A quick Google search simply for ‘Motown’, ‘drummer’ and ‘Elvis’ turned my attention to Larrie Londin, who, as also noted in the original thread, at least in his own claim played on many sessions for Motown filling in for regular Motown drummer Benny Benjamin (http://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=22659). Despite the fact that Londin isn’t mentioned in the movie “Standing In The Shadows of Motown” (an absolutely terrific film, by the way), this might be true since there were a lot of musicians playing sessions for Motown besides the core Funk Brothers group that the movie deals with. Speaking against Londin being the mysterious 1969 Motown drummer are two things: First, Londin by his own account only played for Motown in Detroit, probably at the legendary Hitsville Studio, while I think it would make more sense if the 1969 drummer was a Los Angeles musician. Second and more conclusive, Londin himself stated in the interview referenced above that the first time he met Elvis was at Graceland in 1971 (http://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=22659). Obviously, he would have remembered participating in the 1969 audition with Elvis present.
Wikipedia’s Funk Brothers page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Funk_Brothers) lists three LA Motown drummers, one of whom has at least a secondary Elvis connection: Earl Palmer, the legendary New Orleans drummer, who played on so many early hits by Fats Domino, Little Richard and many others. In 1957 Palmer relocated from New Orleans to Los Angeles and became one of the most in-demand session drummers in town, working primarily as a part of Phil Spector’s famous group of musicians, The Wrecking Crew. Many of his Wrecking Crew colleagues played on Elvis’ mid-sixties soundtrack recording sessions in LA and on the 1968 NBC TV Special. Could Earl Palmer have been auditioning for Elvis’ band in 1969? Several things make this seem unlikely. One thing is, Earl Palmer was born in 1924 and thus would have been noticeably older than Elvis and the other guys in the band, and also Palmer never did much live playing, concentrating instead on playing sessions, so it seems unlikely that he would have been interested in joining a live band in 1969.
After this I sort of forgot about the matter, until, a few weeks later, while looking for completely differently information I suddenly stumbled upon the answer. On James Burton's website, it says “The only musician they needed was a drummer. James assumed it would be a session player called Gene Pello, but Muhoberac told James about Ronnie Tutt, with whom he had worked with in Dallas. Ronnie Tutt auditioned and got the job.” (http://www.james-burton.net/elvis-presley/) And Gene Pello is indeed one of the LA drummers mentioned on the Wikipedia Funk Brothers page. Afterwards I realized that not only is this information also provided in Gillian S. Gaar’s “Return of The King” (p. 147) but also mentioned both by Ronnie Tutt himself in an interview (http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/interview_ronnietutt_theelvistouch.shtml) and by Jerry Scheff (http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/interview_tcb_jerry_scheff.shtml).
So there we have it. Gene Pello was the Motown session drummer, who came so close to taking the drummer’s seat in the TCB band, but was beaten at the last minute by Ronnie Tutt. But who is Gene Pello? Biographical information is scarce – an extensive Google search didn’t reveal a date or place of birth, or any information as to whether he is still alive. However, this much I have found:
Gene Pello’s real name was Eugene Pellicci and he went to high school in Santa Monica, playing in bands with Gary Marker, who later became a noted LA musician, working among many others with Captain Beefheart. (http://www.beefheart.com/they-also-played/).
In the sixties Pello played in two instrumental combos comprised of LA studio musicians, The Marketts, who had a big hit in 1963 with “Out of Limits” (http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-marketts-mn0000757328), and The T-Birds, who scored in 1966 with “No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach’s In)” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_T-Bones). Both groups were made up of studio musicians by Liberty Records as attempts to cash in on the current surf instrumental craze. During the sixties he also played on recordings by The Ventures, The Beach Boys and The Monkees. He can be seen here on television with The T-Birds:
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Gene Pello at the drums with The Marketts (http://microbrewreviews.blogspot.dk/2010/10/vintage-tuneage-more-sounds-of-season.html)
In 1969 he played on the recently rereleased “Dylan’s Gospel” album, which is actually in my cd collection. The bass player was Jerry Scheff listed as Jerry O. Scheft. Could this be the connection, which led him to the audition for Elvis? (http://www.allmusic.com/album/dylans-gospel-mw0000456644/credits)
Regarding recordings for Motown, he doesn’t appear to be credited for any recordings for the label prior to 1972 (http://www.discogs.com/artist/397124-Gene-Pello), (http://www.allmusic.com/artist/gene-pello-mn0001746478). There seems to be consensus that he played on the early albums by the Jackson 5, “Diana Ross presents the Jackson 5” (1969), “ABC” (1970) and possibly others (http://soulfuldetroit.com/archives/2/12159.html?1096506369). He is credited with playing in the 1970’s on Motown albums by Eddie Kendricks and Smokey Robinson, on a couple of live albums by Diana Ross, and on a few other albums, as well as playing drums in the group Odyssey, which released an eponymous album on Motown’s Californian MoWest subsidiary in 1972.
You can hear him on the Jackson 5 classic “I Want You Back” from 1969 here:
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The lack of credits for Gene Pello on Motown recordings before the audition for Elvis seems odd, considering the description of him by both Ronnie Tutt and Jerry Scheff as a Motown drummer. However, regular Motown practice was that musicians were not listed on albums – hence the Funk Brothers not being credited on any of the great Motown classics – so this doesn’t mean that he didn’t play on any sessions. Even so, I haven’t found even the slightest, unsubstantiated reference to him having played for Motown before the Jackson 5 in 1969.
Could it be that Ronnie Tutt and Jerry Scheff in the interviews were thinking of recordings sessions for Motown played after the Elvis audition instead of prior to it? That at the time of the interviews they were thinking of him as a Motown drummer, but that at the time of the audition he was just a great LA studio drummer?
Don Peake, Wilton Felder and Gene Pello recording with The Jackson 5 in 1972 (http://www.donpeakemusic.com/DP_pages/Don_Peake_photos_02_001.html)
Also in the early 70’s Gene Pello played in two groups, Gator Creek and Southern Fried; both made up of West Coast studio musicians by Mercury Records and each releasing just one album. Also, he played on a couple of albums by folk-country singer Sam Neely, on an album by soul titan Solomon Burke and on an album by Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band – quite a diverse bunch.
After 1977 there is almost no information to be found. In 1990 he toured with R&B legend Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and recorded an album with him in Australia, which was released in 1994. A performance of “I Put A Spell On You” with Pello at the drums can be seen here:
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And then nothing. Not a single hit on Google with a reference to him after 1994 – except for this seemingly quite recent photo of Gene Pello with Don Peake and LA blues singer Ann Lieberman.
(http://www.annlieberman.com/my-photos)
Gene Pello never got to play with Elvis apart from that fateful audition in 1969 when Ronnie Tutt beat him to it at the last minute - but instead he got to play on the earliest recordings of Elvis' future son in law, Michael Jackson. It's a small world.
