Is Dee Murray a forgotten legend?

[jerry]

One of the many reasons I still buy CDs is for the liner notes.

Me too, I've always been a liner note junkie. It always spiders out too, somebody's playing on another artists album will lead me to many other projects they were involved in and so on. Its probably why just getting Bitches Brew in 1970 has lead to hundreds of other projects and great artists. It helps to follow the trails of greatness!

 

[Glenn Walker]

I was 13 years old when I heard Philadelphia Freedom. The bass line on that song absolutely was pivotal in my getting a Jazz bass for Christmas that year.

The Captain Fantastic album is one of my all-time favs.

Someone Saved My Life Tonight, from the same album, was always a set favorite. Philadelphia Freedom is one of the many B-side gems in Elton's catalog of the era. Throwing that in for all my B-Side Generation brothers and sisters out there!

 

[MegaSwing]

Also, one must never forget that Dee Murray has to rank among the finest singing bass players ever. EJ’s entire original band sang flawless background vocals.

 

[Peteyboy]

I listened to all 4 sides of Yellow Brick Road last night. Dee is a beast.

 

[rodl2005]

Wow!
The bass on ROCKET MAN is absolutely perfect for this song



Just a beautiful excercise in restraint

 

[TN WOODMAN]

By this metric, no bass player would be legendary. I’m typing this at a Whole Foods. If I walked up to 10 people, I’d bet $100 that not one of them would know who James Jameson is.

I would say Murray is a very important player.

I wish I was in that WHOLE FOODS. I ‘d gladly take your $100.

 

[TN WOODMAN]

Wow!
The bass on ROCKET MAN is absolutely perfect for this song



Just a beautiful excercise in restraint

I agree fully. That’s one of my favorite tracks of Dee’s playing. At decent volume on a great high end car sound system -great demo for legendary bassist status.

 

[M-Mittlesteadt]

By definition someone is a legend because they can't be forgotten.

Having said that, I had no idea who Dee Murray was (by name) but certainly by reputation. I've always loved the bass player on Elton's albums, so I thank the OP for posting this and enlightening me on who he was. Great player! Fantastic grooves with melodic lines where appropriate that really carried those songs along.

 

[SactoBass]

Oh man, when I saw this thread, I knew I had to post. Dee Murray has always been one of my all-time favorite bassists. When I was learning to play bass in the 70's, I would spend hours learning his bass parts to a bunch of Elton John songs. I remember listening to the 11-17-70 album and thinking "how cow, Dee is freakin amazing!" I was devastated when he died in 1992 at age 45 due to health reasons (as I recall, he suffered from skin cancer and died from a stroke).

To this day, I still greatly admire his bass playing.

RIP Dee Murray, bass extraordinaire.