duke

Duke Bardwell played bass for Elvis from January 1974 through until early April 1975.

Duke was on the 'Elvis As Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis' show and album, part of the 'Elvis Today' set and he's even featured on the recently discovered 'The Twelfth Of Never'. During his time spent with The King he performed almost 200 shows with him in Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe and at venues all over the States.

Duke was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on August 19th 1943 and raised on a heady brew of big band music and regional country fare, mixed with legends like Hank Williams and Roy Acuff.

Duke's first awareness of Elvis was when he was in the seventh grade. A friend played him Elvis' version of Old Shep to which Duke says that 'this was the first time in his life that he'd been moved by a piece of music that he could really identify with. It reduced me to tears to start with and then it made me a complete fan of this one person who'd shown me that music could touch you emotionally. I'll never forget it, Old Shep was my first introduction to Elvis Presley'.

In later years Duke developed into a musician and songwriter and was in several bands. One day a friend who was associated with Jose Feliciano called and asked him to come over and sing some of his songs to Mrs. Feliciano who looked after all of Jose's business for him. After that they started using Duke as a bass player on recording sessions with Jose, and one day the drummer that we normally used was not available for the particular session, and Ronnie Tutt was called in as a replacement.

During a break Duke went up to Ronnie and said, 'Hey Ronnie, what's Elvis really like?' He started laughing and he said, 'You won't believe how many times people ask me that!'. I told him, 'I'm sorry but I can't help it. I'm crazy 'bout him and I'm just curious to find out what kind of person he is'. After he finished laughing we talked a bit about it and he told me everything I asked him about Elvis. Then a few months after that, Jose had a birthday party at his house and he asked Duke to play bass in a band he'd put together, Ronnie was the drummer, Duke was the bass player, and there 'was a studio piano player called Larry Muhoberac'. The guy who did most of the singing was David Clayton Thomas from Blood, Sweat & Tears.

A few weeks after that, Duke got a call from Ronnie Tutt telling him that Emery Gordy had quit Elvis' band and that he was putting Duke's name in the hat. Jerry Scheff had been Elvis' bass player but then he quit and Emery Gordy took over, but Emery stayed less than a year or so because he had his own studio and he was busy with that. Duke asked Ronnie what he could do to impress Elvis and Ronnie sent him some of Elvis' live concert records. He told him that if he learned all of the songs and turned up for a rehearsal knowing the songs, it would be a big advantage.

Duke learned all of the songs and when it came time to do the rehearsal and meet Elvis, he was prepared.

Duke described the first time he saw Elvis as....

'It was like watching a Fellini movie or somethin'. There was this big flurry of activity...I had already met everybody in the band as well as some of the business people at this point... Well, Elvis takes his cape off and slings it to the side, then he pulls this gun out of his belt and hands it to one of the boys which I thought was odd. Then he goes round and says 'Hi' to everybody.

Duke had a tape recorder that he had put on top of my amplifier. Eventually somebody noticed it and Tom Diskin, who was involved with the management staff, came over and said had him turn it off.

The session was really just a jam, it wasn't a rehearsal. Nothing was really being rehearsed, it was just a case of getting everybody back together after they'd had so much time off.

During a break, Duke asked Elvis, 'When you came in here I saw you take that pistol off. With all these guys around you why do you carry a gun?' Elvis replied 'That's to take care of anything from six feet out. From six feet in, I got it taken care of.' And he started to walk off then he turned around and threw a punch at Duke as a demonstration. He stopped his fist when it was actually touching Duke's nose, and it happened so quick he didn't have time to react.

Duke made his debut with Elvis on opening night January 26th, 1974.

Duke's favourite Elvis show is the Houston livestock Show & Rodeo gig, because 'the orchestra wasn't there and they just couldn't do all those big orchestrated show tunes'. 'Nothing but guitars, pianos, drums, Elvis and two big handfuls of singers'. Duke said 'I thought it was one of the most fun things I ever did in my life. Being in the middle of that big ol' arena with 44,090 people, and I realize there are much bigger crowds than that to play for, but that was contained. It was all around you, everywhere you looked were people, and the energy in there was just incredible'.

 

Duke is immortalized on the 'Elvis As Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis' album. Just before 'Love Me'. Elvis says, "Anyhow, Duke, I'm not talking to you personally, Duke, just killin' time so I can drink water".

 

Duke says that neither he nor any of the crew knew about the album being recorded. They had them all sign release forms for the union. Duke says, 'they called me and said, 'Hey Bardwell, you gotta sign this. I said, 'What is it?'. They said 'These are the union forms, so you can get paid for the session'. I said, 'What session?'. That's how he found out they were recording the show for a live album,

Afterward the show the band was bussed over to Graceland - not just the band, the whole crew, orchestra and everybody was being taken over and they had some food laid out back there in the souvenir room.

Then off to the side, Elvis and Linda Thompson came down the stairs - Duke sdaid, 'He was livin' with her at the time and I just loved her to death'. Duke thought she was just as sweet as she could be, dressed kinda funny, kinda outrageous.

Latter that night, Elvis, presented Duke with a TCB pendant. 'That was my official entry into the fold. I had been accepted, I had gotten my fraternity pin, as it was'.

Duke remembers the Elvis Today session - 'It was done live in the studio - that's the way he liked to do it. He wanted it to be as much like a live show as possible. As best as I can remember it, we had been off a little while and we went into the studio and it was like a rehearsal recording. I had got pretty comfortable on bass by this point, but from what I understand they went back in later and someone else overdubbed bass over my playing'. In the end Felton Jarvis used bass players Norbert Putnam and Mike Leech to record new bass lines on all the LP tracks, apart from the single 'T-R-O-U-B-L-E' which had already been rush-released. Further overdubs were also carried out, including the addition of excellent guitarists Chip Young and John Christopher (co-writer of 'Always On My Mind' & 'If You Talk In Your Sleep').

After the March '75 'Elvis Today' sessions Duke went out to do another season in Vegas, and that was the last time he worked with Elvis ... 'They got word to me that Jerry Scheff was comin' back and that my services were no longer needed'. Duke played 181 shows with Elvis.

While performing with Elvis, Duke was also touring with songwriter Gene Clark, who was a mainstay in the original 'Byrds'. It got a little difficult to schedule, but the enjoyment was back performing in intimate acoustic situations, not unlike the time spent with Tom Rush. During this same time, he also got to play bass on Emmylou Harris's 'Pieces of the Sky', and 'Blue Kentucky Girl' albums. Though he only had one track on each album, the experience was a memorable one.

When Duke heard that Elvis had died he was livin' in L.A and his wife told him the news. He couldn't believe it. Even knowing that he was sick and that things were not well with him, like millions of people around the world he couldn't imagine Elvis would die.

Duke Bardwell and Elvis Presley Tulsa '74

Duke Bardwell and Elvis Presley Tulsa '74

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