Jim Gordon, drummer in Derek and the Dominos and co-writer, with Eric Clapton, of their signature song, "Layla," died on Monday at the age of 77.
He passed from natural causes at the California Medical Facility in Vacavillle after a long incarceration and battle with mental illness. He attacked his 72-year old mother, Osa Marie Gordon, on June 3rd, 1983 with a hammer before stabbing her to death. Shortly after, he was diagnosed as schizophrenic.
Gordon grew up in California's San Fernando Valley and he started his career the day after he graduated high school in 1963, joining up with The Everly Brothers.
Graham Nash commented on his passing telling us, “I first saw him play in the early sixties with The Everly Brothers.
”I wish Jim had given [his, Gordon’s, and Nash’s former] girlfriend Rita Coolidge credit for writing the piano part that changes the tempo in ‘Layla’ instead of claiming that he wrote it.”
Gordon plays drums on Nash’s Crosby, Stills & Nash song “Marrakesh Express.”
A member of the legendary Wrecking Crew's cast of session players, he can also be heard on records by The Beach Boys, George Harrison, John Lennon, Carole King, B.B. King, Gordon Lightfoot, Steely Dan, Carly Simon, Harry Nilsson, Alice Cooper, Traffic, Jackson Browne, Merle Haggard, Frank Zappa, Joan Baez, Tom Petty and many, many others.
In addition to the Dominos, Gordon was also a member of Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen and Delaney and Bonnie and
With his passing, Derek and the Dominos are down to three surviving members -- Clapton, Bobby Whitlock and Dave Mason, who spent a brief time with the group. Duane Allman, who like Mason, also had a brief role in the band, died in 1971, and bassist Carl Radle followed in 1980.