Annoyed with ignorance of J.P.Jones

Vysous · #1 05-22-2005, 12:28 PM

Hey, I am really sucked up with total ignorance of this hardest working man in Led Zepp, yeah, Jimi Page was best guitarist, Plant was great singer, Bonhem best rock drummer, and what about mentioning John Paul? His stunning and perfectly timed Fender Jazz, lyric keyboards, making Stairway to Heaven to be Stairway to Heaven.... his basspedals (do you know, he used them?), everebody knows he's from LZ, but nobody ever appriciated his musicmanship enough... Are you with me? Change this! John Paul was (sorry he IS) one of the most valuable bass players in history of rock music....
and sorry my English, I am not native speaker...

Grisanti · #2 05-22-2005, 12:30 PM

I agree

MysticMichael · #3 05-22-2005, 12:36 PM

He suffers from "bass player syndrome": It's mostly only other musicians - or at least musically sophisticated people - who realize how good a musician JPJ really is...

Fortunately, that's still quite a few people...

MM

Davehenning · #4 05-22-2005, 12:50 PM

he is a really great musician.

i saw him on a talk show a few years back and while being interviewed, the host asked him to play something, so he pulled out a mandolin and he was really, really good.

a highly underated musician.

Vysous · #5 05-22-2005, 12:59 PM

Btw. there is one interesting thing...
Most of us know Page&Plant album No Quarter, but do you know No Quarter is song from LZ written by J.P.Jones? I read the interview with J.P.J. and she said that he's really pissed off by Page's and Plant's behaviour, becouse they used name of JPJ's song on their album, without asking him.... They dont even let him know, that they are doing a new album with some LZ muzic on it...
I agree with JPJ, i would be pissed off too....

Joe Nerve · #6 05-22-2005, 01:02 PM

Actually, if you listen really closely, JPJ really kinda sucked. Some of the parts he wrote weren't in the right keys but people don't realize it, he wasn't very tight a good deal of the time... he overplayed. I could go on and on....

psych!

I feel sad for the state of art in R&R today. People simply don't play the way they used to. I heard Maggie May in a club I was playing last night, and was freaking out listening to how well constructed and artful the bass playing of the time was. I know that wasn't JPJ, just on my mind at the moment.

JPJ is one of my favorite bass players of all time.

KeithPas · #7 05-22-2005, 01:13 PM

You had me there for a second Joe.

Red Wonder · #8 05-22-2005, 01:42 PM

JPJ was truly an elite bassist who "suffers" from being in the shadow of other monsters in his own band. If Led Zep were a trio (meaning Plant would actually know how to play an instrument), you'd never stop hearing of JPJ's influence.

seanlava · #9 05-22-2005, 01:50 PM

i think his lack of acclaim also has to do with the recording technology of the time. His bass tone on record was fairly muddy, which, when played on the average radio, makes his bass playing an indistinct rumble. Since no one could really hear what he was doing, no one knew how great he was.

page · #10 05-22-2005, 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red Wonder

JPJ was truly an elite bassist who "suffers" from being in the shadow of other monsters in his own band. If Led Zep were a trio (meaning Plant would actually know how to play an instrument), you'd never stop hearing of JPJ's influence.

Plant does know how to play an instrument, he is an excellent harmonica player and he learned guitar after the LZ days .

JPJ was my first and foremost inspiration for playing music......as well was all of LZ.

A for the feuding between JPj and Plant, well...theres two sides of the story so its really not known who started what or who does what to the other. Ive heard rumors that Page fueled their hatred of each other because he didnt want them to get along. But thats just a rumor.

Any way, JPJ is an awesome player and multi instrumentalist.

Wil Davis · #11 05-22-2005, 02:46 PM

So many people think that JPJ and Jimmy Page started with Led Zeppelin, but it's worth checking out their CVs prior to Zep - they were both hard-working session-musicians with many gigs and credits under their belts when Robert Plant was trying to get his career under way with "Listen", "Band of Joy" and "Hobstweedle"

- Wil

zombywoof5050 · #12 05-22-2005, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vysous

Btw. there is one interesting thing...
Most of us know Page&Plant album No Quarter, but do you know No Quarter is song from LZ written by J.P.Jones? I read the interview with J.P.J. and she said that he's really pissed off by Page's and Plant's behaviour, becouse they used name of JPJ's song on their album, without asking him.... They dont even let him know, that they are doing a new album with some LZ muzic on it...
I agree with JPJ, i would be pissed off too....

Yeah, I always thought they should have called that project 'No Half'.

JimK · #13 05-22-2005, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wil Davis

So many people think that JPJ and Jimmy Page started with Led Zeppelin, but it's worth checking out their CVs prior to Zep - they were both hard-working session-musicians with many gigs and credits under their belts...

I have this Donavan "Greatest Hits" disc...Page, JPJ, & Alan Holdsworth are some of the sessioneers listed in the credits.

Way back when I used to read Circus magazine, Jimmy Page called JPJ the "musical genius behind LZ".

Reverend G-Money · #14 05-22-2005, 08:27 PM

as far as i'm concerned, his bass line in "what is and what should never be" should be learned by every bass-inspired instrumentalist everywhere. the transistions, the changes and the fact that he DOES NOT REPEAT HIMSELF is unreal. definitive JPJ, and probably a must for any aspiring writer.... but that's just me...

oldfclefer · #15 05-22-2005, 08:47 PM

I like JPJ in "Lemon Song." One of the worst kept secrets in music history. Is and will, undoubtedly, be considered among the greats of our time. In a band full of super egos, he has quietly proved himself to be wothy of his role in LZ as an uncommonly talented bassist as well as a fine multi-instrumentalist. Saw him in 1977. He usually played foot pedals when he played keyboards and pulled out his mandolin for "Battle of Evermore" during a short acoustic set they played. Incredible.

The Golden Boy · #16 05-22-2005, 08:58 PM

Face it, he's not the most visually flashy of the bunch.

Besides, his haircut from "The Song Remains The Same" is pretty... bad.

Seanlava, the bass sound from The Immigrant Song is some of the biggest bass sounds from around 1970.

MysticMichael · #17 05-22-2005, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seanlava

i think his lack of acclaim also has to do with the recording technology of the time. His bass tone on record was fairly muddy, which, when played on the average radio, makes his bass playing an indistinct rumble. Since no one could really hear what he was doing, no one knew how great he was.

Good point...

MM

burk48237 · #18 05-22-2005, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seanlava

i think his lack of acclaim also has to do with the recording technology of the time. His bass tone on record was fairly muddy, which, when played on the average radio, makes his bass playing an indistinct rumble. Since no one could really hear what he was doing, no one knew how great he was.

Ironically I grew up loving Zep but never appreciated JPJ, I had all the albums or Cassettes (ancient technology, I think they used these to record Mozart's originals). But when I started listening to Zep on CD, I started to realize they has a bass player. I think all the other guys we were into back then had a more trebly sound or were recorded with the bass more "up front" ie..Jammerson, Squire, Bruce

HiFi · #19 05-22-2005, 11:01 PM

JPJ is incredible. The guy definitely doesn't get his due, but I think that may be slowly changing over time, the same that it has for other greats.

bassguppy · #20 05-22-2005, 11:03 PM

In my youth (late 70's-early 80's) when starting to play bass JPJ & Geezer Butler were my two fav's that I was most influenced by. I remember listening to LZ II & feeling so awestruck that I had to cover those bass lines.

Bass players are always unknown, that's part of the persona. But it always seems like the "musicians" who are well known today are not the most wise choice to get your skills level & chops from.