Carol Kaye: Slick Cat (1971)

Wow, this one groooooooves.

Bassist Carol Kaye shared this tune, saying “Slick Cat [was] cut 1971 with Joe Pass [on guitar], Paul Humphrey [on] drums ….we were just jamming some in a studio and decided to work together after this!”

Carol also mentioned that while the bass in the picture is her Gibson Ripper, the bass she used in the recording was a Fender Precision.

Listen. Listen twice.

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  1. bert g

    The Kaye method.
    It was a boring learning tool, but it worked!

  2. Maartenq

    This is great stuff, Thanks for sharing! :-)

    Paul Humphrey is a beast. (never heard of him before)
    Joe Pass :-) Benson is a copy cat, but we’ll forgive him for that ;-)
    Carol Kaye. Wow, only knew her from study books.

  3. The lady can surely swing!

  4. Max

    how might one achieve that particular bass tone? or is it just a p-bass thing?

    • Ken Hoisington

      It is A P-bass thing brother. I own A 1983 Fender Precision Elite with 4 active pickups, maple neck, ash body. I have had it for 30 years now & will never part with it. True love !

    • William

      Its a P bass thing, playing with a pick on flat wounds.

  5. Gotta hit those books again…

  6. Mike Tony Echols

    Man all that groove with a Pick!

  7. paul humphrey. WOOO!

  8. Precision? Sounds all woofy like a Gibson though.CK one my earliest inspirations.

  9. The woman was tearin’ it up! Ms Kaye is one of my inspirations to this day.

  10. Bass is serious. Straightup Carol. Yeah, it’s a PBass thing, but I could see why some might lean towards the muddy bottom end idea as I used to have a Ripper and although you could get some serious highend, it was always known for that low end crunch which I got from my Sunn setup at the time. Today, I use a PBass for the R&B Gospel approach and my Marcus Miller Signature Jazz for most everything else. Carol, as usual, was right in the pocket here. Nice and night with some real flavor built in. Eric, you right. This was and is a killer groove.

  11. You can hear everybody she’s influenced in her playing, very cool!

  12. Now that’s playin the bass.

  13. Swingin’ all around in a deep pocket…. Great stuff right here!

  14. She never fails to please and enlighten the listener. Geschwungen!

  15. B.J. DeClue

    She has been and always will be a badass

  16. Fino Roverato

    The gold standard . killer groove from Paul , Carol’s killer bass and the inimitable Joe Pass guitar. It’s a killer blues track by the best in the business!