I Don't Know What's On Your Mind (Jewel Case)

Description

The jazz funk era saw many musicians morph from sidemen to leaders - star acts in their own right. Harvey Mason, Herbie Hancock and Lonnie Liston Smith all achieved a level of fame after moving into the crossover arena from the world of jazz. Those behind Spider's Webb never got close to that level of success but their solitary album for Fantasy, "I Don't Know What's On Your Mind"�, provided the world with a classic floor-filler and six other numbers that showed the skill of all those involved. That the line-up on the record contained one of the most distinctive bass players in popular music was somewhat overlooked, especially as she hardly touched the instrument on this record but instead played lead guitar. Spider's Webb was founded by the husband and wife team of Carol Kaye and Kenneth Ronald Rice. Rice had acquired the Spider Webb tag when he was dancing the Hully Gully as a teenager, as he explained to John Abbey in Blues & Soul. "People thought I looked like a spider and so the name just kinda stuck. But I liked it; it's such a visual name"� and so he adopted it as his professional name too. Born in Detroit in 1944, Webb was playing drums from when he was in his teens. He played the local jazz clubs and the odd session in the Motor City before moving to New York in 1967 to take up a job offer from King Curtis to join his backing group the King-Pins. "I had met King [Curtis] a couple of years earlier when the group I was playing in played in New York. He saw the show and said that if I ever came back that way he'd give me a job."� He did two years with Curtis, before he joined Harry Belafonte's band in Vegas, and then moved to LA a couple of years after that to play in David Clayton Thomas' post Blood Sweat & Tears outfit The Sanctuary Band, followed by a further period in Vegas before returning to LA where he and Kaye put the group together. Carol Kaye's career was as one of the most successful session players of all. Born in Everett, Washington in 1935 she moved to LA when she was six. She saw the guitar as her escape from a life that she felt was dominated by her being not pretty enough for the Californian dream. Her break came when she was spotted by producer Otis Blackwell at Specialty Records who began to use her on dates, including early ones by Sam Cooke. She rapidly became an in-demand player, and by some accounts has played on over 10,000 tracks. In the 60s she was part of the team of LA session players nicknamed the Wrecking Crew, and made her reputation via her picked bass style that adorned many Beach Boys sessions, including those for "Pet Sounds"� and the abandoned "Smile"� album. If you listen to 'Sloop John B' from "Pet Sounds"� you are listening to the pinnacle of her playing. She is on hundreds of soul and jazz recordings, including many of Motown's West Coast sessions and David Axelrod's classic albums. Carol Kaye and Spider Webb had the idea for their own group about 18 months before the record was issued. It i