Tal Wilkenfeld: Music, Guitar, Bass, Jeff Beck, Prince, and Leonard Cohen | Lex Fridman Podcast #408

Tal Wilkenfeld on performing with Jeff Beck and Prince, grieving Leonard Cohen, and why imperfection is the soul of music.

• At the 2007 Crossroads Festival, Jeff Beck gave Wilkenfeld the bass solo on his signature song ‘Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers’ — no bassist had soloed on it before.
• Wilkenfeld auditioned for Beck’s band immediately after being hospitalized overnight with food poisoning; Beck answered the door and said ‘you ready to play?’
• Prince recruited Wilkenfeld for the album Welcome to America, recorded entirely to tape with no punch-ins, often nailing arrangements on take one.
• When Leonard Cohen and Prince both died in 2016, Wilkenfeld coped by moving into The Comedy Store and spending months with comedians — she credits this with fundamentally changing her relationship to grief.
• Mike D of Beastie Boys gifted Wilkenfeld a vintage Olympic White Jazz Bass after Jeff Beck died; she named it Jeff and played it on the Incubus tour.
• Leonard Cohen’s songwriting advice: read a new song repeatedly across different emotional states — drunk, after a fight, a week later — so it can mean multiple things to multiple readers.
• Wilkenfeld argues 80% of the time take one holds the most musical gold; over-editing strips the imperfections that make recordings human.
• Anthony Jackson’s mentor Steve Gadd told him: ‘on your worst day you’re still a bad motherfucker’ — Wilkenfeld absorbed this and no longer lets performance critique damage her sense of self.

Guests: Tal Wilkenfeld — bassist, guitarist, singer-songwriter known for work with Jeff Beck, Prince, Eric Clapton, Incubus, and others. · 2024-01-09 · Watch on YouTube