Donald “Duck” Dunn

Biography

Because the bassist for Booker T. & the MG’s, Donald “Duck” Dunn became, like Adam Jamerson at Motown, the person who supplied a groove for a whole era to dance to. In Dunn’s case it had been the renowned Memphis record label Stax/Volt, where he laid down basslines for spirit stars such as for example Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, and Albert Ruler, helping to make among the largest physiques of spirit and R&B music that is available. A indigenous of Memphis, Dunn went to Messick SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL alongside fellow eventual Stax workers Steve Cropper and Don Nix. As teens, the three became entranced with the tempo & blues music getting played within the black dance clubs of Western world Memphis. And, after gigging because the Royal Spades, Dunn, Cropper, and Nix, alongside horn players Packy Axton and Wayne Jackson, drummer Terry Johnson, and pianist Jerry Lee “Smoochie” Smith, transformed their name towards the Mar-Keys and started playing the roadhouses and nightclubs around Memphis. The group became a favorite draw on the neighborhood golf club circuit and obtained a 1961 strike using the bluesy instrumental “YESTERDAY EVENING,” released on Axton’s mother’s label Satellite television. For another 3 years Dunn toured using the music group, playing teenager dances and nightclubs around the united states. But, after many unsuccessful efforts to replicate the achievement of “YESTERDAY EVENING,” the Mar-Keys fizzled. Dunn came back to Memphis and continuing his music profession, dealing with his sibling at the Ruler Information distributorship and changing bassist Lewis Steinberg (and rejoining Cropper) as an associate from the Stax home music group Booker T. & the MG’s. At his greatest when collaborating, it had been at Stax (previously Satellite television) where Dunn, alongside fellow MG’s Cropper (acoustic guitar), Booker T. Jones (body organ), and Al Jackson, Jr. (drums), grew right into a essential member of probably one of the most well known tempo areas in music. Support a slew of Stax performers such as for example Rufus & Carla Thomas, William Bell, and Eddie Floyd, in addition to recording strikes like “Green Onions” within their very own best, the MG’s could actually adapt to each performer’s design separately, but still retain their own sound. On the 1967 Monterey Pop Celebration, the group supported Otis Redding and, jointly, they stole the present with their restricted arrangements and outstanding musicianship. Through the entire sector and among music artists and enthusiasts, the Stax audio gained a popularity for its large “bottom level,” and Dunn’s deep, shifting basslines were a fundamental element of that sonic make-up. Playing an integral function artistically as both a support musician for Stax labelmates so when a recording musician using the MG’s, Dunn ultimately became an employee producer and component owner from the label’s posting. Dunn remained devoted towards the label in to the middle-’70s, lengthy after a great many other first Stax performers like Steve Cropper and Isaac Hayes got left. So when Stax finally folded, Dunn utilized his recording knowledge, which frequently included offering basslines and preparations for artists at that moment, to be an in-demand program player and manufacturer. Through the entire ’70s and ’80s he made an appearance on albums by such luminaries as Roy Buchanan, Bob Dylan, Fishing rod Stewart, and Muddy Waters, getting among the industry’s preeminent bass players. (His most high-profile function emerged in 1980, when he became a member of Cropper among others as the support music group for Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi’s Blues Brothers.) In the first ’90s, the MG’s reunited to back again Neil Small on his American tour and released a fresh album exactly the same 12 months. Dunn continued to be in the general public vision as an associate from the Blues Brothers Music group alongside his longtime friend Steve Cropper. Both appeared within the 1998 film Blues Brothers 2000. Dunn’s actions slowed down following the change of the millennium, but he performed and toured world-wide with an intermittent basis, including periodic looks with Booker T. & the MG’s. He previously been touring with Cropper and Eddie Floyd in Japan during Might 2012 when he passed away in his rest inside a Tokyo resort around the eve of his go back to america; Donald “Duck” Dunn was 70 yrs . old.

Quick Facts