Pianist Alan Pasqua Talks "Murder Most Foul," Dylan's Nobel Lecture, and the 1978 Tour

1978-03-27, Entertainment Center, Perth, Australia

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Photo by Klaudia Kroboth

Update June 2023: This interview is included along with 40+ others in my new book ‘Pledging My Time: Conversations with Bob Dylan Band Members.’ Buy it in hardcover, paperback, or ebook here!

Alan Pasqua has one of the more unusual histories with Dylan of any of his many backing musicians. In 1978, he played 115 concerts with Dylan, Bob’s longest tour to date. When the tour finally ended, they went their separate ways.

Pasqua didn’t hear from Dylan again for 39 years.

Then, in 2017, he gets asked to record a piece of piano music for Bob. For what purpose? They won’t tell him. So he records something, sends it off, and soon after finds himself a new character in the Nobel Prize drama, as Bob recites his long-awaited acceptance speech over Alan’s recording.

Soon after, Pasqua’s actually in the studio with Bob – for the first time in 40 years – to record a gender-swapped cover of “She’s Funny That Way.” Then last year, just before lockdown, they collaborate again on “Murder Most Foul,” which was unveiled to the world exactly one year ago today.

So though I primarily called Alan to talk about that long tour in ’78 – represented today by the March 27 show in Perth, Australia – we ended up going through his entire history with Bob, from 1978 through the 2020 “Murder Most Foul” session.

Ian Wallace (drummer) and Alan Pasqua in foreground. Courtesy Alan Pasqua

I've read short versions of how you got involved in the '78 tour, but I wonder if you wouldn't mind telling me the longer version. I gather you were with Eddie Money at the time?

Yes. My first gig after college was with Tony Williams and The New Tony Williams Lifetime. When that band dissolved, I moved to Los Angeles. The guy that produced the New Tony Williams Lifetime records, his name was Bruce Botnick. When I got to LA, he was the only guy I knew, and I called him. A couple of weeks later, he called and said, "I've got this new artist I’ve been assigned to produce. His name is Eddie Money. We need a piano player to play on his record. Do you want to come over and meet him?"

I had come from a jazz background, but I had played rock as a kid, so it wasn't something that was foreign to me. I walk in and Eddie says, "Hey, Al, I don't want to hear any jazz shit from you!" [laughs] Then he sat down at the piano and played me what were going to be his two first big hits, “Baby Hold On” and “Two Tickets to Paradise.”

We went out on the road. I think we were in New York doing a rehearsal. We were on a break, and I was standing in the hall, and there's this other guy in the hall. We just kind of struck up a conversation. I forget what band he was there working with, but he said he was going to be playing with Dylan. His name was Rob Stoner. He says, "I'm going to be in LA down the road if you want to exchange numbers, I'll give you a call when I'm in town."

I did this three-month tour with Eddie that ended right before Christmas. I get home and I'm just kind of sitting on the couch, decompressing, and the phone rings. It's Rob. I was living close to Santa Monica, near the Marina, and he said, "Man, I'm in Santa Monica at Bob's rehearsal studio, and I'm putting a band together, auditioning people for next year for a tour. I'd love to get you in on it."

I was so burnt out from the last trip with Eddie. I said to him, "Man, I just got home and I think I'm going to take a break." He said, "Okay, well, good talking to you.” I hung up the phone.

Five minutes later, I just thought to myself, "Oh my God, what did I just do?" I called him right back. I said, "Hey, man, I'm feeling a whole lot better! I'd love to come down and hang out." I went about a mile away from where I was living, down to Bob's rehearsal place. It's a big room with tape recorders, nothing super fancy, just stuff to record music on. Rob was the only one in there.

We just started playing some blues and shuffles. He thought he heard something that might be a good fit. He recorded all this stuff, and he put together a tape of me and presented it to Bob. A little bit of time goes by and Rob calls me and he goes, "Let's do it again." I go back down, we do it again.

After that, I got a call saying, "Hey, we're putting a band together, do you want to come down and play?" The very first day there were at least, I'm not exaggerating, two or three drummers, three keyboard players. David Mansfield was there, Steven Soles, Billy Cross was there, probably another guitar player, Rob of course, Steve Douglas, I think Bobbye Hall was there or came shortly thereafter. Bob showed up and we just started jamming. We weren't really playing any specific songs. Then we were excused.

A couple of days later, it's like, "Hey, we're going to do it again.” That time there were two keyboard players and two drummers. They started narrowing down the field.

This went on for maybe a week or two. I didn't think I necessarily would get the gig, but the longer I was there, the more I was really into playing with Bob and this band of great musicians. I walked in one day and I was the only keyboard player there. Nobody said to me, "Congratulations, you've got the gig." With that world, you've got the gig for that day. Depending on how things go, maybe you'll have the gig tomorrow.

The band solidified and we got it down to me, Ian Wallace on drums, Rob on bass, Billy Cross, Soles, Mansfield, Steve Douglas, Bobbye Hall on percussion, they brought in three background singers, and then we started working on tunes.

I remember there was one day where it was not a good day at all and all of us were dismissed. Then the next day, we all got a call and all of us were brought back in.

So you were fired for 24 hours?

Yes, we were fired for a day. At least I was.