Little Feat
Waiting For Columbus

The Little Feat were the most interesting Californian band of the Seventies. Their highly unique musical offering defies any precise categorization and unfolds in a wide horizon of sound ideas that includes rock elements, blues twists, a touch of country, southern energy, soul spirit, and healthy improvisation.

Lowell George, a son of Frank Zappa's Mothers Of Invention, is the true creator of such originality. He is the "small-footed" man who inspires and composes the group's most significant songs, turning them into immortal classics with his warm, sometimes melancholic black voice and his unsurpassed slide-guitar technique. An instrument that James Taylor, the Grateful Dead, and Jackson Browne could not resist, often collaborating with Lowell George. "Waiting For Columbus" is proof that the Little Feat were one of the greatest live bands of all time. Alongside Lowell George's undeniable capabilities, we find great personalities like guitarist Paul Barrere, pianist Bill Payne, and drummer Ritchie Hayward, all musicians with significant past ensuring the group a high technical rate. The musical world of Little Feat is seasoned with much originality and fantasy. Just take a look at the colorful album covers, drawn by Californian painter Neon Park, or listen to the long creative jam sessions with which they transform their songs in live performances.

"Waiting For Columbus", released in 1978, was preceded by some extraordinary studio efforts (notable are both "Sailin' Shoes" and "Dixie Chicken"), and for the occasion, the band was accompanied by the horn section of Tower Of Power, making Little Feat's borderless music even richer. The union among the musicians is perfect, Lowell George's voice is at the peak of its expressive maturity, and the tracks, which are enriched compared to studio recordings, reach dizzying heights thanks to the musicians' great ability. The rhythms and slide of "Fat Man In The Bathtub", the elongated "Dixie Chicken" and "Sailin' Shoes", the strange beats of "An Apolitical Blues", the immortal "Willin'" and "Tripe Face Boogie" are the perfect alternative soundtrack of a journey through canyons and small towns in past California populated by bikers, truckers, mountaineers, and losing heroes. "Waiting For Columbus" is one of the best live records in rock history and represents the artistic testament of the original group.

Lowell George would dissolve the band in 1979 to focus on a solo career. A career of great promise that, after a splendid solo debut ("Thanks I'll Eat It There"), would never take off due to his untimely death. A fate similar to that of many other great names in rock, depriving the Californian music scene of the time of a charismatic, shy, silent, and irreplaceable figure.