Did Don Wilson play bass in any Ventures' recordings?

[ZacJM]

I've found several photos in a song book I have of him playing a bass and this one I found online:


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He's holding a bass in the photo, and when I get back from Austin this weekend I can scan in the other photos I have of him playing one, but I started to wonder if he ever played bass live or on any of their recordings?

Does anyone have any info on this?

[Veenture]

Good question Zac.

A lot of instrument swapping took place during the various stages of Ventures line-ups and many a guest- and/or studio musician has played and recorded for the Ventures as well -availability being the deciding factor most likely, but if Don ever did play anything else apart from rhythm guitar, doing some vocals, hand claps and his famous “tiki-tiki” sounds, it would not have been Bass, I think.

Don Wilson did play lead on some of the Ventures’ tunes though. I have read of Don’s lead-involvement with some ‘early’ tunes such as “Rebel Rouser”, “Forty Miles Of Bad Road”, “Ghost Riders In The Sky” including the subsequent re-recordings right up- and into the 21st. Century, ha.

That is a very nice photo not seen before by me and it probably dates from 1960/1961 with drummer Howie Johnson in the Ventures line-up having succeeded previous drummers Skip Moore and the 15-year old (!) George Babbitt.
I think Don and Nokie simply swapped instruments for the photo only, probably owing to the awkward size of the bass in the pose for this particular shot and could very well be one of the reasons for it not having been found published more widely.

I’ve been a Ventures fan for close to 50 years now but that doesn’t say I know everything…just my thoughts on the question. There’ll be someone who knows more and perhaps he/she may chime in later.

Looking forward to see some more photo’s!

Paul

[rog43win]

Paul, I totally agree with you on your comment.....you took the words right out of my mouth, lol....nice photo though, and one I hadn't seen either.....would love to see the others.

[ZacJM]

Here are the photos:



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They were taken from "The Ventures Pipeline 25 Surfin' Hits for Solo Guitar" songbook.

[Veenture]

Here are the photos: [photos] They were taken from "The Ventures Pipeline 25 Surfin' Hits for Solo Guitar" songbook.

That's nice Zac, thanks for posting them. They seem to be pics coming from the same publicity-shoot session; the boys appear to be wearing the same attire...

Or........ maybe the guys were trying out possible new roles during a rare interim line-up!!!!

Nokie on lead (or rhythm), Bob on lead (or rhythm) and Don indeed on bass. Notice he is wearing a thumb-plectrum, obviously for bass playing and also the equipment in the first pic -of the complete band- seems to be live; the guitars may be plugged into the amps; you can see the guitar leads coming from the instruments After the try-out Nokie was alloted lead and Bob agreed to play bass in future, leaving Don to revert back to side guitar at which he was/is best...

Or my imagination is just running away with me...

[rog43win]

it's a curious thing, isn't it? Picture #4 says 1959, the year before "Walk Don't Run" came out...
Also, before they were known as the Ventures, Bob and Don were calling themselves "The Versatones".....but the book doesn't mention Don playing the bass....although the thumbpick in the photo makes you wonder....
I could send Bob Spalding a message on Facebook and see if he knows....

[ZacJM]

Heres an interview with Don Wilson that happened recently but he never mentions the bass:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/5860804
but he does note that when they started he played much more lead than Bob did.

Maybe when he and Bob were still starting out they tried alot of different instrument combos which would explain him having a bass.

[Dennisthe Menace]

Very nice ZacJM