Meet Carol Kaye, the Unsung Bassist Behind Your Favorite 60s Hits

[ismnotwasm]

Now 79, the lady has laid down some deeply iconic bass tracks in a career spanning 55 years and something in the neighborhood of 10,000 recording sessions.

Joe Cocker’s “Feelin’ Alright”?

The Beach Boys hits “Help Me, Rhonda,” “Sloop John B,” and “California Girls.”

The theme song to The Brady Bunch?

Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made for Walkin‘”?!?

Holy cow, talk about something to tell the grandkids.

Her interview for a never completed documentary above left me with none of the melancholy I felt on behalf of the under-recognized back up singers populating the recent film Twenty Feet from Stardom. This may be due to some rock and roll gender inequality. The girls far outnumber the boys in the ranks of backing vocals, where looks play an undeniable part, at least when the band’s out on the road. Kaye’s contributions occurred in the recording studio. She appears plenty content to have numbered among an elite team of hard working, clean living Los Angeles session musicians.

Unsurprisingly, she was one of a very few women in the field, though girls, take note: her website has 115 playing tips for fledgling bass players. Boys are free to take note too…

Now that you’ve “discovered” this legend, may we suggest setting an hour aside to get to know her better in the longer interview below?

http://www.openculture.com/2014/04/carol-kaye-the-unsung-bassist.html

[msongs]

1. ive watched these and other carol kaye interviews. hal blaine interviews are nice as well nt

[ismnotwasm]

2. Nice to hear

I just sent these to my grandson-- he's in love with the idea of being a rock star because h can play the guitar quite well at 15--good thing he has a back up plan.

[seamonkey58]

3. She also played great guitar

Carol played bass on Glen Campbell's famous Wichita Lineman (among others) and came up the little bass riff that opens the song. Both Carol and Glen were members of the famous Wrecking Crew community of studio musicians in L.A. from the late 50s to the 70s. Tommy Tedesco's son made a great documentary a few years back that included Carol and others reminiscing about their work.

Fender once issued a Carol Kaye signature Stratocaster. She was as adept on guitar as she was on bass. She had to sharply reduce her playing some years ago due to arthritis.

[ismnotwasm]

5. Great information

And welcome to DU!

[Agschmid]

7. Welcome to DU!

[calimary]

15. Welcome to DU, seamonkey58!

Glad you're here! Amazing, the gems that are unearthed here on DU! Carol Kaye won't be forgotten. And that's a VERY good thing!

[DeSwiss]

4. Thanks for posting!!!

K&R

[ismnotwasm]

6. You're welcome!

[Violet_Crumble]

8. Thanks for posting that. I'd never heard of her before now...

I don't like most of the stuff she played on, except for the theme song for the Brady Bunch. The only thing she could have possibly done that would be even cooler would have been to have played the theme to the Banana Splits. Sorry, this isn't the original, but the quality sucked, and Liz Phair does a brilliant cover of it...

Anyway, she's inspired me to try to learn how to play bass. I play guitar, but lately I've been mulling over whether I should learn ukulele, but it's a bit wanky, so I might go with bass and visit her site and get some tips from her

[ismnotwasm]

11. Heh!

Nice!


I like a bit of Jazz, ( don't know much--I just like it) and at heart, I get the impression that Jazz was, for her, the purest expression of music.

[JustAnotherGen]

9. Thanks for this!

What a great and interesting life!

[ismnotwasm]

13. You are welcome

[eppur_se_muova]

10. I never listen to rock, but I recognized this name immediately ...

she was on a couple of albums for the Don Ellis band (jazz/pop/rock) and ... Stan Kenton. Talk about bridging generations !

[ismnotwasm]

12. Right?

That's what's so amazing-- one generation to the next-- the things she must have seen.

[calimary]

14. Kicking this!

WUNNNNderful!!!