Last week I was in Calgary and had the chance to see a band at The Dickens Pub featuring Dennis Davies, Marty Antonini and a fabulous horn and harp player, Danny Hull. For those of you not familiar with Mr. Hull, his resume includes the Doobie Brothers.
Danny started out playing sax and blues harmonica in the San Jose, California area in the early 1970′s. He played blues and jazz fusion with Russ Ferranti, (currently of the Yellowjackets) and, in L.A., recorded an album and toured with Buddy Miles.Jimmy Messina (of Loggins & Messina) added him to his recordings and so did Delaney Bramlet (Bonnie & Delaney).
Wanting to break out on his own Danny formed the The Danny Hull Quintet which was the power fusion band in central California in the late 70′s and early 80′s. he later changed the name of the group to Spangalang when he added Tony Lyndsay on vocals, a singer who would later work for Santana.
Danny added his blazing solos on albums for Eddie Money, Michael Bolton, Eric Martin (Mr. Big) and Journey. The Doobie Brothers called him up in the 1990′s and he spent most of the ninety’s touring and recording with the famous band. Danny also worked in Japan with Eikichi Yazawa and keyboard great, Clifford Coulter. He can be also seen filling in with the Tower of Power horn section.
I was amazed to see the turn out at the pub and the polished sound of four guys who had never played these songs together. I was also glad they played a couple of Doobie’s standards, Long Train Running and China Grove.