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Don't confuse simplicity with playing exactly the right notes in exactly the right places.
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Top P bass players. All time.
- Thread starter Frety_Kruger
- Start date
Don't confuse simplicity with playing exactly the right notes in exactly the right places.
Im sure Michael Jordan would do the same thing if you compared him to Dr J. Its all about respecting who came before you. Just like im sure Eminem wouldn't say he's better than Notorius Big but we all know they are technically
James Jamerson is a melodic and rhythmic genius who changed bass playing and music. Alex is an awesome groundbreaking metal bass player. They are not however equivalent. Being an early hardcore bass player and having a good sense of what it takes to play like Alex does I have nothing but positive things to say about what he has achieved. That being said there are few people who define an instrument, Jamerson is such a musician.
I don't care what your opinion is on where Jamerson should go on the list. My issue is saying that the majority of his lines are "very simple," when in reality it's the exact opposite that's true. Not only is he a player that so many pros later modelled themselves off of, he's one of the ones that the amazing players we have nowadays still go back to and practice on, again and again, to keep getting better. Saying that you know most of them are simple because you know about ten of them is ridiculous. Between the harmony, syncopation, variations, and then the amazing feel he could bring out while doing all of the above, anybody who thinks that the lines are all very simple is either this generation's next musical genius or vastly underestimating the skill required to play something so deceptively complex.
It's possible to sound complex and be deceptively simple, and it's possible to sound simple and be deceptively complex to actually get it right. Jamerson was a master of the latter.
It's possible to sound complex and be deceptively simple, and it's possible to sound simple and be deceptively complex to actually get it right. Jamerson was a master of the latter.
It seems that #1 P-bassist has to go to Jamerson. No one before him did anything like what he did with it, and everyone since then gives him accolades - read the commentaries in the book Standing in the Shadows of Motown. That much is obvious. But there are so many great ones.
One great P-bassist that I didn't see mentioned above is Max Bennett. He played on three or four Joni Mitchell albums, was the co-founder of the LA Express, has 17 Grammy nominations, appears on hundreds of recordings from his session days; all of this after a prodigious career as a jazz double bassist. He also played with Larry Carlton on The Crusaders live album Scratch.
Speaking of The Crusaders, Wilton Felder was a P-bassist when he wasn't playing tenor, and has a bass resume that eclipses most bassists. Pops Popwell, who played on The Crusaders "Those Southern Knights" was an exceptional bassist (and mentioned in one of the pre ending posts).
I also agree Rocco Prestia should be listed - great bassist with a very distinctive playing style. Duck Dunn was one of the original greats.
One great P-bassist that I didn't see mentioned above is Max Bennett. He played on three or four Joni Mitchell albums, was the co-founder of the LA Express, has 17 Grammy nominations, appears on hundreds of recordings from his session days; all of this after a prodigious career as a jazz double bassist. He also played with Larry Carlton on The Crusaders live album Scratch.
Speaking of The Crusaders, Wilton Felder was a P-bassist when he wasn't playing tenor, and has a bass resume that eclipses most bassists. Pops Popwell, who played on The Crusaders "Those Southern Knights" was an exceptional bassist (and mentioned in one of the pre ending posts).
I also agree Rocco Prestia should be listed - great bassist with a very distinctive playing style. Duck Dunn was one of the original greats.
My guess is that a person who thinks Jamerson's playing was simple is either:
Focusing on the genre.
Motown was brilliantly written pop/soul music aimed at AM radio. One of the glories of Jamerson is how subversive he was, managing to make complex playing work under pop songs. If a person is narrowly focused on, say, Dream Theater's genre, he or she might assume Jamerson's playing was simple based on the genre, without actually listening closely to him.
Or...
Listening to the wrong songs. Jamerson stuck to the written parts on early things like Jackie Wilson's "Higher and Higher", the Temptations' "My Girl" and the Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love." These are all parts which a high school jazz band bassist could sightread (but not play with Jamerson's feel). It wasn't until a little later that Jamerson really started to improvise.
Focusing on the genre.
Motown was brilliantly written pop/soul music aimed at AM radio. One of the glories of Jamerson is how subversive he was, managing to make complex playing work under pop songs. If a person is narrowly focused on, say, Dream Theater's genre, he or she might assume Jamerson's playing was simple based on the genre, without actually listening closely to him.
Or...
Listening to the wrong songs. Jamerson stuck to the written parts on early things like Jackie Wilson's "Higher and Higher", the Temptations' "My Girl" and the Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love." These are all parts which a high school jazz band bassist could sightread (but not play with Jamerson's feel). It wasn't until a little later that Jamerson really started to improvise.
