MAX - 1970-1974
When the band Dangerfield broke up in 1970, David Cortopassi & Scott Williams lined up four multi-talented musicians: Scott Page, Steve Mann, Stephen Coyne, and John Leys to create a new band called MAX.
What made MAX exceptional was all horn players played multiple instruments. With such an array of instruments, combinations were limitless: Baritone Sax, 2 Tenor Sax, 2 Alto Saxes, Soprano Sax, Clarinet, English Horn, Oboe, 2 Flutes, Alto Flute, Piccolo, 2 Trumpets, 2 Flugelhorns, Tenor Trombone, Bass Trombone, & E-Flat Peck-Horn. With Williams playing lead guitar and bass, and Cortopassi on bass, guitar, vibraphone (w/Fire Mallets) and keyboards, the addition of Roger Conway on percussion was next. Conway was not only an ambidextrous monster on drums, he too was a gifted singer, composer, and lyricist. Influenced by a range of jazz, classic/progressive rock and a touch of funk, MAX ripped from start to finish.
Based in classical training, embodying melodic structure with smoking guitar, a bass/rhythm section that never stopped, and great charts, MAX was a SUPER rock band that blew away many other bands of the era… the kind of achievement all horn rockers wish to attain… the kind of group other bands didn’t want to follow on stage. The result was a constant diversity of sound combinations. Their vast range of abilities meant a lot of quick jumping from a low octave to a high octave or required changing to a different instrument completely to facilitate a sound or texture. Bottom line, each horn player often had an extremely difficult or sometimes un-melodic part to memorize. The band provided an equally intriguing show to watch as they all often changed and exchanged instruments live on stage.
Roger Conway
Scott Page
Nace Patterson
Steve Mann
Steve Coyne
Scott Williams & David Cortopassi
The horn section hungered for charts and became discontented if they didn’t get one or two new songs a week. Players loved the challenge of key and time changes so much that Cortopassi once composed a tune called “Muffin Man” that was written with a time change to “17/8”. It was recorded live in 1971 at Schlumpfelders (a venue in Hermosa Beach), but the recording has since been lost.
MAX played many hot spots like The Beach House, The Troubadour, The Buccaneer, Hollywood Palladium, Whiskey a Go Go, Gazzari’s, The Matrix, The Brass Ring, Fillmore West, and also shared the stage in large concerts with notable bands like: Tower Of Power, Black Oak Arkansas, Sons Of Champlin, Malo, Cold Blood, Harvey Mandel, Pacific Gass & Electric, Moby Grape, Grateful Dead, Manfred Mann, Eric Burdon, Santana, Big Mama Mae Thornton, Canned Heat, John Lee Hooker, War, Sugarloaf, Bo Diddley, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Freddie King and more.
Many MAX recordings were done at the world-renowned Sound City Recording Studio using the studio’s infamous Neve console (chronicled in the book “Goodnight, L.A.” by Kent Hartman and subject of the documentary film “Sound City”). Between 1970 and 1974, MAX was engineered or recorded by famed: Fred Catero (Chicago, Janis Joplin, Cold Blood, Bob Dylan), Bill Drescher (Rick Springfield, Barry Manilow), Lamont & Reggie Dozier (BB King, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Phil Collins), Elmer “Doc” Siegel (Buffalo Springfield, Black Oak Arkansas, Etta James), Paul Beaver & Bernie Krause at Elektra Records, and Glen Kolotkin at Columbia Records (Santana, Al Kooper, Moby Grape, Journey).
It’s also worth noting that MAX’s road crew technicians (nicknamed Nemo, Lemo & Primo) who set up lights, PA systems, amps, prepped pyrotechnics, and mixed live performances were considered part of the band. They too went on to well-established careers - being nominated for awards for sound in Film/TV, mixed soundtracks for Capital Records, and did stage management for major artists like Ambrosia, George Santana, Tom Waits and Jose Feliciano.
In their 4-year existence there was always an engineer, agent or promoter who believed in the band enough to graciously offer their service or facility. West coast concert promoter David Forrest also booked MAX through Concert Management Associates (a David Geffen company - now ICM Partners). SUNN Musical Equipment and Cerwin Vega sponsored their amplifiers, speakers, enclosures, and LA Sound provided PA systems when needed.
MAX wasn’t a cover band or a dance club band. Audiences went to hear and see them perform in concerts. Everything they played was an original composition with the exception of two recordings.
One was “Poison Ivy”, originally recorded by the Coasters on ATCO Records. MAX’s version of the hit tune was a unique horn arrangement by Cortopassi in a last-ditch effort to obtain the elusive “record deal”. But after recording it, the entire band came to the conclusion that they wanted to stay true to their intent to only perform original compositions. To save the track, they sent their new trombone player into the studio to adlib something over the existing arrangement. The resulting cut became “Aub de Baub”, released on the RODAN album in 1974.
The other was a recording commissioned by Loulie Jean Norman - a famous coloratura soprano singer noted for singing Alexander Courage’s opening theme song for TV’s “Star Trek” and dubbing the onscreen vocal of “Summertime” in the movie “Porgy & Bess”. Norman wanted to record a Porgy & Bess Medley singing selected songs from the movie using a progressive rock approach. Recorded at Annex Studios (later The Record Plant) and engineered by Thorne Nogar (Elvis Presley, Jazz Crusaders, Lawrence Welk), the 10-minute medley is one of the most extreme blends of operatic-progressive-jazz-rock fusion. The recording was never released but is under consideration for a future project.
The 1974 Rodan album is the only released recording of the band MAX. It is an incomplete list of recordings by MAX released on the Pandora label without the knowledge or consent from the composers. Max, as a group, never signed any agreement with any entity. Many of the liner notes are incorrect or misleading on that album, and it’s unknown what tapes were used to create the LP. The album did not mention the band name which left everyone thinking Rodan was the name of the band and disappointed they couldn’t find additional music from the band. The album is now a rare collectable that has sold for as much as $1,200 on Ebay.
George Nemzer & Steve Lehman
Bob Shames
In the last year of the band there were changes in band members. Players were either borrowed, recruited from, or went on to perform with name acts like: Santana, Jeff Beck, Toto, Pink Floyd, Supertramp, Blood Sweat & Tears, Tom Scott, Jaco Pastorius, Count Basie, Buddy Rich, Stan Kenton, Coke Escovedo, Jan Hammer, Player, Seals & Crofts, The Righteous Bros., Ray Charles, Tito Puente, Doc Severinsen, even Peggy Lee, Engelbert Humperdinck, Lawrence Welk & Mitzi Gaynor.
