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The Great Carol Kaye

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#21
Blackbird said:
Maybe it's just me, but it seems that whenever Carol Kaye is mentioned on TB, it's in the context of her taking credit for basslines allegedly played by other legendary musicians. In the process, she's reduced to an usurper of other people's work and all her credibility and achievements are forgotten.

Regardless of which side people stand on the issue, I think she deserves to be acknowledged as the pioneer that she is, I mean, she's on Pet Sounds, for crying out loud. And, even if (and that's a big "if" ) she's not as worthy of praise as certain deceased pioneers, she's at least as praiseworthy as Joe Osborn, Bob Glaub and Duck Dunn, but did she ever get a signature model? No. Is this fair? Hell, no.

So here it is, the thread where we praise Carol Kaye for the work she did. Besides Pet Sounds, She also played on Richie Valens' La Bamba and of course, thousands of Phil Spector sessions.

Here's a recent project of hers: A live trio recording with a guitarist and a flute/sax player. Just a cozy trio blowing through standards and a few originals. Carol even picks up the guitar on one track.

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So, favorite Kaye basslines/recordings, anyone?
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Dude, why don't you just admit it... Carol Kaye is your mom!

Seriously, though. Some nice bass lines. Some snotty lines written in bass forums. A great bass player but not a terribly nice person. No biggie, though. A lot of people said Jaco was a jerk...

Until he died....

Then they were all his best friends...

Whatever.

It's about the music, and the music is great.

Matt
 
#22
I don't know anything about her,but from a outside perspective..

She doesn't "look" cool, and her "issues" have made her come across as uncool.

I don't even view the artists she's played with as being cool generally.
I've read through some of her publications. She comes across as never having a "spiritual" connection with the bass. She could read well, and she was a good musician.. guitarist/bassist, but I suspect when people say the fender bass was created for "doublers," she's a prime example of bass by "necessity."

I suspect she's got that "I'm a woman, in a male markeplace" attitude going on.

Mucho respect to her, but I suspect I'm not alone in this view...

Also, I read this on another site, did she diss them or what?
"Kaye theorizes that it was precisely their inferior reading skills that forced session players Glen Campbell and Leon Russell to become pop stars instead."

A superiority complex? Still.... If it's a choice between "inferior" reading skills and millions of dollars and THE RECOGNITION she obviously craves, Inferioriy has its place..

BTW, What's that check stub/receipt crap she' got up on her site?
 
#24
She unfortunately gets judged too harshly too often because of potential errors in memory or record keeping, and occasional outburts on topics she has an opinion on. Whether that stuff bugs you or not, it doesn't change the Truth - that she played on a zillion hits, and she is an Extremely important person in the history of modern music.
 
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#25
I, too, have been run off by Carol's crotchetiness. I loved her till I got to know her on her forum. I don't know what her problem is, quite frankly. She said the musicians and producers absolutely respected her, and the only crap she ever got was from outside. And who cares about that? I know the Motown thing must have bothered her, but to the point where she's so mean to her fans? If you don't kiss her ass completely and never ever insinuate that she's anything less than perfect, she goes completely off.

But she did cure me of chronic hand pain when I used a pick, and I've learned a heck of a lot from her playing and her books. So I guess you have to take the bad with the good, especially with Carol.
 
#26
I bought her set of 6 electric bass books. Very great reads & i'm still learning quite a bit from them. I'd actually love to sit down with her at a lesson or something and just pick her brain. Whenever i have the chance to talk to people like her-the ones who have been playing around for far longer than i've been alive that have done the session from hell type of thing that we use as a reference of their greatness, the people who have well-done what i long to do, have a career in music that is not only lasting, but allows even more music to be heard regardless of genre, i mean the idea of Joe Schmuk down the street 30 years from now still rockin out to a recording that i'm on [despite how they have no idea i played on the track] would leave me feeling both content yet longing for more. that's the other key vibe that i've picked up from the likes of the Funk Brothers & Carol Kaye in addition to all of the other studio greats. Please, do not use that mention of those 2 to reopen that can of worms. If you watch the SITSOM movie-there's a mention of Robert White @ a Ponderosa w/Allan Slutzky where "My Girl" comes on and Robert seems really happy and starts to say "i pla....." but stops stoops back down and just orders his meal. He had to have been feeling that a recording that he played on-is still being played and love yet no one knows who played on it. Do people dig what i'm saying with regards to Carol Kaye and the idea of her attitude?

She's a total bad ass on bass, that has been on more recordings than 99.999999999999999% of us can dream of. I haven't had any personal experience w/her, bout the most personal that i got was clicking on "add autographed picture to basket" when i was buying the books. So the picture is a rather lame quality one, but hey-it's still a signed picture from Carol Kaye-someone who did a heller job at playing in the studio.

Signature basses.....i don't see Ibanez putting out a Carol Kaye bass anytime soon. Nothing against her or Ibanez, i just don't see it happening. If she digs slightly modified or stock Ibanez basses-more power to her. Granted, i'm not the studio ace that she is-but i'm more than happy with my stock Ray5.

take it easy.
 
#32
Wow. Impressive. As I've said in previous posts, I was e-mailing her for a while...I had to learn how to deal with her (or vice versa). I think she bans everybody from her forum unless every thread is about something she played on and how great it was. She sure has the resume though. I actually began to like her. She told me a couple of interesting things; the reason she always wore sunglasses was because of the super bright lights in the studio. The amp she used at first was a Fender Super Reverb, and she said she had to stick matchbooks in the back panel to keep it from rattling. She's done and seen it all.
 
#33
She's definitely an interesting person. If you can get beyond the occasional *what the ...* response she might evoke, she's actually a sweet person - who knows her stuff and has proved it many times in history.

I'll always admire what she accomplished.
Most of us here will never come close.
 
#36
Carol is a friend of mine,I have never asked her about the issue of her taking claim to tracks that some believe that she didn't play on because I'm sure that what ever it is,it's much bigger than me.I support her and how she has the heart to check those who she feels need to be put in they're place.Outside of what many may think of her as a person she is definitely a talent and icon to be reckoned,she's an incredible groover and sight reader and she is one of the nicest people you would ever want to meet and again I support her and love the fact that she has the heart to check those who she feel are out of line.I played with her once she was on guitar and I was on Bass and talk about a guitar player with skills.
 
#37
Carol Kaye is just one of those people others either love or hate. I have exchanged emails with her and she's been nice to me. I know others who have worked with her or had business dealings with her and just the mention of her name sets them off.

As to her claiming to play on certain things I don't always agree. I think Carol has a very distinctive sound and feel some of those things don't sound like her to me. I was an recording engineer back in those days and there was lots of money for recording and producers would track a song with different rhythm sections or try different musicians tracks to see which one they liked the most. So Carol could of recorded the songs in question and she has logged it, but her track wasn't the final one used.

All that said she is a music legend and great player that no one can dispute.
 
#38
JAUQO III-X said:
Carol is a friend of mine,I have never asked her about the issue of her taking claim to tracks that some believe that she didn't play on because I'm sure that what ever it is,it's much bigger than me.I support her and how she has the heart to check those who she feels need to be put in they're place.
Click to expand...

IMO the above statement is why you get along with her. As long as you agree with EVERYTHING SHE SAYS you will be fine. If you ever cross the line and question her claims or statements about what makes a good musician you will be on her crap list. Regarding those infamous claims remember "everybody else can't be wrong" If you are really concerned about who "everybody else" is ask me and I will tell you. I promise not to hold my breath...
 
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