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Ronnie Baker

W

WhoFalls

Nov 14, 2010
7
0
#1
After hearing a few of his lines, I'm really into his style. Theres not much on the internet about him. I know he was a bass player who worked with gamble and huff. Anyone got their favorite ronnie baker lines or stories? I want to here more about him.

I'm really digging these song and I'm pretty sure they have him on bass

 
#4
Just picked up a great compilation of lesser known Gamble & Huff productions- all Bunny Sigler stuff under various names, essentially- and Ronnie Baker is all over it. He's one of those guys that has probably influenced a ton of people from hearing his lines on the radio, but he's had no credit at all over the years. What a team they had: Gamble and Huff and Bunny writing amazing tunes, the TSOP band, Thom Bell doing the otherwordly arrangements, the mighty Joe Tarsia behind the console at Sigma Sound. Philly soul will someday be recognized as briefly being as important to Soul as Motown and Stax.
 
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#5
Here's the compilation I just got yesterday.
 

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#9
Ronnie Baker was awesome as a primary contributor to The Philly Sound, my friend Bobby Eli, guitarist and original member of MFSB along with Ronnie has sung his praises for years. Baker used to rub his strings with chicken grease. Some of my favorite Ronnie Baker basslines, in addition to his classic Bad Luck are Disco Inferno (The Trammps), Ain't No Stoppin Us Now (McFadden & Whitehead), everything on the Ronnie Dyson One Man Band album, and a lot more. The guy was outstanding. Too bad we lost him at such a young age.
 
#15
mrefjl said:
Ain't no Stoppin' us now isn't Ronnie Baker, but Jimmy Williams. My favorite Baker lines are on Rev Carl Bean's "Born This Way" there are 2 versions and both are amazing.
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I've been shedding this tune and other tunes featuring his bass playing. So good. I notice he does a lot of things around major 6ths. Do you know what kind of a bass he played? I feel like it's a Jazz bass tone but could be wrong. Not many pics of him online. Thanks again and let me know of any other tunes of his you like. I know he did the Salsoul stuff. "Love Thang" by First Choice is one of my favorites from that label.
 
#16
Alexis Duntov said:
I've been shedding this tune and other tunes featuring his bass playing. So good. I notice he does a lot of things around major 6ths. Do you know what kind of a bass he played? I feel like it's a Jazz bass tone but could be wrong. Not many pics of him online. Thanks again and let me know of any other tunes of his you like. I know he did the Salsoul stuff. "Love Thang" by First Choice is one of my favorites from that label.
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I attended an Anthony Jackson clinic as a kid - AJ really liked his playing and mentioned that Ronnie played a regular old Sunburst/RW neck P-Bass with flats deadened with masking tape, occasionally. This is also mentioned in Ed Friedland's book "R+B Bass Masters: The Way They Play" book as well.
 
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#17
20db pad said:
I attended an Anthony Jackson clinic as a kid - AJ really liked his playing and mentioned that Ronnie played a regular old Sunburst/RW neck P-Bass with flats deadened with masking tape, occasionally. This is also mentioned in Ed Friedland's book "R+B Bass Masters: The Way They Play" book as well.
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Thanks man. I was really hoping it was a Jazz bass he played, but that's just because i'm still struggling to make my Jazz bass work and I've been looking for examples of R&B players who used them. But I keep getting turned back to the P Bass, which I love. I might just be a P bass guy. I love the ergonomics of the J but it just never works for me with the rest of a band. Sounds great alone during practice, lacks presence in the the band context. Every time. Sorry to hijack the thread. It was about Ronnie Baker. Not the P v. J saga.
 
#18
Alexis Duntov said:
Thanks man. I was really hoping it was a Jazz bass he played, but that's just because i'm still struggling to make my Jazz bass work and I've been looking for examples of R&B players who used them. But I keep getting turned back to the P Bass, which I love. I might just be a P bass guy. I love the ergonomics of the J but it just never works for me with the rest of a band. Sounds great alone during practice, lacks presence in the the band context. Every time. Sorry to hijack the thread. It was about Ronnie Baker. Not the P v. J saga.
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Actually, a lot of Anthony Jackson's early stuff was done on a Jazz with a P neck.

As for the P, I ignored the call of the P-Bass over 25 years. It's OK!
 

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