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Jamerson vs. Kaye - the hits

#27
btmpancake said:
To me, no doubt about it- Carol Kaye. I knew who Jamerson was because of the Motown hits he played on in the 60s as I was a teenage bassplayer BUT I used to see Carol Kaye's name everywhere on all sorts of albums (studio sessions credits)). For a longtime I thought Kaye was a dude, what I mean is that it was unheard of in mainstream music back then to have such a funky female bassplayer. P/S- some of us used to buy albums depending on who played on them, sometimes without listening to it before you bought it.
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Jamerson was largely unknown when he was playing in the 60's... he wasn't credited.
 
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#29
Jeff Scott said:
I'm envious of you. Your parents played JA!!! My parents never did that, it was up to me to play it for myself. :smug:
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I guess you can't rely on your parent for everything but I owe my old man a huge debt for putting all sorts of great music on my radar....he still has all of that vinyl too. Oddly enough though he doesn't have one record with either Jamerson or Kaye. I had to discover them on my own!
 
#35
I always liked Duck Dunn and David Hood. Then I started to see just how many recordings Kaye was on. Just a few great rhythm sections made so much of the music that I grew up listening to.

It seems like number of hits is quantifiable though. Having said that, I don't want to look it up.
 
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#36
Spidey2112 said:
33 straight takes to record 'The Way We Were', with Kaye adhering to Hamlisch's directive to keep her bass lines low-key. On the 33rd take, Kaye decided to ad-lib, adding a lot of bass arpeggios in to the mix... doing what felt right, muscially, helped create an Oscar Award winning piece, as well as not having to do the dreaded 34th take...

... unsure if she really received her due, over the course of her career, but she sure should have.
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Relatedly, I'll often hear a slow or mid-tempo song (not related to this thread) and think that were it not for the interesting bass line the song would have been shorter-lived or not as big of a hit. And people don't even realize it. Not counting obvious bass in your face songs, of course.
 
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#38
Absolutely no chance of an answer to a thread like this if you don't define the criteria.

Top 10, or 100? Billboard or R&B charts? USA or worldwide?

Jamerson had more Number Ones than any other bass player in both categories of US charts.

Everyone here seems to be agreeing that Kaye has played on more, but based on what evidence? She was probably more prolific, èlaying more sessions than Jamerson, but I'm really not sure that she played on more hits than Jamerson did no matter what criteria is used to measure.

Personally I don't care either way, both were great players who had a lot of influence on others and who both made lots of great music. But in terms of creativity, groove, evolution of the instrument and pure badassery Jamerson will always be The One for me and he towers over everyone from the era, namely early to mid late '60s, when the electric bass came into its own.
 
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#39
Jamerson in the 100 Yard Dash; Kaye in the Marathon. Jamerson at drinking Jameson, Kaye at dice. Both equal at picking matching ties; neither very good at knitting Koala fur. Jamerson could have taken her in a boxing match in his prime, however my money's on Kaye when it comes to Anteater Racing. For a three legged race partner, I'm going to pick Brian May, just because he really knows his burlap.
 
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