Former San Diego bass great Nathan East has performed on more albums than almost any other bassist in the past 30 years. His recording partners have included Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, George Harrison, Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, Whitney Houston, Wayne Shorter, Stevie Wonder, Barbra Streisand, Joe Satriani, Kenny Loggins and literally hundreds more. This summer, he was featured on several songs on Daft Punk’s album “Random Access memories,’ including “Get Lucky,” one of the biggest records of the year and a likely contender for multiple Grammy nominations later this week.
A graduate of Crawford High School and UC San Diego, East recently completed his long-overdue debut solo album. Entitled “Nathan East,” it’s due out March 25 and will be the second release on the new record label Yamaha Entertainment Group, an offshoot of musical instrument manufacturing giant Yamaha. East has long endorsed Yamaha, which produces and markets a Nathan East Signature Series model.
Guest artists on “Nathan East” include Sarah Bareilles, Michael McDonald and two of East’s partners in the pop-jazz band Fourplay, keyboardist Bob James and guitarist Chuck Loeb. It also features the recording debut of East’s 13-year-old son, Noah, who has perfect pitch and plays piano on his acclaimed father’s version of The Beatles’ “Yesterday.” The album was co-produced by East and Yamaha Entertainment founder Chris Gero, a longtime fan of the bassist’s.
“I’ve been talking about doing a solo record for so many years,” said East, a longtime Los Angeles resident who still has family members in San Diego. “Yamaha started a record label and want me to pull 30 years of my life together and tell a (musical) story. They asked me to do a (diverse) Quincy Jones-style record, with friends and people I’ve played with over the years.”
The album mixes original compositions by East, such as the Fourplay staple “101 Eastbound,” which he co-wrote with his brother, Marcel, and new interpretations of classics by artists as varied as Wonder and Pat Metheny. East hopes to get Clapton, in whose band he performed for more than a decade, to guest on a version of “Can’t Find My Way Home,” the Blind Faith gem that East sang lead vocals on during his tenure with Clapton’s band.
East and Clapton recently recorded a tribute to Valley Center singer-songwriter J.J. Cale, who died here July 25 after suffering a heart attack. East was featured on the Grammy Award-winning 2006 Clapton/Cale album, “The Road to Escondido.” In addition, East and Babyface teamed up to record a new version of the 1980 Christopher Cross hit “Ride Like the Wind” for the soundtrack for the upcoming movie, “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.”
