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Okay, now I believe in Anthony Jackson.

#44
Dr. Cheese said:
From everything I have ever heard, AJ is very good person to those who have met him. I suspect his interview demeanor may be compensation for a lack of formal degrees. I think he is a brilliant man who is self conscious of being an autodidact.

I think AJ is sort of an opposite of Miles Davis, a man from one the best educated and well off families in black East St . Louis who attended Juilliard himself, yet he cursed like a convict in a state penitentiary.
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Never met him, but know several folks who've gigged or written with him over the years. He is SPECIAL. If I might venture to synthesize… He does have this nerdy autodidact thing going on in the way of his persona, but he is a DEEP student of the history of electric bass, and of Jamerson in particular, and deeply invested in it's future. His attention to detail, both conceptual and physical (technique) is obvious.

I don't know what his parents did or how he came by his vibe, but consider…he did "For the Love of Money" when he was 19…and he got co-writer's credit from Gamble and Huff - at a time when they seemed to maintain a stable of songwriting consultants on salary, but the credits generally seemed to gravitate toward them. He did Chaka, then a whole lot of killer jazz, including his great latin jazz stuff with Michel Camilo and others. He had much to do with developing the 6-string as a viable axe, and while it is not my personal player thing (I am not worthy), he OWNS it! His tonal and musical concepts are superb, to my ears, in each different context in which he can be found.

My ideal bass summit - Abraham Laboriel, Anthony Jackson, a killer drummer and guitarist and/or keyboard, and a long afternoon in a groovy setting. Oh, hell, might as well invite Stanley as well. Two Philly guys, +!!!!

Edit: Turns out AJ is from NYC. Oh, well...
 
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#46
Joebone said:
My ideal bass summit - Abraham Laboriel, Anthony Jackson, a killer drummer and guitarist and/or keyboard, and a long afternoon in a groovy setting. Oh, hell, might as well invite Stanley as well. Two Philly guys, +!!!!
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Please invite me to this event if it ever happens!!!!!!!
 
#48
Dr. Cheese said:
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.
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I agree Doc, his tone was so good with the career girl! AJ was such a powerful player, I've never heard any one like him; every song from that period is a master class on badass funk groove!
 
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#50
PaulieBe said:
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.
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People are still beating the "slap thing" into the ground. It has it's place in music but go on YouTube and try and find a video of someone giving a sound sample of their bass that's not all slap. I love Marcus and AJ, so glad that we have both styles to pull from. Mingus was not always liked but the guy was a genius. Then again my favorite piano player is Monk, to me he was like from another planet and I loved it! My advice keep an open mind. I only played rock for 10 years and one car ride with a friend play yellowjackets changed me completely, incredible moment for me!
 
#51
I like his work on Al DiMeola's Casino.
He is a monster player, but after meeting him... let's just say he's not on my Christmas Card list.
I'll go to just about anything he's playing at live, but I'm not approaching him after a show ever again.
 
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#53
OldDirtyBassist said:
I have a real hard time attempting "For The Love Of Money" to this day, at least when I go at it fingerstyle. It's hard to get the timing right with a pic too imo.
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I once heard Maurice Starr (when he was just hanging out in a music store) absolutely nail that riff sans pick ...by wagging his index finger back & forth as if he were holding a pencil lightly in his hand. Basically his index finger became AJ's pick, moving rapidly up & down but having a certain amount of compliance that lent itself to the bouncy groove of AJ's original line. It was jaw-droppingly cool to see/hear.
 
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#54
king_biscuit said:
You can't just say that much and not give us the whole thing; what happened?
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I don't really want to air it out, but I'll say this:
I've met a number of artists. I make it a point not to interrupt them if they are in the midst of a conversation, and I don't want to bend their ear out of shape. "Great show. I really enjoyed it," is my standard line. The reply is generally "Thank you," and we are both on our way.
As a performer, I enjoy a kind word after the show, so I try to extend the same after I've seen something I really enjoyed.
From what I've experienced, and what I've gotten from others who have worked with AJ, he does not want to engage the audience.
Some folks may have had a different experience, and that's cool. However, I have learned that my opinion on the subject is not unique.
This doesn't take away from his considerable talent. He's a fantastic player and I love hearing him play live. I'm just just not going to personally give him props after the gig.
 
#55
Lichtaffen said:
I clicked on this vid thinking it would be Marcus Miller playing live with Grover Washington Jr.:



Instead I am being dazzled by the subtle genius of Anthony Jackson. I always knew he was great, but his intellectual demeanor kinda turned me off. Now I'm hooked and I have to hear more. Can anyone recommend some seminal recordings of his that are similar to this style of playing?
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Great musicians, BUT this must be the most boring elevator music ever made.
 
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#56
PaulieBe said:
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.
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+1
The first thing that struck me about that clip was that mighty groove.
The second thing that struck me about that clip was how that mighty groove consisted of Steve Gadd laying waaay back on the snare backbeats, Ralph Macdonald pushing the cowbell slightly in front of the beat, and then AJ sitting right in the middle of the beat. By all accounts that ought to be a trainwreck! And there are a lot of instances where you can hear this wide overt flam from the rhythm section...but that's what makes it such a nasty stanky groove!
 
#58
king_biscuit said:
OK, but you aren't really being fair to AJ to just imply that he is a jerk, and not tell us why you think so. It could simply be that you tripped over his bass is a drunken stooper trying get on stage, or you were hitting on his wife, and he beat your A@@ in the parking lot:)
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Seriously...I just want to hear about it so it reinforces my current opinion of him. It will be earth shattering to learn he isn't what I already suspect him to be;)
 
#59
king_biscuit said:
OK, but you aren't really being fair to AJ to just imply that he is a jerk, and not tell us why you think so. It could simply be that you tripped over his bass is a drunken stooper trying get on stage, or you were hitting on his wife, and he beat your A@@ in the parking lot:)
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Our interaction didn't quite get THAT heated.
Judge for yourself. After a show, go and say, "Hi." Hopefully, he'll reply with a "Hello," and/or "Thanks for coming out."
On the other hand, if his response is less than pleasant, you've been forewarned.
 

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