Top 5: Chuck Rainey Tracks

Welcome back! 

 

I'm back again with another entry in my Top 5 series. Chuck Rainey has a bass playing career that has spanned over 5 decades, including roughly 15 years as a session player in both New York AND Los Angeles during the height of the recording era (mid-'60's-1980). He's featured on thousands of records, TV and movie soundtracks. That said, there's no way I've checked out most of his work but out of the things I've heard, these are my favorites...

 

As a rule, I'm not a huge fan of the sound of a slapped/thumped P-Bass. It usually sounds a little too throaty and hollow for my tastes (especially when compared to a full-on J-Bass). That said, there are a few exceptions: Freddie Washington, early Louis Johnson, Will Lee and, of course, Chuck Rainey. This particular track,  Rickie Lee Jones' Woody & Dutch On A Slow Train To Peking  (with guests Cheech and Chong), showcases Rainey's tone in a particularly good light (not to mention drummer Steve Gadd playing a shoebox with brushes). Other great examples include Peg and I Heard That!...

 

Word is, this Roberta Flack song had a verbatim/fully charted bass part written by Donny Hathaway and while Chuck nails it (there are horn & string unison parts to consider), he adds all of these amazing descending double-stops and upper register ornamentations that really give the part life.

 

 

Simply put; the bass Chuck Rainey plays at the 2:39 mark of this Steely Dan song gives me hope for a better tomorrow. In the ensuing 2 bars, Rainey offers rhythmic complexity and precision, unbridled melodicism AND tension & resolution. All this in 4 seconds. Without crowding the track.

 

 

Oh, and rest of his playing is great, too.

 

 



I kinda HAD to include this one. Classic groove (and overdub) on a classic theme song...

This is possibly my favorite Chuck Rainey bass line. He and drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie are killing the pocket, Chuck's part peculates throughout and perfectly wraps around this Stevie Wonder-penned/Aretha Franklin-belted masterpiece. Even when he jumps to the upper register for the bridge, the supportive nature of his role is never sacrificed.



Welp, that's my 5. what are yours?


Be Good,
DLW