Monday, May 14, 2012

Donald "Duck" Dunn: 1941-2012





If you love and listen to music everyday, odds are you will hear Donald "Duck" Dunn's bass playing before each day is through. Bass players will pick him up immediately. Everyone else will just take him for granted.

As one half of arguably the greatest rhythm section to ever cut wax, "Duck" Dunn found a groove almost 50 years ago in Memphis and never looked back. And it's not just the impressive roster of music he created while part of Booker T. & The MGs, the Stax/Volt house band that played behind everyone from Otis Redding & Eddie Floyd, Wilson Pickett & Albert King and Johnnie Taylor & The Staple Singers.

Rod Stewart, Tom Petty, Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, Ray Charles?

He was there, too.

Boz Scaggs, Neil Young, Jerry Lee Lewis?

They all called on "Duck" Dunn.

Donald "Duck" Dunn died in his sleep on Saturday night in Tokyo, while on tour with fellow MG and best friend, legendary guitarist Steve Cropper.







It's hard to pick out some music to represent the brilliance of his playing. A personal fave is Delaney & Bonnie's "Home," though a couple of songs do feature Carl Radle on bass.




Eddie Floyd's albums "Knock On Wood" and "I've Never Found A Girl," ain't too shabby either. 









You can look at his staggering credentials over at AMG. Before you do, get in the groove with "Melting Pot," the last single Booker T. & The MGs recorded for Stax.

It says it all.



Donald "Duck" Dunn.

R.I.P.




7 comments:

buzzbabyjesus said...

Totally "In The Pocket".

Eric said...

I was in Memphis in dec.06 and checked out the stax museum....whoa, that's rock n'roll/soul/shyt anything that had a beat, a pulse, those songs moved...dd was in the pocket... as is burning wood...

pass the kasha knish

FD13NYC said...

It's amazing how much music for artists he played on. He certainly worked, and was in demand for a long time. Now he joins James Jamerson up there, as two of the best bass players who ever lived, a shame. But as they say, when it's time to check out, you gotta go.

soundsource said...

whoa this is bad news

Guillermo Soler said...

I'm probably one of the worst bass players in the world, but the some of the few things I know about bass playing I learned them from "Duck" Dunn...

tut said...

we`ve lost a huge talent.
but we do still have his recorded legacy.
The Duck is dead, long live Duck Dunn.

A walk in the woods said...

Nice elegy, Sal. Man, Booker T's band was one of my all-time favorites. Those guys cut DEEP! Duck will be missed.

I'm glad I got to see them live 3-4 times, back about 15 years ago.