MUSICIAN PROFILE

Each issue we profile a unique musician.

This time around it’s bassist Tracy Wormsworth. We look at her work with not only the Waitresses and the B-52s, but also with Toshi Reagon, Houston Person, Sting and Des’ree.

THE WAITRESSES Bruiseology

The itchy, busy-bee line underneath the title track is a great introduction to the skill of bass guitarist Tracy Wormworth. Her trusty Fender Precision has the prominent midrange tone so beloved in the post-punk era, helped by its position fairly high in the mix – although the drummer’s probably not too happy, having seemingly been put in a small box. There’s more groove on the Altered Images-esque Make The Weather, and toward the end of the track Tracy doubles the guitar line and subsequently throws in some wonderful turns and fills. A Girl’s Gotta Do showcases Wormworth as she flips between pumping root-note chorus work, major scale upward runs and absolutely locked-in phrasal doubling. There’s even a gospel-style middle eight before the track rolls on in its multi-sectional way.

THE B-52s Funplex

The reconstituted B-52s hadn’t put a proper album out for 16 years before they dropped this feelgood bomb, with bassist Tracy Wormworth appearing on four great songs. Since then, when available, she’s become one of the group’s regular bassists, as has Sara Lee. The B-52s’ arrangements often feature synth bass, so at times there’s not a great deal of room to play, but the accomplished Pump is as tight a performance as you’ll hear. As Wormworth’s career has progressed, she has moved to using Sadowsky basses on stage as they were lighter than her Japanese Jazz. She endorses Aguilar and generally plays through their DB751 750-watt head and Eden’s 4x10 cabs these days, and plays fingerstyle in the main, enabling both direct contact with the strings and intimate, controlled dynamics, as you can hear on Deviant Ingredient. On closer Keep this Party Going there's a prescient political line: "Take this party to the White House lawn/ Things are down and dirty in Washington!"

STING Covering Them

This bootleg was compiled by a dodgy Italian company during the former Policeman’s tours in 1988, 1990 and 1991 and features Tracy Wormsworth on eight of its 13 tracks. As the title suggests, it’s a bunch of cover versions that range from Mack The Knife to Purple Haze via Zappa ( The Idiot Bastard Son), Bill Withers ( Ain't No Sunshine) and Gershwin ( Someone To Watch Over Me). The playing is great, of course—Gordon Sumner obviously knows what a top-class bassist adds to a band—but as is often the case with unofficial releases, the quality of the package in general is fairly ropey. I prefer that the musicians we listen to have been paid for their work, so I'm taking the high moral ground on this one. I wouldn’t advise anybody to check out the extended version of Little Wing online, but if anyone did, they would find a track entirely divested of any of its original energy and excitement: An over-polished, over-rehearsed and overcooked horror of smugness.

HOUSTON PERSON The Opening Round

Tracy Wormworth joined the fantastic drummer Bernard Purdie, Hammond organist Joey DeFrancesco and guitar maestro Rodney Jones as Person’s backing band here, and they absolutely nail a set comprising several jazz standards plus two Jones originals. Person’s slinky tenor sax sits atop arrangements with plenty of space for Wormworth and crew to keep it moving; the walking bass of Sweet Sucker is as sweet as you like, both pushing the track along and seeming laid-back. The absolute jewel here, playingwise, is the bass lick employed on What’s Going On?, not least the gorgeous staccato notes at the end of the phrases. Be aware that the record is cheesy as hell at times ( When A Man Loves A Woman being the prime example) it is nonetheless a technically perfect masterclass of bass.

TOSHI REAGON Justice

Wormworth’s fusion leanings made her perfect for several tracks from the soul/ folk archivist and artist Reagon’s debut album. Walking In Your Footsteps (written by Sting) hands the bass player the task of providing a syncopated, funky repeated figure to allow plenty of room for the layered legato vocals, which Wormworth pulls off with aplomb.

The Afro-Caribbean feel of Nature Tells has Tracy muting the strings in the rhythmically-led verses, which has the effect of making the chorus sections feel even broader when she and the song cut loose. The title track itself is a reggae workout, with impeccably authentic fifths, sevenths and octaves on the off beat as the line weaves its way around the drums and vocals.

It’s probably the most politically-minded album that the she’s appeared on, and for that reason it’s one of the most interesting, both musically and lyrically.

DES'REE I Ain't Moving

Released in 1994, Des'ree's second studio album was a stand-out, and was responsible for the Top 5 smash hit You Gotta Be as well as for the best-selling singles I Ain't Movin', Little Child, Feel So High and Kissing You. Although I Ain't Moving originally appeared on Des'ree's debut album ("Mind Adventures") it was the version from this album that was released as a single. Despite the fact that Ashley Ingram (guitarist/bassist in Imagination) is listed as playing bass, many of the bass lines were actually played by Tracy Wormsworth, not least because Ingram was very busy producing the album, playing guitar, keyboards, arranging the strings, programming and adding backing vocals as well as co-writing almost half the tracks on the album. Allmusic's Tom Demalon gave "I Ain't Moving" 4 out of 5 stars. Other albums Wormsworth has contributed to include "Head Over Heels" (Paul Addul), "We'll Be Together" (Lena Horne), and "Diamond Dave" (David Lee Roth). Joe Shooman