Artist: Carol Kaye

Carol Kay is an American musician. She is one of the most prolific recorded guitarist and bass guitarists  in jazz, rock and pop music, having played on an estimated 10,000 recordings in a career spanning over 65 years. 

Kaye performed regularly on the Los Angeles jazz and big band circuit. She started session work in 1957, and through a connection at Gold Star Studios began working for producers Phil Spector and Brian Wilson. After a bassist failed to turn up to a session in 1963, she switched to that instrument, quickly making a name for herself as one of the most in-demand session players of the 1960s, playing on numerous hits. She moved into playing on film soundtracks in the late 1960s, particularly for Quincy Jones and Lalo Schifrin, and began to release a series of tutoring books such as How To Play The Electric Bass.

During the peak of her years of session work, she became part of a stable of Los Angeles-based musicians which went by a variety of informal names but has since become known as "The Wrecking Crew". Her work with the collective led to her prominent role in the 2008 documentary film, The Wrecking Crew. 

By 1969, Kaye was exhausted and had become disillusioned from doing session work, saying that the music had "started to sound like cardboard". At the same time, many newer rock bands disapproved of using session players, preferring to play the instruments themselves. She decided to make a change, so her career evolved from playing primarily pop music to performing mostly soundtrack work, as well as writing and teaching. She wrote How To Play The Electric Bass, the first in a series of tutoring books and instructional video courses.