Big Jim Sullivan - Session Musician

Session Musician

Good introduced Sullivan to studio work. Sullivan became one of the most sought-after guitarists throughout the 1960s and the 1970s, due in part to his flexibility in playing different styles of music. He was often referred to as "Big Jim" to differentiate him from "Little Jim" or Jimmy Page, another noted session guitarist at the time, who would go on play in the Yardbirds and form Led Zeppelin. Sullivan gave guitar lessons to Ritchie Blackmore, and, with Blackmore and Pete Townshend, persuaded Jim Marshall to make amplifiers as cited in the Premier Guitar April/May 2003 interview. He played on at least one thousand UK chart entries, and averaged three recording sessions a day. He played on the first records in the UK to use a wah-wah effect - The KrewKats 1961 Trambone, Samovar, Peak Hour, Jack's Good and The Bat, Michael Cox's 1961 "Sweet Little Sixteen" and Dave Berry's 1964 hit "The Crying Game". He also played uncredited guitar the 1962 Alexis Korner's and Blues Incorporated's album R&B from the Marquee, and played on the first record in the UK to use a fuzzbox, which he had borrowed from session guitaristEric Ford, on P.J. Proby's 1964 hit "Hold Me".

In the early 1960s he also played on hits by Billy Fury, Frank Ifield, Adam Faith, Frankie Vaughan, Helen Shapiro, Freddie and the Dreamers, Cilla Black, Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, Dusty Springfield and many more. He played on Georgie Fame's first album Rhythm & Blues at the Flamingo in 1964, Bobby Darin's 1966 live album Something Special, Little Richard's 1966 album Get Down With It: The OKeh Sessions and Del Shannon's 1967 album Home and Away. He was also the resident guitarist at Top of the Pops and Ready Steady Go!, and helped out at Saturday Club.

Later in the 1960s and 1970s, Sullivan continued to play on a succession of hit records including those by The Walker Brothers, Donovan, David Bowie, Benny Hill, The New Seekers, Thunderclap Newman, Love Affair, Long John Baldry, Marmalade, Small Faces, The Tremeloes, and Rolf Harris. In 1968 he played on George Harrison's Wonderwall. He directed and played on Amazing Blondel's first album in 1969, and in the same year played on the album Sound of Sunforest, the overture from which was used in the film A Clockwork Orange. In 1971 he played in the Jean-Claude Vannier Orchestra for Serge Gainsbourg's Histoire de Melody Nelson, and also played on Frank Zappa's 200 Motels. In 1972 he did arrangements for the orchestral version of The Who's 1972 Tommy. He released several albums under his own name, including Sitar Beat (1967), Sullivan Plays O'Sullivan (1971), and Big Jim's Back (1974).