Carol Kaye – Queen of Bass
I want to introduce you to two Carols. One juggles motherhood, bass playing and a world other other things and still manages to write the enjoyable “On She Lives” blog, the other is Carol Kaye, legendary session bass player. The connection? Carol has a great series of posts from an interview with Carol Kaye that provides one of the most complete insights into here life. If you don’t know about Carol Kaye, you should definitely read them.
“They needed guitar players to do studio work and so I was hired [by] a producer, Bumps Blackwell (producer of Sam Cooke, manager of Little Richard and himself a fine jazz vibist), in 1957 … my first year, playing guitar fills in back of Sam Cooke recordings. It wasn’t quite jazz, but it was good music, working in studios for excellent monies” – Carol Kaye
Particularly in the 60’s and 70’s she featured on many many recording sessions. There haven’t been as many female bassists as there should have, but I believe that Carol paved the way for many to pick up the bass who would not otherwise have done so. If you do know about her, you’ll want to read them anyway:
- Meet Carol Kaye
- Carol Kaye Interview Intro
- Carol Kaye Interview 1
- Carol Kaye Interview 2
- Carol Kaye Interview 3 (The First Lady)
- Carol Kaye Interview 4
Some of the content relates to “Bass not for girls, say the girls“, and you’ll have different reactions, but for me it made for revetting reading – you can’t beat one passionate bassist writing about another!
By the way, this week I’m in New York. If you’re there too, drop me a line!
Hey! I’m so glad you enjoyed the series on Carol Kaye. There were actually 5 parts to the interview after the intro for a total week-long series. Definitely an education for me and quite inspiring. She’s not only a great bassist but, given our email exchanges, also quite a remarkable lady.
Keep it low!
Many thanks for a great series Carol! I’ve added in the extra part, so I think I have them all now