Carl Radle Bass player

[Derek]

Hi Guys,

We got an e-mail from someone looking to find more info about Carl Radle and the Stingray. He was a bassist in the Seventies that played with everyone, most notably
Eric Clapton. Does anyone have any other photos or news to share? He died in the early 80's and would like to see if we can get more info over to this inquiry.

This photo is from the Carl Radle website.

 

[bovinehost]

Jim Gordon, Carl Radle, Bobby Whitlock, Eric Clapton and Jeep the dog.

Carl during the Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour with Joe Cocker.

Same group as the first photo, I think.

 

[Derek]

Cool photos dude. I know Jim Gordon was a troubled individual. Any other photos of Carl and his Stingrays?

 

[bovinehost]

Didn't see any when I google-imaged Carl Radle.

Funny, isn't it? The guy played on a million records, Leon Russell, Clapton, Delaney and Bonnie...it was kind of surprising to NOT see his name on an album in the seventies...and then, boom, gone.

 

[dlloyd]

Cool photos dude. I know Jim Gordon was a troubled individual. Any other photos of Carl and his Stingrays?

Not a Stingray, but it's a Ball...

 

[dlloyd]

This photo is from the Carl Radle website.

Just a thought... that looks like it's from around about EC's Backless tour in 1978 or so. Might find some photos by searching for that.

 

[Derek]

very nice,

Keep em coming...

 

[SteveB]

Carl Radle

Born 18 June 1942
Died 30 May 1980 kidney disease attributed to past heroin use.

He appears to have been an Oklahoma native.

 

[bovinehost]

If I recall correctly, he was indeed from Oklahoma and moved out to LA with Leon Russell and....ah..... JJ Cale?

 

[jongitarz]

Carl Radle

Born 18 June 1942
Died 30 May 1980 kidney disease attributed to past heroin use.

He appears to have been an Oklahoma native.

The same thing almost took Francis Rocco Prestia (my favorite bass player).
He had a kidney transplant and is OK now. BTW it was the heroin..Not being from Oklahoma that almost took him.

 

[P-House]

Here's a Bio:

From late 1970 until the end of that decade, Carl Radle was one of the top bassists in rock music. He began the decade as a star on his instrument by virtue of his membership in the shortlived, legendary band Derek & The Dominos, alongside Eric Clapton and yoked to drummer Jim Gordon in an outstanding rhythm section -- but it was the sheer quality of his work that had led him to that point and sustained him for years after. Born in Oklahoma City in 1942, he reached his teens just as the rock 'n' roll boom began. By the early 1960's, he'd made his way to California, where he played for a time as a member of Skip And The Flips, a group organized by future Byrd Skip Battin, playing alongside drummer Billy Mundi. He entered the orbit of his fellow Oklahoman Leon Russell and played numerous sessions for him during the latter's days as an arranger -- although uncredited, Radle played on many recordings for Gary Lewis & The Playboys. For a time in the late 1960's, he was also a member of the band Colours, which cut two LPs for Dot Records at the end of the 1960's. It was Russell's introduction that brought Radle to the attention of Delaney & Bonnie and led to his joining their backing band (alongside drummer Jim Gordon) and which, in turn, led to his crossing paths with Eric Clapton, who used him (along with Gordon) on his first solo album, and also to his participation in the sessions for George Harrison's All Things Must Pass album, which brought about the formation of Derek & The Dominos. Though it took a little time to be fully appreciated by the public, the resulting album Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs proved to be one of the most enduring creations to come out of Clapton's career. Radle later played with Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs And Englishmen show and the resulting album, again with Russell's prompting, and albums by Dave Mason, Mark Benno, J. J. Cale, RIta Coolidge, Dr. John, Art Garfunkel, and Buddy Guy, Bobby Keys, and Freddie King, and as a member of Leon Russell & The Shelter People. By 1975, when Clapton resumed touring, he brought Radle back as a band member and he remained through the Backless album -- then, in 1978, Clapton decided to dismiss his group, believing them inadequate in the studio. At the outset of the 1970's, Radle had cut an extraordinary musical figure, his tall, slightly gaunt bespectacled figure hunched over his instrument holding down the rhythm section with whatever drummer he happened to be working with, whether he was playing blues, country, or rock 'n' roll. And the results were impressive, a fact borne out by the sheer number of sessions he'd played in the first half of the 1970's. By the second half of the decade, however, Radle's health had started to decline, principally from the ravages of excessive drinking and some drug use. He died in 1980, of complications from a kidney infection caused by his alcoholism and addiction. At the time, his passing was barely noticed even by many Clapton fans or the rock press.

 

[jongitarz]

Steve? Izat choo?

 

[P-House]

Yeah, but could you please stop throwing your spare parts out into my yard. I'm heavily armed.

 

[bovinehost]

Extremely dangerous rodent alert.

 

[jongitarz]

Yeah, but could you please stop throwing your spare parts out the wilndow and into my yard. I'm heavily armed.

What is a wilndow? Is that some sort of rodent speak?

 

[DR. Cheese]

I remember reading an interview of Carl Radle in Guitar Player back in the seventies. I think it was an issue with Clapton on the cover. Radle talked about having played an Alembic and how excited he was about the Stingray since it had the Fender vibe with active electronics.

 

[Fuzzy Dustmite]

 

[Fuzzy Dustmite]

There's a Carl Radle invterview in the August 1976 issue
of Guitar Player Magazine. It's the only published interview I've ever seen
with him.

The article talks about his P-Bass with flatwounds, using a GMT (predecessor
to the Gallien-Krueger) amd and his soon to be aquired Music Man bass. I
remember him talking about Paul McCartney as a main influence and how his
job was to support wherever Eric was headed.


from this website:
http://www.amstadt.com/tblarchive/VOL1999/300-400/bl340.html#5

 

[newtley]

Carl's Website

I know it's an old thread, but I just stumbled on this website as mentioned by a poster on TBL and thought it merited a mention:
Carl Radle Home Page

Cool gallery, etc..

He certainly impacted my developmental years; and then some... Time to revisit a few of my dusty old LPs..


"Carl taught me that space in the groove has an elegance all its own. "
- Jerry O. Scheff

 

[oldbluebassman]

Thanks for posting that link. A great influence. Interestingly I've just recently been listening to "Delaney and Bonnie - On Tour with Eric Clapton". Just love his solid playing on the Little Richard medley.