Speedy Sparks, a bassist who performed with Lone Star State music icons together with Doug Sahm, Joe King Carrasco and the Texas Tornados, has died at age 79, in response to associates and associates.
Although he primarily labored out of Austin, Sparks first made his mark in San Antonio, recording with new-wave wild man Carrasco on the West Aspect’s Zaz Studios. That recording, ultimately launched as Carrasco’s album Tex-Mex Rock & Roll, pulled collectively among the metropolis’s best gamers, together with the West Aspect Horns, and have become a shock UK hit.
Sparks later joined a reformed Sir Douglas Quintet for the Border Wave LP, produced by San Antonio native Cassell Webb and Ramones producer Craig Leon.
From there, Sparks grew to become Sahm’s go-to bassist and in 1989 joined the Texas Tornados when Sahm fashioned that supergroup with a Mount Rushmore of South Texas musicians, together with Augie Meyers, Flaco Jimenez and Freddy Fender
Following the Tornados’ explosive success, Sparks stayed on the Austin scene, performing a number of gigs weekly with native acts and cementing his rep as of town’s most quietly achieved musicians. His credit additionally together with working with Velvet Underground founder Sterling Morrison, a Texas transplant.
“Understated, grooveful, foundational — elevating,” Jeff Smith of San Antonio’s Saustex Information wrote in a Fb tribute to Sparks. “Speedy knew the right way to pay attention and the right way to lay it down within the mode of Jimmy Reed type blues — deceptively melodic and shaded with nuance. If somebody had been to ask me to level to anybody I feel/thought was an ideal bass participant, Speedy could be on the high of my checklist. He intuitively knew precisely what and the way a lot to play regardless of the type of the tune.”
Subscribe to SA Present newsletters.
Comply with us: Apple Information | Google Information | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Fb | Twitter | Or join our RSS Feed
Associated Tales
The alt-rockers’ Saturday present at Boeing Middle featured each deep cuts and crowd-pleasing singles.
This text seems in Oct. 2-15.
