More people should really know about Carol Kaye, one of the most prolific and widely heard bass guitarists in rock and pop music, playing on an estimated 10,000 recordings in a career spanning over 50 years.
Read that again. 10,000 songs.
And it’s not like she was on some outsider tracks or artists you’ve never heard of. As a session musician, Kaye was the bassist on many Phil Spector and Brian Wilson productions in the 1960s and 1970s. She is credited with the bass tracks on several Simon & Garfunkel hits and many film scores by Quincy Jones and Lalo Schifrin. She contributed to the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds.
Besides her contributions on bass guitar, she also played 12-string and six-string electric and acoustic guitars – a rareity for female musicians back then.
So, grab a coffee and 10 minutes of your time, and check out this doc.
