Boz Burrell was such a dexterous sounding bass player

[Ivan May]

A lover of jazz and blues, Boz Burrell was born as Raymond Burrell on August 1 1946. His first recording was a cover of I Shall Be Released by Bob Dylan, a cover which also featured some of the members of Deep Purple.

He joined King Crimson in 1971, replacing the late Greg Lake on the Islands album. He also played on their 1972 live album Earthbound, which also featured Boz performing scat vocals on some tracks. He left later that year, to be replaced by John Wetton.

in 1973 Boz joined Bad Company alongside Mott guitarist Mick Ralph’s, and Free members Simon Kirk and Paul Rodgers. Their self titled debut was released in 1974, cracking the Billboard 200 and including the title cut and Can’t Get Enough, their highest charting entry on the Hot 100. (It peaked at #5.)

The group toured incessantly, and put out their sophomore disc, Straight Shooter, in 1975. It reached #3 on the 200 and included the hits Feel Like  Makin Love, Good Lovin Gone Bad and Shooting Star.

Boz continued to perform with Bad Company until 2000, but he sadly died of a heart attack in 2006.

 

His style of bass playing 

Boz usually played with his fingers, rather than using a pick (which many bassists were known to do), usually using his index finger. His basses included an Ampeg fretless bass which included a Fender Precision pickup, as well as a humbucking Fender Jazz Bass, a CBS maple neck fretless natural Fender Precision Bass, a fretted 1976 Music Man Stingray bass with maple neck, and a black fretless Music Man Stingray bass.

 

 

If anyone else appreciates Boz Burrell then feel free to chime in.