{"id":908,"date":"2012-05-13T12:38:44","date_gmt":"2012-05-13T16:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/?p=908"},"modified":"2019-09-12T19:09:09","modified_gmt":"2019-09-12T23:09:09","slug":"bassist-duck-dunn-deep-syncopated-bouncy-rip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2012\/05\/bassist-duck-dunn-deep-syncopated-bouncy-rip.html","title":{"rendered":"Bassist Duck Dunn – deep, syncopated, bouncy – RIP"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald “Duck” Dunn, bassist<\/a> for Booker T. and the MGs, most all the grits ‘n’ greens soul voices who emerged from Memphis’ Stax Records in the 1960s, and dozens of major blues-rock-pop stars during his subsequent career as an LA-based studio musician, died in his sleep at age 70 in the early morning of May 13 while on tour in Japan with his guitarist partner and childhood friend Steve Cropper. He’d performed two shows the night before at the Blue Note Tokyo.<\/p>\n

Dunn was among the handful of electric bassists who motivated dancers to rock ‘n’ soul’s brand new beat during the heyday of vernacular music miscegenation (Jerry Jemmott and James Jamerson are two of his peers) . Self-taught by playing along with records, Dunn was as steady and self-effacing as bassists were supposed to be back in that day, while providing the bouncy, accented lines that held together and pushed forward a band grooving on a backbeat. Using a Fender Precision bass (he designed a signature model in 1998), Dunn created syncopated, independent lines that made millions of people shake their booties to the hits of Booker T., Otis Redding, Sam and Dave<\/a>, the Mar-Kays, the Memphis Horns, Albert King, Wilson Pickett, Creedence Clearwater and, later, the Blues Brothers, Bob Dylan, Stevie Nicks, Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton, most recently Neil Young, countless others.<\/p>\n

I find Duck Dunn’s well-articulated low-octave underpinnings fascinating in themselves, though it was his synchronization with Cropper (especially) and drummers including Al Jackson, Jr. of the Stax house band that made his career what it was. As rock bassists like Jack Casady, Phil Lesh and Jack Bruce became more flowing and r&b\/soul\/funk bassists more emphatic with thumb-popping, Dunn epitomized (at least for me) quick, cool melodies bumping along almost beneath the radar but actually shaking the Sacral Chakra<\/a>, which according to Hindu tracts governs sexuality and creativity. Thanks to Duck Dunn and his colleagues, listeners from the ’60s on enjoyed an extra burst of energy. Gotta thank the Quiet Guy with the Pipe for \u00c2\u00a0some of that.<\/p>\n

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Donald “Duck” Dunn, bassist for Booker T. and the MGs, most all the grits ‘n’ greens soul voices who emerged from Memphis’ Stax Records in the 1960s, and dozens of major blues-rock-pop stars during his subsequent career as an LA-based studio musician, died in his sleep at age 70 in the early morning of May […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-908","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-main","8":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/duck-dunn.jpeg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1i3CL-eE","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":80,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2008\/03\/musicians_dread_words.html","url_meta":{"origin":908,"position":0},"title":"Musicians dread words","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"March 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"John Zorn asked writers not to review his performance opening the season at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, though he was pleased we wanted to attend. How can\/should an arts journalist comply? Publicist Blake Zidell, no stranger to the particularities of musicians, presenters, freelance critics and others on the New\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":75,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2008\/03\/ornette_at_town_hall_and_in_ja.html","url_meta":{"origin":908,"position":1},"title":"Ornette at Town Hall and in Japan","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"March 25, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Further Ornette sightings: the prophet of life-beyond-conventions returns on Friday to New York's Town Hall, where he's suffered and triumphed throughout his career. Internationally acclaimed as an enquiring multi-instrumentalist, composer and conceptualist, Ornette has a special place in his heart for Town Hall, the historic midtown Manhattan venue where he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2982,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2022\/04\/appreciating-charnett-moffett-as-a-solo-bassist.html","url_meta":{"origin":908,"position":2},"title":"Appreciating Charnett Moffett as a solo bassist","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"April 14, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Saddened that bassist Charnett Moffett has died of a heart attack at age 54, I post this appreciation -- also serving as a profile -- Charnette Moffett, from video of The Bridge written in 2013 to annotate his solo bass (!) album The Bridge, which he described as \"my most\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/maxresdefault.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/maxresdefault.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/maxresdefault.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/maxresdefault.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/maxresdefault.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2622,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2019\/09\/chicago-jazz-fest-echoes.html","url_meta":{"origin":908,"position":3},"title":"Chicago Jazz fest images, echoes","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"September 10, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Roscoe Mitchell onscreen, presiding over The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Pritzker Pavillion Millennium Park Chicago, 8\/30\/19photo (c) Marc PoKempner The 41st annual Chicago Jazz Festival has come and gone, as I reported for DownBeat.com in quick turnaround. 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Marc\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Art-Ensemble-Lauren-Deutsch.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Art-Ensemble-Lauren-Deutsch.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Art-Ensemble-Lauren-Deutsch.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Art-Ensemble-Lauren-Deutsch.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Art-Ensemble-Lauren-Deutsch.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Art-Ensemble-Lauren-Deutsch.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1606,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2014\/05\/celebrating-ornette-from-philly-in-photos.html","url_meta":{"origin":908,"position":4},"title":"Celebrating Ornette! from Philly, in photos","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"May 6, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Ornette Coleman recognizes beauty everywhere and in everyone.","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/ornette-portrait-santa-e1398543336666.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2156,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2017\/01\/is-nyc-still-capitol-of-jazz.html","url_meta":{"origin":908,"position":5},"title":"Is NYC (still) capital of jazz?","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"January 18, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The early January concurrence of the Jazz Connect conference, the annual convention of APAP (Association of Performing Arts Presenters), Global Fest and Winter JazzFest makes a good case for\u00c2\u00a0Manhattan being the capital of jazz-and-beyond. It's inarguably true that creative sound-organizing with improvisation and rhythm is world-wide, and our native version\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/shabaka-ancestors-by-Jati-Lindsay.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}