Stevie Wonder`s bassist?

Nojja · #1 07-19-2006, 05:19 PM

Well, who is he?...
It just sounds really good, i doubt he has got many different over the years but man,the lines in "sir duke" "sign sealed..." " if you really love me" and so on, its so warm and snatchy sound.
anybody knows what the"guy" has as setup? (guess it is a fender jazz though)

BassChuck · #2 07-19-2006, 05:25 PM

There was a profile of him in a recent "Bass Player" mag.

cowsgomoo · #3 07-19-2006, 05:29 PM

probably Nathan Watts

James Jamerson played on Signed, Sealed, Delivered though (Fender P, in case it needed mentioning)

[edit: I was wrong, it wasn't Jamerson it was Bob Babbitt... let this be a lesson: never listen to me!!]

Nojja · #4 07-19-2006, 05:49 PM

James Jamerson was awesome

**j-raj** · #5 07-19-2006, 10:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cowsgomoo

(Fender P, in case it needed mentioning)

nice

trickstaaah · #6 07-19-2006, 11:00 PM

Nathan Watts played on "I Wish," "Sir Duke," and the rest of those great early '70s Stevie Wonder tracks. He used a mid-60s Jazz, I believe. If I recall correctly, "I Wish" was recorded at 2:00am -- Stevie got him out of bed! (Prince has been known to do the same thing.) Watts did the the upper fret "snarls" at the end of the song in an attempt to mimic some of Stevie's vocal quirks. *nargh!!*

I highly recommend the "Classic Albums" DVD about _Songs in the Key of Life_ -- great, great stuff about the playing, mastering, engineering, etc. of one of the Greatest Soul/R&B Albums of All Time.

floopy · #7 07-20-2006, 02:40 AM

Yeah Nathan Watts plays on most stuff from 74 or so onwards - the long version of 'Do I do' is well worth hearing too, though it's only on an old greatest hits vinyl album I think

Anyone know if it's on any other of his CDs?(the short version is more common).

Bob Babbitt plays on a couple of Stevie hits as well, and Willie Weeks does 'Misstra know it all' - one of my absolute favourite Stevie tunes

Stevie's keyboard bass lines are pretty hot too - 'Boogie on Reggae Woman' is waaay

Bruce Lindfield · #8 07-20-2006, 02:50 AM

There was a feature on Nathan Watts in Bass Player recently (and lots of threads around here if you do a search) what surprised me was that he said when playing with Stevie, he always tunes down a semi-tone - so his E string is tuned Eb, for example.

I tried this and some of those lines made a lot more sense - many make use of a low Eb!

JimK · #9 07-20-2006, 04:15 AM

In that interview, Watts also said he used a MM Stingray on "Do I Do".

Floopy-
You can pick up "Do I Do"(long version) on the cd version of Original Musicquariums.

Cowsgomoo-
Somewhere I've read that it was Babbitt on Wonder's hit, "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Your's".
It certainly has the "Jamerson-touch" albeit without JJ's variation on a groove throughout the verses/choruses.

fretless Bob · #10 07-20-2006, 04:23 AM

his playing on some of those songs is killer!

Dave

Bruce Lindfield · #11 07-20-2006, 04:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimK

In that interview, Watts also said he used a MM Stingray on "Do I Do".

That makes sense, as that particular line has a unique "overdriven" quality, that isn't apparent on his other classic lines!

But you can still hear it's the same player - as soon as you hear a bar of that line, it's recognisable as Nate!!

bassist15 · #12 07-20-2006, 09:51 AM

Nathan Watts used a P-bass. If you watch any of the older videos on youtube( "Higher Ground" , "Superstitious") he's using an older looking Pbass. Michael Henderson used to play live with Steve in the 60's and he used a Jazz , he later went on to play with Miles DAvis.

pauljacksonfan · #13 07-20-2006, 10:12 AM

Pretty sure that's Babbit on the whole Signed... album. Jamerson played most of the material preceeding it though like Uptight, For Once in my life and definetly If you really love me.

Nathan is waay awesome though. Check out Master Blaster. And it's amazing that he'd only played bass for like two years when landing the gig with Stevie.
And he's been the main bass player for Stevie ever since. But don't you ever forget that the greatest Stevie Wonder bassist ever is Stevie himself. He's got the funk. Boogie On..., Too High and my personal favorite Do Like You from Hotter Than July.

FunkyFrosty · #14 07-20-2006, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pauljacksonfan

But don't you ever forget that the greatest Stevie Wonder bassist ever is Stevie himself. He's got the funk. Boogie On..., Too High and my personal favorite Do Like You from Hotter Than July.

+1000 Stevies left hand is killer, and as you most correctly point out, that's where the majority of the funk came from. Not to take anything away from Watts, Babbitt or Jamerson, talk about a who's who of inspirational bass playing!!!!!! how could you not get a groove!!!!!

cowsgomoo · #15 07-20-2006, 03:37 PM

I stand corrected on Signed, Sealed, Delivered being Bob Babbitt (and will update my transcription site accordingly

)

in my defence, you can see how I'd assume it was Jamerson, with things like what Bob plays at bars 47-48 (1:43 on the recording)....

classic Jamerson!

JimK · #16 07-20-2006, 05:18 PM

Agree 100%.
The tie across the barline, the OPEN "D" on Bar 2's 'e of 3' leading to the Natural "B" on '& of 3', the Open "E" on Bar 2's '& of 4'.

IIRC, that figure is played again pretty much verbatim.
Jamerson woulda embellished it a bit on each pass, IMO.

Funkzfly · #17 07-21-2006, 06:09 AM

Nathan Watts has consistantly been one of my favourite Bass Players since I started playing. His stuff is unique as well, first time I heard 'Do I Do' (with the Bass doubling up the horns) I almost died...and those two bass solos are incredible too...

But Sir Duke is still probably my favourite Nathan Watts bassline, I'd have to say.

hands5 · #18 07-24-2006, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trickstaaah

Nathan Watts played on "I Wish," "Sir Duke," and the rest of those great early '70s Stevie Wonder tracks. He used a mid-60s Jazz, I believe. If I recall correctly, "I Wish" was recorded at 2:00am -- Stevie got him out of bed! (Prince has been known to do the same thing.) Watts did the the upper fret "snarls" at the end of the song in an attempt to mimic some of Stevie's vocal quirks. *nargh!!*

I highly recommend the "Classic Albums" DVD about _Songs in the Key of Life_ -- great, great stuff about the playing, mastering, engineering, etc. of one of the Greatest Soul/R&B Albums of All Time.

Best lp in the last 30 yrs IMO.

hands5 · #19 07-24-2006, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FunkyFrosty

+1000 Stevies left hand is killer, and as you most correctly point out, that's where the majority of the funk came from. Not to take anything away from Watts, Babbitt or Jamerson, talk about a who's who of inspirational bass playing!!!!!! how could you not get a groove!!!!!

,and he hardly ever will play the same thing twice

LarryR · #20 07-26-2006, 12:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cowsgomoo

I stand corrected on Signed, Sealed, Delivered being Bob Babbitt (and will update my transcription site accordingly

)

in my defence, you can see how I'd assume it was Jamerson, with things like what Bob plays at bars 47-48 (1:43 on the recording)....

classic Jamerson!

If only I could read!! I can, but, not well.

Are you guys hip to Jamerson on The Spinners "It's a Shame". What he does with the 2 bridges in the song is again, classic Jamerson.