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Why all the fuss over James Jamerson

#83
@Phil,..

it ain't that simple as saying, "right place at the right time", IMHO. my reason for loving JJ stems directly from his many creative bass-lines that just carried the swing. Marvin saw it!

WGO depends on that bassline almost as much as it depends on the vocals. how many times does that happen to that magnitude. as bassists, WE know it happens alot, but there's something Holy going on in "What's Going On" to my mind, body, & soul...
 
#84
pacojas said:
@Phil,..

it ain't that simple as saying, "right place at the right time", IMHO. my reason for loving JJ stems directly from his many creative bass-lines that just carried the swing. Marvin saw it!

WGO depends on that bassline almost as much as it depends on the vocals. how many times does that happen to that magnitude. as bassists, WE know it happens alot, but there's something Holy going on in "What's Going On" to my mind, body, & soul...
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If this was the TalkBongo forum we would be saying the same thing about the bongo playing. It is absolutely ludicrous to compare the bass part to Marvin's singing in importance. This song was a socio-political statement that defined a culture. WGO has great lyrics and singing. Period. It would have been a monster hit with or without Jamerson. I love his bass work too, but we're blowing this way out of proportion.
 
#86
sigmafloyd said:
If this was the TalkBongo forum we would be saying the same thing about the bongo playing. It is absolutely ludicrous to compare the bass part to Marvin's singing in importance. This song was a socio-political statement that defined a culture. WGO has great lyrics and singing. Period. It would have been a monster hit with or without Jamerson. I love his bass work too, but we're blowing this way out of proportion.
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This I would have to agree with, except there's no denying what a great bassline it is. But definitely, Marvin Gaye could have recorded that track with any bass player he wanted and it would have been brilliant. Just so happens he chose Jamerson, though, which to me just signifies his brilliance. But I'm pretty sure Willie Weeks or Bob Babbitt could have played on it and it still would have been brilliant. Entwistle? Not so much ;)
 
#94
sigmafloyd said:
I was talking about the guy playing the EBMM Bongo in the background, must have been travelling back in time
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ha! Seriously, this has been a great thread. Clicking on the links to the bass iso tracks just brings you to more of the same, and listening to them I realize how much Jamerson influenced me without my being aware of it.

The tone he has is very interesting, listening to it on the iso tracks. Almost a little choked, with very little sustain, but so deep and percussive, and he hits every note just dead-on tempo-wise. Upright influenced, but completely bass guitar in terms of what's happening on the neck.

Great stuff. Love Marvin Gaye too.
 
#95
Phil Smith said:
Take a look at some of his double bass playing contemporaries at the time or some of the double bassists that would have influenced him.
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Not going to deny that he had a lot of jazz bass players who influenced what he did. But like I said before, the ones who played electric pretty much did what they did on upright. Jamerson did a whole new style of playing in his own right. He certainly didn't create the Motown sound, but he's the one who frosted the cake.
 
#97
JimmyM said:
The bass is what made Motown special over the other similar types of music out there. Of course the writers and arrangers were important, but the bass is what gave all those songs their gravy. If not for the bass, Motown would have been good music with nothing really distinguishable from other music of its day.
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Respectfully, this is just nonsense, the Motown sound is the song writing and the arrangements.
 
#99
Phil Smith said:
Respectfully, this is just nonsense, the Motown sound is the song writing and the arrangements.
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Respectfully disagree. Motown is what it is. You can not separate these elements. True dat, the song writing was front and center. Wish there was more of that these days. However, the musicianship in the rhythm section was equally powerful, exceptional and special. Even the front people, such as Gladys Knight, and the songwriters, such as the various brothers Holland, are quite clear on this point if your ears aren't enough. Have you been hiding under a rock or just trolling? (JK, JK)
 
#100
The fact that the rest of the Funk Bros credit Jamerson with having developed the Mo-Town sound says it all for me. When you have a great playing live and studio guy like Babbit who folks think came after Jamerson giving so many kuddos to the man that should also tell you his importance. Babbit didn't follow anyone he was actually recording in Philly before the Mo-Town stuff and his style IS from the upright. The uase of open strings alone is a dead give away.
Anyone who can't hear greatness or see it and can't understand how being inventive revolutionalize an outlook on how to approach an instrument hopefully stays in the community centers and more importantly never TEACHES youngsters. Jamerson falls in line with the other great inovators who for some reason or another don't deal with the realites of life very well, and struggle to support their mental health. Its been like that for the great musicians for ever it seems even in our pop world of everything in 4. So simple yet some can expond on it like no others can even dream on it. Doc



Hey thanks on the JB original I couldn't think of his name and at the time I was listening to JB live at the Apollo, and I remember seeing Tim with James around 1962 I think, he was very cool and the Flames were "out of sight" HA! Doc
 

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