Standing in Ronnie Wood’s kitchen as the Rolling Stone whipped up some espresso, Las Vegan Jimmy McIntosh informed his host of another role Wood plays—one that drew a chuckle from the British guitar great. “I told him I teach the History of Rock class at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, and he’s a question on my midterm: ‘Which musician has played with The Rolling Stones, The Jeff Beck Group and The Faces?’”
McIntosh remembers. “And he smiled and went, ‘Really? I’m a test question? That’s great!’”
McIntosh also did a lot of beaming that day, and for good reason. Having posted a hopeful, but hardly expectant, query to Wood’s management regarding a possible guest spot on McIntosh’s debut recording, the longtime local guitarist found himself watching as first Wood, and then surprise drop-in Jeff Beck, laid down contributions for what became this year’s Orleans to London.
“My wife and I flew to London and traveled to Ronnie’s house and home studio, where he was going to play on one tune. He ended up playing on five,” says the 48-year-old McIntosh, a veteran of Strip shows Legends in Concert and, currently, Mamma Mia! “A few minutes after meeting Ronnie he said, ‘I told Jeff Beck about this project and he might stop by and play.’ I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, but Jeff showed up and listened to some of my tunes and wound up playing on three of them.”
Beck asked to go uncredited on the disc (his guitar parts are attributed to “Hot Rod”), but there’s no mistaking his or Wood’s presence throughout the enjoyable, 11-track jazz-rock manifesto. “They’re excellent musicians, and they definitely have big ears,” McIntosh says. “Basically, everything they did was first take. They’d listen to a tune, and I’d tell them what key it was in and, wham!, they’d just kill it—one take, no stopping, no punch-ins ... unbelievable.”
The “Orleans” component of the disc title refers to another set of participating musical luminaries: Neville Brothers funksters Art, Cyril and Ivan Neville, and longtime Nevilles drummer Willie Green. “Whenever the Nevilles would come to town, I’d go into the studio with Willie and [local bassist] Rochon Westmoreland,” McIntosh says. “Then I met Ivan through Willie, and he played organ on six tunes and did the vocal for one. And then we went to New Orleans where Art played two organ solos on ‘Mama Funk,’ and Cyril played percussion on nine tracks.”
Though the all-star cast has drawn most of the attention, Orleans to London serves principally as a showcase for McIntosh—both his own formidable playing and his impressive array of songwriting. Along with covers of Hendrix and the Stones and one traditional number, the disc features eight original compositions. “I’ve been a musician for a long time, and I’ve written some tunes here and there over the years,” he explains. “New Orleans music has been some of my favorite stuff in the world, so that was the overall vibe I was working from.”
Three tracks are up for streaming at myspace.com/jimmymcintosh, and the full disc is available at jimmymcintosh.com and cdbaby.com. McIntosh can also be heard playing live Tuesday nights at 11:30 p.m. at Divebar, with a regular quartet frequently supplemented by other seasoned local players.