![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/glover5.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/airey2.jpg)
Pretty much the first take
Bass Player magazine has an interview with session player extraordinaire Lee Sklar. And he thinks that working on Billy Cobham’s album Spectrum with Tommy Bolin, among others, was a highlight of his 2,000-album (by the latest count) career.
What are some of the moments in your career that you think of as outstanding?
“Stratus with Billy Cobham – bass players always want me to talk about that. I got to know Billy when The Section went out on a tour opening for the Mahavishnu Orchestra. When he had the opportunity to do a record of his own, I think he had Stanley Clarke in mind for the bass, but for some reason it didn’t work out.“I had never really considered myself a chops monster, and those guys didn’t need one. They needed someone who could hold down the bottom, and that bassline just fell into place. We finished the whole album in three days; I did two days, and then Ron Carter played on some big band tracks.”
“What you hear on the album is pretty much the first take of every song, all done live without overdubs. Jan Hammer is one of the most gifted synth players, and Tommy Bolin’s guitar playing is some of the best that ever was. For them, that bass part just ended up being a foundation that holds things in place while they went off.
The whole interview can be found in the GuitarWorld.com, albeit there is nothing more Purple related in there.
Thanks to Uwe for the heads-up.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Posted this before, but it fits herr: Lee reenacting his original bass run …
https://youtu.be/C1Z4ux1y1b8
May 5th, 2025 at 02:20