Just read this news on Steve's Facebook page. Been a fan for like 25 years. I am extra upset because I was planning on going to that show last night, but had to cancel. posted by donkeymon at 3:45 AM on May 13, 2012 [1 favorite]
So many great tracks to remember him by, but if I had to pick one, I'd have to go with this one in which Stax's two biggest songwriters just whack one out as a single, aided by Ike's old band-mates from studio house band, the Mar-Keys.
While not as famous as his other stuff, this performance with him, Steve Cropper and Joe Walsh absolutely destroying Funk 49 is one of my fondest memories of the guy.
He played in Neil Young's touring band in the early 2000s, and also when Young performed with Booker T and the MGs in the early 90s. I saw him play with Neil Young in what must have been early 2000. The local weekly paper ran an ad for that show that I clipped out and hung onto for a while. Everyone in the band was named in the ad, and even though I knew very little about him, I always remembered Dunn's name because of his unique monicker.
Please keep in mind that it has always been thus - good men drop like flies. The only thing changing is your growing awareness of the larger world: as you age you know more and more of these men. posted by Meatbomb at 6:04 AM on May 13, 2012 [10 favorites]
Wow, what sad news. I could always pick him out behind the bass in countless great R&B performance videos. He was seemingly everywhere in the Stax and Atlantic years. RIP. posted by rocket88 at 6:08 AM on May 13, 2012
When I was a kid and used to watch "The Blues Brothers" with my dad I didn't know anything about music, but I vividly recall how the bass lines on many of the songs jumped-out at me. I think that you've done a pretty good job if you can get through to 10-year-old me.
Damn. Not sure what to put here - the man had a profound effect on my life, without me ever hardly even thinking about it. He didn't have the flash of Jamerson, but the man could dig a groove a mile deep. posted by Devils Rancher at 7:10 AM on May 13, 2012
I saw Dunn play when the MG's backed Neil Young in 1993. We had great seats, thanks to a friend's dad being an exec at Coca-Cola and the concert being held at the Coca-Cola Starplex in Dallas. I recall someone (a friend or maybe a drunk fellow concertgoer) pointing out that the bass player had been in the Blues Brothers, an astonishingly cool fact for my 16 year old brain. Green Onions was the only BT & the MG's song we knew and, against our hopes, they didn't play it. posted by item at 8:25 AM on May 13, 2012 [1 favorite]
very nicely put together Obit post. cheers for that, but boo to the the passing of such a fine fellow as Dunn. posted by edgeways at 8:32 AM on May 13, 2012
My Google News feed is carrying the headline (via Entertainment Weekly):
"Legendary MGs bassist Donald 'Duck' Dunn dies in Tokyo at age 700" posted by item at 8:32 AM on May 13, 2012 [6 favorites]
No disrespect to James Jamerson and the Funk Brothers, but Duck Dunn was the greatest bass player of the soul era and Booker T. And The MGs were the greatest four-piece ever assembled. Whwn AL Jackson, Steve Cropper, Booker T. Jones and Dunn got together, it was something beyond magical. It was primal. Devil's Rancher was right when he said they didn't have the flashiness of the Motown group, but they didn't need it. Every note was in exactly the right place, and there was nothing extraneous or fancy about it. It was the Platonic ideal of soul. posted by vibrotronica at 8:34 AM on May 13, 2012 [6 favorites]
My first exposure was The Blues Brothers around age 8, and I liked him because we shared the same surname. And when I started playing bass at 16, I listened to a lot of motown era music, and he was probably on half of it. Time to pull out some old tracks, and find a goat. posted by hanoixan at 8:53 AM on May 13, 2012 [1 favorite]
I know you're anxious, Jake, and you may be on a mission from God, but I'm in no hurry to see the band get back together this way. posted by entropicamericana at 10:21 AM on May 13, 2012 [6 favorites]
The Blues Brothers arrived at just the right time in my life to make me a bass player. Although I tend to think of Jamerson and Danko and McCartney as the players I listen to from that era, Duck is rooted pretty deep in my musical education. The man was a master at propelling a song with a beatiful economy of notes. Another good one down. posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:12 AM on May 13, 2012
I think it would be hard to overstate the impact that The Blues Brothers had on me as a kid. I mean, it completely shifted my musical paradigm, and Duck was no small part of that. posted by Roman Graves at 11:37 AM on May 13, 2012
Memphis-born bassman Donald "Duck" Dunn has died while on tour (along with fellow legend and bandmate Steve Cropper) in Tokyo
Might want to redo that sentence. Worriedly checked to see if there had been a car crash that took them both. posted by Ironmouth at 11:42 AM on May 13, 2012 [1 favorite]
So sad. He helped make bass what it is now. King in the session, master on-stage. So much he did, but so few will ever know the name. posted by graftole at 5:50 PM on May 13, 2012
Add me to the guestbook. As a young bass player, Dunn and Jamerson were my Alpha and Omega of groove.
And for those of you who always wanted to know, "MGs" : Memphis Group. posted by grimjeer at 6:41 PM on May 13, 2012
Have always been a Stax girl. Motown was too manicured-for-white-people for me - Stax felt more organic. One of the things I love about the MGs was that they basically integrated soul. We have this awesome DVD of the Stax/Volt Revue (purchased at the Stax Museum, natch) recorded in Norway in 1966 (I think) and in the special features Cropper talks about how he and Duck would be 16 years old, sneaking across the river to the black side of town to go to the clubs to listen to music. The Green Onions clip in the OP is from that DVD, which is required viewing for any soul fan.
Incidentally, I read he hadn't played on the recorded version of Green Onions that became famous. At the time he wasn't an MG — he'd already had a hit in 1961, Last Night, with his first band, the Mar-Keys.
Saw Booker T play a few years ago and he was still amazing. Always hoped to see Cropper and Duck play. :( posted by Brittanie at 7:50 PM on May 13, 2012 [1 favorite]
And for those of you who always wanted to know, "MGs" : Memphis Group.
Hmm, one of the other band members who just sat in with Letterman's (i.e., Paul Schafer's) band last week said it was because there was an MG car sitting out front the first time they played. posted by pmurray63 at 5:19 AM on May 14, 2012
I spent quite a bit of time trying to copy his bass line from "Soul Man" and never did manage it. RIP, Mr. Dunn. posted by Gelatin at 9:29 AM on May 14, 2012
One of the true great soul musicians.
posted by MartinWisse at 3:19 AM on May 13, 2012 [1 favorite]