Mind Jam

When the news of Mick Ronson's death reached James Stevenson, lead guitarist for Gene Loves Jezebel, he was just finishing a show in Baltimore, Maryland. With feelings of sadness combined with the exhaustion of a grueling tour schedule, the artist was moved to put into words his thoughts on one of his all-time favorite guitar heroes.

There are two reasons I picked up an electric guitar: One was my best friend in high school buying one and insisting I did too so we could form a band. The other was Mick Ronson. 

Sure there were others, Jimmy Page wrote the killer guitar riffs and Hendrix was a god from the stratosphere. Kossoff played with fire and soul and it was impossible not to admire Jeff Beck. Robert Fripp was so off-the-wall he couldn't go unappreciated. But no one's playing moved me like Ronno's. 

Never a technical wizard (quite the opposite), it was often the sheer simplicity of his playing that blew me away. How could anyone create such a simple part and make it sound so right? He always played the perfect part for the song. And that is great guitar playing. Check out the simple genius of the solos on Bowie's "Suffragette City" or "Eight Line Poem," or the electricity of those on "Moonage Daydream" and "Time" - in my opinion amongst the best solos ever recorded. There are also wonderful moments on both of his solo LPs, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue (particularly the title track) and Play Don't Worry. His huge contribution to Lou Reed's Transformer helped make that album special. When Great White covered Ian Hunter's "Once Bitten, Twice Shy," the guitarist hardly deviated from Ronson's original solo. His solos became part of the song and to play something different would be like changing the chords. There was always an intelligence in his playing and never technique for its own sake.

Among his more recent work, the sheer passion of his instrumental version of Patsy Cline's "Sweet Dreams" on the Hunter/Ronson album Y.U.I. Orta stands up with the very best of his work. I was disappointed to find so little of his playing on Bowie's new LP Black Tie, White Noise, their first collaboration since Ziggy days. 

Ronno was completing his first solo album since the '70s when he tragically died of cancer, which he'd been fighting for some time. I hope it sees the light of day. 

I met Mick many times over the last decade and he was the nicest and most unassuming of men. Down-to-earth, modest, almost unaware of his own brilliance and huge sphere of influence among my generation of guitarists, especially in the U.K. 

He gave me so much; above all the confidence and inspiration to carry on when I questioned the reasons why. And of course, the music. Sadly, all I have to offer in return is this posthumous tribute. 

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