Was he touring with them?

I knew he had been sick but I'd seen that he'd rejoined the tour. Big loss for the E-Street Band and as you said, his work with Bittan was one of the things that made their sound.

I read today that he was touring with them, taking occasional nights off for treatments, where he was replaced by a session guy.

I loved Federici's organ playing. Bittan got all the accolades, but that nice organ was so essential to a lot of those great epic Springsteen songs from the Born to Run era. And how about the organ part on the live version of Spirits in the Night from the 1975-1985 live record? Makes the tune, for me.

Benmont Tench is another one of my favorites. There was a time in the 80s and 90s where it seemed like Tench was the only organ player in the recording business, he was on so many peoples' records.

I read an article today about him that made a good point- while the guy was a great player- if you're sharing a stage with Clarence, that bandana guy and Springsteen, it's hard to get attention-

Not that I think the guy wanted it-

Somebody touched on this in the 'bad musician' thread of yore, I think the guy's a good example of a good musician-

The tune that comes to mind for me is Santa Claus us Coming to Town

I read somewhere that he wasn't actively touring since last November, instead popping up at shows here and there.

I've always enjoyed his playing. Usually understated and always right for the song. I especially like the organ part on Kitty's Back and the accordion parts he played on Sandy.

Here's a link to DF's last appearance on stage, back in March.

media.brucespringsteen.net/no...

Yes, some of those live cuts on the 1975-1985 live record are much better than the studio versions. Spirits in the Night and Sandy come to mind. Also, I love the stripped down live version of Fire on that.

My first J Geils Band record was Blow Your Face Out, and I actually never heard the studio versions of many of those songs until many years later. And they almost all sound completely lame compared to the live treatments on BYFO (and also the tunes on Full House as well).

I agree with Chippa on the good musician comment about Federici, and will go one step further, saying that many of the lower-profile guys in that band fit that category. In fact, I prefer the contributions of the role players like Federici, Tallent, Lofgren, and yes, even Scialfa to those of the "rock stars" like Clemons (the most overrated member, IMO, but they made him sound great on those records, and I've often even suspected that someone wrote out his parts for him because they're always note for note in the live recordings I've heard), Van Zant (can't think of a single memorable guitar solo of his), and Weinberg (always hated his "feel").

But I think Bittan is a great musician by any yardstick I could possibly apply.

I'm with you on the weinberg O smooth one, except for that one snare drum fill at the end of Born in the USA- that's a pretty good one

I think Max had some sort of degenerative disease or somesuch with his fingers I remember watching a show about it on PBS in the mid-90s I believe, I guess he overcame it

Yeah, I do think his Bam Bam style suits Born in the USA pretty well.

I'm so sad to hear this today. I am a long time Springsteen fan, 30 plus shows worth! I was fortunate enough to see Danny in his last shows at Boston in November, and play Sandy on accordian... JZ impressed at your mention of Tony Banks as well.
RIP Danny

Chippa can be startlingly human sometimes.

AHA!!!! I knew I wasn't 100% wrong.

Just like I lambasted Senor Bacardi when a young 20 something once asked for "Delilah" and he immediately ordered me to begin the ostinato minor 9 chord intro to "Delilah" by Tom Jones.

Damn kids!!!

The Plain White T's "Delilah" actually doesn't bother as much as I thought it would. It's honest, it's simple, and gosh darn it, people like it.

But Tom Jones is still my hero!

And a proper obituary to Danny Federici in the Herald this morning.