Carol Kaye is truly a Renaissance woman as she started her own publishing company, (Gwyn Publishing, now owned by Alfred Pub.), recorded instructional audio and video material before it was fashionable and solely supported her family before the term single parent was ever coined.

She is one of the most recorded musicians in the history with over 10,000 documented sessions and probably many more that were not in the record books. It is easier to list who she hasn't played with than who she has. Her resume is twenty two pages and I have the sinking feeling that is the abridged version. Let's just say she has performed with everyone from Joe Cocker, The Beach Boys to Frank Sinatra, Joe Pass a nd Barbra Streisand. Her film and TV credits are so extensive I have no idea where to begin.

I had a brief but very pleasant conversation with Carol regarding a bootleg recording of her material.and since have corresponded numerous times and have found her to be a kind and very sharing person. I learned that she started out as a jazz guitarist, continued playing guitar throughout her career, both live and on records, and still performs on guitar quite frequently. Being a jazz guitarist, music journalist and considering myself a devotee of jazz guitar history, I found this quite a humbling experience.

The following is a very brief chronicle of Ms. Kaye's tremendous career as a guitarist through conversations and documentation she has generously provided. When Carol was fourteen, she decided to seriously study the guitar and went to Horace Hatchett in Long Beach for lessons. Horace was one of the finest teachers in the area whose students were some of the most notable guitarists of the day such as Howard Roberts and Oscar Moore. Growing up in the housing projects of Wilmington, CA, money was in short supply so Carol worked out a deal where she would teach 2 years at Horace's studio in return for a Gibson Super 400. Having been born in a musical family, learning music came fast and natural for her.

One of the first things she learned was to voice chords with only three notes over the standard tune "Blue Skies." Many now refer to this style of chord accompaniment as Freddie Green rhythm. Hatchett immediately taught her to notate and read music and not just play by rote. Carol started transcribing Charlie Christian solos from Benny Goodman Sextet records immersing herself in that genre. Hatch also used many of the George Smith chord melody arrangements in his teaching which filled in the harmonic side of her guitar development, critical for all the standard tunes used in jazz, and all forms of music in those days. George Smith was a prominent studio guitarist who specialized in chord melody arrangements.

In her teaching, Carol used a lot of Smith's material as well as transcribed solos of Charlie Chirstian and Django Reinhardt. She would often transcribe instrumental solos from the great Artie Shaw band for study as well. In her late teens, she became the guitarist for a very popular 17-piece band that did quite a bit of traveling. This band proved to be invaluable disciplined experience as well as the the 100s of combo gigs she played, which provided an experienced background for her later serious jazz guitar work in the late 50s in LA, building her reputation as a strong instrumentalist comping and solo-wise. Carol played with many of the finest jazz musicians around LA, developing her chops as well as her recognition.

Over the years, she played guitar in jazz clubs with many such biggies as Jack Sheldon, Teddy Edwards, Billy Higgins, Jimmy Smith Trio, and then later with Page Cavenaugh, Bobby Bryant, Oliver Nelson just to name a few. Playing jazz 4-6 nights a week was fun and fulfilling, but didn't pay the bills well so she had to also work a day job to support her mother and children. In Dec. 1957 she was working with the Teddy Edwards jazz group at the Beverly Caverns club when one night record producer Bumps Blackwell stopped by. He was impressed with the way Carol played and was interested in hiring her on a regular basis to work in the studios. She really was not interested because it was a known fact that once you went into the studios it could burn you out, and even though you could make good money, your "jazz chops" would definitely suffer.

She was not really looking forward to her new found endeavor, but tired of working a day job, she saw this as an opportunity to make a full time living in music to support her family in a better way. Her first studio session was with Sam Cooke and it went so well that she went out and bought a solid body guitar, a new amp and other gear she knew would be necessary in the studio. Shortly after that she was recording steadily, and played on Ritchie Valens' hits such as "La Bamba". She found the calibur of musicians in the recording business very good, and even though the music wasn't jazz, it could really groove and helping to create lines and styles for hit records became a good challenge, interesting work.

She had many guitar hits with Sam Cooke, Phil Spector -- "Zippity Doo Dah", and other hits with groups such as the Ronnettes, Blossoms, Isley Bros., Chris Montez, Jewel Aikens, Crystals, Righteous Bros. etc., Sonny & Cher, Herb Alpert, Pat Boone, early Mongo Santamaria/Willie Bobo, Duane Eddy, Dick Dale, early OJs, Paul Anka, Cannonball Adderly, Ike & Tina Turner, Rosemary Clooney, David McCullem, Chet Baker, Ann-Margaret, Wayne Newton etc. (see the guitar hits list on her website: www.carolkaye.com/ In late 1963, a bassist didn't show up at Capitol Records so she was placed on Fender bass as it was called then in LA studios.

Since she was a guitarist and not a bass player per se, she used a hard pick which was unheard of at that time. Everyone loved the sound and the groove, it was a hit, and the rest is history with her long and famous studio bass career, culminating in being voted #3 in elec. bass jazz in the mid 70s. Since the mid 60s, the majority of her work has been on bass. But she still loves to play those jazz guitar sounds.

Carol graciously agreed to a little Q & A to give more insight on what makes this very talented musician tick.

What advice would you give to female musicians on how to cope in what is still predominantly an all-male industry?

CK: Let the men be men...don't have a chip on your shoulder, but DO have a good sense of humor and some witty replies as well as really having your playing together so they can't legitimately complain about your playing. This takes some time. Just keep the blinders on and don't "fraternize". Keep it always professional, friendly but with a little wall up. Don't take any off-beat comments to heart (yes, it's hard sometimes), but feed it back to them sometimes w/humor if it gets a little rough in what they are saying...so they know what they sound like. For instance, just a light comment was made to me only once "you sure play great for a girl"...well I liked that person a lot so I let him off easy with "and you play great for a guy." The guys all roared.


Who are a few jazz guitarists on the scene today that have caught your attention?

CK: Joe Beck, Bruce Foreman, Mark Whitfield and some others in that same soulful way of playing jazz. It's hard to get much better than Joe Pass and Howard Roberts. Those were the best I always thought. George Benson is great too (even his commercial ventures), Wes Montgomery etc. I love Mundell Lowe's playing as well as Mitch Holder whom I work with - I tend to stay away from the "atheletes" on guitar (just mainly chops) and go for the creativity of the whole solos on songs. You can say a lot with well-placed notes with a lot of space. And there's a few I hear on the radio but actually am paying more attention to the sax players. I thought that Emily Remler had a lot of promise. She was certainly wonderful in her chordal soloing, and there's Monette Sudler in NY, excellent player.

What is your all time favorite session?

CK: Well, that's hard to pinpoint. There's so many different styles of music to pick and I had some nice hits on guitar. I am fond of Wayne Newton's hit of "Danke Shoen"...was a pleasure to play the rhythm guitar part on that one, big-band rhythm ala Freddie Green-style, was a fun date. Some of my favorite bass hits are: "Feelin' Alright" Joe Cocker, "The Way We Were" Barbra Streisdand, "Come On Home" Mel Torme, "I Don't Need No Doctor", "Don't Change On Me", "Heat Of The Night", "American The Beautiful", "Feel So Bad" others with Ray Charles, "Little Green Apples" OC Smith, "Wichita Lineman" Glen Campbell, Godfather Theme - Andy Williams, and some of the Beach Boys hits -- Brian Wilson was a wonderful composer/arranger, "Peace Of Mind" Nancy Wilson. And "Hikky Burr", the bass part I cut on Bill Cosby's hit with Quincy Jones, both the single and Cosby's first TV show in 1970. Several movie and TV film things I liked to record include: Thomas Crown Affair, Pawnbroker, Airport, Walk Don't Run, Change Of Habit, Across 110th Street, Mission Impossible, Kojak, McCloud, Ironside, MASH, Streets Of San Francisco, Hawaii 5-O, Room 222. Sorry, I can never pick out a "favorite" -- there's so much great music to choose from ...all cut with the greatest musicians, composers, arrangers, producers. It's a group effort. The variety in styles is endless.

Was there anyone that you particularly enjoyed working with either in the studios or live?

CK. I played live with Hampton Hawes, the fantastic jazz pianist (bass, early 70s). That was a biggie as was playing live with Joe Pass and Paul Humphrey. And I enjoyed working for some of the greatest people in the music business: Michel LeGrand, Dave Grusin, John Williams, John Prince, Billy Goldenberg, Jerry Goldsmith, Quincy Jones, Jack Hayes, Leo Shuken, Perry Botkin, Walter Scharf, the list goes on and on, such great men, such fine talents....who make it a challenge and a thrill to adequately play their fine music.

Do you have a favorite jazz guitarist (does not have to be living)?

CK. I'd say Joe Pass but Howard Roberts was great too. And also the fine Wes Montgomery and Barney Kessel. It's hard to have only "1 favorite".


Through your career, was there any one guitar (in the jazz idiom) tht you found particularly memorable and what equipment are you currently using?

CK: My favorite jazz guitar was a non-cutaway Epiphone Emperor with a suspended DeArmond pickup. A beautiful great sounding instrument. I am currently playing a modifed Ibanez with a Duncan pickup, and my bass is the Fender Precision Deluxe Lyte with the Duncan active Basslines pickups and Thomastik Jazz Flats strings w/Polytone Mini-Brute IV Amp. I use nothing but the Thomastik jazz flats on both bass & guitar.

Can you tell us about any projects, gigs etc. that you are currently involved in?

CK: I'm currently playing some nice live bass concert jazz gigs with Ray Pizzi and Mitch Holder. Our album CD "Thumbs Up" is out and doing nicely. Plus some record dates, some private teaching as well as teaching at the fine Henry Mancini Institute at UCLA. I'm finishing up with my book "Jazz Improv For Bass" (now out), my 27th tutorial, and have been busy with film interviews, teaching privately and at Mancini Institute, also writing my book. I have a very active Forum on my website: www.carolkaye.com/ and other items for bass (Bass Video Course etc.) are doing well -- see the website. Outside of that, I'm just a lazy senior citizen (smile).

What words of advice would you give anyone starting out in music, specifically in jazz?

CK: Get your chordal note and progression skills up and don't concentrate on scale notes so much. Practice a lot but not to the point where you bore yourself into being a "robot" on your instrument. Play your feelings always, have a GREAT sense of time together (chording as well as soloing), and get your comping sense together, that's critical..... the nuances of feeling like you're a horn section accenting things (not chug chug chug chug), yet stay out of the piano player's way. And please learn the finer jazz sub patterns and how to get your fluency togther to play the *tune*, not just to show off. As the fine jazz pianist George Gaffney once said, "have respect for the song." That about says it, but also, Hampton Hawes said "just listen"! Avoid the "image" thing -- that's a Hollywood produced false thing. Don't do drugs either, you're just fooling yourself with that. Music is real although sometimes you have to educate the public to listen, away from the usual "visual" thing (remember, most people these days were raised on "visual TV", they should cultivate their ears more). Loving to play music and feeling the beauty of music is a lifelong passion and playing together with other fine musicians should always be the goal. The rest always comes if you have your skills together and your heart in the right place