Name that player....

[Bilbo]

I need the knowledge of the hive mind. I have been asked for a Stevie Wonder/Aretha Franklin transcription from a YouTube video but I don't know who the player is. First thoughts are Freddy Washington but I am not at all sure. Can anyone help identify the guy? Sounds like Jameson but not.

 

https://youtu.be/pTnCHP-9Wdo?feature=shared

[Bilbo]

He is helpfully stood right behind Stevie so we see him a lot but I don't recognise him.

[Hellzero]

It's George Duke on keyboards, and the bassist plays a Marcus Miller Fender signature bass, so maybe Freddy Washington is right.

[Bilbo]

I think I have only ever seen one picture of RFW and that is the one in the Shadows of Motown book. Could be...

[Hellzero]

Check Nathan Watts as he was the official bass player for Stevie Wonder in 2005 (between two diets, he could have looked that way). 😉

[itu]

The player here uses eyeglasses, I think Freddy doesn't. Getty Images has some pictures from the show. 

[Hellzero]

Furthermore Freddie Washington doesn't look like Nathan Watts at all, because I'm 99% confident that it's Nathan Watts.

 

 

Edited yesterday at 11:07 by Hellzero
Photo added

[Bilbo]

I am going with Nathan unless someone can convince me otherwise!

[Hellzero]

Furthermore Nathan Watts was the official musical director of Stevie Wonder back then and during years.

[Mickyk]

Thats definitely not Freddie Washington.  

 

[casapete]

I’m going Nate Watts too, but not 100% sure TBH, because - 
 

As said, he does look uncharacteristically slimmer than Nate was around that time.

Nate was using Hartke stuff then IIRC, and it looks like an SWR rig back there?

He favoured mainly 5 strings then.

Rarely seen without a hat!

 

Of course all the above could be easily explained away, so I’d still go for it being Nate. 
Watching the clip brought a tear to my eyes too, Stevie and Aretha being two of my favourite performers

ever and that band and backing singers - wonderful. 

[Bagman]

Stanley Banks I reckon

[Huge Hands]

The clip says it was a "Lady of Soul" show, so I assume it was more about Aretha/female singers, and Stevie was a guest appearance for this song.

 

There appear to be so many US TV shows like this where they have a house band and guest singers come on and off stage, so I doubt it would have been Stevie's band/Nate Watts.  

[casapete]

9 minutes ago, Huge Hands said:

There appear to be so many US TV shows like this where they have a house band and guest singers come on and off stage, so I doubt it would have been Stevie's band/Nate Watts.  

Good point, it didn’t look like his regular drummer at the time either. 

[Hellzero]

1 hour ago, Bagman said:

Stanley Banks I reckon

Nope, doesn't look like him either at all.

 

 

He was George Benson bass player for those who wonder who he is.

[Huge Hands]

Having a dig around on Youtube, it looks like it was the Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards, which is a yearly occurrence.  I have found another listing of that clip that says it is 2011, so your guess is as good as mine as to when it actually was....

 

It does look like I was right and it was a show band backing the star vocalists. 

[chris_b]

It's a house band for an awards show. My guess is that George Duke has something to do with the band, and his bass player for a few years around that time was Larry Kimple, so I'll throw that name into the ring.