stewblack Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 Okay, okay so plenty of head shaking from the experts and the knowledgeable, but I just discovered Chuck Rainey. I'm learning Rock Steady by Aretha for an audition and have steadily fallen in love with the extraordinarily splendid bass line. So I do a little research and discover that I probably haven't just discovered him as he has played on so much. I have actually been listening to him for quite some time, notably with King Curtis. I just didn't know who he was. The riff to the song is a joyous thing, rhythmically perfect, and perfectly repetitive with some little unexpected flashes. He then breaks into a few bars of pure inspiration before settling back onto the groove. Yum. It's beautiful. A little more research and I find he played with Steely Dan who were of course one of Bruce Thomas favourite bands and Bruce has always been my biggest influence. So there we go. Anyone familiar with Chuck's work who'd care to point me at other of his gems would render me eternally grateful. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicbassman Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 Oh, that is so delicious! Never heard that track before. Yum yum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted January 16, 2018 Author Share Posted January 16, 2018 5 minutes ago, musicbassman said: Oh, that is so delicious! Never heard that track before. Yum yum. Gorgeous isn't it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Riva Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 Have a listen to Reverend Lee by Roberta Flack. Lovely playing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burns-bass Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 He’s an incredible player. Deep, rich and with a tone to die for. And an absolute monster when he needs to be too, but it’s all about the groove. Anyone who was booked by Steely Dan must have been a fantastic technician and a superlative sightreader. Oh, and he’s the author of one of the best instructional books for bass. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowdown Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 This guy has a load of 'Chuck Rainey' transcriptions on his site that are up for grabs (free & well worth checking out). http://www.lowdownbass.net/transcriptions/ There are so many tracks from Chuck, not to mention all those film and top TV dates, it's hard to know where to start. Talking of 'Rock Steady', Chuck is on some other tracks ( 2/3/5/7/9/10/11/12) from that great album , 'Young, Gifted and Black' by Aretha Franklin. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssentialTension Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted January 16, 2018 Author Share Posted January 16, 2018 Thank you all for the comments, links and tunes. I love finding a new bass legend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted January 16, 2018 Author Share Posted January 16, 2018 1 hour ago, lowdown said: This guy has a load of 'Chuck Rainey' transcriptions on his site that are up for grabs (free & well worth checking out). http://www.lowdownbass.net/transcriptions/ There are so many tracks from Chuck, not to mention all those film and top TV dates, it's hard to know where to start. Talking of 'Rock Steady', Chuck is on some other tracks ( 2/3/5/7/9/10/11/12) from that great album , 'Young, Gifted and Black' by Aretha Franklin. . What a resource that site is. Thank you so much for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoonBassAlpha Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 This has been posted before, but, hey, if we're talking Rainey? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigwan Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 (edited) And all with 1 picking finger... Edited January 17, 2018 by Bigwan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 Chuck is THE man!! Check out his discography. . . . http://www.chuckrainey.jp/disc/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petebassist Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 @stewblack Thanks for sharing mate, loved RockSteady & hadn't heard of Chuck before. He's a bass master .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted January 17, 2018 Author Share Posted January 17, 2018 1 minute ago, petebassist said: @stewblack Thanks for sharing mate, loved RockSteady & hadn't heard of Chuck before. He's a bass master .... He's right up there isn't he? I'm struggling to keep up with the speed of some of his runs but it's his feel and timing which elevates the song. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 I bought this as a 45 in the early 70's and only recently found out that Chuck is the bassist. . . one of the funkiest bass lines I've heard. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted January 17, 2018 Author Share Posted January 17, 2018 That's great Chris. Can't believe the man escaped my attention. He's feckin' brilliant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted January 17, 2018 Author Share Posted January 17, 2018 Learned my lesson. Laziness and time saving led me to copy a guy off youtube who plays it really well - certainly better that I can - but it's not entirely true to the original, and I want to get 'under Chuck's skin' so I'm starting again learning from the man himself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssentialTension Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 (edited) 6 minutes ago, stewblack said: Learned my lesson. Laziness and time saving led me to copy a guy off youtube who plays it really well - certainly better that I can - but it's not entirely true to the original, and I want to get 'under Chuck's skin' so I'm starting again learning from the man himself. Maybe I'm imagining it, but I seem to recall reading or hearing an interview with Rainey where he says about 'Kid Charlemagne' that he himself couldn't play it entirely true to the original. Or something to that sort of effect. Edited January 17, 2018 by EssentialTension Must learn to spell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 50 minutes ago, stewblack said: Learned my lesson. Another player to listen to is Nathan East, in Clapton's band for most of the last 30 years. Also Keb Mo always has the cream of the bass playing world on his records, like Reggie McBride, Stan Sargeant, Freddy Washington and Hutch Huntchinson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted January 17, 2018 Author Share Posted January 17, 2018 23 minutes ago, chris_b said: Another player to listen to is Nathan East, in Clapton's band for most of the last 30 years. Also Keb Mo always has the cream of the bass playing world on his records, like Reggie McBride, Stan Sargeant, Freddy Washington and Hutch Huntchinson. Thanks for that. Had to learn Footloose for a covers band recently and was blown away by the bassline. Incredible. I think that was my introduction to Mr East Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barking Spiders Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 Chuck's long been one of my fave session players especially his work with Donald Byrd, pretty much all Dan albums and Quincy Jones. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huge Hands Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 2 hours ago, chris_b said: I bought this as a 45 in the early 70's and only recently found out that Chuck is the bassist. . . one of the funkiest bass lines I've heard. Wow, I know a lot of Chuck Rainey stuff, including the amazing Rocksteady as posted by the OP. I didn't know of this track though. Thank you Chris! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quatschmacher Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 Chuck’s the bassist on this track: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quatschmacher Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 (edited) 8 hours ago, chris_b said: I bought this as a 45 in the early 70's and only recently found out that Chuck is the bassist. . . one of the funkiest bass lines I've heard. Thanks for this, I’d never heard this and will be checking out more by this lady. Just spotted that there’s one of those “Original Album Classics” 5CD sets of her work for not too much. Edited January 17, 2018 by Quatschmacher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 Hi, I'd listen to some of that before you buy. I love this music but the singles don't always represent the album tracks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.gif.9ad672bb8b84505709f76b39c8c256ec.gif)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.