A CONVERSATION with WES BRYAN on CAROL KAYE

It's Tuesday February 22nd, 2010 at 4:19 PM. Wes Bryan and I are sitting here together on the computer...

WES BRYAN: I knew Carol Kaye. "The Wrecking Crew" was originally all of Phil Spector's people... people like Jerry Cole. Carol was a member of Musicians Local 47 and in the studios with a lot of other great musicians, some who became my friends or who I hired when I was producing.

CHRISTINE TRZYNA: Which friends were those?

WB: Glen Campbell for one. Jerry Cole...

CT: Did you ever work with Carol?

WB: No, I was working with Jerry Cole and Joe Osborne but I saw her around studios and I knew her work. Carol could play the hell out of that bass. In fact if you were giving out a GOLD MEDAL, a SILVER MEDAL, and a BRONZE MEDAL, Carol, Joe, and Jerry would be scrambling to win within seconds of each other...

CT: What was the relationship between Carol, a woman in the studio in the early 1960's music business in Los Angeles, and the men?

WB: There was a hell of a lot of competition, because there is good money to be made as a studio musician, and lots of people went from the road into the studio or the studio onto the road. THE GREATEST BASS PLAYERS WERE IN LA!

Carol Kaye was THE ONLY WOMAN playing the bass in the studios. The guys treated her like a little sister. She was personally a little bit on the shy side and very particular about her playing.

She had a lot of class, a lot of elegance - bet she still does!

CT: If there was anything you could say to Carol Kaye right now what would it be?

WB: She's been there and done that, and I look forward to reading the memoir she's been working on for a decade! It'll be a big seller, especially among the music loving crowd, and all the people - the fans - who love all the people she worked with as well! I'll be sitting in the front row at her book signing, waiting to buy my copy!

C Wes Bryan and Christine Trzyna All Rights including Internet and International Rights Reserved.

L.A. WEEKLY article on CAROL KAYE - WOMAN MUSICAN and MEMBER OF THE WRECKING CREW

Christine here: I have been reading the L.A. Weekly for years. Like many publications during this Recession/Depression, it's getting a little slim and deciding what articles to publish based on how much paper advertisers are supporting must be a nightmare! Truly, so much great journalism by great writers has come out of the L.A. Weekly, which is still free.

Link now to the article (excerpt below) on bass player of studio fame Carol Kaye by Jessica Hopper...

Thursday, Feb 18 2010

"You may not know Carol Kaye's name, but you know her work. You've probably heard at least a few dozen examples, and all the words, too. She spent the '60s as the most requested session bassist in L.A., playing on many of the tracks and albums that form the American pop canon: the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling, "La Bamba," "These Boots Are Made for Walkin," Joe Cocker's "Feelin' Alright," the Doors' "Light My Fire," "I Am A Rock," "Wichita Lineman," the majority of Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound"–era productions, as well as most of the Monkees discography. ...

Carol Kaye is said to be the most recorded bassist in history, with a purported 10,000-plus tracks to her credit."