John Guerin


John Payne Guerin was an American percussionist. He was a proponent of the jazz-rock style.

Biography

Guerin was born in Hawaii and raised in San Diego. As a young drummer, he began performing with Buddy DeFranco in 1960. In the late 1960s, he moved to Los Angeles where his drum work was utilized by artists including Frank Sinatra, The Beach Boys, George Harrison, Frank Zappa, The Animals, Joni Mitchell, Them, Thelonious Monk, Lou Rawls, Ray Conniff, George Shearing, Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Linda Ronstadt, Nelson Riddle and many others.
From July 1972 to January 1973, he was the drummer for The Byrds and joined the L.A. Express later that year. The band served as Joni Mitchell's back-up band on tour during the mid- to late-1970s; Guerin had a brief relationship with Mitchell during that time. She later wrote the song Hejira about leaving him.
Guerin was an exponent of the jazz-rock style and played in many different genres, including for film and television. Among his contributions to motion picture and television scores, Guerin worked on the soundtrack to the 1988 film homage to Charlie Parker, Bird by Clint Eastwood. Those are also his drums on the theme song during the opening credits for the 1968 television series Hawaii Five-O.
In later years, Guerin worked with Oscar Peterson, Jon Faddis, Jimmy Heath, Ray Charles, Sonny Rollins, Justin Morell, Andreas Pettersson, David Basse, David Garfield, Gary Lemel, and Mike Melvoin.
Guerin died of heart failure on January 5, 2004, in West Hills, California.

Selected discography

As sideman

With David Axelrod
With The Beach Boys
With Pat Boone
  • Just the Way I Am
With Michael Franks
With Terry Garthwaite
  • Terry
  • Hand in Glove
With David Gates
With Jack Jones
  • Harbour
  • What I Did For Love
With Peggy Lee
With Melanie
With Joni Mitchell
With Oliver Nelson
With Aaron Neville
  • The Grand Tour
  • Aaron Neville's Soulful Christmas
With Tom Pacheco
  • The Outsider
  • Swallowed Up in the Great American Heartland
With Lou Rawls
  • Love All Your Blues Away
  • Rawls Sings Sinatra
With Howard Roberts
With Emitt Rhodes
With Linda Ronstadt
With Diane Schuur
With Seals and Crofts
With Bud Shank
With Frank Sinatra
With O. C. Smith
With Patrick Williams
With Frank Zappa
With others