The Modern Adventures of Plato, Diogenes and Freud

Blood, Sweat & Tears: Al Kooper (lead vocals, piano, organ), Fred Lipsius (alto sax, piano), Randy Brecker and Jerry Weiss (trumpet, flugelhorn), Dick Halligan (trombone), Steve Katz (guitars), Jim Fielder (bass guitar, fretless bass guitar), Bobby Colomby (drums, percussion) and orchestral ensemble. From the album This Is Father to the Man (1968).

In 1968 Al Kooper organized the recording of the album Super Session, in which he played in a jam session with his friend Mike Bloomfield on side one and with Stephen Stills on side two, achieved great commercial and critical success, and was certified gold record. In 1969 Kooper and Bloombield decided to repeat the experience with The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper and in 1970 Kooper recorded Kooper Session with child prodigy Johnny Otis playing guitar. He also recorded with the Rolling Stones, Joe Cooker, the Who, Trisha Yearwood, George Harrison, Cream, Betty Wright, Tracy Nelson, Tom Petty, Taj Mahal, B. B. King, Alice Cooper, Roger McGuinn, Peter Paul & Mary and Jimi Hendricks.

In 1972 Kooper moved to Atlanta, founded his own label Sounds of the South, discovered southern United States rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd and produced their first three albums with which they became famous. During the 1970s he also produced albums for Bob Dylan, Nils Lofgren, Thelonious Monster, The Staple Singers, The Tubes, B. B. King, Lorrey Ellison, Joe Eli, Eddie & The Hot Rods, Green On Red and Ray Charles. In the 1980s he reduced his work as a producer and played with Joe Walsh and Tom Petty.

Furthermore, he made soundtracks for John Waters’s film Cry Baby, Peter Riegert’s King Of The Corner and Hal Ashby’s The Landlord, as well as Michael Mann’s Crime Story television series. Likewise he accompanied Bob Dylan on his 1981 world tour. In 1998 he released his autobiography Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards based on another book he had written in 1977. He is also a professor of compositing and production techniques at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and published Rekooperation in 1994, Black Cofee in 2005 and White Chocolate in 2008.