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Pino Palladino has served as the final, lanky puzzle piece for innumerable songs over the past four decades.
Even the bassist himself is unsure of the exact tally.
Its definitely in the high hundreds, maybe thousands.
Thats what we all hope for as musicians, to have some sort of individual sound.
Palladino, who hails from Wales, doesnt have a defined way of working in the studio.
It featured a little bass solo from me on it.
It was rare for pop songs to have bass solos, and it surely doesnt happen anymore.
He heard this song and thought, Oh my God, whos playing the bass on this?
He told Don, and Don apparently made a bunch of calls to identify who I was.
Id love you to come and play on a song for me.
I thought it was a joke and almost deleted the message.
I really couldnt believe I would get a personal call from Don Henley.
So I had to go into a music store in New York and buy a new fretless bass.
I remember Don asking me on the phone, Youve got that fretless bass, right?
I kind of lied.
I went, Yeah, sure.
I still have it.
So that led to me flying over to Los Angeles.
He played Sunset Grill, and it was made for me.
They left a lot of space for the bass.
Don was involved in every note choice.
We used different bits from different performances and put them all on one track.
It was quite rare for British musicians to cross over the water.
Its not like America doesnt have enough amazing musicians.
He asked me to play on his albumAbout Face.
There was a song he and Pete Townshend had collaborated on.
It was called White City Fighting.
So I turned up in the studio.
Id never met Pete, and obviously hes one of my heroes.
Its got Davids guitar through a sort of an echo unit.
Pete wasnt sure what to do with it, and he asked me what I thought about it.
That song turned out to be Give Blood.
I opened up the bass and we cracked it together.
I remember it being a watershed moment for me.
I left it all out there.
That was a very important session for me because thats wheremy connection withPete began.
Sometimes theres not much talk between us.
Thats our musical communication.
Its like a switch with musicians.
You connect through the music and you are always connected after that.
It only takes one song.
We spent the good part of a day constructing the bass lines.
I knew what I wanted to play, and the fretless bass became a big part of Pauls sound.
Paul asked me, Do you want to hear the original from Hall & Oates?
I said, Well, no.
King, Aint Nobody Home (1997)
I was lucky enough to doDeuces Wildwith B.B.
King with some sessions in London.
We hit it off, and B.B.
said, Ive also got some sessions in New York next week.
Could you come and play bass on those too?
This is as legendary as you could get.
ThenDAngelo turned up with Questlove and we decided to cut this song called Aint Nobody Home.
That was another watershed moment for me because thats when my connection with DAngelo kicked off.
The track was grooving.
DAngelo sang and played piano on it, so it became a duet with B.B.
always made it feel like he was playing on your record.
I had to keep telling myself,No, its okay.
Just relax.His whole vibe was very chilled: Whatever you want to do, Ill just join you guys.
was a conduit for my future relationship with DAngelo.
He brought us together, and that led to many years of incredible music.
I need you on it.
I was like, Okay, great.
When do you want to do it?
And he said, Things are a little tight on the financial side.
And I said, Okay, Im going to fly myself in on my own dime.
Dont worry about it.
It was amazing and done within one or two takes.
I identified with it straightaway when we first met.
Its that approach of the bass hanging back on the field along with some of the other instruments.
Theres a tension created in the groove that became a thing whenVoodoocame out.
De La Soul, All Good?
(2000)
One night I was in the studio with DAngelo.
Questlove was with us, and he got a phone call from De La Soul.
They were interested in getting me to play on one of their songs.
I heard Questlove on the phone: Yeah, Pinos here now.
I said, When?
And he went, Right now.
I said, Yeah, sounds good, man.
I rushed over to the studio, and I played on the song, which is called All Good?
and features Chaka Khan.
That was a great track.
I was such a fan of hip-hop and being in the studio with De La Soul was fantastic.
I did a couple of takes, and it felt good.
Thats a really grooving song.
I love that shit.
Whereas with rock music or pop music, you might approach the bass in very different ways.
This was through Steve Jordan he had recommended me.
My first impression of John was I felt he was a really great young guitar player.
I wasnt that aware of his first few albums.
My wife said to me at one point, Have you heard of this new guy, John Mayer?
He sounds really good.
Im sure youre going to work with him.
She just had a feeling, which was strange.
We realized something was happening.
Steve and I thought about it and said, Sure, lets try it.
While we were rehearsing for the Trio tour, we didnt have any songs until we got into rehearsals.
We started collaborating on some writing.
Vultures was one of the songs that came out of that rehearsal.
A month or so later, we went into the studio to cut the album with John.
The groove Steve played really drove that song.
This moment led me to work with him for many years.
Its quite a historical place.
I was rehearsing there with John Mayer for a tour around 2017.
I met Harry Styles in that studio.
John introduced me to him.
While we were rehearsing, Harry would sometimes come and have a listen.
Hes a big fan of Johns.
Harry and his producer played it for me in the studio and the bass line was only partly constructed.
We had a lot of fun cutting that song.
Harry was very encouraging and gave me freedom to express myself through the line that was already there.
Its amazing to know how many people have heard that song.
You could be walking into a shop and its playing.
Its a great feeling.
