according to wiki, carol kaye has not passed away (?)
Nahhh, Ray Charles didn’t know what he was talking about when it comes to bassists. Any bassist worth anything could easily cover ALL of Ray Charles’s songs. No sweat at all.
Carol is a legend. She played electric bass on half the hit records made in L.A. in the ‘60s... probably 80% of the TV themes, countless movie scores. As early as the ‘50s, she was playing guitar on hits like Ritchie Valens’ “La Bamba.”
She’s also notoriously touchy. Even though she appeared in Denny Tedesco’s “Wrecking Crew” documentary, she hates and rejects the “wrecking crew” nickname for the clique of studio musicians of which she was one of the principals. In the biopic “Love and Mercy,” an actress portrays Carol in a friendly dispute with Brian Wilson about key changes in one of his composition. Carol hated the scene and hated her character’s wardrobe and talked on social media about possibly suing... even though the scene was harmless and her attire was a near-replica of what she’s seen wearing in studio photos from the 1966-67 period.
Also Brian Wilson’s go-to bass player
“she is confused about why she has been asked to play, given they lack complexity…”
Most of what she’s famous for lacked complexity.
She was an accomplished Jazzbo. She was making money playing live jazz six string guitar (not Bass).at a time when that audience knew what they were talking about.
Like a lot of good jazz players she was advised that there was money to be made in studio work for this Rock n Roll flash in the pan crap. This was a great deal for many of these players as they could bang out a Rock guitar rock line and, say, balance their checkbook in their head at the same time.
One day when the Bass player failed to show Kaye was asked to give it a go.
The rest is history. She is a great musician in the complete sense of the word. She has total command of her instrument. Total command of theory. And that indefinable something that very very few have to manipulate sound and silence in a way that affects.
She has admitted that sheer boredom has played a role in her bass line here and there when she would on take eleventeen go off and play what ever the hell she wanted…and they’d keep it.
That third from the last paragraph in your excerpt is *so true*. Playing fast guitar doesn’t cut it for me.
Its much more important to play with feeling or a groove.