Mountain -

Mountain was an American hard-rock band from New York that grew from an album of the same name by guitarist Leslie West. As a proper band, they released three albums and a live disc on Windfall Records between 1970 and 1974. They are best known for their performance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival and the 1970 riff-rocker “Mississippi Queen.”

Members: Leslie West (guitar, bass, vocals), Felix Pappalardi (bass, piano, guitar, keyboards, vocals, 1969-74), N.D. Smart II [aka N.D., Norman Smart] (drums, 1969), Steve Knight (keyboards, percussion, 1969-72), Corky Laing (drums, percussion, 1969-72, 1973-present), David Perry (guitar, 1973-74), Allan Schwartzberg (drums, 1973), Bob Mann (keyboards, 1973), Mark Clarke (bass, 1985-96)

Mountain sprung from the 1969 album Mountain by guitarist Leslie West. It features a power-trio lineup rounded by bassist Felix Pappalardi and drummer N.D. Smart. That summer, they toured the album with keyboardist Steve Knight. Corky Laing replaced Smart and Mountain released its first proper album, Climbing!, in 1970.

West (1945–2020), a native of Long Island, first led garage-rockers The Vagrants, which scored regional hits with the singles “I Can’t Make a Friend” and the Otis Redding/Aretha Franklin cover “Respect.” Their producer, Felix Pappalardi, also produced the album Disraeli Gears by Cream, a band that inspired West.

Pappalardi (1939–1983), a classically trained musician from the Bronx, attended NYC’s High School of Music & Art and the University of Michigan. He first performed and toured as part of Max Morath’s Original Rag Quartet (ORQ). As an arranger, he worked on albums by Tom Paxton, Vince Martin, Fred Neil, and The Devil’s Anvil. He then went into production, handling albums by The Youngbloods, Joan Baez, and Cream, plus the Vagrants singles.

At West’s suggestion, Pappalardi took up bass and they recorded Mountain with drummer N.D. Smart, a late-period member of Boston garage-rockers The Remains (“Don’t Look Back”).

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