J.P. Coffin & The Legend of The Wizards From Kansas

I was born in the summer of 1947, in Kansas City, MO. Growing up, I lived with my parents and next door to my cousins on Kansas City’s East Side. My Mom and Dad usually had the radio on, and I would fall asleep listening. I remember being able to know where a song was go- ing to go at an early age. My Dad used to play the accordion and I would hear the Blue Danube and Lady of Spain, songs like that. I always liked music, but didn’t start learning the guitar until the age of 16. I learned a lot from a French cousin, Jean-Paul, who brought his guitar with him on a visit and we would jam. That got me going. A neighbor showed me how to play Wildwood Flower. I took lessons at the music store and went for 9 months, where I learned the basics. Then I changed to a new teacher, Don Winsell, who was a jazz guy. He showed me music theory and taught me how to take a song and make a chord-melody arrangement.

So, my first ambition was to play jazz, but the Beatles changed all of that, and I started playing rock and roll. About that time, I also started playing string bass in the orchestra at school. I was in a band in high school and writing some songs. We made a Demo, and a local group named the “Fab Four” recorded one of my tunes called “I’m Always Doing Something Wrong.” It was released on Brass Records as a 45. I joined a band called “In Black and White” and met Hal Pierce, who sang and played guitar, and would later be in the Wizards. We covered all the English music, but also had a set of origi- nal music that we worked into gigs. You can find some of that on Stephen Barncard’s Bandcamp page, “Brushes with Greatness.” We recorded in his home studio. He later went on to work at Wally Heider’s in San Francisco and with David Crosby. He has a lot of gold records that he recorded.

Coffin’s very first band circa: 1965.

The Signets.

EARLY INFLUENCES:

Carlos Montoya, Kenny Burrell, Jeff Beck, Eric Capton, George Harrison, The Ventures, Lonnie Mac, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Mike Bloomfield, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Rick Nelson’s guitar player James Burton, the Beach Boys and the Wrecking Crew.

Coffin with his first electric guitar : Harmony Meteor.

In Black and White.

SHOWS:

First there were school dances and sockhops. There were some good local bands around. Also, KC is the home of Count Basie and Charlie Parker. I got to hear Basie live and a lot of big band groups. I used to play guitar in the (high school) Jazz Band, mostly chords and reading charts. There were some local clubs: The Vanguard, a folk coffeehouse that brought in national acts and local folkies. There was also The Place, a psychedelic club. We played there a lot. Also, when I was playing upright bass, I got to play in a couple of black clubs and hear some groups there, playing jazz. At that time, mid-60’s, national acts didn’t often come to KC until the Cowtown Ball Room opened. As a result, there were many local bands to fill the demand. It was a good thing for us. The Blue Things were our favorite band (regional).

In Black and White.

FOR FUN:

It was the ‘60’s, we indulged in the usual things: hung out, listened to music, records. I saw the Motown Review with the Four Tops and Stevie Wonder. I didn’t see any big shows until going to Fillmore East in NYC and Fill- more West in SF. I heard Canned Heat, John Mayall, MC5, Dr. John and Iron Butterfly. I can’t tell you very much about Pig Newton’s early days, except what I’ve learned from drummer, Marc Ca- plan. He is the one who called me to come play with the Wizards. When I joined, they’d already played the Fillmore and had the record deal. They had to replace original member, Ron Sandhouse. They had the songs and we worked the music every day for about six weeks before we got to Mercury in SF. Then it was going into the studio, and more intense practice. We had to raise our level even more to record. Actually, it was cut live with all of us playing together and vocals cut the following day. There are very few overdubs. I did the solo on the opening track “High Flyin’ Bird” at a separate session toward the end of recording.

Circa: 1967.

Coffin around 1970 with his 50 cc Honda.

ABOUT THE BAND NAME:

The story goes that when they were trying to think of a new name they wanted it to be “So and So and the Somethings,” because that was what a lot of bands were called then. Pig Newton was a play on “Fig Newtons,” and the Wizards to the Wizard of Oz and Kansas. The record label made us drop the Pig Newton for fear of be- ing sued by the cookie maker (Nabisco). So it became “The Wizards from Kansas.”

The Wizard Of Kansas (Mercury Promo Photo).

MAKING THE RECORD:

By the time I arrived on the scene, the songs were already written by Rob Crain and Hal Pierce/Mary Ann Hein- man, and chosen. So my songs were not on it. But I contributed to the arrangements and wrote my own guitar parts. There were two covers on the record, “High Flyin’ Bird” and “Codine,” both by Buffy Sainte-Marie. The recording went like this. We would come in one day and rehearse the song or songs for the next session at the studio, where they had practice rooms. The next day we recorded instruments, live, together in a big studio. Until we got the take we wanted. The following day would be a vocal-only session. At first it was slow going, but by the end we were turning them out quickly. We had the piano player from the Butterfield Blues Band, Mark Naftalin, on two songs, “Country Dawn” and “Hey Mister.” They had us put new strings on the guitars for every session. We had a great engineer, George Horn, who had recorded many quality acts.

GETTING A DEAL:

The Wizards had already demoed the entire album at Cavern Studios in Kansas City, and that helped with get- ting signed at Mercury. Our producer, Jake Fleder, was instrumental in getting us to the attention of the record company. He was from NYC and had produced some demoes there. He came to the Midwest and got in touch with the band. He is also a guitar player, but didn’t play with us, but acted as a sounding board and offered his ideas. I think he lives in LA now. He loaned me his Fuzz Face to record the solo on “High Flyin’ Bird,” which was unfortunately stolen at the studio. That was the only effect I used except for the wah on “Codine.” I played that in Drop D Tuning. Being in Mercury Studios in San Francisco at that time was a new experience. We had scheduled times to be there, and would run into other bands coming and going. Blue Cheer were recording on alternate days from us. At the same time, I met Van Morrison’s drummer, who was mixing sessions they did during the night after playing at Fillmore West.

Alan Calan, who later ran Swan Song for Led Zep, helped us get the cover art from London artist, John Michael Chippendale. Alan was at some of the sessions. I remember during recording, I had to pee really bad, and he said, “It will make you play tighter.” He was right!!! He had made a film edited to a Pink Floyd track that he screened at K.U., which we saw and met him in Kansas. Once the album was finished, we tried to book gigs in the SF area, but we had some problems. Mercury didn’t promote the album, because all their resources were going to promote Rod Stewart at the time, their big name star. Also, we had an equipment shortage. What happened was Jake, our producer, got busted in Golden Gate Park for smoking a joint, and, to bail him out, we had to pawn the P.A. and Conga’s, and some other gear, but not my guitar or amp.

We did go to Bill Graham’s agency and some others, but we were not “road heavy,” didn’t have our gear and many only wanted cover bands, we had a few of those too. We did manage to play at the Lion’s Share in San Anselmo, and opened for Linda Tillery at the Loading Zone, a popular SF band. So, with no gigs and no income, people started to make other plans. I went back to KC. In hindsight, I should have stayed out there. Marc Caplan and Bob Menadier played in the Bay Area and Hal and Rob formed a duo. And that was that. A few years ago, we did a reunion album. Since then nothing. We lost Bob, and Marc’s health is not good. Rob lives in Colorado and makes model railroads really well. Hal is more or less reclusive. As for me, I maintain performing around Lawrence, KS. There is a great music scene happening here. I have a Facebook page called “JP Coffin Music” to see what I’m up to now.

IN CONCLUSION:

We were so fortunate to be able to make the record. A lot of work and dedication went into it. We had support- ive people surrounding us. In 1970, we recorded on a 16 track Ampex to Tape in a world class studio in San Francisco. I think some of that mojo must have rubbed off on us. The energy we had as a band playing together live in the studio and communication between us helped a great deal. My sincere thanks to Primitive Man for taking the time and having the interest to allow this interview to happen.

Please check out JP COFFIN MUSIC on Facebook, and message me if you care to. Still alive in Kansas!
JP Coffin

Dakota Brown