Chuck Rainey

Another instrumentalist more widely associated with soul, pop, funk, and R&B, yet highly respected by jazz musicians, Chuck Rainey's been a star electric bassist since the '60s. While <a href="spotify:artist:3U3C9o6UTYNdEsDckpRyvX">Jaco Pastorius</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1lGt9WgdYGpMnmwGkcCm05">Stanley Clarke</a> featured flashy, blistering playing and approached electric bass as if they were improvising on a guitar, Rainey's forte has been a heavy, steady pulse and vigorous support, fitting into a rhythm section and locking onto a groove with a vengeance. Rainey studied violin, piano, and trumpet in his youth, then moved from Youngstown to Cleveland at 21. He played electric guitar and bass in various R&B bands, then joined <a href="spotify:artist:0WxOgeRxUt0MwPrI7A5atQ">King Curtis</a>' group in New York during 1964. Rainey's done hundreds of recording sessions since then, but has also done a fair number of jazz dates. He played with <a href="spotify:artist:3oLQqwPfXDOPsoP9U768OG">Jerome Richardson</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1T7xYP9ZRJytj25VAAdsB9">Grady Tate</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0sN4enVJwylJKEXZlSbgsm">Mose Allison</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7dXBi98p0mN5JCpBnU0XEm">Gato Barbieri</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:338mC0yGyX0C9of8QMJ5hK">Gene Ammons</a> in the late '60s and early '70s, as well as with <a href="spotify:artist:0R3bGv703d8JFKdZxsHr58">Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson</a> at the 1971 Montreux Festival. Rainey toured and played that same year with <a href="spotify:artist:7nwUJBm0HE4ZxD3f5cy5ok">Aretha Franklin</a>. He moved to Los Angeles in 1972, and worked there with <a href="spotify:artist:3Bhgbs9kIwl8SuU0eIqN6b">the Crusaders</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:6BvSJSt6l7QJO2GHvtwFOK">Hampton Hawes</a>, and recorded with <a href="spotify:artist:3ZUZYvTkSr7kJQyAXVpqaL">Donald Byrd</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1VEzN9lxvG6KPR3QQGsebR">Sonny Rollins</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:3Hl3dCaBcrnvBAOMAW4nJR">John Handy</a> in the mid-'70s. Rainey recorded in Japan with Hiroshi Fukumura in 1978. He's made two rare dates as a leader for Cobblestone in 1971 and for Hammer n' Nails in 1981. Neither is around today, but Rainey can be heard on many discs by <a href="spotify:artist:7nwUJBm0HE4ZxD3f5cy5ok">Franklin</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0WxOgeRxUt0MwPrI7A5atQ">Curtis</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1VEzN9lxvG6KPR3QQGsebR">Rollins</a>, and others. ~ Ron Wynn, Rovi