Russell Javors

Phil Ramone brought in musicians he already trusted from another enormous recording career, Billy Joel's band.

Drummer Liberty DeVitto, guitarist Russell Javors, and bassist Doug Stegmeyer had spent years playing together and were simultaneously involved in the sessions surrounding Joel's Glass Houses.

These were not the polished Los Angeles studio professionals Karen knew from A&M.

Ramone liked Billy Joel's band precisely because they were not perfect in that way.

They were a real working band who played with aggression and instinct.

Russell Javors remembered them as a rowdy bunch of New York bar band guys who said exactly what they thought.

Karen walked into the middle of them.

At first, the cultural collision was almost comic.