These are various examples of my playing that includes various styles of music and (most of) my complete bass collection.  I hope you enjoy them.

NOTE: all music is copyright by the authors. These are the links to the MP3 versions. Go here for the higher quality, slightly smaller Windows WMA Versions.

These first two songs are from a self produced Cassette tape I recorded in the early ‘90s.  I played all of the parts and sang all of the vocals.  Aren’t I wonderful?

I wrote Cancion. Sara Elizabeth Campbell wrote Waltz for You.

1) Cancion                               Length: 3mn 19s             4-String Fretless Bass
2) Waltz For You                     Length: 2mn 56s               “           “              “

 I met Vince Bell in the early ‘90s at a Heidi Barton Xmas party and I engineered and recorded a bunch of  tracks with him when he was getting his new career going (after years of physical re-hab from a bad brain injury sustained when he was hit by a drunk driver).  You can check out Vince’s amazing story at his web site: www.vincebell.com

3) Last Dance                          Length: 4mn 6s              4-String Fretless Bass and 2nd Guitar
4) Goodnight Lullaby                Length: 1mn 20s             4-String Fretless Bass and 2nd Guitar
5) Sun and Moon and Stars      Length: 4mn 1s              4-String Fretless Bass and 2nd Guitar

John Carrick is an immensely charismatic performer from Texas who I met when Tom Paxton and my friend David Maloney played a gig in Marin.  John and I hooked up and I played lead guitar (and Bass in these studio cuts I produced) with him when I did his California tours in the mid-90’s.  He now owns Sand Mountain Music in Houston, TX.

6) Rose Tattoo                        Length: 4mn 10s            4-String Fretless Bass and 2nd Guitar
7) Close to the Heart                Length: 4mn 28s            4-String Fretless Bass and 2nd Guitar

John Dupuy’s songs just knocked me out when he asked me to produce and engineer a demo for his group.  I liked them so much, I joined the group on Bass.  We recorded one album together and then the group broke up thanks to the keyboard player from hell!  John runs wilderness journeys in Moab, UT.

8) A Life                                  Length: 3mn 26s            4-String Fretless Bass
9) The Falling                          Length: 5mn 28s            Clevinger Electric Upright Bass

I engineered, produced and played on my friend Kenny Cahn’s first album.  I played on subsequent recordings including this really fun session at Fantasy Records in Berkeley.  It was a two day, 22 hour grind with some really great musicians.  Much fun!

10) Girl It's You                       Length: 3mn 35s             4-String Fretted Bass
11) Answer to the Question      Length: 3mn 51s             4-String Fretted Bass

I recorded these songs for Christie McCarthy in the late ‘90s.  I had so much fun playing bass with her that I could barely contain myself!  She’s a great songwriter and singer and my performances on these songs show how much fun I was having.

12) Burn the Ships                    Length: 4mn 57s            6-String Fretless Bass
13) Back Roads                       Length: 5mn 27s             Clevinger Electric Upright Bass

Chuck Steed is one of the most talented people I know.  He is an amazing producer, singer, song-writer.  We spent two years recording an album’s worth of material in my home studio in the late ‘90s.  Every time we started a new song, he came up with such brilliant ideas for arrangements and even bass ideas that I just sat back and marveled.  Of course, his dad is a big-time Dixieland bassist and his brother is one of the top Jazz bassists on the west coast so he knew something about how the instrument should sound!

14) Love Me As I Am               Length: 4mn 38s            6-String Fretless Bass (Drop-C tuning!)
15) Wildcat                            Length: 3mn 18s            6-String Fretless Bass

This is a sample of the last band I played with – the Jim Passard Experiment.  Don’t tell Jim that I told you but the experiment part is mainly due to the fact that we seldom play the same song the same way twice.  It definitely kept us on our toes and fended off any tendency towards boredom.

16) Unchain My Heart              Length: 4mn 2s             7-String Fretted Bass

I’m finishing this demo off with another song from my self-produced tape.  I developed this song with 3 bass parts and electric guitar just ‘cause I love bass so much.  It’s my attempt at J.S. Bach on Downers.

17)   Sweet for Bass               Length: 2mn 51s            4-String Fretless Bass (3x)
                                                                                Electric Guitar and keyboards

I have also played in recent years with Joe Louis Walker (Bass), David Maloney (bass and guitar), Tom Dundee (guitar), Dave Lippman (bass and guitar), Zack Cahn and many others.  I have sat in over the years with folks as diverse as Sukay (Andean Pan-pipes), John Sebastian (I was playing lead guitar and he was playing harmonica, I gave him the lead), Pete Seeger, Dorothy Morrison (of “Oh, Happy Day” fame), It’s a Beautiful Day (in the ‘60s), Tom Paine, Banjo Jim Losee and many, many others

All bass work and recording production on all songs by Chet Gardiner

For bookings call me at (510) 407-0776 or email chetdude-at-chetgardiner.com

Email Chet