Career
In 1963, after moving to Lancaster, California, he joined up with future Magic Band member Bill Harkleroad aka Zoot Horn Rollo in a band named B.C. & The Cavemen. Later, while performing in The Magic Band, he played on such critically acclaimed albums as The Spotlight Kid and Trout Mask Replica produced by Frank Zappa. His performances earned him nomination for Bass Player of the Year by Playboy Magazine in 1969.
While working with Captain Beefheart, Boston received his nickname by which he was most often associated for the duration of his career. He performed on five successful albums, which include Trout Mask Replica (1969), and Lick My Decals Off, Baby (1970), which spent eleven weeks on the UK Albums Chart, the most commercially successful of Captain Beefheart's recordings. Following them, 1972 saw the release of two albums: The Spotlight Kid, and Clear Spot, and last, Unconditionally Guaranteed (1974), which was Beefheart's eighth LP, but failed to climb the Billboard Top 200, perceived by the Magic Band's fans as too commercial.
In the book Lunar Notes: Zoot Horn Rollo's Captain Beefheart Experience, guitarist Bill Harkleroad details some of the tensions that arose between Don Van Vliet (best known by his stage name, Captain Beefheart) and members of the band. These tensions led to a split in 1974, when Rockette Morton left to form Mallard with bandmates John French, Bill Harkleroad, John Thomas, and Art Tripp. Following the demise of Mallard, he continued performing in various bands as guitarist and bassist. Always interested in studio performance, he remained active in his own recording studio. From 2003 to 2006 members of The Magic Band regrouped and performed on a world tour. Morton has also released a solo album, Love Space, in 2003. Of this album he said, "If you enjoy listening to this music even half as much as I enjoyed recording it I'll be happy".
Read more about this topic: Rockette Morton
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“Each of the professions means a prejudice. The necessity for a career forces every one to take sides. We live in the age of the overworked, and the under-educated; the age in which people are so industrious that they become absolutely stupid.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“A black boxer’s career is the perfect metaphor for the career of a black male. Every day is like being in the gym, sparring with impersonal opponents as one faces the rudeness and hostility that a black male must confront in the United States, where he is the object of both fear and fascination.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
“Clearly, society has a tremendous stake in insisting on a woman’s natural fitness for the career of mother: the alternatives are all too expensive.”
—Ann Oakley (b. 1944)