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Agreed.Quote
24FPS
Too bad he didn't take the bass slot. He would have been more appropriate. He's a much better rock bassist.
I am a fan of Living Color and did not know DW lengthy resume and it is impressive to me for sure . This gent is no slouch at all .Quote
exilestones
Good read. Thanks!
Living Colour
++++
Legendary Bassist Doug Wimbish Reveals Why He Turned Down The Rolling Stones,
Explains How Hip-Hop Prepared Him to Work With Mick Jagger
"Mick calls me up: 'Hey, we'd like for you to come and do it'".
Doug Wimbish has worked with so many stars of so many genres that to list them all would require an article alone. Just to give some highlights, the legendary bassist has collaborated with Mick Jagger, Madonna, Depeche Mode, James Brown, and many more, in addition to the work on his groundbreaking band Living Colour.
Early in his career, Wimbish became part of the rhythm section for Sugarhill Records, making him a vital part of the dawn of hip-hop, with contributions to seminal releases by Grandmaster Flash and the Sugarhill Gang.
But the mainstream door truly opened for him when he played bass on the 1985 anti-Apartheid record "Sun City" that featured illustrious artists such as Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, and Bono, among others.
Following the success of the album and all the networking involved with high-profile rockstars, phone calls started to pour in, requesting Wimbish's skills.
One of them belonged to Mick Jagger when The Rolling Stones frontman was gearing up for his sophomore solo record, 1987's "Primitive Cool". In an interview with Rolling Stone, the bassist recalls how he got invited to play bass on the album:
"I played on Jeff Beck's 'Flash' album. Next thing you know, I end up in Jeff's solo band with Simon Phillips and Jan Hammer. We toured Japan. After the tour, I asked Jeff what he was doing. He goes, 'I'm going to do Mick's solo album. Matter of fact, they're auditioning folks. Mind if I put your name in the hat?' I said, 'Sure.'"
"Then I'm working with producer Keith Diamond on Michael Bolton's record. At that same time, all within about two weeks of each other, Keith got the job to produce Mick's album as well. He was like, 'Hey, man, I'm going to put your name into the hat to audition.'"
"I get the audition. I go to New York. It's a classic cattle call. They're having auditions between New York, L.A., and London. I do the audition and end up getting the gig. That's how my Mick Jagger world started."
"They gave me a few songs on cassette. When you got to the audition, you did a couple of those songs, and then everything else was off the cuff. You can't prepare for that. You have cameras filming everything. I guess my years of hip-hop had prepared me for moments like that since hip-hop was all about the spirit of the moment and how you interpret what's going on."
After working with Jagger, Wimbish became a part of the genre-bending band Living Colour in 1992, only to have his loyalty tested one year later. After Bill Wyman left The Rolling Stones in 1993, Wimbish was considered as a replacement due to his History with Jagger, and the musician had a difficult choice to make.
"What honestly happened when Bill left, I was in Living Colour. I need to take you back to when I joined Living Colour. [Living Colour drummer] Will Calhoun called me when I was in London. I happened to be with Bernard [Fowler] and the Stones at Olympic Studios just hanging out."
"I'm hanging out with them and I get the call from Will. He asked me to audition. Then I get the gig. Now I'm in Living Colour. Fast-forward to 1993. I recorded with Bernard Fowler when he was producing Ron Wood's album. I recorded with Mick and Rick Rubin in L.A. on [the song] 'Sweet Thing.'"
"Then I hear that Bill Wyman is gone. Then Mick calls me up. 'Hey, Doug, would you mind coming out to Ronnie's house? We're all getting together. Everyone is there. The Stones are making a bass change. Come on out.'"
The musician added:
"I'm still in Living Colour, but I come out. We start recording. I meet Keith. We're hanging out. They were just recording. There was no tour or anything. And then I go back to New York and Mick calls me up. 'Hey, we'd like for you to come and do it. We're doing a record.' It was like October of 1993. I'm like, 'OK, well, Living Colour is booked to play Australia at that time. I'd love to do it, but we have this tour.'"
"My loyalty was to Living Colour. 'Stain' had just come out. It was like, 'What do I do? Do jump ship and go work with the Stones?' I was in a vortex. I was caught in the middle. Maybe if the timing was different, things would have worked out. Lo and behold, things get dark in 1994 and Vernon [Reid, Living Colour guitarist] breaks the band up in 1995. That's what happened."
"I had to make a decision based on what was right, and not just for me, but for families and everyone else. You stand by it. That's what happened."
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