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The Four Most Influential Bassists?
- Thread starter Dr. Cheese
- Start date
Jack Bruce, singing, composing and improvising.
Charles Mingus, power and musical wizardry
I agree that the three previous giants were good to list. There are so many when you really look around.
Charles Mingus, power and musical wizardry
I agree that the three previous giants were good to list. There are so many when you really look around.
I can see that argument although I would probably pick Paul Jackson if I were to go with a non-slapper.
Extremely debatable. Never heard him play Cameo funk, Pleasure funk, TOP funk, Headhunters funk, etc... you'd think the best could better everyone else. Otherwise they're not.
Extremely debatable. Never heard him play Cameo funk, Pleasure funk, TOP funk, Headhunters funk, etc... you'd think the best could better everyone else. Otherwise they're not.
No he just originated the genre with his band mates.
Browns band didn't start playing funk until the late sixties. Before that they were soul and R&B. The Meters were funking in 65. Art "Poppa Funk" Neville, Zigaboo Modeliste, George Porter Jr and Leo Nocentelli were the true originators and they'll likely never get the credit they deserve but some of us know what's up.
If you talk to Jaquo III-X, he will tell you Sun Ra cut the first funk records. New Orleans has strong music tradition, but a lot of New Orleans music does not travel well. I think that James Brown's take on funk ultimately had a much stronger impact on how the genre developed.
I don't see how there's any way to compare the two. JB was a talented vocalist and impressive performer but if we're talking about "the music!" then the Meters have to be light years ahead in what they were doing at roughly the time and they still kick much booty.
Regarding NOLA music:
I think you either have Nola in your blood or you don't. I'm glad I do. It makes my soul happy.
So James Brown's work in 1965 wasn't funk?
Some of us do indeed know what's up.
That's pretty dismissive towards Brown's contribution which most certainly is your right.
I'm familiar with the Meter's work and hold it in high regard. I was also aware of Brown's early work... he was doing funk well before Bootsy and Phelps joined his rhythm section. He was doing it as early as 1965. Maybe we just have different ideas of what funk is. If "Papa's got a brand new bag" isn't early funk and a Toussaint vibe is required, cool. AFAIK the Meters were still a house band at that time. By the time "Cissy Strut" came out JB's funk was fully developed.
Brown not only sang, he played instruments too.
Just curious, were you listening to all of this music as it hit the scene?
He was also a skilled arranger, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and band leader in the truest sense of the word.
Allow me to completely disagree with this whole statement. Larry Graham created thumping and plucking, his words. Others have deemed to call the technique slapping. Larry's technique and the percentages in recorded music? P-Funk, Mark King, Victor Wooten, Bill Dickens, Hadrien Fraud, Stuart Zender, a whole multitude of R&B, pseudo funk groups...here:
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Some find Entwhistle as an innovator but personally I like some bass with my distortion.
Early P Funk (read the best p funk) didn't feature slap stuff afaik. I'm not convinced by the few guys that you mentioned above when there are thousands more that don't. Listen to Cymande too when you can.
I don't think slap represents more than 5% of all recorded electric bass. That's a guess but I think it's probably being generous.
5% of something as large as all if the music recorded on bass guitar is very significant. If you don't think 5% is substantial, try losing 5% of your income, lung capacity, or anything you use. BTW, during it's heyday, slap was more like half of the funk I heard on the radio I heard as a person who grew up in that era.
Early P Funk??? You mean BC???, before Collins ?
It was fingerstyle mostly up to and during America Eats It's Young, but after Bootsy linked up it was about the "1" and the thump and pop for most of Parliaments hits and a good dose of thumping on a spate of Funkadelic hits though not all. But that wiki link I posted listed bassists from Adams to Zender, and encompasses all genres with musicians that "slap".
