Carl Dean Radle (June 18, 1942 – May 30, 1980) was an American bassist who toured and recorded with many of the most influential recording artists of the late 1960s and 1970s. He was posthumously inducted to the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in 2006.

Biography

Radle was best known for his long association with Eric Clapton, starting in 1969 with Delaney and Bonnie and Friends and continuing in 1970 with

Derek and the Dominos Derek and the Dominos was an English–American blues rock band formed in the spring of 1970 by guitarist and singer Eric Clapton, keyboardist and singer Bobby Whitlock, bassist Carl Radle and drummer Jim Gordon. All four members had previou ...

, recording with drummer Jim Gordon, guitarist

Duane Allman Howard Duane Allman (November 20, 1946 – October 29, 1971) was an American rock guitarist, session musician, and the founder and original leader of the The Allman Brothers Band, Allman Brothers Band, for which he was inducted into the Roc ...

, and keyboardist

Bobby Whitlock Robert Stanley Whitlock (born March 18, 1948) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. He is best known as a member of the blues-rock band Derek and the Dominos, with Eric Clapton, in 1970–71. Whitlock's musical career began with Me ...

. In 1970, Radle joined

Joe Cocker John Robert "Joe" Cocker (20 May 1944 – 22 December 2014) was an English singer known for his gritty, bluesy voice and dynamic stage performances that featured expressive body movements. Most of his best known singles were recordings of son ...

's Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour. He worked on all of Clapton's solo projects from 1970 until 1979 and was a member of Clapton's touring band, Eric Clapton & His Band, from 1974 to 1979. Radle was instrumental in facilitating Clapton's return to recording and touring in 1974. During Clapton's three-year hiatus, Radle furnished him with a supply of tapes of musicians with whom he had been working. Dick Sims and

Jamie Oldaker James Oldaker (September 5, 1951 – July 16, 2020) was an American rock music, blues rock and country music drummer and percussionist. Biography James Oldaker was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. One of the first bands that he was a member of wa ...

were the core of Clapton's band during the 1970s. Radle served as more than a sideman, acting also as arranger on several songs, notably "Motherless Children". Radle earned credit as an associate producer of Clapton's album '' No Reason to Cry''. Carl also was a member of the psychedelic cult band from Dot records ‘Colours’ to which he was on the first and guest appeared on the second album Radle was a

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

for many of the most famous

blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre that combines elements of blues and rock music. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums, sometimes w ...

and

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...

artists in the 1970s, including

Rita Coolidge Rita Coolidge (born May 1, 1945) is an American recording artist. During the 1970s and 1980s, her songs were on '' Billboard'' magazine's pop, country, adult contemporary, and jazz charts, and she won two Grammy Awards with fellow musician and th ...

and

Kris Kristofferson Kristoffer Kristofferson (born June 22, 1936) is a retired American singer, songwriter and actor. Among his songwriting credits are "Me and Bobby McGee", " For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and " Help Me Make It Through the Ni ...

. He appeared in the film '' The Concert for Bangladesh''; recordings from that concert were released as an album in 1972. Over the two-year period before the release of the album '' The Concert for Bangladesh'', Radle recorded albums with

Dave Mason David Thomas Mason (born 10 May 1946) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist from Worcester, who first found fame with the rock band Traffic. Over the course of his career, Mason has played and recorded with many notable pop and rock m ...

, J.J. Cale, George Harrison,

Leon Russell Leon Russell (born Claude Russell Bridges; April 2, 1942 – November 13, 2016) was an American musician and songwriter who was involved with numerous bestselling records during his 60-year career that spanned multiple genres, including rock and ...

, and

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, among others. He was the bass player in Gary Lewis & the Playboys when they appeared on the ''Mike Douglas Show'' and the ''Ed Sullivan Show''. He can be seen in

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, incl ...

's 1978 film '' The Last Waltz'', which documented the final concert of The Band, held in 1976. Over the course of his career, Radle played on a number of

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

and

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

singles and albums and garnered the respect of many musicians. His bass lines were often simple and repetitive, but always with the purpose of supporting the song. Radle was born in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

, and died at his home in Claremore in May 1980, from the effects of alcohol and narcotics; he was 37.

Discography

With Derek and the Dominos

* 1970 '' Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs'' * 1973 '' In Concert'' * 1990 '' The Layla Sessions: 20th Anniversary Edition'' * 1994 ''

Live at the Fillmore ''Live at the Fillmore'' and similar names may refer to any of the following live albums, recorded at any of the concert venues known as "the Fillmore". Fillmore venues * The Fillmore in San Francisco * The Fillmore West in San Francisco * The ...

With Eric Clapton

* 1970 '' Eric Clapton'' * 1974 '' 461 Ocean Boulevard'' * 1975 ''

E. C. Was Here ''E. C. Was Here'' is a 1975 album by Eric Clapton. It was recorded live in 1974 and 1975 at the Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, New York, Long Beach Arena, the Hammersmith Odeon, and the Providence Civic Center by Record Plant Remote during Clapton ...

'' * 1975 '' There's One in Every Crowd'' * 1976 '' No Reason to Cry'' * 1977 '' Slowhand'' * 1978 '' Backless''

References

External links

MP3.com entry on RadleA Lesson in Carl Radle's StyleCarl Radle Bass Lines
{{DEFAULTSORT:Radle, Carl 1942 births 1980 deaths Musicians from Tulsa, Oklahoma Blues musicians from Oklahoma American rock bass guitarists Derek and the Dominos members Delaney & Bonnie & Friends members Alcohol-related deaths in Oklahoma Drug-related deaths in Oklahoma American session musicians 20th-century American bass guitarists Guitarists from Oklahoma American male bass guitarists 20th-century American male musicians