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Jamerson... a bit of a one trick donkey?


NickD
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[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Until I do my homework and have a strong understanding of their history, background and body of work you won't see me posting my opinion.[/font][/color]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]And at the end if the day why would I post negative opinions about any of these bass players. These guys "made it" I didn't and many of you haven't either. ;) ;)[/font][/color]

Edited by TheGreek
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[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1449745135' post='2926389']
[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]And at the end if the day why would I post negative opinions about any of these bass players. [/font][/color]
[/quote]

IMO, understanding the world these guys inhabited give you a better idea about them, their personality, playing and legacy. Finding out what their work mates thought is more interesting than all the blind praise.

If you've been influenced by a bass player it's a dead cert that they were influenced by JJ. No one gets to that point by being anything less than a genius at their craft. JJ almost single handedly altered the role of a bass player for everyone. Pre JJ we had root/5 and dum-de-dum bass lines. Post JJ the sky was the limit, and that makes him by far the most influential bass player yet

Still, you wouldn't want to be living next door to most geniuses. As a species they seem to very difficult people to get along with.

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[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1449749700' post='2926446']
Still, you wouldn't want to be living next door to most geniuses. As a species they seem to very difficult people to get along with.
[/quote]
It's the guys that think they are geniuses and are difficult people to get along with - they're the ones to watch!

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Mrs Graff works for some brainy scientific outfit where you can spot the thickos because they are the ones who only have a PhD from Oxford or Cambridge. The place is like a Victorian asylum with people running up and down the corridors screaming (well, that might be an exaggeration, but you get the idea.)

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[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1449693723' post='2926114']
Didn't Jamerson have difficulty finding work later on as producers felt his sound hadn't moved with the times? With hindsight his work comes across as classic rather than dated, but I guess there was a time when it didn't seem that way to everyone.
[/quote]

It is said he wouldn't update his sound, wouldn't consider slap or round wounds or newer amps.
It is also said alcohol may have made him harder to work with...
Anyway... he started to loose work as people booked him less and less.

All this was late 70's and early 80's IIRC when bass was pretty much going thru a revolution.
The fact that it hadn't had time to come full circle and he died in '83 probably meant he wasn't a well
man when he was losing work.

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[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1449749700' post='2926446']
IMO, understanding the world these guys inhabited give you a better idea about them, their personality, playing and legacy. Finding out what their work mates thought is more interesting than all the blind praise.

If you've been influenced by a bass player it's a dead cert that they were influenced by JJ. No one gets to that point by being anything less than a genius at their craft. JJ almost single handedly altered the role of a bass player for everyone. Pre JJ we had root/5 and dum-de-dum bass lines. Post JJ the sky was the limit, and that makes him by far the most influential bass player yet

Still, you wouldn't want to be living next door to most geniuses. As a species they seem to very difficult people to get along with.
[/quote]

Wasn't Macca influenced by Jamerson... or aren't we allowed to say that as the former is God in Blue's eyes

Edited by JTUK
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[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1449698769' post='2926169']
I find it a bit odd to focus in on one bassist in one genre. Motown was somewhat synonymous with the civil rights movement, and the music was made to capture the spirit of the era as it was unfolding. To perform a dry, academic analysis of this music, and the bass lines especially, seems a bit odd, when the actual cut and thrust of the music is ignored.

For me, I find Jamerson's lines to be a bit twee, if anything. I'm not convinced that such a fiddly bassist would be as popular in other circumstances.
[/quote]
Ha Twee?...Fiddly?.sounds like me on a good night...lol

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[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1449764204' post='2926640']




I haven't been on the Macca thread yet. I guess I'll give it a miss!
[/quote]

This thread was influenced by the Macca thread. In fact you could say that every thread since the Macca thread was influenced by it... whether they realise it or not.

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[quote name='Painy' timestamp='1449770350' post='2926718']
The forum is very entertaining at the moment. I'm thinking of starting a thread asking if the bass player from The White Stripes is really all that good and see what reactions I get B)
[/quote]

Not as good as the one in the Doors

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[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1449764204' post='2926640']
He says he was.

I haven't been on the Macca thread yet. I guess I'll give it a miss!
[/quote]

But he did not know his (Jameson's ) name at the time. I think Carol Kaye did the bass on Pet Sounds, which he also mentions as an influence.

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