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the Late Great James Jamerson..

#161
Wasim said:
That's one of my favourites to play... the 6 minute+ Diana Ross version though, that's one tough piece of music.
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I notice I've not got the album version...wow, I'll have to pick that up! Cheers!

I enjoy spreading the word about Jamerson with my youtube stuff but I always mix it up with my own thing on Motown covers in the band - that's how it should be IMHO, although I know lots of working bandleaders will disagree! I'm sure he'd have a laugh at the lengths some of us go to pick out which string or grace note he played on some of his stuff, but I hope he'd feel proud too.
 
#162
Ive got a Motown gig at a big church here in Los Angeles. It is for their homecoming celebration. The rehearsal was yesterday and the gig tonight. There is a Motown Medley and an Ellington Medley. The Motown Forever medley is about 12 pages long as it is for SATB and about 4-6 bars of music per page. I transcribed a lot of it to condense it to fewer pages but there are many page turns and I have to read it because of the specific arrangement and segues between songs. I hate to read that stuff as that is not how the music was made and in most cases it looks far harder than it is. Once you have the concept a competent player can come up with far more convincing lines than most arrangers that don't know how to write for bass (ie and octave too low, not taking open strings as passing notes in to consideration) Things a bass player would do. Anyway out come the flatwounds and the foam mute... I gotta go.

BL
 
#164
Going back to the original post of this thread, that What's Going On video is saved to my favourites. Hopefully more footage of Jamerson will surface, although if it was going to I'd imagine it would've around the time of Standing in the Shadows of Motown. Maybe if Dr Licks is going to update the book he might uncover more cool stuff.

Jamerson looks so into his playing when the camera's on him, it really looks like his music was therapy for him.

My favourite Jamerson lines change all the time: like, at the moment, I keep re-listening to the first 10 seconds or so of Standing in the Shadows of Love. Home Cookin'.... as if you'll ever be able to play that, I keep telling myself. The whole of the What's Going On album... that has to be a landmark for the bass guitar. So up front and complex for what I imagine was considered pop back then?

Good to see so many people on youtube posting their Jamerson impressions. It means that no matter how obscure or unknown an artist is, his art can reach a large audience if it is good enough.

Also, from a personal viewpoint, I love that thing Jamerson does when he hits a note (usually a C note on the A string I guess) with soft attack but then builds back up to it through the lower register, making a simple chord structure explode with groove. I don't know much about music, so I can't explain it very well with the usual terms, but someone must know what I mean!
 
#166
Hi all members of this thread.. I just got a nice email from a Beverley, who runs a James Jamerson website (see below). It turns out she was the one who compiled that long list (which she says is missing a lot of songs still) that JJ played on. I think she didi a great job on her site for JJ btw.. check it out.


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#167
+1

I've got to get around to sending Beverley some more albums for the list. It's the best one I know of!

Edit - just sent a little list to Bev - another 25 albums pre-1973!

SamJ said:
Hi all members of this thread.. I just got a nice email from a Beverley, who runs a James Jamerson website (see below). It turns out she was the one who compiled that long list (which she says is missing a lot of songs still) that JJ played on. I think she didi a great job on her site for JJ btw.. check it out.


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#168
A BBC documentary interview with Holland Dozier Holland which IMO completely dispells claims by Carol Kaye to have recorded bass on many HDH original Motown recordings. A must listen for anyone confused regarding the claims made regarding Bernadette, I can't Help Myself, Standing In The Shadows of Love or Reach Out, I'll Be there by the Four Tops http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/events/60sseason/documentaries/recordproducers.shtml. They talked about recording techniques and played soloed multitrack recordings. They speak of Jamerson and the Funk Brothers by name. VERY GOOD
 
#171
Sam J said: "will help put that debate to bed!"

I really don't think so as she "says" she is writing a book that will support (among other things) her Motown claims. We will never get the truth out of her IMO. History will just have to look at whet she wrote and shake it's head.

If I have any small contribution to history in this matter it is a fair and balanced contradiction of her accounts of events based on collecting evidence to the contrary by people who were there. The links in my previous post are some of that collection. They all reside on my Jamerson page.
 
#172
hi thanks for the link to the video....very infectious and inspirational.

It really made my day!

I found the material in Rick Suchow's site about Jamerson very interesting. Its a good study material. Thanks Rick! (..now where did I placed that Motown Gold CD..)

I don't know but I keep playing that video over and over, and it feels so good. JJ's groove is the driving force plus Marvin's vocals.
 
#173
As a small contribution to this thread, I'd just like to ask anyone who can to check out the bass line on the album version of "What's Happening Brother?"

It is an absolute masterpiece, and it's full of this amazing confidence that only comes from a really expert musician.

* The line grooves so much that it's sick.
* It's full of the unpredictable-yet-tasteful phrases you expect from James Jamerson
* But the most amazing thing about this song is that the arrangement doesn't have that many changes in feel or dynamics really. Jamerson singlehandedly changes the feel of each verse and chorus by changing up the bass line.

He's still anchoring the rhythm, but at the same time he's just just gliding along the groove like he's on ice skates, taking complete control of the dynamics of the song. It's really monumental.
 
#174
BigSwami said:
As a small contribution to this thread, I'd just like to ask anyone who can to check out the bass line on the album version of "What's Happening Brother?"

It is an absolute masterpiece, and it's full of this amazing confidence that only comes from a really expert musician.

* The line grooves so much that it's sick.
* It's full of the unpredictable-yet-tasteful phrases you expect from James Jamerson
* But the most amazing thing about this song is that the arrangement doesn't have that many changes in feel or dynamics really. Jamerson singlehandedly changes the feel of each verse and chorus by changing up the bass line.

He's still anchoring the rhythm, but at the same time he's just just gliding along the groove like he's on ice skates, taking complete control of the dynamics of the song. It's really monumental.
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+1. That's one of my favorite moments as well.
 
#175
Weird coincidence - was just playing along to What's Happening Brother as I read that message

It's simply a masterpiece, not the only one on that album - the title track and God Is Love being obvious standouts.

Some of Jamerson's lines must make even the best bassists go mad
 
#176
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.

A few interesting features I could see:

* Jamerson is really upending these chords with pedal tones and inversions that make his lines wonderfully melodic. You may want to create a chart for yourself that erases all chord information except for the bass notes, and try playing with each of them.

* The song appears to be in the key of Eb but as far as I can see, the chords never resolve to the tonic ("one" chord). That's a pretty sophisticated idea, it makes the song sound to my ears rather Romantic and European.

* Some 7th and 9th chords seem to be in use in this song, which is also fairly sophisticated for that kind of music at that point in time. They give the bass player more options to create a melodic line.

* A word on the notation I used: "-" means "minor", "7" means "dominant 7th chord", "maj7" means "major 7th chord", "+" means "augmented" indicating a sharp 5th, "sus4" means "suspending a perfect 4th instead of playing any 3rd at all", "maj9" means "major 9th chord" and in this case, "Ddim7" means "D half-diminished 7th chord" which is D-F-Ab-C.

* Some people know this already, but a common technique (some would call it necessary) for g-tar players is to not voice the root of the chord when they play it. That way you need both the bass and the guitar in order to hear the whole chord. That may cause some confusion as to what chord you're actually hearing (it sure did for me), and it may cause you to hear the chords different from what I have written here. That's fine, like I said, I don't pretend to be an expert at this.

* Have fun.

A- x 8
Bb-7 x 8
Ddim7 | Ab+/G Ab/G | C-9 | C-9 |
F7sus4 | F7 | F-7 | Bb7 |
Bb-7 | Eb7/G | Abmaj7 | Abmaj7 |
F7sus4 | F7 | F-7 | Bb7 |
Abmaj7/Bb x 4
Abmaj7/Bb Ab-7 | G-7 | C-7 |
F-7 | F-7 | Bb7 | Bb7 |
Abmaj7/Bb x 4
Abmaj7/Bb Ab-7 | G-7 | C-7 |
F-7 | F-7 | Bb7 | Bb7 |
Abmaj9 x 10
Ab-9 x 4
finish on Ab-9
 
#179
Because of something I saw recently I feel the need to remind Jamerson fans of the Holland Dozier Holland's (Producers and writers of the tunes in question) BBC interview on The Supremes and Four Tops 1960's recordings (Done in Detroit) as those tired old claims are surfacing again. The interview speaks to Baby Love, Reach Out, I'll Be There, Bernadette and other tunes claimed to be originally recorded by "others".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/events/60sseason/documentaries/recordproducers.shtml

Others can restate what are imo lies about these recordings so I will restate the existence of what I believe to be the truth.

BL
 
#180
BassLand said:
Sam J said: "will help put that debate to bed!"

I really don't think so as she "says" she is writing a book that will support (among other things) her Motown claims. We will never get the truth out of her IMO. History will just have to look at whet she wrote and shake it's head.
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That's a shame, Bob. You know how I feel. Just keep fighting the good fight. The truth sometimes really does win out.
 

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