It was 1972, and the turbulent ‘60s were giving way to the decadent '70s. Nixon was in the White House, and the Los Angeles home of Hugh Hefner's international Playboy Club – newly relocated from Sunset Boulevard to Century City and frequented by the likes of Johnny Carson – was a shining beacon of swinging bachelor-pad possibilities. 25 miles away, in suburban Monterey Park, a 16-year-old wunderkind was beginning to find his groove.
After starting on guitar at six and switching to bass guitar at nine, Larry Klein’s teacher, Herb Mickman, was schooling him on electric, upright, piano, and jazz harmony, and it was Mickman who suggested they go see the Bill Evans Trio – at the Playboy Club. “I wasn't even allowed to be there, but somehow he managed to spirit me into the place,” Klein told Bass Player . “You can imagine a 16-year-old kid seeing Bill Evans and Eddie Gomez at the Playboy Club, with Playboy Bunnies walking around.
I thought I had died and gone to heaven!” However, Klein's career hadn't even begun. His broad palette and ear for pop allowed him to move smoothly from a promising late-'70s stint as a top-flight jazz sideman to a career as a versatile session ninja with film-scoring skills, capable of creating bass sub-hooks on huge '80s hits, as well as a fresh, contemporary approach to Joni Mitchell's music after her celebrated string of albums featuring Jaco Pastorius. “Before me, guys like Max Bennett – and even earlier, Stephen Stills – had .
