Tune your record player back to the big hits of the 1960s and 70s. From Ray Charles to Glen Campbell to The Beach Boys – they all owe a debt to one woman and her bass. Carol Kaye was the studio musician every producer wanted on bass when it came to recording albums, TV show theme songs, even movie scores. I mean really she is everywhere in the sound of those decades. Carol Kaye is sometimes called The First Lady of Bass, but she never referred to herself as a “woman bass player. “Men don’t say, ‘I’m a man bass player,’” she says. “You either play or you don’t.” But she was a trailblazer and she’s inspired generations of bass players.