Music Connection is saddened to learn of the passing of singer-songwriter, guitarist, and founding member of Traffic, Dave Mason.
A post on Mason's Facebook page reads, "It is with deep and profound sadness that we share the news of the passing of Dave Mason. On Sunday, April 19, after cooking an amazing dinner with his beloved wife Winifred, he sat down to take a nap with sweet Star (the maltese) at his feet. He passed away peacefully, in his favorite chair, surrounded by the beautiful Carson Valley that he loved so much. A storybook ending. On his own terms. Which is how he lived his life right up until the end. He leaves a lasting imprint on the soundtrack of our lives and the hearts he has lifted. His legacy will be cherished forever."
MC contributor Harvey Kubernik spoke with Mason, who enjoyed a very successful solo career for over 56 years, in 2020 for the Kubernik book Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child.
Dave Mason on Jimi Hendrix as told to Harvey Kubernik 2020
I saw Jimi play in one of the semi-private clubs in London, maybe the Bag of Nails, Scotch of St. James, Chas Chandler paraded him around before he ever did anything. I saw him there and play with a group on stage. ‘Wow!’ OK. Need to re-think things. (laughs). I later ran into him at one of the clubs people used to frequent. And he was just sitting there alone at a table. So I just sat down and started talking with him. We had a mutual fan thing. Jimi was a big fan of Traffic. And I was a fan of his. Out of that there were times when I would try to get him or at least get the other members of Traffic to invite Jimi down to the Cottage and invite Jimi to come play. They weren’t too enthusiastic about it, frankly.
So I kept a very loose sort of relationship with Jimi. We’d get together sometimes at a restaurant or a couple of times we went out to clubs and got up to jam, or tried too. (laughs). And then there was a point when I wasn’t with Traffic and there was at the time where he wasn’t working with Noel Redding and Jimi and I talked seriously about me taking Noel Redding’s place on bass. I believe Mike Jeffreys of his management put a stop to it. Basically, the recording of ‘All Along the Watchtower,’ and some other tracks I did with him, I have no idea where they are. Perhaps ‘Cross Town Traffic.’
A girlfriend of Jimi had an advance copy of Dylan's 'John Wesley Harding' LP and we went over there. A couple of other people were there, two of the guys in the Pretty Things. I played acoustic guitar with Jimi on the recording session of ‘All Along the Watchtower’ and then there were three or four tracks with him where I played bass and sitar. No idea of what happened to them. We worked at Olympic. At the time they weren’t that many studios for one thing. And it was a great room. It was a huge studio that had a large room to record in. Traffic recorded there with Jimmy Miller producing.
It’s an easy song and cool lyrics. It lends itself to interpretation. 3 chords. That’s all it is. I later did my version of it because it was a great vehicle to play guitar. As for Jimi’s work. It’s great stuff. Still is. Jimi was so unique. So innovative in the studio. There’s a lot of great guitar players but there aren’t any more Jimi Hendrixs.
Photo courtesy of US Army, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
