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Bassists that have left great groups

#61
Billy Sheehan left the David Lee Roth group. With all these old bands getting back together, if there's one band I'd love to see play together again it's them. DLR, Sheehan, Vai and Bissonette. What a line up!

Billy also quit Mr Big for a period, which effectively broke up the band, but know they're back together again. (hmmm, sounds like a Tenacious D lyric).

Then there's Duff leaving Guns n Roses - I don't think that needs any explanation.
 
#64
Jack Bruce, John McVie, Larry Taylor and Andy Fraser all played with and left John Mayall
Roy Estrada, Patrick O'Hearn, Arthur Barrow, Scott Thunes, Erroneous, James "Bird Legs" Youman, Tom Fowler, Max Bennett, Dave Parlato, Jim Pons, Shuggie Otis all left Frank Zappa
William "Bootsy" Collins, "Sweet" Charles Sherrell, Bernard Odum, Tim Drummond, and Fred Thomas all left James Brown
William "Bootsy" Collins, "Billy Bass Nelson" and Cordell "Boogie" Mosson all played with and left the Parliament-Funkadelics
 
#66
Roscoe East said:
How many of them left of their own volition?
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Good question! Reckon if a poll was taken Frank took the results with him when he left :p

Come to think about it, Roy Estrada left Zappa to go with Lowell George, Bill Payne and Ritchie Heyward to form Little Feat; then left Little Feat shortly afterward where he was replaced by Kenny Gradney. So he counts twice; a "two-fer"
 
#67
Roscoe East said:
How many of them left of their own volition?
Click to expand...

Also...Ralphie Armstrong left Zappa (I don't know the details). I have an old musician friend who toured with Zappa (and several other popular artists), and left Zappa claiming some of his on stage antics (like pouring milk over her head during performances) made it a difficult gig to endure.
 
#70
Roscoe East said:
Ralphie Armstrong? The bassist who played with Mahavishnu Orchestra, and Jean-Luc Ponty's band, that Ralph Armstong? When did he play with Frank Zappa?
Click to expand...

Around the mid 70's...I think Ralphie was still a teenager...between his gigs with Carlos Santana and Herbie Hancock. I found the interview where Ralphie says he lasted about 7 months with Zappa. He says he quit because that gig was almost 24/7, 6 days a week and he burnt out and the ensemble was always on the go...although he says he liked Zappa.
 
#74
SoCal1 said:
Around the mid 70's...I think Ralphie was still a teenager...between his gigs with Carlos Santana and Herbie Hancock. I found the interview where Ralphie says he lasted about 7 months with Zappa.
Click to expand...

Ah, just found this:
Invalid Link Removed
Wow, I had no idea Ralphe played with Frank...and I was a huge Zappa and Mahavishnu fan back at the time when this was all taking place!
 
#77
Here's my list:

-Dirk Lance left Incubus
-Les Claypool didn't make Metallica
-Michael Todd got kicked out of Coheed and Cambria
-Chi Cheng went into a minimally conscious state, and unable to be with the Deftones
-Henry Bogdan quit Helmet (he had an awesome tone)
-Stuart Zender quit Jamiroquai
-Nick Oliveri quit QOTSA
-Paul D'Amour quit Tool (Justin is better, but Paul had a pretty cool tone)
 
#80
onetimeoneplace said:
Here's my list:

-Dirk Lance left Incubus
-Les Claypool didn't make Metallica
-Michael Todd got kicked out of Coheed and Cambria
-Chi Cheng went into a minimally conscious state, and unable to be with the Deftones
-Henry Bogdan quit Helmet (he had an awesome tone)
-Stuart Zender quit Jamiroquai
-Nick Oliveri quit QOTSA
-Paul D'Amour quit Tool (Justin is better, but Paul had a pretty cool tone)
Click to expand...

Nick Oliveri was fired, actually. Does he still count?
 

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