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Interesting article on Premier Guitar - Carol Kaye

#2
An interesting read, but I still wonder about her sanity when she claimed credit for several Motown Jamerson tracks like Bernadette and I Was Made to Love Her.

I dimly remember some of the Funk Bros that are confirmed for playing on those tracks claiming to having never met her. Doesn't bode well for her claims.
 
#3
In all fairness to Carol Kaye, Motown and R&B artists in general were known to recycle hit songs by having other artists cover them, she may well have played on some version of those tunes. The LA studio musicians were far more meticulous on keeping track of all the tunes they recorded than many of the other session players of the day.
 
#5
JimmyM said:
Let's say that Carol didn't do all that Motown stuff...she still did plenty of amazing stuff without it.
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She's done more work than most bassists on this board and in this thread can even dream of doing. If her memory is bad on a couple of tunes or there's studio circumstances that we aren't privy to, to me is insignificant when you look at her career as a whole.
 
#9
Carol Kaye is a fine technical musician (guitarist and bassist). She is also one of the angriest and most bitter people to ever participate in the music industry. We should not confuse her technical skill with the fact that she never created or innovated anything on bass. Her primary claim to fame was The Beach Boys Pet Sounds project where she did little more than play the notes dictated to her by Brian Wilson. The Wrecking Crew were a collaboration of excellent studio musicians on the L.A. music scene who while individually and collectively talented, had no signature sound like The Funk Brothers or the Memphis or Muscle Shoals guys. Despite that...Joe Osborn was the top bassist in that group...not Kaye. Carol Kaye has even taken false credit on several fellow Wrecking Crew member Joe Osborn tracks...so it isn't just Jamersons work that she has falsely claimed credit for, even when the actual other Motown musicians who played those tracks insist that it was James in the snakepit during those sessions...not Kaye who has never even been near Studio A in Detroit in her entire life. At a certain point I would have expected her to show some class and admit her mistake or confusion...but when you tell a lie often enough, I suppose it becomes more and more difficult to face up to the truth and that's the sad and unfortunate part and perhaps the reason why Carol will probably live out her life being the miserable and unhappy person she has become. Quite sad.
 
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#12
SoCal1 said:
even when the actual other Motown musicians who played those tracks insist that it was James in the snakepit during those sessions...not Kaye who has never even been near Studio A in Detroit in her entire life.
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I'm no expert, and have no reason to defend her, but Kaye claims on her website to have recorded for Motown in LA, not in Detroit. True or not, it's an interesting read.
http://www.carolkaye.com/www/library/faq.htm
 
#13
SoCal1 said:
Technically quite sound, but WHAT did she innovate other than perhaps being the first L.A. session bassist to show up for a session in a mini skirt...
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Kaye

You don't seriously think all she did was read notes off paper without thinking, do you? She wrote a whole lot of the bass parts she played. I think you need to get a little more familiar with what all she did rather than thinking it was all just Beach Boys.
 
#15
I happened to be in Detroit last week to attend some functions, one of which was to tour the Motown Museum with the CEO who videotaped our visit (me and my brother who did a lot more work at Mowest than Ms Kaye as an arranger, producer,etc). We spent 4 hours the next day with Funk Brother guitar section leader and legend Joe Messina, a dear friend (that's me and Joe),who actually played the guitar double with Jamerson on I Was Made To Love Her...a track Ms Kaye falsely claimed to have played on.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Any further questions?
 
#16
Honestly, I couldn't care less about that. Like I said, she's done enough legit badass stuff to warrant a place in the Bass Player HOF. At this point, it's ganging up on an old lady. But that's cool knowing Joe Messina, for sure.
 
#17
I don't see her as an innovative player, she just played on a lot of record and it is great but I don't think she makes a lot of bass player hit the woodshed to learn the new tricks whe brings on the table like it was the case with Larry Graham, Stanley Clark, Marcus Miller, Victor Wooten, Jaco or Les Claypool.

You know ... no one is sure they used her track on the final product ... it just tells how she doesn't even have a unique voice if you can't tell her appart from the others.
 
#19
Clef_de_fa said:
I don't see her as an innovative player, she just played on a lot of record and it is great but I don't think she makes a lot of bass player hit the woodshed to learn the new tricks whe brings on the table like it was the case with Larry Graham, Stanley Clark, Marcus Miller, Victor Wooten, Jaco or Les Claypool.

You know ... no one is sure they used her track on the final product ... it just tells how she doesn't even have a unique voice if you can't tell her appart from the others.
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It's not about a unique voice more so than it is about using someone that's reliable, creative and consistent. That's why she's played on so many records.
 

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