b c d e f g Kurutz Steve Bill Szymczyk Allmusic Retrieved May 29 2009 Brown G June 22 2003 Eagles Walsh Found His Rocky Mountain Way But Tragedy in Family Led to Rocker s Departure Denver Post reprinted at Joe Walsh Online Archived from the original on July 4 2008 Retrieved May 29 2009 Grundy Stuart and John Tobler 1983 Joe Walsh Interview BBC Publications reprinted at Joe Walsh Online Archived from the original on June 28 2008 Retrieved May 29 2009 Eagles Complete Discography Don Henley Looks Back Rolling Stone Retrieved October 30 2017 Merchant Teri May 8 2008 Sign The Petition Vote For The Outlaws To Be Inducted Into The Rock amp Roll Hall Of Fame Southern Fried Magazine Archived from the original on March 30 2009 Retrieved May 29 2009 a b Buskin Richard September 2010 Classic Tracks The Eagles Hotel California soundonsound com SOS Publications Group Elvin Bishop interview Songfacts Retrieved May 29 2009 Questions and Answers with Martin Turner Martin Turner s Wishbone Ash official website Archived from the original on August 27 2014 Retrieved May 29 2009 External links Edit Biography portalBill Szymczyk at AllMusic Bill Szymczyk Interview NAMM Oral History Library 2016 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Bill Szymczyk amp oldid 1131690840, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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