About one hour into the fascinating, just-released documentary Nathan East: For The Record, there is a quick scene of the bassist sitting on a sofa, quietly perusing his old calendar books from the mid-nineties. “I love keeping these around,” he says as he scans his life-at-a-glance in the little black journals. “It’s like a time capsule and I can go back and see what I was doing.” The entire scene lasts no more than forty seconds, but it is a moment in the film that seems to perfectly capture Nathan’s life and career. As the camera gently pans across and zooms in on the open pages, we see his clean meticulous handwriting, his attention to detail. The names of music stars and legends scatter across the calendar days that are filled with sessions to make and gigs to play, reading almost like a pop music history book. The man is in demand by the very best in the business. But an even closer look also reveals his self-reminders about those who aren’t the stars, written with as much care. Mom’s operation @ Sharp Memorial, right knee is inked in on the 4^th, just above Herbie Hancock at Pyramid Studio on the 11^th and Natalie Cole and George Duke at Ocean Way on the 18^th. He has Mom and Dad’s anniversary on the 28th, the same day as a 9-hour Phil Collins big-band rehearsal in France, one box down from a session for the Escape From LA soundtrack. A flip of the page, more of the same. Sting, Elton, James Taylor, Don Henley. Aunt Doris and Uncle James. Birthday reminders about friends and relatives.

Perhaps one of the most telling things about this scene is that Nathan East has many people in his life, they are all important to him, and somehow he makes time for all of them. After watching the wonderfully crafted 80-minute documentary, one gets the sense that he is so well-grounded, so rooted in family, and so able to connect to others that he probably could have succeeded at anything he attempted in life. Of course, we are all the better for it that Nathan chose the bass as his calling. He has not only become one of the most recorded bassists of all time with more than 2000 record credits, but more importantly, he has graced every one of those records with his soul and spirit.

For The Record traces Nathan’s journey from his early days growing up in San Diego, picking up his first big gig at age 16 with Barry White, arriving on the bustling 80’s LA studio scene, landing even bigger gigs playing for presidents, popes and Beatles, and the creation of his jazz quartet Fourplay. The film is not your standard start-here-and-end-there music doc, but rather two separate timelines simultaneously, perfectly edited by Spencer Glover and aided by a well-thought out storyline by Sara Bachler. It seamlessly cuts back and forth between the making of Nathan East the solo album, and the making of Nathan East, the life. Throughout the whole affair, there are numerous heartfelt testimonials from many of the greats he has worked with, and they are more than happy to offer their feelings about Nathan or tell a story from their shared past. They have all shown up here to support him and his musical legacy, because he has spent his last 35 years showing up for them and supporting theirs.

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