1984
Stanley Clarke
American Bandstand 
Anniversary Special

"don't tell them I like it...tell them I love it!"

I met Stanley at his gig with Chick Corea in Boston. I showed him my sons' baby bass and a carved bass. He gave me a his number...'stay in touch'. Next time we met I showed him a big neck bass, again...'stay in touch'. On our next meeting, my lady insisted that I bring my personal bass  (#9), I really didn't want to because, 1. my bass is really beat, it's hit the road almost as many times as I have and 2. my bass was the absolute in 'basic' 1 p-u, single cut-away, oil finish body & neck. As soon as I walked into his room, he walked over to my beat up bag, "what's in here?"  He played a few licks on it ..."this is the one, make me one like this". When I finished his bass he told me that he wanted this bass specifically to use in the studio, so "my tech's have to check it out before I buy it". A couple of weeks later he invited me to a performance at Avery Fisher Hall, I asked him if I could "tell people that he had bought one of my basses and liked it" Stanley smiled,   "Albey...don't tell them I like it...tell them I love it!"