Would be the good subject for a movie. If hollywood was actually creative, that is.
One of the studio musicians playing with Carol was Glen Campbell. He was the only player in the studio who couldn’t read sheets. But he could listen to anything once and improvise a guitar line on the spot. A true prodigy.
A very accomplished musician, as were all of the Wrecking Crew. She was very innovative.
Spotify has a playlist Carol Kaye: The Best Of (you'll need the Spotify app on your computer or look it up on your mobile app).
The playlist starts with Sonny & Cher "The Beat Goes On," the Beach Boys "Sloop John B," and Nancy Sinatra "These Boots Are Made For Walking." Those were amazing days for contemporary music.
You can really hear Kaye's bass on these tunes.
great pics! for a moment there I almost heard bye dung reciting one of his
made off anecdotes
Genius player. What a discography she must have. Watch “ Wrecking Crew” about all the session players.
What a story this talented lady has. One of her many contributions was the bass line for “The beat goes on.”
What an interesting article! Thank you for posting it!
plays with a pick... Pffffft...
bkmk
Interesting. Thanks for posting.
Amazing to kearn that all those songs we grew up with were not actually performed by the groups they’re attributed to.
Almost everyone in those days had a musical instrument. If you think of how many people today have cell phones and computers, that’s how many people had instruments and how popular music was then.
Why was it so, and why did it stop being so? Was it the easy access to recordings and radio that reduced the urge to buy and play your own music? That people went from being creators to consumers of music?
The fact that you had to nail your part in one or two takes really set a high bar. You walk into the session cold and they hand you the sheet music. You might have an actual part written for you or you might have to create one on the spot. The part you create must have charisma sufficient to entertain a nation of listeners, and you must play it with zero mistakes in a couple of takes. These people were truly a different breed. Very creative but also very nervy and disciplined.
Fantastic. Love this. Thank you for posting it.
A woman excels and they gotta start the bullshit while they ignore the obvious, ie, when a woman could cut it she got respect and paid.Kaye was getting paid to play jazz on a six string at a time when the people who made and appreciated jazz knew what they were talking about. Not easy by a long shot. Improvising on the fly IS Jazz.
The idea that the sessions for Kaye and the Wrecking Crew were high pressure is laughable. Kaye has admitted to being bored at times and coming up with lines just to change things up. Kaye et al were wildly over qualified for what they were doing.
As far as her “tone” she played Bass with a pick which combined with her melodic ability made her stand out among Bass players