Leland Sklar
Leland Bruce "Lee" Sklar (born May 28, 1947 in Milwaukee , Wisconsin) is an American bassist , singer and composer and is one of the most sought-after session musicians in the industry. To date he has worked on more than 800 albums and over 3000 titles. Sklar worked with well-known greats such as Billy Cobham , Suzy Bogguss , Jackson Browne , Rita Coolidge , Crosby, Stills and Nash , Kris Kristofferson , Hall & Oates , Reba McEntire , Randy Newman , Dolly Parton , Carole King , Linda Ronstadt , Véronique Sanson , Rod Stewart , George Strait , James Taylor , Warren Zevon , Ray Charles , Steve Lukather and Toto . He is a sideman and an integral part of the line-up of Phil Collins' live productions .
Sklar has a striking appearance, which is characterized by a long gray beard and scalp hair.
Life
His family moved from Wisconsin to Southern California shortly after he was born . Sklar began to learn to play the piano at the age of four. During his school days he joined the school band, but there were too many pianists and no bass player. His teacher at the time gave him a double bass and, according to his own statement, he immediately fell for the instrument.
Although music became an intense hobby of Sklars early on, he was interested in many things from childhood and studied art and geology at college. He later began studying music at California State University, Northridge. There he met James Taylor , who was looking for a bass player for a show at Club Troubadour in Los Angeles. This was the starting signal for his career, which continues to this day. Both thought that the collaboration would be short-lived, but when Taylor recorded his first successful hit and the need for a tour arose, Sklar accepted Taylor's offer to play as a permanent bassist in his band, and came from then on in contact with other great musicians. A milestone in this regard was his participation as bassist on the first solo production, Spectrum , by drummer Billy Cobham from 1973. Furthermore, from the early 1970s, Sklar also worked with drummer Russ Kunkel, guitarist Danny Kortchmar and keyboardist Craig Doerge . They became known as " The Section ". They produced three albums under this name between 1972 and 1977. The Section were also very often booked as a complete backing band and can therefore be found on many albums by other artists, often supplemented by the guitarists Waddy Wachtel and David Lindley .
In 2007 Leland Sklar was on tour with Toto because their bassist Mike Porcaro injured his hand. On the spring tour of 2016 he was again working as a bass player for Toto.
Sklar's trademark, the long gray beard, says he has no special background. After he was given his high school diploma in 1965, he stopped shaving and has grown his beard to regular trimming ever since.
Equipment
His main bass, which has been used on 90% of all recordings since the 1970s, is his 'Frankenstein bass', which he composed from various parts himself and built by John Carruthers in 1973. It consists of a Charvel Precision Bass body and a 62 mm Fender Precision Bass maple neck with mandolin frets that has been converted to jazz bass dimensions .
The pickups are two reverse built-in P-Bass pickups from EMG of the first generation in a jazz bass position. The bridge is a badass and the mechanics of the E-string one of the first Hipshot D tuners. In addition, the bass has a 'producer switch' without any function, which he says he has built in for ignorant producers.
The bass is u. a. on many old videos e.g. B. seen with James Taylor etc. For the last 20 years he has mostly played his Dingwall Signature 5-String Bass on tour .
Sklar has been playing several basses made by the German instrument maker Warwick for a number of years , a Warwick Starbass II modified according to his specifications (including mandolin frets) , the 'Sklar Bass', a fretted and a fretless. A 'producer switch' is also installed here. These basses can be heard e.g. B. in his work with Judith Owen.
Sklar also uses amplifiers and speakers from Euphonic Audio.
Discography
Sklar sees himself as an outspoken "team player" who puts the respective title at the center of his efforts. He has not released a single solo album in his entire musical career. Extract from the extensive oeuvre :
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Soundtracks
With the exception of the catwalk , all soundtracks were released on the “Motion Picture” label.
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Compositions
- Woh, Don't You Know (with Danny Kortchmar and James Taylor ) - One Man Dog (J. Taylor)
Web links
- Interview with Lee Sklar in Guitar & Bass , August 20, 2015
- Works by Leland Sklar in the catalog of the German National Library
- Leland Sklar in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Lee Sklar in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ allmusic.com - Credits
- ↑ Interview Berklee College of Music. Retrieved May 25, 2020 .
- ↑ Bernd Gürtler: "Sometimes a single note creates pure magic" , Deutschlandfunk, September 21, 2013
- ↑ Official Toto News
- ^ Jon Liebman: For Bassplayers Only - Interview with Lee Sklar 2010. Retrieved April 25, 2016
- ↑ Joe Bosso 2012-05-10T16: 17: 00 13Z Bass: Interview: bass legend Leland Sklar on sessions, gear and getting hired. Retrieved August 18, 2019 .
- ↑ Interview with Leland Sklar in Guitar & Bass , issue 07/2015
| personal data | |
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| SURNAME | Sure, Leland |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Sklar, Leland Bruce (full name); Sure, Lee |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American bass player, singer and composer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 28, 1947 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Milwaukee , Wisconsin , USA |