Leland Sklar – A True Bass Legend
Leland is one of the most recorded and successful bass players of the pop and rock era. He’s a session musician of the highest order with a CV that includes gigs and recordings with the likes of James Taylor, Carole King, Phil Collins, Jackson Browne, Barbra Streisand, Toto and hundreds more.
He’s also played on the soundtracks of many films and TV shows over the last 50 years, so even if you aren’t familiar with his name I 100% guarantee you’ve heard his playing many, many times.
We talk about Leland’s incredible career, his basses, his approach to studio work and much more.
Lee also has a new and very successful Youtube channel he set up at the start of the Covid pandemic and I’d highly recommend watching his daily shows in which he plays along to many of his great recordings and provides awesome stories and anecdotes from his gigs and sessions over the years.
What book did you write about Frank Zappa?
It was a thesis I wrote for my degree. Started out as a regular dissertation and ended up as a 250 page book. Never tried for publishing though. Wrote it in the mid 90s. I could improve on it A LOT since then.