Terry Trabandt, bass player for the landmark local rock/soul band The Rationals, died late last month in Fort Myers, Fla. He was 61.

Trabandt's bass anchored the garage-rock sound of the Rationals, an important Ann Arbor band that had a number of regional hits and has lately received its due from a retrospective anthology.

The Rationals, led by frontman Scott Morgan, are best remembered for their cover version of Otis Redding's "Respect," a major Michigan (and minor national) hit that was released a year before Aretha Franklin's definitive take.

Terry Trabandt's Rationals biography, which can be found on the band's website, calls him "the most outgoing and friendly Rational" and says, "His bass playing is considered to be the best in the Midwest, and is copied constantly." A good history of the Rationals, including Trabandt's initial entry into the band as a guitarist, is available on Scott Morgan's website.

Morgan has also written a heartfelt tribute to Trabandt, which reads in part: "I think Terry played bass better than guitar. His bass lines were always inventive. I always thought every bass player copied James Jamerson but Terry said he got his ideas from the British groups." Morgan also noted, "He was a great musician, my friend, and I'm gonna miss him."

According to Morgan's remembrance, after The Rationals broke up, Trabandt continued in music, working in several different bands (including some with Morgan) and living in Los Angeles, Germany and New York before settling in Fort Myers.