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Is James Jamerson the best?

#61
Yeah, I never think in terms of best this or first that, but in terms of my own playing he's inside my head 75% (the other 25 being Duck Dunn, though some nights it's reversed) so that means something. He's simply the soundtrack in my mind when it's playing my head circa the '60s, and the bass is front and center even more than it was when the stuff entered it.
 
#64
The OP did mention that the title was a bit of a joke; his query was actually who was the most influential, he is not really asking who is the "best".

I haven't studied JJ's catalogue of playing, but I have been soaking it in by subconscious osmosis since I was a wee little one. I'm sure a lot of his style is his own creative process (and the aformentioned balls to forge ahead with a new instrument), and a lot of his musical elements apparantely came from his background in jazz, but i'll go out on a limb and say it was his "presence" and "soul" that really defined his playing. When I think of this man there is an emotive response in my mind & body-- the brother had the joy of funk!! I think it's because he loved it so much and felt it so deeply that he found his place in so many treasured songs & sessions.
 
#65
At rehersal today we did some "jamerson-like-stuff". improvising and having loads of fun, and even if I'm not worthy cleaning his boots it just gets to me in a remarkable way. I can play that stuff for hours! It's sort of a perfect mix between laying down the Groove and playing to the vocals, something I always strive for. (**** the guitards!)

He and John Paul Jones were my main two influences when I started playing, and even if many other bassists have appeared on the radar the past 30 years I still worship his playing just as much. JJ and JPJ rules!
 
#66
Without question the most influential electric bassist ever.

"Prominent bassists who have claimed Jamerson as a primary influence include James Brown's Bernard Odum, Anthony Jackson, Jack Bruce, John Entwistle, Bernard Edwards, Jaco Pastorius, John Patitucci, John Paul Jones, Robert DeLeo, Mike Watt, Billy Sheehan, Victor Wooten, and Paul McCartney."

Those are some big names. And those he influenced have since influenced thousands. And the bassists they've influenced have gone on to influence a new generation.

James Jamerson -> John Entwistle -> Geddy Lee -> Cliff Burton

:-D
 
#71
What's always blown my mind about Jamerson is how lightly he took what he's so famous for.

To him, Motown records was just a job and a paycheck so he could play jazz at night. Meanwhile I study his Motown bass lines like they're the chemical friggin' formula to the secrets of the universe.

All those complex rhythms, the syncopation, and the tone, and to think he played so many of them in one take, half conscious, flat on his back on the studio floor...unreal
 
#74
In my opinion, Jamerson is kind of this Mozart figure... a prodigy who just knew HOW TO PLAY. I like the story in SITSOM where he played a huge bass line dead drunk (or hungover) on the floor because he could not stand up. I think that kind of mystique, of being a pure genius despite his personal flaws, that add to the weight of his legacy. When I saw SITSOM, and heard how he died in this down and out and bitter way, ignored by the industry and haunted by personal demons, it reminded me of Amadeus, how Mozart was thrown in that pauper's grave, his genius just tossed away by the world.
 
#77
Berry Gordy said it the best: "There is hardly a successful pop band in the world that doesn't owe homage to James Jamerson. His influence is omnipotent".

When you think he was tossed a chord chart and improvised those lines, in one take, you realize how good he was. To me, he was a true Genius of the bass, up there with all the best you can think of.
 
#79
"he was tossed a chord chart and improvised those lines, in one take,"

Please don't fool yourself in to thinking those lines and recordings were done in 'one take'. A few maybe, but most of those tunes were labored over for many hours and many, many takes.
Motown was known for using different singers and musicians on many takes till it was sculptured into the hits they became.
 

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