A perfect thread for Cafe Society, where you can discuss the Arts and still get factual answers. Moved.
samclem Moderator, General Questions
Todd Rundgren. He’s well-known for playing all the instruments on his albums.
Country singer Barbara Mandell played the saxophone, steel guitar, banjo and bass. Her sister Louise played drums, accordian, fiddle and bass. On their variety show in the 1980s the Mandrell sisters would sometimes perform numbers taking turns on multiple instruments – well, Barbara and Louise would; Irlene was lucky to beat the time correctly on the drums.
Emily Robison of the Dixie Chicks plays pretty much anything with strings, from the dobro to the sitar, and also the accordion.
The Band -
Levon Helm played drums, mandoline, guitar and bass.
Richard Manuel played piano, harmonica, drums, saxophone, organ.
Rick Danko played bass, violin, trombone.
Garth Hudson played organ, piano, clavinet, accordion, synthesizer, saxophone.
Robbie Robertson played guitar and piano.
Everyone but Garth also sang.
All the members of Queen.
Jimi Hendrix played both the viola and the guitar.
Hijack (sorry)
Have you heard Levon’s new album “Electric Dirt” yet?
It’s been critically acclaimed, and with good reason, as it is a real return to top form for Levon Helm; a unique and uplifting effort by a true American musical craftsman…
Joni Mitchell plays piano, guitar & dulcimer.
Tony Hicks plays guitar & bango.
iTunes’ thank you note to you is in the mail…
He also recorded on banjo with the Bonzo Dog Band.
John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin played bass and organ.
Steve Winwood of Traffic played organ, piano, bass, and guitar.
Chris Wood of Traffic played sax, flute, drums, and organ.
Ian McDonald of King Crimson, McDonald and Giles, and Foreigner played guitar, piano, organ, saxes, flute, vibes, drums, horns, clarinet, and zither.
Phil Collins: Drums, keyboards, guitar, bass.
Mark Rivera: Saxophone, percussion, guitar, keyboards.
When I saw Boston in concert last summer, Tom Scholz played guitar and keyboards. My understanding is that he played most of the instruments on most of the tracks of the first album.
On the most recent ELO album, Zoom, Jeff Lynne played guitar, bass, keyboard, drums, and cello.
The members of Gentle Giant were notable multi-instrumentalists.
Derek Shulman played saxophone, bass, recorder, and percussion
Ray Shulman played bass, violin, acoustic guitar, trumpet, recorder, and percussion
Phil Shulman played saxophone, trumpet, clarinet, piano, and percussion
Kerry Minnear played keyboards, vibraphone, cello, recorder, and percussion
Gary Green played electric & acoustic guitars, mandolin, recorder, and percussion
John Weathers played drums/percussion, xylophone, and guitar
All of them sang.
if I am not mistaken Jerry Garcia played harmonica, piano and banjo in addition to the guitar
Sting also plays guitar, saxophone, Taurus pedals and the lute.
Bowie also plays sax.
Stewart Copeland also plays bass, guitar and keyboards. Check out his Klark Kent albums.
George Harrison played sitar.
From X, Billy Zoom plays clarinet, D.J. Bonebrake plays vibes, and John Doe also plays guitar and harmonica.
Benny Carter played alto sax, clarinet and trumpet. It’s fairly common to play both sax and clarinet, but not so common to play both brass and reed instruments.
Bix Beiderbecke played both cornet and piano.
In 1941 Sidney Bechet made one the first overdubbed records in history on which he played soprano sax, tenor sax, clarinet, piano and drums. It was billed as “Bechet’s One=Man Band,” and the sides were “Sheik of Araby” and “Blues of Bechet.”
George Michael - multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire. (Betcha weren’t expecting that, huh?) Played many of the instruments on Faith, and, IIRC, all but the trumpet on his beautiful album, Older. He’s also praised for his skills as a producer and songwriter.
Jethro Tull - Around the time of the album ‘Bursting Out’, they would do at least one number in concert where they all traded instruments. That album is in storage, so I can’t check out who changed over to what…
Emitt Rhodes played all the instruments on his albums - guitar, bass, keyboards and drums.
Ian Anderson himself was always a guitarist before Mick Abrahams joined Jethro Tull. Abrahams was so much better on guitar that Anderson started playing flute instead.