Home » Jazz Musicians » Chuck Rainey
Chuck Rainey
At one time tagged as the hardest working bass player in America, Chuck Rainey's bass playing on successful television shows, motion pictures and recordings illustrate his well-known and legendary style, feel and concept for the instrument and it's role in organized music. His unique bass lines accent numerous commercials and are an integral part of today's music across many music viewing and listening fronts.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio as Charles Walter Rainey III, Chuck boasts a native 'son ship' of Youngstown, Ohio, where he was actually raised and educated. Originally trained in the classics as a trumpet player by C.F. Brown, James Ramsey and John Busch, Chuck switched to Baritone Horn while attending Lane college in Jackson, Tennessee and was an intricate part of the schools well known and traveled 'brass ensemble' in the early 60's.
Learning to play the guitar while on military active duty before college, eventually led him to professionally play the guitar with local bands in Youngstown and Cleveland after returning home from college and military obligations. Since his formal training did not encompass improvisational skills, his guitar playing ability was limited to 'rhythm playing.' He began to play the 'electric' bass instrument after it was obvious that his skills were more valuable playing single note patterns, which he displayed as a guitar player.
His arrival in New York City during the spring of 1962 coincided with the beginning of a new era in American commercial music. After a 3 and a half-year stint with legendary FT. Worth sax man King Curtis in New York, Chuck began an illustrious career as a 'sideman' in the recording studio along with Bernard Purdy, Eric Gale, Richard T., Donny Hathaway, Paul Griffen and Herb Lavelle to name a few. Without any argument, he is the most recorded bass player in the history of recorded music and is the most imitated by bass players as a whole.
During the period 1963 thru 1971, Chuck toured and/or recorded with some of the most prominent artist of that era. They include King Curtis, Sam Cooke, Etta James, The original Coasters, Jackie Wilson, Harry Bellefonte, Al Kooper, The Supremes, Labelle, Aretha Franklin, Roberta Flack and Quincy Jones. Of special note; As a member of 'The King Curtis All Stars', the second Beatle Tour of the US took him to Los Angeles where he made a commitment to return as soon as the Universe saw fit.
Moving in 1972 from New York to Los Angeles as a member of Quincy Jones big band, his career as a studio musician continued to grow. Additionally, his unique style brought him opportunities in the television and film industries where he can be heard performing on musical themes and in the source music of numerous motion pictures, television series and sitcoms, along with radio and TV advertisements. he also has composer, arranger and production credits in his career.
Read moreTags
Larry Coryell: Improvisations: Best of the Vanguard Years
![Read "Larry Coryell: Improvisations: Best of the Vanguard Years" reviewed by Josef Woodard](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/2fd42d6324d40fc4a1cbdcd14377b81c.jpg)
by Josef Woodard
There have been many smoother operators in the world of jazz guitar than Larry Coryell, the brainy rough rider who was a natural-born fusioneer, in the best sense. There have been cleaner technicians on the instrument, with a more lucid sense of identity and careers that have followed a logical, rolling landscape. But not many have quite attained Coryell's strange, madly eclectic state of grace: into music he came, he saw and heard things not yet articulated, he conquered on ...
read moreChuck Rainey: The Chuck Rainey Coalition
![Read "The Chuck Rainey Coalition" reviewed by Douglas Payne](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/profile/musician/f11656cf04e4734c3c6b4d27b38ae121.jpg)
by Douglas Payne
Here's a tight set of funky soul-jazz grooves served up hot by electric bassist and studio kingpin Chuck Rainey (born 1940). First released on the Skye label in 1968, it's the first of only three discs (I think) the bassist released under his own name during a long career that's included playing with Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Quincy Jones, Steely Dan and many, many others.
The overall sound will be familiar to anyone who enjoys Atlantic jazz records from this ...
read moreErnie Watts, Chuck Rainey, Liane Carroll, Impossible Gentlemen For Sligo Jazz Project 2015
![Ernie Watts, Chuck Rainey, Liane Carroll, Impossible Gentlemen For Sligo Jazz Project 2015](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/profile/musician/20ae3283f4c426e65a0f1d4e66348b16.jpg)
Source:
Sligo Jazz Project
Sligo Jazz Project is now taking bookings for its 10th Anniversary summer school and festival event, 21-26 July 2015. Its stellar 2015 15-tutor faculty, which includes Grammy winning US saxophone legend Ernie Watts, award winning UK vocalist Liane Carroll, Band-in-Residence The Impossible Gentlemen and recording legend Chuck Rainey (Steely Dan/ Aretha Franklin, etc.), will preside over an intense but inspiring week of workshops, masterclasses, concerts and jam sessions. All tutors will perform concerts at Sligo's unique jazz festival. The faculty ...
read more