Jamerson & upright bass

rodl2005 · #1 11-05-2011, 03:45 PM

Anyone tell me which recordings J.Jamerson used upright on at Motown? I think 'My Guy'-Mary Wells was one.....
I know it's probly lots of the early releases, but I'm mainly wondering about the bigger hits????

etoncrow · #2 11-05-2011, 04:00 PM

see this link (the songs marked with a "U" means he played upright):

James Jamerson's Greatest Bass Hits

rodl2005 · #3 11-05-2011, 09:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by etoncrow

see this link (the songs marked with a "U" means he played upright):

James Jamerson's Greatest Bass Hits

Thanks heaps. We're doing a motown show on NYE & am thinking about taking my upright- looks as much as sound

rodl2005 · #4 11-05-2011, 09:32 PM

Great list! What a player!
I can't see -'Baby Love'-Supremes on the list???
Did he not play on that? I thought - 1. It sounds like his playing
& 2. I thought it sounded like upright bass.
Anyone enlighten me.......please?

etoncrow · #5 11-06-2011, 05:19 AM

There is debate regarding some of the songs. Caol Kaye claims to have played on many but: "The songwriting-production team of Holland-Dozier-Holland attested to the fact that James Jamerson played on almost every one of their productions, and they never allowed others to produce songs that they had written. Brian Holland signed a notarized affidavit categorically stating that "Bernadette", "Reach Out", "Can't Help Myself", "Keep Me Hanging On", "Standing in the Shadows of Love", "Reflections", "Baby Love", "Back In My Arms Again", "Come See About Me", and "Can't Hurry Love", (all tunes claimed by Carol) were in fact, played by James Jamerson. Most damning was his statement that he had never even heard of Carol Kaye." Quote taken from this link: http://www.bassland.net/jamerson.html

rodl2005 · #6 11-06-2011, 05:45 AM

Yes, have heard that. & to think, I learned from ' Electric Bass 1' by Carol too ;p way back......
Strange ain't it. ALL those songs you list above,all seem SO 'Jamerson' styled, as compared to the stuff that Carol played, also great, but SO different.
Very Strange!
Thanks for the info.
If anyone else knows if Baby Love was originally recorded on an upright bass, please chime in.
I'll probly try it anyway

mckendrick · #7 11-06-2011, 06:08 AM

I always felt Carole Kaye and James Jamerson weren't that far apart in their early careers, stylistically speaking.

Also, I can't imagine any politico-sociopathic reason why Carole would claim to have played on those tunes if she hadn't done so.

As their respective careers progressed I feel Carole developed into by far the more versatile player whereas James stuck to the Motown trick - but what a trick!

Either way: two absolute electric bass icons.

rodl2005 · #8 11-06-2011, 06:13 AM

+1. Both great!

etoncrow · #9 11-06-2011, 06:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mckendrick

Also, I can't imagine any politico-sociopathic reason why Carole would claim to have played on those tunes if she hadn't done so.

There are several threads discussing this controversy and a good bit of information regarding it in the link I posted. I do not have a dog in this hunt; just posting information for the OP.

Dave Hosking · #10 11-06-2011, 06:25 AM

The resonance heard on this instrumental track would seem to indicate that James Jamerson is playing a double bass:

Baby Love -The Funk Brothers (Supremes) - Instrumental - YouTube

rodl2005 · #11 11-06-2011, 05:24 PM

That's what I thought & hear. Sounds like Jamerson playing an upright to me.
Thanks for the link, I'll play it to our keys player-see if he's 'got it'

But then again, I didn't guess that a few of the others on the linked list above were done on upright.
I know I can make my Precision sound upright like, so it's as much for looks as tone/feel.
Will be fun to play them on the dbl bass tho.
I know all about the C.Kaye issue etc, I've been here on TB since '05 & seen all the chat. I think 1/2 of it's hyped up.... I ain't really interested.
Both great players & I 'think' I can tell who's playing on most of the Motown recordings I'm interested in.
I'm just really looking fwd to playing a few 3hr gigs of all Motown stuff!
We're using our reg. 8 piece (funk/soul) band, which has 2 female voc's & 2 male - & adding percussion, 2 extra horns (xtra sax & trombone) added to our usual sax & trumpet, & another girl voc.
So 3 girls out front, & bass/voc, gtr, drums, percussion/voc, Sax/voc, sax,trumpet,trombone,keys. 12 pce!
We've done it similar before, just not ALL Motown & with 10 piece (no percussion or extra singer).
Can't wait.
Precision with labella tapewounds thru my Mesa Walkabout sounds great in this show too!

SoCal1 · #12 11-06-2011, 06:32 PM

Jamerson did play upright on some of the earlier Motown tracks, although I don't know if he played upright on any Supremes stuff.

As for Ms Kaye...most of her claims have been proven to be blatently false. I don't know if it's insanity (as has been suggested here), dimentia, bravado, or just a case of mistaken identity. She is a fine musician, but this whole taking credit for Jamersons work has had me scratching my head since this entire controversey has ensued.

rodl2005 · #13 11-06-2011, 08:24 PM

The link above shows which ones he played upright on.
Yeah, I'm a bit perplexed re the claims etc too