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the Late Great James Jamerson..

#181
BigSwami said:
I've wracked my ears and did my best putting together the chords to What's Happening Brother. I don't have the best ear in the world so I'm sure I've made a few mistakes in there, but this is the general gist.
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Thanks my man. Part of my regimen always includes playing Motown tunes/Jamerson including all of What's Going On. I usually do it by ear, but, it's nice to see this stuff charted. Thanks again.
 
#182
What gets me is how they think I would not respond to their vile name-calling. Oh Yes you can hear Bernadette (bass line soloed) on Jamerson's MySpace page. Link Removed

To Keep up-to-date, here is my complete transcript of "Whats Happening Brother" http://BassLand.net/WhatsHappeningBro.htm

There has probably never been a finer display of 16th note surprises using the hook except Bernadette from 5 years earlier
 
#185
Basshole said:
Wow...amazing stuff.

Funny...I could be way off, but that sounds nothing like a white chick playing a shortscale bass with a pick. :rolleyes:
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1 of 50 times I'll step in on a knock against Carol (white chick). Here's one of them: James Jamerson in a phone call back home to Joe Messina (referring to the ability of CK) said "yeah, there's this white chick out here....who can play anything". I heard this from the horses mouth (JM).
I also heard she tried to get him work when he moved to LA. Lastly, she told me herself, "without James there wouldn't BE a Motown".
 
#186
LarryR said:
1 of 50 times I'll step in on a knock against Carol (white chick). Here's one of them: James Jamerson in a phone call back home to Joe Messina (referring to the ability of CK) said "yeah, there's this white chick out here....who can play anything". I heard this from the horses mouth (JM).
I also heard she tried to get him work when he moved to LA. Lastly, she told me herself, "without James there wouldn't BE a Motown".
Click to expand...

I'm not knocking her. I'm knocking her claim to have played stuff she clearly didn't. Don't like the verbiage "white chick"? Scratch that, then.

IT DOESN'T SOUND ANYTHING LIKE IT WAS PLAYED WITH A PICK ON A SHORTSCALE BASS.

Better? Happy now?
 
#188
Weather it is the first take or the forty first It sure isn't CK's take and it sounds just like the original recording (and why not it is the same players). What's your point? You act as though there is some kind of law against them doing more than one take. How does this help CK's claims? When it comes to Bernadette, you should listen to HDH's BBC interview where they talk in depth about the Detroit Motown recording of Bernadette and there is no mention of the fraud. They give dates of not only the tracking date but the vocal overdub dates to. So much for Motown's faulty record keeping I hear so much about from the CK camp. Your move....
 
#192
Thanks man. Bob has done what I think is a very noble thing. Years ago, he approached me, and said that no one knew about Jamerson, and that he wanted to set the record straight. I've provided hosting, and backed him ever since, and I think a lot of what people know about Jamerson today, they should thank Bob for.

And CK? She needs to stop lying, and slandering Bob. Bob has done a good thing for the history of the bass guitar. We all owe him a great debt of gratitude for bringing James to our attention.
 
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#195
I've been looking up Jamerson articles when I should be working...

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed], who says why Jamerson is so special in this little section

You're gonna say, "what made him so special". Well, I'll tell you: the acoustic bass had been around for centuries. But the electric bass had only been invented in the early part of the 1950s. And pretty much for the first decade, nobody knew what to do with it; it didn't have a voice.

You know how when you hold an electric bass, you hold it diagonally? In the first years of the electric bass, you would see converted upright players actually hold it vertically! They just thought it was just a different upright bass, and they played it that way, not just in posture, but also in the types of licks. Most of the bassists were playing this kind of cocktail lounge kind of bass, playing a steady [hums quarter-note bass thump] boom, boom, boom, boom.

Then Jamerson comes out of nowhere, and then starts do [hums fast staccato pulsing Motown lick] do ba doopa doopa doopa do ba doopa da do do do. He completely invented the vocabulary of this new instrument, and made it a virtuoso position, instead of just a foundation position, with all those syncopations, and all this incredible feel that none of these other converted upright bassists had. He opened up the possibility of what the instrument could do to the rest of the world, and then all of a sudden, everybody's copying his lines, making hits, and they have no idea who this guy is.

And it ate him up--that's what killed him.

Aside from the Motown hits, he'd hear hits from other producers, other record companies, and they were using his bass lines, and his ideas. Not only did he not get anything for it, but nobody even knew it was him! And it just ate at him.

Ed: One thing I was really surprised at from reading your book, which I don't know if the film makes clear, is that Jamerson did play on some big sessions when he got in L.A.

Allan: Oh yeah. He went out there, and he was his worst enemy. He could have done a lot more than he did, but his drinking was out of control by that time, and the contractors didn't want to deal with him. He was very headstrong, and easily offended, and if you didn't like what he was doing, it was trouble.

His demise was a combination of a lot of things, but he had his moment, but its rewards weren't given to him in his lifetime.

Ed: Jamerson obviously changed the bass from its oompah background to a more melodic 8th and 16th note sound. How did he invent his style?

Allan: That's kind of like asking how Coltrane or Hendrix...you can point to stylistic things like his blues and jazz background, but there are people in the world who are just touched. Different people influence music in lots of ways. And there's a kind of a smooth curve where they take the music in a different direction. But every once in a while, you get a guy who's a sharp right angle, like Hendrix and Coltrane, and Jamerson. They're just touched by God, and with what they do, music completely makes a 90 degree turn.
Click to expand...

And a great page on Invalid Link Removed about what JJ means to him
 
#196
Chuck is another innovator. He is quick to point out Jamerson's influence on his career. Chuck was absolutely an influence on me. I have been told (by some) that I sound more like Rainey than Jamerson. I used to play with more of a lighter touch (like Rainey) before I got into the upright. I have known Chuck for 30 years and he is a great person aside from being a great player.
 
#197
I had started a discussion (on YouTube) regarding the bassline on WHB. I transcribed it several years ago and most recently tried to read it with out accompaniment. For me the argument was the originator of the line did not read it. It was improvisation. I hate reading a part that is that complicated/specific. I have heard that James Jamerson felt the same way about reading. It was something he could do but he was most at home creating an exciting part from scratch. Anyway, I posted the challenge to play the part verbatim and Lo accepted the challenge with quite good results:

 
#199
Guys - a little help here if you don't mind...I'm staying in Niagara Falls this weekend, and have found a decent CD shop. Realizing the tempest this might create (apologies in advance), if you could only buy 5 recordings (full CDs, not single songs) with JJ on them, what would they be? I would like to load up a little before going home tomorrow, so thanks in advance for any input.
 

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