carol kaye: known sounds from an unknown person
Music has given us many stars throughout time. There are many examples of musicians who have written their name in the history pages of music, starting with the composers from the Middle Ages right through to today. Just beyond that shinning constellation of stars, however, there are many much more talented musicians left in the shade. These are the studio or session musicians. Many music stars or self-proclaimed ‘geniuses’ call these musicians ‘mercenaries’. Nevertheless, if there is one clear fact in the aristocracy that is the world of music today, the real music workers are the studio musicians. So, we at the balde would like to pay homage to them, and to so, we have dug up one of the least known and most special stars of the music firmament: Carol Kaye. Carol Kaye was born in the town of Everett in 1935. Daughter of musicians Clyde and Dot Smith, she was brought up in a poor family in different towns and villages in Washington State. In 1949, having just turned a tender 14, she began work as a guitar instructor. Money wasn’t easily had in the Smith household. In the 50s, she was a bebop jazz guitarist in clubs on the L.A. scene. In 1957, Sam Smith was doing some recording Capitol Records when his bass player didn’t show up, so they started looking for someone who knew how to play Fender bass, and that was when one of them remembered the blonde who played in the clubs. That blonde didn’t leave the studios in the 60s and 70s, and there are few musicians with the kind of curriculum she has. She has played on more than 10,000 recordings, mostly on bass but also on guitar on occasion.
It’s a very long list; too long to mention everybody here, but the following will give you some kind of an idea: she’s played on Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys’ records, the recording of Ritchie Valens’ La bamba, on quite a few Simon and Garfunkel albums, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra, The Doors, Sonny & Cher, Joe Cocker, Barbra Streisand, Ray Charles, Frank Zappa, Ike & Tina Turner, The Righteous Brothers, The Monkees, Buffalo Springfield… You can hear Carol Kaye’s bass on these and many, many other recordings by other musicians. She became film composer and producers’ favourite bass player too. She was the studio bass player for, amongst others, Lalo Shifrin, Phil Spector, Elmer Bernstein, John Williams, Alfred Newman and Quincy Jones. Jones
wrote the following in his autobiography: “Women don’t get much of a chance in this world, but the Fender bass player Carol Kaye could do anything and leave the men in the dust.” She also played on the soundtrack of many TV programmes: Cannon, The Streets of San Francisco, Mission Impossible, M*A*S*H, Kojak, Love Boat, Cosby Show, Hawaii Five-O, The Addams Family, The Brady Bunch, Bonanza, Wonder Wom... Kaye spent thousands of hours in the studio until she retired, stricken by arthritis, at the beginning of the 80s. She went back to giving classes, just like she had done when she didn’t have two pennies to rub together at the age of 14. Now, almost 80, she’s still doing bass and guitar classes. We’ll probably forget her name but the music she played and recorded will always perdure.
It’s a very long list; too long to mention everybody here, but the following will give you some kind of an idea: she’s played on Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys’ records, the recording of Ritchie Valens’ La bamba, on quite a few Simon and Garfunkel albums, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra, The Doors, Sonny & Cher, Joe Cocker, Barbra Streisand, Ray Charles, Frank Zappa, Ike & Tina Turner, The Righteous Brothers, The Monkees, Buffalo Springfield… You can hear Carol Kaye’s bass on these and many, many other recordings by other musicians. She became film composer and producers’ favourite bass player too. She was the studio bass player for, amongst others, Lalo Shifrin, Phil Spector, Elmer Bernstein, John Williams, Alfred Newman and Quincy Jones. Jones
wrote the following in his autobiography: “Women don’t get much of a chance in this world, but the Fender bass player Carol Kaye could do anything and leave the men in the dust.” She also played on the soundtrack of many TV programmes: Cannon, The Streets of San Francisco, Mission Impossible, M*A*S*H, Kojak, Love Boat, Cosby Show, Hawaii Five-O, The Addams Family, The Brady Bunch, Bonanza, Wonder Wom... Kaye spent thousands of hours in the studio until she retired, stricken by arthritis, at the beginning of the 80s. She went back to giving classes, just like she had done when she didn’t have two pennies to rub together at the age of 14. Now, almost 80, she’s still doing bass and guitar classes. We’ll probably forget her name but the music she played and recorded will always perdure.
