Here was my letter to the editor of L.A. Weekly:
Dear Editor,
There are a series of stories in the current edition about Studio
Musicians. One article "The Lady At The Bottom", written by Matthew
Duersten in which the interviewer asked "...Why did you work for
Motown..." Carol Kaye was being interviewed in this section in
responding, the name of a tune was mentioned ("Bernadette" by the Four
Tops) in which the bass part is actually performed by James Jamerson
of the Funk Brothers. There is some discussion on the web about the
ongoing claim that Carol Kaye makes regarding bass performances
generally known to be Jamerson's playing. While they layman may not be
aware of the subject it is quite active amongst musicians. The claims
made (but not in your story) also include "I Was Made To Lover Her" by
Stevie Wonder, and many more of Jamerson's signature recorded
performances which were not mentioned in the LA Weekly story.
There is a website called Soulful Detroit
http://Soulfuldetroit.com/forum/ where her claims have been refuted by
people who worked for Motown records. My own website
http://bassland.net/jamerson.html has a story about Jamerson and has
the research into this matter by Allan Slutsky who wrote the book and
the film about the Funk Brothers "Standing In The Shadows Of Motown".
While I do applaud the L.A. Studio musicians getting their just dues
just like the Funk Brothers, I do have a problem with claims to work
generally know to have been done by others being printed as fact
without the other side of this issue being represented. I would hope
that the LA Weekly has some responsibility to research the matter more
fully. As a bass player, I feel that assaulting the acheivements and
the memory of Jamerson who is considered the Father of modern electric
bass playing appauling to me personally. In the article the Motown
question seemed to come out of nowhere so I suspect there was more
discussion on this subject that was not printed in the story.
There is a Usenet newsgroup alt.guitar.bass where the LA Weekly story
has been discussed that might bear some looking into also. Thank you
in advance for looking at this matter.
Regards
Bob Lee
[email protected]
