Quicksand Fans

Yesterday, Donald "Duck" Dunn passed away in his sleep in Tokyo, Japan. The legendary bassist was 70 years old.

Many would know him from the "Blues Brothers" movies, but those in the music industry know his influence was felt across all genres of music. Starting off in Memphis at Stax records, he earned respect with Booker T and the MGs, he worked for many artists. Dunn's famous bass line from Otis Redding's "I Can't turn you loose" Sam and Dave's "Hold on, I'm coming" reverberated across music.

Rest in peace Duck, you left the music world a better place.

Dunn was one of those performers who was highly influential in the music world, but who never became a big star in his own right. It isn't until you look back at such a person's career that the typical music fan would recognize what the performers he worked with all knew: this guy was good, and he made others around him look good.

One wonders how much different music would sound without artists like Dunn. We would be poorer for it, that's for sure.

Big Bad John