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Okay, now I believe in Anthony Jackson.
- Thread starter Lichtaffen
- Start date
Anthony is brilliant and versatile and way beyond Marcus's ability. No dig on Marcus, he's great. But he's a stylist. He does his thing really well. But he could never do half of the gigs that Anthony slays. Then again...Anthony doesn't slap!
You are wrong. I revere Anthony Jackson, but Marcus Miller is second to no one in technical ability. There are recordings and videos that show MM 'a ability if you look.
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Anthony is a true electric bass master. Few were treating the instrument with that same type of laser-pointed seriousness that he was during those years of the late 70's-80's. It seems common now with everyone playing multi-string basses, using more than 2 fingers on the right hand, heavy technique, really digging into bass construction, pickups, active electronics etc. but he was kind of on his own at that time. I was coming up in that era and was a huge fan of his; I couldn't understand why he wasn't more revered. Of course now, everyone plays like him- exploiting the range of the instrument, low-end piano stye sonics- they may not have gotten it from him directly, but he was riding the crest of that wave pretty much solo at the time.
All of that kind of technical fluffery aside- what you HEAR in that initial Grover clip is what makes him the badass that he is: His feel is so strong, placing the notes dead-center on the beat, completely holding down the bottom and improvising at the same time- never boring, always keeping the groove front and center, really interesting idiosyncratic bass fills that are woven into and between what everyone else is doing. Avoiding cliche in a very cliche style.
What personally pulled me to his style in the early days was that he played funk and RandB, but never just sat on the idiomatic riffs and slap bass style that the Marcus camp (another badass,) was propagating. The early 80's if you didn't play like (marcus-y) that you were out of that groove-gig loop to a large degree. It's hard to overstate how heavy Marcus' pull was then in the Miles-era. Anthony was kind of a maverick then and it was refreshing and inspirational to me at the time as a young player in the 80's; I felt much more kinship with his evolutionary line.
Other posters are right to say that he was just as much of a badass on the 4-string Fender- more? I dunno. I personally prefer Fender bass; I am not a fan of all the low-action, multi string, bass-ramped, fingerpicking, hyper technical electric bassing I hear nowadays. (Just my opinion about what I like- not a condemnation of it.)
Also w regard to his Jamerson influence- a lot of his interesting reharm work that he drops in under harmony (especially the tritone sub stuff,) and the way he implements it comes from Jamerson's technique and is thrilling to hear.
All of that kind of technical fluffery aside- what you HEAR in that initial Grover clip is what makes him the badass that he is: His feel is so strong, placing the notes dead-center on the beat, completely holding down the bottom and improvising at the same time- never boring, always keeping the groove front and center, really interesting idiosyncratic bass fills that are woven into and between what everyone else is doing. Avoiding cliche in a very cliche style.
What personally pulled me to his style in the early days was that he played funk and RandB, but never just sat on the idiomatic riffs and slap bass style that the Marcus camp (another badass,) was propagating. The early 80's if you didn't play like (marcus-y) that you were out of that groove-gig loop to a large degree. It's hard to overstate how heavy Marcus' pull was then in the Miles-era. Anthony was kind of a maverick then and it was refreshing and inspirational to me at the time as a young player in the 80's; I felt much more kinship with his evolutionary line.
Other posters are right to say that he was just as much of a badass on the 4-string Fender- more? I dunno. I personally prefer Fender bass; I am not a fan of all the low-action, multi string, bass-ramped, fingerpicking, hyper technical electric bassing I hear nowadays. (Just my opinion about what I like- not a condemnation of it.)
Also w regard to his Jamerson influence- a lot of his interesting reharm work that he drops in under harmony (especially the tritone sub stuff,) and the way he implements it comes from Jamerson's technique and is thrilling to hear.
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Wow! A much better response than I suspected when I originally posted this last night. I'm gonna listen to all those recommended tracks now while I work. Thanks, gang!
I gotta say one thing in response to the anti-slap mentality he has: he certainly backs it up in his playing in the video I posted since he is essentially playing Marcus Miller's parts from the Winelight album. He groove just as hard in fingerstyle.
I gotta say one thing in response to the anti-slap mentality he has: he certainly backs it up in his playing in the video I posted since he is essentially playing Marcus Miller's parts from the Winelight album. He groove just as hard in fingerstyle.
Just about any and every thing he's done and thank god for YouTube because I've worn out this video twice !
It does??? I can think of a lot of bassists who do this, especially if they are into a bright sound.
My favorite Anthony Jackson music from the late Seventies to early Eighties when he still mainly playing his Fender, but I think that is just coincidence. By 1979, AJ had been playing high profile gigs and session work for a decade, and he was close to thirty. I just think his style matured at this time, and he really started to stretch his wings. The key was Jackson's mind, not his choice of bass.
You should listen to some the stuff he's done on Donald Fagen's
Night flight lp.
I have that DVD but haven't watched it in years. Thanks for the reminder. What a killer lineup!
Great thread, awesome links, thanks! Anthony has been a hero of mine since about '90. The live stuff with Hiromi is off the charts, he's just gotten better with time.
On "The Nightfly" Marcus played on the title track, as well as "Maxine" and "The Goodbye Look". Anthony did "I.G.Y." and "Ruby Baby".
You can disagree, but Marcus Miller has a discography that is nearly forty years old that demonstrates quite effectively that he is versatile, has great technical ability, and can deliver a lot more than his classic slap tone.
The title song, on the Donald Fagen album, Nightfly is a great example of Miller playing AJ style bass.
