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No 1 funk bass player EVER?

#64
hrodbert696 said:
It would be between Larry Graham and Bootsy for me. The others have some funk elements in what they do but I wouldn't put them in center square as funk bassists.
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Even Thunder Thumbs? The second song I remember from the Brothers Johnson was Get The Funk Out My Face
NWB said:
Loads of great funk players listed here, but whenever I read or hear the word "funk", the first name to enter my mind is Larry Graham.

I can't even think in the least about funk without an association to him.
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Speaking of Louis Johnson he claimed to come up with slapping independent of hearing Sly and the Family Stone. Maybe I am a couple of years too young to appreciate Sly and the Family Stone. But they didn't seem to have the community presence, like Jimi Hendrix didn't. but then the Brothers Johnson were only about a mile away. it took George Clinton before those "rock" elements were recognized

By the time I was noticing "funk" there was Kool and The Gang and The Ohio Players on one side with the different groups of P-Funk on the other side. It wasn't slap that made funk for me. Robert Bell and Rock Jones held down their bands and slap was taken over by the jazz fusion guys, Alphonso Johnson and Stanley Clarke and later Marcus Miller and now Victor Wooten with the studio cats adding slap licks to many songs.

An off the wall choice, Alan Gorie of the Average White Band. Not only did he hold down the grove but he was one of the front men for his band. While it seemed as if Bootsy had other bassist or a left handed keyboard player when he fronted the Rubber band.

Ronald La Pread of The Commodores whose Brick House was among the biggest funk hits..

:hiding:
I never got Tower of Power as a funk band. They were more in line with Chicago and Blood, Sweat and Tears to me. if anything made it funky it wasn't Rocco but the horn section but then back then I was a sax player playing those horn section hits. And look at all the bands I mentioned, they all have their own horn section so i guess that is just my prejudice
 
#65
#76
When I think funk, I think as described by James Brown as his original recipe...the accent is on the "1" and that is reinforced by Bootsy's comments on his Funk 101 vid.
We've dropped a lot of great bassists names but if we keep to the accent "on the 1" formula some of those names although terrific bassists don't always play within those parameters. Bootsy is committed to the formula, he is funky even on his ballads. Prince has his own take on funk.
Prince "The Work" - YouTube
 
#77
Clark Dark said:
When I think funk, I think as described by James Brown as his original recipe...the accent is on the "1" and that is reinforced by Bootsy's comments on his Funk 101 vid.
We've dropped a lot of great bassists names but if we keep to the accent "on the 1" formula some of those names although terrific bassists don't always play within those parameters. Bootsy is committed to the formula, he is funky even on his ballads. Prince has his own take on funk.
Prince "The Work" - YouTube
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The origins of funk was not all about the one. The focus of the one came many years later.


Funk is a feeling, a vibe, it's smooth, it can have grit, etc.



It's a lot more to funk than what has been shoved down peoples throat.

When one stops trying to force funk into a box then the multi aspects of funk can then bloom.
 
#78
To me, there's funky music, and then there's The Funk. I know the difference when I hear it, but even that's subjective. It's like anything else, really; there's always that handful of people who just have that certain something. Not better - just different.
 
#79
JAUQO III-X said:
The origins of funk was not all about the one. The focus of the one came many years later.


Funk is a feeling, a vibe, it's smooth, it can have grit, etc.



It's a lot more to funk than what has been shoved down peoples throat.

When one stops trying to force funk into a box then the multi aspects of funk can then bloom.
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but the OP asks the best funk bassist ever. I supposed if the question is narrowed down to the best pure funk bassist ever it could be limited to contemporary funk ala P-Funk, James Brown. I personally think Eddie Gomez is and Mingus was funky but not necessarily funky per this particular conversation. Seems like the OP, a 12y.o. girl wanted to get the bottom line on a funk bassist, not those who at times can be funky.
 
#80
Clark Dark said:
but the OP asks the best funk bassist ever. I supposed if the question is narrowed down to the best pure funk bassist ever it could be limited to contemporary funk ala P-Funk, James Brown. I personally think Eddie Gomez is and Mingus was funky but not necessarily funky per this particular conversation. Seems like the OP, a 12y.o. girl wanted to get the bottom line on a funk bassist, not those who at times can be funky.
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The problem is that you can't narrow it down to the 'best'! Like I said earlier, there are way too many funk bassists (all who could throw down) to pick 'one'!

I think she did get enough names to do some research with!

I'll reiterate to check the Funk 101 thread and you'll find a ton of names (many unsung) of bassists who contributed to the Funk genre!

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f19/funk-101-a-314342/
 

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