Jimmy Page ‘Gave Up’ On Recording Session Work

Caleb Quaye, the guitar maestro widely known for his work with Elton John, recently reflected on his work and career and how he took over the session work for Jimmy Page when he decided to join The Yardbirds.

Elton John guitarist explains

Remembering the differences between audio work today and six decades ago may not be the simplest task. The basic principles are still the same — you still have to capture what an artist wants and the way they imagined it. However, back when everything was on tape, adhering to a tight schedule and dealing with the costs of magnetic tape was quite challenging compared to what we have today. In other words, stress was a much bigger factor back then.

Speaking Guitar World , Quaye revealed that this was kind of the main reason why Jimmy Page decided to give up on the whole session thing. When asked about what got him into studio work, Caleb replied:

“A friend of mine, Billy Nicholls, was signed to Andrew Oldham’s Immediate label. Billy would come in with demos and I would engineer for them. When Billy recorded his first album at Olympic Studios, he wanted me to play on it because I’d helped with his demos.

“Back then, everything was union musicians. There was a contractor in the studio, David Katz, and his brother, Charlie. Charlie would be the booker for the strings, and David would book the rhythm section.”

Despite of being young, Caleb was a pretty experienced guitar player for his age. His skills landed him the gig that Jimmy Page gave up on when he decided to take his musicianship into a different direction. He continued:

“I was there on a rhythm section date — I was maybe 16. After we finished, David said, ‘Caleb, I like what you’re doing. I’ve got all this work lined up for Jimmy Page, but he doesn’t want to do it anymore.’ Jimmy was a top studio guy, but he’d had a meltdown, got fed up, and joined the Yardbirds.”

He immediately accepted. Quaye recalled:

“David said, ‘Would you like to do it?’ I said, ‘Yes, sir – I would love to.’ He said, ‘First, I need you to join the Musicians’ Union.’ I ran down the street to the MU office and signed on. All the work lined up for Jimmy Page went to me.”

Before Led Zeppelin was even a thing, Page was an already-established name. Though they were not known as a hitmaker he would become in his own band, Jimmy was a well-respected session guitarist. So, the obvious next question was what it was like to take over his gig. However, as Caleb recalled, there was nothing specific they told him to do to sound like Jimmy Page.

“I was free to do it as I would do it,” he recalled. “Nobody ever said, ‘We need you to play like Jimmy.’ Like most sessions, if there was something specific in the arrangement, I’d play it. But outside of that, I was free to do it as I wanted.”

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