Larry Graham

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Larry Graham, Jr. (born August 14, 1946 in Beaumont, Texas) is an American baritone singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as both the bass player in the popular and influential psychedelic soul/funk band Sly & the Family Stone, and as the founder and frontman of Graham Central Station. He is credited with the invention of the slapping technique, which radically expanded the tonal palette of the bass, although he himself refers to the technique as "Thumpin' and Pluckin'."

Biography

Graham played bass in the highly successful and influential funk band Sly & the Family Stone from 1967 to 1972. It is said that he pioneered the art of slap-pop playing on the electric bass, in part to provide percussive and rhythmic elements in addition to the notes of the bassline when his mother's band lacked a drummer (*see below); the slap of the thumb being used to emulate a bass drum and the pop of the index or middle finger as a snare drum. This style has become archetypical of modern funk. Slap-pop playing couples a percussive thumb-slapping technique of the lower strings with an aggressive finger-snap of the higher strings, often in rhythmic alternation. The slap and pop technique incorporates a large ratio of muted (or 'ghost' tones) to normal notes, which adds to the rhythmic effect.

This "Slap" bass style was later used by such artists as Les Claypool, Bootsy Collins, Louis Johnson, Mark King, Flea, Victor Wooten, Marcus Miller, Stanley Clarke, John Norwood Fisher, P-Nut, Danny McCormack, Matt Noveskey and Dirk Lance.

Upon the Family Stone's disintegration due to lead singer Sly Stone's drug addiction, Graham formed his own band, Graham Central Station. The name is a pun on Grand Central Station, the train station located in the Manhattan borough of New York City. Graham Central Station had several hits in the 1970s, including "Hair."

In the mid 1970s, Larry Graham worked with Betty Davis, the former second wife of jazz legend Miles Davis. Betty Davis' band included members of the Tower of Power horns and the Pointer Sisters, and she recorded three albums to critical acclaim but limited commercial success.

In 1975, Graham became one of Jehovah's Witnesses. In the early 1980s, Graham recorded five solo albums and had several solo hits. His biggest hit was "One in a Million, You", which reached number 9 on the Billboard chart in 1980.

He recorded another album in the late 1990s, with a new band using the Graham Central Station name. Two of the new members were former Family Stone bandmates Cynthia Robinson and Jerry Martini. He also toured with Prince as his bassist in 1997-2000, and features on the Prince dvd Rave un2 the year 2000.

In 2007 he was invited to play in Minneapolis with the reformed Sly & the Family Stone, but declined because he was out of town. He did, however, appear onstage in Minneapolis on July 8th, 2007 with Prince at First Avenue.

Actually, Larry himself says in a video that he invented this technique when he played with his mother. The bass pedals on the organ stopped working, and they didn't have the money to fix it, so he picked up a bass guitar and started playing around with it to fill in the bottom. The standard playing technique was uncomfortable and unnatural to him, so he came up with his own style of playing, and the rest is history. (updated 02/02/08)

In actuality, his thumping came as a necessity because he and his mother lost their drummer in their group. So to make up for not having the kick drum back beat and the percussion, Larry would thump and pluck the strings to give the sound some beat. This inevitably led to his distinctive sound that has been adapted by so many bassists the world over.

'''Discography

with Graham Central Station

Graham Central Station 1974, Warner Bros.
Release Yourself 1974, Warner Bros.
Ain't No 'Bout-A-Doubt It 1975, Warner Bros.
Mirror 1976, Warner Bros.
Now Do U Wanta Dance 1977, Warner Bros.
My Radio Sure Sounds Good to Me 1978, WEA
Star Walk 1979, Warner Bros.
The Best of Larry Graham and Graham Central Station, Vol. 1 1996, Warner Bros.
The Jam: The Larry Graham & Graham Central Station Anthology 2001, Rhino Greatest Hits 2003, Rhino Flashback

Solo Albums

All Warner Bros. releases.

1980: One in a Million You
1981: Just Be My Lady
1982: Sooner or Later
1983: Victory
1985: Fired UpNPG Records release:
1999: GCS2000

Singles

Year	Title	Album	US Hot 100	US R&B
1980	"One in a Million You"	One in a Million You	9	1
1980	"When We Get Married"	One in a Million You	76	9
1981	"Guess Who"	Just Be My Lady		69
1981	"Just Be My Lady"	Just Be My Lady	67	4
1982	"Sooner or Later"/ "Don't Stop When You're Hot"	Sooner or Later		27 16
1983	"I Never Forget Your Eyes"	Victory		34

External links

References

Bass Player Magazine, May 2007 by Jimmy Leslie p. 31

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Last updated on Monday March 03, 2008 at 18:56:19 PST (GMT -0800)
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