Does anyone know what bass/strings/amp setup, etc. Paul Jackson used on the 70s Herbie Hancock recordings? I was listening to Mr. Hands (1980 release) and was really digging Paul's sound on that album (well 4 of the 6 songs anyway, other two songs were Ron Carter and Jaco). Sounds like a P Bass w/ flats, but I am guessing.

Thanks.

i think i read an article with him years ago where he said he used half wound strings. by then, he was also using that tele bass with hi-a pickups in it. paul's only on shiftless shuffle though. maybe your diggin' the p basses played by byron miller and freddie washington?

I know he played a 70's P-bass with a maple fingerboard on the Headhunters album. CLASSIC funk tone. The maple neck seems to give a "spank" to the sound. Also I know he uses D'addario XL rounds now - not that helpful I know - but I'd love to know what strings he was on then too.

That was a standard P-base. Later in the 90´s he recorded with Mike Clark - The funk stops here. On the cover you can see a bit of his bass. On his last Funk album (which in my opinion sucks) you can see many details on the cover. There has been a lot of customizing been done.

Best albums: Flood /Hancock and V.S.O.P (2cd set, 2 funk tracks worth buying it!)

I use a Fender 75 Jazz reissue USA with a mesa boogie walkabout and had the honour to play with one of Jaco´s former drummers. We played some kind of Headhunters grooves and in combination with Fender standard strings and a Mesa Boogie Walkabout amp it sounded pretty much like what you´re looking for.

Once I had Tim Lefebvres base in my hand, a 77 P bass with the same kind of feel and sound as the 75 J reissue. There is definitive a difference to the standard Jazz in feel and sound.

I think about doing some myspace stuff. I´ll let you know as soon as it´s on. Fortunately I recorded the sessions :hyper:

Do you know Fela Kuti with Ginger baker live - also a nice P sound.

There is also a headhunters album featuring Jaco - live. Still - I would go for Paul Jackson.

And the new Headhunters stuff with T.M. Stevens :spit::rollno:
I told Mike Clark that he should buy T.M. a P bass. He was playing Cort and Warwick :hiding:
That sounded crap!!

May the funk be with you:hyper:

i think i read an article with him years ago where he said he used half wound strings. by then, he was also using that tele bass with hi-a pickups in it. paul's only on shiftless shuffle though. maybe your diggin' the p basses played by byron miller and freddie washington?


I didn't know that that BM and FW were on that albumn. Thanks for the info. At any rate, whomever is on the 4 tracks I speak of sounds great. Great 70s bass tones.

Great 70s bass tones.

Great bass tones, period! ;)

The most important thing in getting that Paul Jackson sound is to have a whole lot of funk in your fingers!

I'd really like to hear the Headhunters live album with Jaco on it, I remember reading about that!

Jackson's a big man. Look at how tiny that bass is in his hands. ANd he's been my favorite player since 1972 or thereabouts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFcpBB4Yy_M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXuQ9OJw4l4

Jackson's sound comes in part from his close working association with Clark; they played together before Hancock found them, in East Bay funk groups.

To whit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPGRiSmjf-w

I'd really like to hear the Headhunters live album with Jaco on it, I remember reading about that!

youre not missing anything. as much of a genius jaco was, he didnt have anywhere near the amount of funk paul jackson has and those tunes suffer quite a bit.

by then, he was also using that tele bass with hi-a pickups in it.

This is something I've read in several interviews (though I can't find a link ATM). He says he used the P-bass live and in photo shoots, but it was really the Tele with two Hi-A pickups that he used in the studio for recording.

youre not missing anything. as much of a genius jaco was, he didnt have anywhere near the amount of funk paul jackson has and those tunes suffer quite a bit.

Jaco was amazing. But he wasn't very funky and didn't really swing either. If anything I think he had great feel for latin music. I can't think of any funk bands or straightahead bands that want somebody who plays like Jaco.

W

Hi guys,

finally I made a myspace page. I once had the chance to play with the former Jaco drummer Tommy Borocz (1986) during a session in september. It took me a drink (or two) to get on stage (I´m an amateur) but when he was playing I had to take a go for it. We did some kind of Old school funk.:hyper:

Please listen to it and leave comments!

http://www.myspace.com/timboech

It´s the Tim & Tommy Funk groove and the Funky Sax tune. 75 reissue Jazz USA with Mesa Boogie Walkabout amp.

I played with a lot of drummers but the way he listens and reacts to the actual playing was a lot of fun. The guitarist is also great. I wished for more soloing but you know how singers are. They sometimes don´t stop!

What do we learn - Paul Jackson sounds better with... Mike Clark :)

Jaco was amazing. But he wasn't very funky and didn't really swing either. If anything I think he had great feel for latin music. I can't think of any funk bands or straightahead bands that want somebody who plays like Jaco.

W

Man, you need to listen to the right Jaco recordings. One of the most swinging and funkiest players ever. Different than Paul Jackson, both super great.
Hancock's 4 A.M., Jaco + Mike Clarke, one of the most amazing tracks ever. Try to play a groove like that, never one bar the same but always always in the groove. Listen to the 1st bar of Herbie's solo, that pickup (or absence of) is unbeatable.

As in another post, where it is on here I can't quite remember....I saw The Headhunters with Return To Forever opening,(!) at Carnegie Hall, circa the first HH album. The show was pretty amazing. Paul Jackson had a mocha brown Fender P-bass with a maple neck. NOT a tele bass. I'm a total gearhead, and that's the bass he seemed to favor during the era. He was playin' through a Fender Bassman amp, pretty lightweight next to the Acoustic 370 Stanley used in the prior set. I love his playing, especially on the Thrust album, which might be inmho the funkiest album ever made!

This thread is kind of funny - in that Paul Jackson has played several different basses - I remember seeing him play a Neuser - but he always sounds like him and nobody else!!

I think his career shows how the player is more important than the gear! :)

This thread is kind of funny - in that Paul Jackson has played several different basses - I remember seeing him play a Neuser - but he always sounds like him and nobody else!!

I think his career shows how the player is more important than the gear! :)

well we are talking sound not style right? you can hear the difference in tone between the headhunters album and secrets just a few years later. secrets and the headuhunters album, survival of the fittest, have the spongier sound. kind of similar to the basses hes using now with musicman pickups.

It just sounds like him to me...:p

If you look at Paul in the 70´s with his P bass there was the right sound/feeling. Now on his last records I don´t like his sound that much. The P fits his playing style best.

There is a Hancock Japan live recording featuring Marcus Miller. Playing Headhunter tunes. Very different...very good :smug:

But if you listen to the last Headhunters live double Cd... T.M. Stevens just don´t have the right sound. His time is tight, his ideas are good but it´s way to metallic. Mike complained in Vienna that T.M. is way to loud - and they have played many gigs before... In the US. they play with George Porter now. I´d like to see him. Great bass player.

On one Gov´t Mule CD/DVD they have a bunch of bass players - Paul Jackson and George Porter too! :bassist:

Donald Duck Dunn has that typical P bass sound. Sweet home chicago is a classic tune. Check out Blues Brothers live in Montreux - great rhythm section stuff!

:cool:

When I seen them then. (3 times)
Paul used the Tele-bass once. (This bass was highly modified)
And the brown P-bass with a maple neck.

Man, you need to listen to the right Jaco recordings. One of the most swinging and funkiest players ever. Different than Paul Jackson, both super great.
Hancock's 4 A.M., Jaco + Mike Clarke, one of the most amazing tracks ever. Try to play a groove like that, never one bar the same but always always in the groove. Listen to the 1st bar of Herbie's solo, that pickup (or absence of) is unbeatable.

regardless of recording, jaco was always pushing the beat and playing notes all over the place. now, imo, its not the busyness that made it not very funky because rocco and p.j. were playing pretty busy too, but it was less notes.

i like chester thompson's description of jaco

Thompson described it to World Of Genesis webmaster David Negrin: "Jaco was very much wanting to be in the band. So, he was pretty much being the ‘Yes Man’ to whatever they said (laughs). The [Black Market] rehearsals were a bit strange, because the songs that I had just recorded with Alphonso (Johnson) playing bass were 180 degrees different with Jaco (playing bass). Alphonso had this wonderful sense of space when he played, and Jaco was just all notes. It just didn’t work. I suppose, I certainly could have made the adjustment, musically, but to be honest, I really didn't care to."

My Jaco´s favourite record is the Live in New York Vol.2. Anyone has an idea which bass that was - a friend of mine, Kris Jefferson told me that he often played a fretted in those days.

I tried a Precision Neck Maple on a Jazz Body. Mhhhh. Nice!

There´s also a cd called Jaco-the early recordings. More funk stuff - yeah!

Hi Duranjoe, nice playing - nice vibe ;-) Like your sound.

My Jaco´s favourite record is the Live in New York Vol.2.

This is widely considred to be Jaco at his worst - when his mental health was deteriorating and his drug problems escalating...:(

This is widely considred to be Jaco at his worst - when his mental health was deteriorating and his drug problems escalating...:(

just cued this up in itunes and its actually pretty good:eek: who'da thunk it.

Hi Duranjoe, nice playing - nice vibe ;-) Like your sound.

thanks:D

Could you guys take the Jaco conversation in another thread?

Glad to see a Paul Jackson thread!
Check out the nine segment video stream from BP TV:
http://www.bassplayer.tv/?req=1&station=jackson

Could you guys take the Jaco conversation in another thread?

But it is not possible to understand the "Paul Jackson Sound" without first understanding the innovations that Jaco broguht to the table. Without Jaco's contributions to funk, tjhere is no Paul Jackson in my opinion. He is the father of the modern electric bass after all. Spend some time transcribing tunes like "Havona" and "The Chicken," Grasshopper, and then you will understand where Jackson is coming from. Herbie's Headhunter band is very derivitive of Weather Report, he just got all the credit because he dumbed it down for the MTV generation by teaming up with Rick Rubin to produce "Rockit" and "Axel F."

But it is not possible to understand the "Paul Jackson Sound" without first understanding the innovations that Jaco broguht to the table. Without Jaco's contributions to funk, tjhere is no Paul Jackson in my opinion. He is the father of the modern electric bass after all. Spend some time transcribing tunes like "Havona" and "The Chicken," Grasshopper, and then you will understand where Jackson is coming from. Herbie's Headhunter band is very derivitive of Weather Report, he just got all the credit because he dumbed it down for the MTV generation by teaming up with Rick Rubin to produce "Rockit" and "Axel F."

im seriously hoping youre not serious:confused:

im seriously hoping youre not serious:confused:

+1 - that's just silly ...

Jaco certainly pulled off some real impressive stuff but I kinda think he's more the godfather of Eddie Van Octave Lower ... (OK - I really, liked his playing on the Joni Mitchell stuff. She wound him up, gave him room and he stomped the parts.) I really prefer the groovalicious PJ in the Head Hunters approach personally. and long as he already came up in the thread. all hail Alphonso!

Far as getting a good PJ Head Hunters type tone. I tend to think in terms of warm, but articulate. When I was building up a bass for that sound it translated to a P-Bass pickup with a slight overwind and alnico magnets for a little softer attack.

He is the father of the modern electric bass after all.

:eyebrow: I would think that James Jamerson would get quite a few votes for that title. Am I wrong?

Back to Paul Jackson. Here is a track from his solo project Black Octopus......

Funk Times Three (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggN-V01ygU0)

And, here's one from the Mike Clark & Paul Jackson collaboration The Funk Stops Here. I couldn't find this on Youtube so......

Steady Freddy (http://www.zshare.net/audio/558377696c6316b9/)

youre not missing anything. as much of a genius jaco was, he didnt have anywhere near the amount of funk paul jackson has and those tunes suffer quite a bit.

Hmm I dunno, I love Jaco's feel and how he will "busy up" lines with that gorgeous sound of his. I find that so addictive! I'd still like to check out the records because I find Paul Jackson to be passable in the Headhunters, but I'd really have liked to have heard what a more lively bass player could have brought to the table than just straight up, on the beat funk like Paul does. Not that Paul does a bad job of it, but I love things like Weather Report and such because the bass shifts between support and harmony to passages of melody! Wonderful! :D

youre not missing anything. as much of a genius jaco was, he didnt have anywhere near the amount of funk paul jackson has and those tunes suffer quite a bit.

I agree, and I'm a huge Jaco fan! I thought that CD was just flat with no chemistry, and I thought the Herbie/Jaco chemistry on Jaco's debut was great. Paul Jackson's funk also predates Jaco's debut by a few years for those wondering about who influenced who.

Saw PJ live with Headhunters back in the day circa the first HH album, in a very small club here in Seattle (Pioneer Banque Restaurant's downstairs club) - sat just a few feet from him.

He was using the brown maple-neck P-bass and flatwound strings... and I believe he was using Bose speakers. Played his ass off!

The interplay between him and Clark was outright telepathic & definitely not of this earth!!

Had the chance to chat w. him outside the club 'twixt sets - a very nice guy.