Carol Kaye

Infobox musical artist
Name = Carol Kaye
Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth_name =
Alias =
Born = birth date and age|1935|3|24
Everett, Washington
Died =
Origin =
Instrument = electric bass guitar, guitar
Genre =
Occupation = Session musician, teacher
Years_active = 1950s-present
Label =
Associated_acts = The Beach Boys, The Doors, Richie Valens, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra, Glen Campbell, Leon Russell, Sonny and Cher, Joe Cocker Barbra Streisand, Ray Charles, Frank Zappa, Ike and Tina Turner, Johnny Mathis, Simon and Garfunkel, The Righteous Brothers, The Marketts Herb Alpert, The Buckinghams, Paul Revere and The Raiders, Gary Lewis and The Playboys and the Monkees.
URL = [http://www.carolkaye.com Carol Kaye's website]
Current_members =
Past_members =

Carol Kaye (born March 24, 1935) is an American musician, best known as one of the most prolific bass guitarists in history, playing on an estimated 10,000 recording sessions. [cite web|url=http://www.berklee.edu/opi/2000/1018.html|title=Berklee Welcomes Legendary Studio Bassist Carol Kaye|author = Berklee College of Music
date = 2000-10-18|accessdate = 2007-03-13|quote = Kaye is the most recorded bassist of all time, with 10,000 sessions spanning four decades.]

As a session musician, Kaye was the bassist on several Phil Spector, David Axelrod, and Brian Wilson productions in the '1960s and '70s. She also played guitar on Ritchie Valens' "La Bamba" and is also credited with the bass tracks on several Simon and Garfunkel hits. Among her most often cited work, Kaye anchored the Beach Boys' album "Pet Sounds".

Life and career

Kaye was born in Everett, Washington, to professional musicians Clyde and Dot Smith. She grew up in poverty near the Port of Los Angeles and in 1949 at the age of fourteen began teaching guitar professionally. [Carol Kaye official website [http://www.carolkaye.com/www/biography/index.htm Biography] , retrieved 29 Nov 2007] Throughout the 1950s Kaye played bebop jazz guitar in dozens of nightclubs around Los Angeles with many noted bands including Bob Neal's jazz group, Jack Sheldon backing Lenny Bruce, Teddy Edwards, and Billy Higgins. By her own account Kaye got into lucrative studio work "accidentally" in late 1957 with Sam Cooke. A few years later, when a bass player failed to show for a session at Capitol Records in Hollywood, she was asked to fill in on what was then often called the "Fender bass".

Throughout the 1960s she played bass on a significant percentage of records appearing on the Billboard Hot 100, although she was almost wholly unknown to the general public at the time. Kaye played bass on many of the Beach Boys hit recordings, including Good Vibrations, Help Me, Rhonda, Sloop John B, and California Girls. She also worked on Brian Wilson's ill-fated but legendary Smile project (and was present at the "Fire" session in late November 1966 when Wilson reportedly asked the studio musicians to wear toy fire hats). Kaye's work also appears extensively on well-known television and film soundtracks from the 1960s and early 1970s.

She worked under most of the leading producers and musical directors in Los Angeles during that era, including David Axelrod, Brian Wilson, Michel Legrand, Phil Spector, Elmer Bernstein, Lalo Schifrin, David Rose, Dave Grusin, Ernie Freeman, Hugo Montenegro, Leonard Rosenman, John Williams, Alfred, and Lionel Newman. Kaye was also responsible for the bass tracks on several Monkees hits, did soundtrack work (including sound effects on bass guitar) for a young Steven Spielberg and tracks for Quincy Jones whose 2001 autobiography "Q" noted, "...women like ...Fender bass player Carol Kaye ...could do anything and leave men in the dust." [Jones, Quincy, "Q : the autobiography of Quincy Jones", Doubleday 2001 ISBN 0-385-48896-3, Pg. 126]

Kaye performed on several American television themes including the Quinn Martin produced "Cannon", "The Streets of San Francisco", "", "M*A*S*H", "Kojak", "Get Smart", "Hogan's Heroes", "The Love Boat", "McCloud", "Mannix", "It Takes a Thief", "Peyton Place", and the "Cosby Show". She is also credited with performing on the soundtracks of "Hawaii Five-0", "The Addams Family", "The Brady Bunch" as well as "Ironside", "Room 222", "Bonanza", "Wonder Woman", "Alias Smith & Jones", "Run for Your Life", and "Barnaby Jones". [IMDb, [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0443269/bio Carol Kaye - bio] , retrieved 29 Nov 2007]

Beginning in 1969 she wrote "How To Play The Electric Bass", the first of many bass tutoring books and DVD Courses, and personally taught thousands of students (some of whom later became famous, including John Clayton, Jim Hughart, Mike Porcaro, Alf Clausen (composer of Simpsons TV), Pat Smith, Tony Sales, Karl E. H. Seigfried, Roy Vogt, Bill Laymon, Charles Meeks, and David Hungate). Kaye retired from studio work during the 1970s because of arthritis but later became active again as a session musician, live jazz performer and teacher of both bass and guitar, giving seminars and interviews.

Zappa

Kaye played 12-string guitar on Frank Zappa's groundbreaking album "Freak Out!". Kaye played on a few songs for the following album, but declined to continue, saying she found some of the lyrics offensive. She later said Zappa was good-natured and understanding about her qualms and they remained on friendly terms.

elected discography

Kaye played on hundreds of commercially released recordings and soundtracks. These lists represent only a small fraction of her recorded performances.

Electric bass credits

ongs

*"Good Vibrations" (The Beach Boys)
*"I Think He's Hiding" (Randy Newman)
*"Andmoreagain" (Love)
*"Homeward Bound" (Simon and Garfunkel)
*"California Girls, Sloop John B, Help Me Rhonda, Heroes and Villains" (The Beach Boys)
*"Natural Man" (Lou Rawls)
*"Come Together" (Count Basie)
*"Feelin' Alright" (Joe Cocker)
*"Games People Play" (Mel Tormé)
*"Cantaro" (Gene Ammons)
*"Wait 'Til My Bobby Gets Home" (Darlene Love)
*"Goin' Out Of My Head/Can't Take My Eyes Off You" (The Lettermen)
*"Go Little Honda" (The Hondels)
*"Hikky Burr" (Quincy Jones & Bill Cosby & TV theme)
*"I'm a Believer" (The Monkees)
*"Indian Reservation" (Paul Revere & the Raiders)
*"In the Heat of the Night, I Don't Need No Doctor, America The Beautiful" (Ray Charles)
*"It Must Be Him" (Vikki Carr)
*"Little Green Apples" (O.C. Smith)
*"Midnight Confessions" (The Grass Roots)
*" Theme" (Lalo Schifrin)
*"Out of This World" (Nancy Wilson)
*"Wichita Lineman" and "Rhinestone Cowboy" (Glen Campbell)
*"River Deep - Mountain High" (Ike & Tina Turner)
*"Scarborough Fair/Canticle" (Simon and Garfunkel)
*"Sixteen Tons" (Tennessee Ernie Ford)
*"Someday We'll Be Together" (The Supremes)
*"Something Stupid" (Frank and Nancy Sinatra)
*"These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" (Nancy Sinatra)
*"This Diamond Ring" (Gary Lewis & the Playboys)
*"The Twelfth of Never" (Johnny Mathis)
*"The Way We Were" (Barbra Streisand)
*"Understanding" (Ray Charles)
*"Soul & Inspiration" bass, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" guitar (The Righteous Brothers)
*"Suspicious Minds" (Elvis Presley) - some sources & Musicians Union contract
*"Light My Fire" (The Doors) - from her log and Musicians Union contract

Albums

Selected highlights include:
*"Pet Sounds" (The Beach Boys)
*"Songs of Innocence" (David Axelrod)
*"Songs of Experience" (David Axelrod)
*"Release Of An Oath" (The Electric Prunes)
*"Northern Windows" (Hampton Hawes)
*"Big Man" (Cannonball Adderley)
*"Reelin' With The Feelin"' (Charles Kynard)
*"Cameo" (Dusty Springfield)
*"Hugo In Wonder-land" (Hugo Montenegro)
*"Your Good Thing" (Lou Rawls)
*"You've Made Me So Very Happy" (Lou Rawls)
*"The Funky Organ-ization of Henry Cain" (Henry Cain)
*"Cosmic Sounds" (The Zodiac)
*" Pride" (Pride) (1970)
*"Thumbs up" ( [Ray Pizzi, Carol Kaye, Mitch Holder] )(1999)
* "Picking Up On The E-String" Carol Kaye (1995)

Guitar credits

*"Then He Kissed Me" (The Crystals)
*"Danke Schoen" (Wayne Newton)
*"Johnny Angel" (Shelley Fabares)
*"La Bamba" (Ritchie Valens)
*"Let's Dance" (Chris Montez)
*"The Little Old Lady from Pasadena" (Jan and Dean)
*"Needles and Pins" (Jackie DeShannon)
*"Surf City" (Jan and Dean)
*"The Beat Goes On" (Sonny and Cher)
*"You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" (The Righteous Brothers)
*"The Birds and the Bees" (Jewel Akens), with a Leslie speaker effect

References

ources

Teaching materials by Kaye

*"How To Play The Electric Bass"
*"Personally yours" (1970)
*"Electric Bass lines" series Nos 1-6"
*"Jazz Improv For Bass"
*"Pro's Jazz Phrases Bass"
*"Bass DVD Course"
*"Music Reading DVD w/Manual"
*"Teaching Playing Hangin"' DVD
*"Jazz Bass CD & Guide"
*"Rock-Funk Bass CD & Guide", produced Joe Pass
*"Carol Kaye: Bass CD"
*"Bass Performances" CD
*"Hit Bass Lines" CD
*"Jazz Improv Soloing DVD Course"
*"How to play Electric Bass chords"

Archival recordings

*"California Creamin - Carol Kaye Guitars 1965" CD
*"Better Days" (1971) CD

Documentary

*"Rockin Suuri Tuntematon aka First Lady of Bass: Carol Kaye documentary", Pekka Rautiomaa, YLE Dokumenttiohjelmat 2004

External links

* [http://www.carolkaye.com/ Official Carol Kaye Website] , including pictures and online forums
* [http://www.carolkaye.com/www/assets/carolkaye_1974-lib.jpgImage of Kaye at work in 1974] , from her website
* [http://www.centralfm.com/interviews.php Kaye talks about her Motown experiences with Tony Keys on Central FM Radio in Spain]