Meet the All-Stars

We've seen the front men of the "Pittsburgh All-Stars," the crack band assembled to perform at the Tony Janflone Jr. benefit on March 13. Now, let's meet the rest of the guys:

Rick Witkoski, guitar. The veteran performer, known for his work with Crack the Sky, also is a veteran producer at his Studio L in Weirton, W.Va., which he runs with his wife, Deborah. Why Studio L? The Witkowskis are co-composers of "Vitamin L," B.E. Taylor's 1983 hit.

And speaking of Crack the Sky, the band will perform at the Rites of Spring Festival (RoSfest) at the Keswick Theater in Glenside, Pa., on May 4. As a side note, the theater is right around the corner from where my grandparents on the Funk side lived, so I spent plenty of time in the vicinity as a kid. Small world ...

Derek Bayer, guitar, helped organize the benefit with Curtis Swift, saxophone player in Tony Jr.'s regular band.

Tommy Bellin, bass guitar. "He is like the premiere bass player in Pittsburgh," says Rick Witkoski. To see what he means, check out the bass solo in the middle of "Vitamin L," as Tom does a take on a Vince Guaraldi favorite. You also can catch him with No Bad Ju Ju, and he has played in B.E. Taylor's band.

Rick Dickerson, drums, has played for numerous area bands, including Tony Janflone Jr.'s. He appears on the album "Live at the Blues Cafe."

Jamie Peck, keyboards. Along with composing music for a variety of radio and TV projects, Jamie Peck is an accomplished producer. Among those he has worked with are B.E. Taylor, Peters Township musician Tom Breiding and Christian singer Sandy Lusco.

I have some more footage from the benefit, so bear with me as I get it ready to post!

A shot of Vitamin L

Someday I'd like to apologize to B.E. Taylor.

When he released his album "Love Won the Fight" in 1983, I was asked to write a review about it for the college newspaper. Since I was a know-it-all who considered anything recorded after 1970 not to be worth my while, I didn't have the greatest things to write about the record.

Hey, that was a quarter-century ago. What did I know?


What I do know is that hearing B.E. perform "Vitamin L" at the recent benefit concert for Tony Janflone Jr. was an experience that certainly transcended writing for the school paper. With a stellar cast, including "Vitamin L" composer Rick Witkowski on guitar, B.E. had the audience members where he wanted them, including yours truly.

A highlight of the performance was a bass solo by Tommy Bellin, who does a jaw-dropping rendition of Vince Guaraldi's "Linus and Lucy" in mid-song. Aspiring bass players might want to study Johnny's technique closely. Tommy, by the way, plays regularly with No Bad Ju Ju, a band that's definitely worth catching.

Here's the full video version of "Vitamin L."

And if you run across a 1983 copy of the IUP Penn with a writeup on B.E. Taylor, please ignore it.