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Chuck Rainey...just jaw dropping

#21
jazzbasta said:
Glamour Profession, off of Steely's GAUCHO album.

Dark disco.
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Easily my favorite Chuck track, too.

Walter Becker said that after he heard Chuck play on a Steely Dan track, he didn't want to play bass anymore, and stuck mostly to guitar after that.

If any of you ever get a chance to see Steely Dan's Aja DVD, do so. Lots of footage of Chuck Rainey going over the bass lines from every tune :bassist:
 
#24
JimK said:
All of Rainey's Steely Dan tracks are great...add "The Fez", "Don't Take Me Alive", "Josie", "Your Gold Teeth II", etc.

Also, Rainey on any Quincy Jones' project...tunes like "Theme Fron The Anderson Tapes", & the little heard/known ballad, "What Good Is A Song"(from the OOP I Heard That! album).

Then there's Rainey with Aretha..."Rock Steady", "Long & Winding Road", etc.

...and with Roberta Flack/Donny Hathaway("Where Is The Love?").
.
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I know you (and others) have mentioned these before and I felt a significant gap in my CD collection - so I went away and ordered Donnay Hathaway and Roberta Flack's album as well as Donny Hathaway 'Live' from Amazon when I read this!! :)

I know the latter has Willie Weeks, but it had such great reviews on Amazon and I've never heard it... !!
 
#25
Bruce Lindfield said:
I know you (and others) have mentioned these before and I felt a significant gap in my CD collection - so I went away and ordered Donnay Hathaway and Roberta Flack's album as well as Donny Hathaway 'Live' from Amazon when I read this!! :)

I know the latter has Willie Weeks, but it had such great reviews on Amazon and I've never heard it... !!
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That live CD is just wonderful... totally what the bass is about IMO... great groove, great sound, etc.

If you end up liking that CD, there is a similar CD (regarding groove, etc.) you might like... it's a live Bill Withers CD at Carnagie Hall.... just smokin'.... massively behind the beat grooves... very nice and another classic of that period.
 
#27
Chuck Rainey is a great, great player, one of the most innovative bassists I've ever heard. He's one of those players that make it all seem so easy (until you try it yourself ;) ).

And he's a very gracious guy .... I met him at a studio where I was recording, he was down the hall and I listened for quite a while before I had to go back to my room. Maybe 1/2 hour later he came in and listened to us for a while and he was amazingly complimentary to both me and the group .... embarrassingly so, especially after listening to his incredible skills in the studio ......... :cool:
 
#28
I've read in several places that his main bass thru the 60's and 70's (most of the records discussed here) was a 57 p bass (maybe with an added j pu???). The pics I've seen of him with that bass--or at least what I think is that bass--has a rosewood board. P basses didn't have rosewood boards until mid-1959 to the best of my knowledge---what do you think?? Regardless, it's an awesome bass that's on LOADS of great records. Anyone else ever notice this?? Any thoughts??
 
#30
timmarks said:
I've read in several places that his main bass thru the 60's and 70's (most of the records discussed here) was a 57 p bass (maybe with an added j pu???). The pics I've seen of him with that bass--or at least what I think is that bass--has a rosewood board. P basses didn't have rosewood boards until mid-1959 to the best of my knowledge---what do you think?? Regardless, it's an awesome bass that's on LOADS of great records. Anyone else ever notice this?? Any thoughts??
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Don't know for sure, but on the SITSOM disc Chuck says at some point when he met Jamerson he was using "the same kind of bass through the same kind of amp."
So that would mean at some point it was a '62 P. But maybe Chuck just meant it was a P, not exactly the same.
 
#31
timmarks said:
I've read in several places that his main bass thru the 60's and 70's (most of the records discussed here) was a 57 p bass (maybe with an added j pu???). The pics I've seen of him with that bass--or at least what I think is that bass--has a rosewood board. P basses didn't have rosewood boards until mid-1959 to the best of my knowledge---what do you think?? Regardless, it's an awesome bass that's on LOADS of great records. Anyone else ever notice this?? Any thoughts??
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Link Removed

See the pic - definitely a rosewood fretboard. Also note the added J-pickup. From what I have read this would have been Chuck's weapon of choice during the Steely Dan years.
 
#32
I first saw that picture in a '75 Guitar Player mag(Merle Travis is on the cover)...I need to pull it out, re-read & maybe post some excerpt 'cause Rainey had some very interesting & provocative comments.

Rainey's arsenal back then was a couple of P-basses(can't recall the exact years, early '60s rings a bell), a Hagstrom(remember those?), & an Ampeg Baby Bass.
Rainey also mentions playing a Yamaha-prototype & sez he intends to use it "forever" since it was far superior to his Fender axes.

I do recall Rainey talking about that added Jazz pickup(the engineers wanted it added for more pop or sumthin)...I recall reading that Rainey just turned it 'off'.
 
#34
I remember that 1975 interview. Chuck Rainey said that Alembic was not a bass at all and he would not play it. A month or so later, Wickersham from Alembic wrote a letter to Gp inviting Rainey to join their board of advisors. i don't think anything came of that.
 
#35
D. Cheese-
Good memory; Rainey also said Stanley Clarke's electric bass sound was more like "Rock 'n' Roll bass" & that his(Rainey's) thing was to never sound like a "Rock 'n' Roll bass".

Then there was Rainey's litany about Guitar companies manufacturing electric basses.

...and the obligatory Carol Kaye rant.
 
#36
timmarks said:
I've read in several places that his main bass thru the 60's and 70's (most of the records discussed here) was a 57 p bass (maybe with an added j pu???). The pics I've seen of him with that bass--or at least what I think is that bass--has a rosewood board. P basses didn't have rosewood boards until mid-1959 to the best of my knowledge---what do you think?? Regardless, it's an awesome bass that's on LOADS of great records. Anyone else ever notice this?? Any thoughts??
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I spoke with Chuck today and this is what he had to say on his P Bass and a little Fender production history.


his '57' P bass came with a rose wood finger board and he never replaced it. Fender has has changed operations managers quite a few times over the years and my observations have concluded that they in general could very easily be either uninformed or confused about the vintage basses.

Up until 1956 or 7 all Fender basses had no finger board strip of any wood on the neck at all - the '56' and '57' models were the first to have a finger board and it was rose wood.
 
#38
I am a big fan of Steely Dan but like most folks, I like some tunes more than others.

These tracks ...

* Kid Charlemagne
* Green Earrings
* The Fez
* Glamour Profession

... are some of my favorites and go into a heading that I think of as "Steely Dan Funk."

I should have known that Mr. Rainey was a common denominator!
 

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