He might be one of the most highly-regarded bass guitar players in the world, but Pino Palladino says that it came as something of a shock to him to be asked to play on Adele’s 2011 album, 21, the record that turned her into a global superstar.
By this point, Palladino had already worked with some of the biggest stars in the world - Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Elton John and The Who, to name just a few - but when he picked up the phone one day and discovered that a world-famous producer was on the end of the line, it still came as a surprise.
“The voice said, ‘It’s Rick Rubin’ - I didn’t know him at all, so I was quite chuffed to get the call,” Palladino tells The Independent. “He was a fan of my work, and he was doing an album with a young British artist”.
That artist, it turned out, was one Adele Adkins, and it transpired that she and Palladino - born in Cardiff to a Welsh mother and an Italian father - had a loose family connection.
“So I met her, and her dad was from down the road from me in Penarth!” he says. “She’s a good laugh, Adele… [And] as she sang, I remember just thinking, wow.”
Palladino ended up playing on four of 21’s 11 tracks - Don't You Remember, He Won't Go, One and Only and Lovesong - all of which were produced by Rubin. Adele isn’t the only young British pop star that Palladino has recorded with, either: that’s his frisky bassline you hear on Harry Styles’ 2020 single, Watermelon Sugar.
“He was in the room and was very encouraging and enthusiastic regarding my contribution to the songs,” Palladino says of his time with the former One Direction star.
Perhaps the best representation of Palladino’s talent, though, is his work with reclusive soul icon D’Angelo, which enables him to truly embrace his funky side. He played on both 2000’s Voodoo and 2014’s Black Messiah, two of the greatest albums of their respective decades.
“Even though D’Angelo had a totally different upbringing and is from a different era to me, we are so close in so many ways, especially when we play together, just triggering naturally off each other,” says the bass player.
Pino Palladino plays tonight (14 October) at the Cardiff Music City Festival as part of a trio with drummer Chris Dave and guitarist Issiah Sharkey.
