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the Late Great James Jamerson..

#101
Blackbird said:
Folks, please don't get carried away. Name calling is juvenile.
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my bad, being my thread I should have known better.. he got the better of me with his pontifical statement about me and the TB hall of fame..

I agree, let's stick to the topic, JJ..
 
#104
SamJ said:
In another thread, I was reminded of the Great Jamerson, so I though I'd throw up this clip for anyone interested (should be all bassists IMHO).. and see if anyone else has anything to add.. not much footage of the old Cat on the computer sadly... And that Hook!
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Damn, ever never seen that before. Cheers for sharing. :)

I've recently been re-examing Jamerson's playing. As a child I grew up on Motown records through my parents, but never really was inspired by it until now. I did what all teenagers do, and rebelled my musical tastes into death and thrash metal, then into jazz and fusion and funk which I listen to and perform now. It's amazing how your tastes go round full circle in the end.

The odd thing is, my playing now, even though I would quote Jaco & Les as my biggest influences, does sound a lot more like Jamerson - and I didn't even realize it!

Man that guy could groove. I think it's the notes he leaves out as much as he puts in that make his basslines so good.
 
#106
derrenleepoole said:
The odd thing is, my playing now, even though I would quote Jaco & Les as my biggest influences, does sound a lot more like Jamerson - and I didn't even realize it!
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When asked, John Paul Jones basically said the same thing... he didn't even realize that his style was so much Jamerson, until he had listened to Motown (Again) as a grown man. It was ingrained in him from his formative youth.
 
#108
Great stuff.
A personal side note:
My all time personal music memory was when the Temps/Tops were on tour for the Motown 25th anniversary They hired out the horn sections locally and I got to play the show! One quick rehearsal (the trumpet player travelled with them and rehearsed the horns) and then the show. Fastest 90 minutes of my life. I was smiling for weeks afterwards. The bass player was a woman. Never did catch her name.
 
#114
Just watched a cool documentary on The Funk Brothers. Hadn't really sat down and watched and listened to James Jamerson, well... I take that back... I have via Marvin Gaye, but this documentary really opened my eyes to what he was doing. He had such confident placement and his timing was so funky. I never realized.:scowl: I love his one finger floating style too. So cool. Anyway, what a nice break from the normal crap American Idol TV crap. It was in HD too.

Go Funk Brothers. Long live Jamerson. RIP.:D
 
#115
I started playing in the early 70's as a teen but I'd been listening to music since birth. There were many bassists who floored me and I'd immediately get to work trying to figure out what they were doing. All the old classic rock stuff, Larry Graham, Chris Squire, Stanley Clarke... I'd jump on this stuff because I always felt it was at least possible to decipher. All except for one... the bassplayer on the Motown records.

I could do what I considered a yeoman's attempt at those lines but at the time they changed too fast, the inflections were too varied, the note choices too "***?". It was like the songs were built around killer but unobtrusive bass solos. They made the songs. To this day I don't want to play like Jamerson (though I'm heavily influenced) so much as just marvel in his work.
 
#116
Just finished reading through this whole thread. I grew up listening to Motown and The Beatles and 60's rock, even before I started on bass I'd always loved the basslines in the Motown stuff, even though I'd never known the cat's name. By the time I started on bass I had heard all my Motown faves 100s of times, so I just understood intuitively, almost unconsciously, that this is the way the bass is supposed to sound and be played. It wasn't until many years later that I came to realize that Jamerson is probably the primary influence in my approach to playing.

Just now ordered the SITSOM book from Amazon.

R.I.P. James - you are missed.
 
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#117
Brad Johnson said:
I started playing in the early 70's as a teen but I'd been listening to music since birth. There were many bassists who floored me and I'd immediately get to work trying to figure out what they were doing. All the old classic rock stuff, Larry Graham, Chris Squire, Stanley Clarke... I'd jump on this stuff because I always felt it was at least possible to decipher. All except for one... the bassplayer on the Motown records.

I could do what I considered a yeoman's attempt at those lines but at the time they changed too fast, the inflections were too varied, the note choices too "***?". It was like the songs were built around killer but unobtrusive bass solos. They made the songs. To this day I don't want to play like Jamerson (though I'm heavily influenced) so much as just marvel in his work.
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+ me too. well said ;)
 
#118
ibnzneksrul said:
.....I'd always loved the basslines in the Motown stuff, even though I'd never known the cat's name. By the time I started on bass I had heard all my Motown faves 100s of times, so I just understood intuitively, almost unconsciously, that this is the way the bass is supposed to sound and be played. It wasn't until many years later that I came to realize that Jamerson is probably the primary influence in my approach to playing.

R.I.P. James - you are missed.
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+1
 
#119
ummm, just my addition really to keep this thread alive lol, i think jamerson should be continued to be talked about till this website dies along with the chatter...anyway, isee the conversation got slightly heated as im sure its necessary on topic like this at a bass forum. but i think we're all agreed that a legend died and at least theres some comfort in knowing that we tb'ers can remember the memory of jamerson and continue to pass his work on to all the little budding jamersons out there ;)
 
#120
Here are some links borrowed from another thread here on TB they feature several Motown basslines done by Jamerson and some done by Wilton Felder and one by the bassist of Rare Earth, John Parrish (whom I must admit I did not know).

Standing in the Shadows of Love and Reach Out (I believe both songs claimed at one time by you-know-who). They are the bass lines solos'd from the original multitrack. This is possible because a few years ago Motown embarked on a mission to transfer all of it's masters (multitracks and final mixes) into digital audio on the computer (essentially pro-tools or something simular). I know it is being repeated on another thread but I think it is important to have this information on Jamerson'd sticky thread as the other thread we go away.

http://www.ricksuchow.com/music-group-111.html
 

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