*For more than 50 years, bass player Rustee Allen has been “all funked up,” playing and recording with some of the most legendary singers and bands in the world of rock, soul, R&B, fusion, and gospel music. Artists who have utilized the services of Rustee and his bass guitar include but are not limited to, “Sly and The Family Stone,” Bobby Womack, “Johnny Talbot and De Thangs,” George Clinton, “The Temptations,” Robin Trower, Lenny White, “The Edwin Hawkins Singers,” “E40 & Too Short,” and more.
As a solo artist, Rustee recently released the funky-soul-laden single “Gonna Take More,” featuring the vocal styling of rising R&B songbird Dee Dee Simon, the Oakland, California native with a phenomenal five-octave vocal range.
“The single ‘Gonna Take More’ is a soul-charged alchemy of Neo-Soul and Funk,” said Rustee. “The song is mixed with modern R&B and Hip-Hop while Dee Dee soars with her Chaka Khan-inspired vocals.”
Rustee said the single will appear on his upcoming remixed album “Simple Rules.” The original album was released in 2018 on the bass player’s label Rustee Nailz. Among the other compositions on the remixed album will include the singles “Going Home” and “Re-Rocking of a Rock Star, featuring George Clinton.”
While Dee Dee’s sultry voice is front and center on “Gonna Take More,” Rustee’s bass guitar lays the soulful and funky foundation, punctuated by his slappin’ rhythmic style of playing, which takes listeners on a magic carpet ride.
Taking audiences and music lovers on magic carpet rides is nothing new for Rustee. The incredible career ride, for the most part, began when he played and recorded with the iconic “Sly and The Family Stone” from 1972 to 1975. Yes, Rustee replaced the storied bass player Larry Graham, the trailblazer of the “pop and slap” style of bass playing. While Graham left in part to start the funk-soul band “Graham Central Station,” before departing, he recommended Rustee to Sly Stone as a replacement. At the time, Rustee was 21 years old. Nevertheless, Rustee held down the bottom of ”Sly and The Family Stone’s funky style of pulsating music during live performances and in the studio. Rustee’s bass playing can be heard on the Family Stone’s albums “Fresh,” “Small Talk,” and “High on You.”
“I was blessed to be a part of that whole vanguard of pop and slap style of playing bass,” said Rustee. “Larry was the pioneer, and I was right on his coat tail of doing it, but he was at the vanguard.”
Rustee added, “James Jamerson, the bass player on hundreds of Motown Records, also influenced my style on bass,” he said. “But I was able to incorporate the best of James and Larry -plus add my own style – to fulfill my role with ‘Sly and The Family Stone’ – and it worked!”
When “Sly and The Family Stone” began slowing down its studio production of albums – recording just two studio albums after 1976 – Rustee kept on plucking. He took his bass-playing acumen to Robin Trower, the British-born hard blues-rock guitarist. Rustee eventually performed and recorded with a litany of music stars. Yet, he also led his own band called “Second Wind.”
However, performing and playing with “Sly and the Family Stone” for three-plus years have produced top-shelf and unforgettable experiences forever etched in Rustee’s mind. Rustee said the last time he played with “Sly and the Family Stone” was at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards in 2006 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
And the last time that Rustee actually saw Sly Stone, according to the bass player, was at a music convention held at the Fox Theatre in Oakland. “Sly and the Family Stone” was on a question-and-answer panel. Rustee was on another panel featuring “Little Sister,” an offshoot singing group that often backed the “Family Stone.”
“That was the last time I saw Sly, and I almost missed him because he was about to leave and go to the airport,” Rustee recalled. “I was looking for him and asking people where he was. When someone told me that Sly had just left, I ran outside as he was getting into a limo. I opened the door, jumped in, and I was able to hug him. I would have been all messed up if I didn’t get the chance to at least say hello to Sly.”
Rustee also has lasting memories of playing with Bobby Womack.
“One of the greatest music people I ever met in my life was Bobby Womack,” said Rustee. “I had a really good feeling performing with him. A few times when I played with Bobby, he would almost bring tears to my eyes because his songs always had so much meaning. His music was a beautiful thing.”
For Rustee, the beat goes on as he continues to perform, record, write, and arrange while based in Metro Stockton, California, about 75 miles from Oakland, where he was raised. One of the bands he plays with is a Prince tribute group called “The Purple Ones.” And, while he is working on releasing the remix of “Simple Rules” in the near future, Rustee is taking on new challenges, one of which is playing the upright bass. Rustee attends San Joaquin Delta College, where he studies music and exclusively plays the upright acoustic bass as a member of the Stockton Symphony at Delta.
While Rustee says he loves playing the electric bass, which he has done in R&B, funk, and soul groups since the early 1970s, he has dedicated himself to learning and playing classical music on the upright for the last three years, which has been challenging.
“I love a challenge,” Rustee said. “Somebody told me that I should try learning to play the upright bass a few years ago – and I did. I really enjoy playing it. I use the bow a lot with the upright because there’s very little pizzicato, which means opportunities to pluck the strings.”
However, whether playing the upright in classical music settings or the electric bass guitar at R&B, funk, and rock gigs, Rustee said he will always rise to the occasion.
“I feel that a great bass player should be able to adapt to any situation,” he said. “I want to have enough respect among my peers to do that on the electric and upright bass. For me, I want to leave a legacy of excellence in what I’ve done – and will do – musically. That will be a blessing!”
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