It sure is a fun one to play! Some kinks here and there in my performance, but I almost have it down!
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Who was Jim Croce's bass player?
- Thread starter big empty
- Start date
"I Got A Name" features my late father Joe Mack on this track. If you listen to his playing on "Abraham, Martin and John" (for Dion) and the first season of the "Love American Style" theme you can hear the connection. Bob Babbitt was a brilliant player, but he had a different approach than my dad. Sometimes tunes required simple parts and sometimes, as in this case, a player like my dad was given a great deal of freedom to improvise off the the changes. A Billboard profile of my father from the late 60's had one of the producers who used him a great deal of the time (I believe it was either Cashman or West) on record stating my dad was one of the most creative bass players in the world. Maybe that was a bit of hyperbole, but the point was he was recognized as a bassist who could come up with some very wonderfully creative stuff. FYI "Joseph Macho" was his legal name. He was born in Czechoslovakia and the name came from his Hungarian father. He adopted "Joe Mack" to simplify his name.
Exploiter8
Demons run when a good man goes to war
Great to hear that your Dad left you such good info about his career! Thanks for weighing in. Do you think the notion that Babitt might have played on the remake makes sense? It does seem logical, and Bob was very good at interpreting others' bass lines.
I suppose a remake of "I Got A Name" could have been done by Bob. My father passed away in August of 1977 so anything that happened after that would obviously have involved a different bass player. But the original single was definitely Joe Mack (Joe Macho - as his names reads on the back of the album)
I forgot to mention how delighted I am when anyone takes note of the bass playing on this track. I think out of all the recordings he did over the years from Dylan to Simon and Garfunkle to a whole bunch of artists, this is the one that arguably best showcased my father's sound, approach and his ability to come up with some cool improvised stuff. I especially love the part just before each turnaround where the figure is repeated down an octave. He got such a strong sound here, in no small part, due to the fact that he really dug into those La Bella flat wounds on his Fender, which was always set up with high action.
I didn't know until just now there was remake of "I Got A Name" that was used in the film, "The Last American Hero".....maybe this is the version that Bob Babbitt may have played on....
This is the most wonderful thing I've read on TalkBass, or any forum in a long time. Reading the exchange at the top of the thread, I could never have envisioned getting such a thrill.
How excellent of you to post this, and inform us. I absolutely LOVE the song "I Got a Name," and yes, that is a fantastic bass line on it. That song was the reason I learned to play an acoustic guitar, and sing, and doing so changed my life.
Thank you so much for posting here!
Do you yourself play?
Edited to add:
I looked at your profile, and see you do, indeed play. How cool.
Bob Babbitt passed last July. He is missed by myself & many more. He was one of the Greatest of all times. As was Joe. RIP Bob & Joe.....
I remember checking into this a few years ago myself, and I also remember reading that it was Bob Babbitt. But I don't know after reading this thread.
All these years and I never knew that Bob Babbitt had listed "I Got A Name" as a single that he had played on. I suspect It's all part of the confusion that sometimes occurs with session players who did so much work that they actually lost track of some of it, as well as just faulty recollection that occurs for all of us as time goes on. Bob had a fantastic career, was one of the great session players of his time and left us a fabulous recorded legacy. However, his note placement and sound were different than my father's. My dad grooved by placing his notes right smack on the beat and pushing the energy always forward. Bob's playing placed the note in a more traditionally R&B place in the beat - definitely on it but in a little more relaxed place on the beat. While they both got great sounds in the studio, the Joe Mack sound was extremely punchy and perhaps not as fat as Bob's - two great players with two different approaches. The "I Got A Name" track especially shows off "the Joe Mack thing", if that's a good way to describe it. If one were to take an audio survey of my dad's many recordings over the years, it would be easy to recognize his playing on this track. He did the bulk of the Croce recordings for Cashman and West and the great Stu Woods did the remainder, as the Croce album credits indicate. I saw my father play live with Croce in the early 70's at the Bitter End with a bunch of other session players and I never recalled Bob's name ever being mentioned back then as a player for any of these sessions. And I would have heard about that had that been the case. My dad, like all successful musicians, while extremely respectful towards the talent of his peers, was also quite competitive and knew pretty much everyone who was doing the important sessions back then. I have the highest of regard for Bob Babbitt's work and mean no disrespect to the man or his memory. And I certainly don't mean to grab any musical laurels from him and give them to my father. But, the single and album cut, "I Got A Name" was most decidedly recorded by Joe Mack.
One thing different about this particular song. It was NOT written by Jim Croce, as were all of the others he recorded.
"I Got A Name" was co-written by Charles Fox, who hired my dad for many sessions in New York before he relocated to LA. Among the studio sessions my father did for him was the theme for first season of "Love, American Style". The playing on this piece is similar to the Croce track in its style. I forgot to mention earlier that I remember getting my dad's estate reuse check for "I Got A Name" for the use of this song in the movie "Invincible" for Disney.
I'd agree, a close listen to the "album" version doesn't suggest Babbitt's attack or even his phrasing, IMHO. Thanks again for sharing your personal perspective. The world has lost two of its great EB pioneers.
Joe Macho was also known as Joe Mack. He was my father and he played on this particular track.
Bob Babbitt, who recently passed away himself has nothing to apologise for. Babbitt lays claim to the bass line on I've got a name...and Babbitt it is. Bob was the very last guy who would take credit for someone else's work and you can believe me on that..
I've always felt like Stone Temple Pilots owed royalties on "Interstate Love Song" for lifting that descending lick thing straight off of the "I've Got A Name" turnaround. But anyhoo...
Yes, a lot of tasty stuff on those Croce tunes and I'm also a big fan of Gordon Lightfoot for the same reason. It's a definite art to support guitar oriented singer-songwriters in the "soft rock" genre with bass lines that fill the gaps but never detract from the melody or lyric. The bassists who recorded with both of those gentlemen should definitely get their due.
Yes, a lot of tasty stuff on those Croce tunes and I'm also a big fan of Gordon Lightfoot for the same reason. It's a definite art to support guitar oriented singer-songwriters in the "soft rock" genre with bass lines that fill the gaps but never detract from the melody or lyric. The bassists who recorded with both of those gentlemen should definitely get their due.
I'm surprised at some of the earlier comments on this thread. Mistakes happen all the time with this kind of stuff and no one is trying to "diss" anyone here. I can only recall all the detective work I had to do years ago to definitively identify my dad's work on "Like A Rolling Stone". After looking at various photos, listening to all the available out takes, speaking with some of the other musicians on the "Highway 61" sessions (including Harvey Brooks), taking into account my father's history with Tom Wilson, the producer of "Like A Rolling Stone" and tapping into things written by Al Kooper and others it was obvious to me (and rock critic, Greil Markus) that this was him on this historic recording. The point here is that the waters sometimes get murky with who did what back then and while I have no reason to believe Bob was trying to anything other than set the record straight with "I Got A Name", the fact remains that the Joseph Macho (Joe Mack) estate has gotten reuse checks for this single, the album credits identifies him, the playing is clearly him and I was there back then and I remember the sessions he did and spoke about. And one can sonically connect the dots with his playing on this track with things he did for The Dovells, Dion, Bunny Sigler, Van Morrison and a number of other recording artists that showcased my dad's "busier" style, an approach that would not have been appropriate for a lot of the hits he played on back then. "Sugar, Sugar", "Sound of Silence", "Walk Away, Renee", "Both Sides Now", "Sunny"and other tunes like this had no need for much more than the right notes placed in the right spot with a great feel. I can only guess that an earlier version of "I Got A Name" was recorded by Bob for a movie. With this I am only speculating. Bob was great and nothing can take that away from him. And my dad, likewise, was a gifted player and this particular single is one of his finest moments. I trust Bob and Joe have had plenty of time in that great Studio In The Sky to straighten this out for all of eternity. If they are cool with whatever they agreed on, I'm sure the rest of us can be too.
Maybe it's an elaborate hoax or else... Think..."I got a name"...could it be the bassist yearning for recognition?
cool bass track! interesting that it was La Bella flats. they were able to get a lot of the hi frequencies to pop out on the recording. sounds perhaps like a Fender Jazz bass, that correct stephaniemac7? Or was your dad using a Precision?
Also, if you check out this youtube clip which features the opening credits to the film "The Last American Hero", you can clearly hear that it's a different version from the album/single version.
Also, if you check out this youtube clip which features the opening credits to the film "The Last American Hero", you can clearly hear that it's a different version from the album/single version.
