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James Jamerson


chris_b

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2 minutes ago, 4000 said:

It doesn’t have to fall under your personal tastes. You can appreciate and acknowledge what someone does as a musician - or any kind of artist - without necessarily liking it. 

I tried discussing this on a different thread but I didn't express myself very well. I entirely agree that any music has merit and we can appreciate and learn from any musician. However, as music lovers, and people for whom music can provoke a powerful, passionate response,  I firmly believe it is much more difficult to truly appreciate the work of a bass player if the music he is a part of is so far from what you enjoy.

If I can't stand a song I will necessarily struggle to enjoy any part of it. Maybe in isolation the bass part may be wonderful, but bass is a complimentary instrument, it doesn't work on its own. So to listen to it in context while grinding my teeth and with clenched fists, it would be so much harder to appreciate.

 

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  • 3 months later...

Hello, few years back I found an article (maybe in BassPlayer) an interview between Anthony Jackson and James Jamerson Jr. They discussed some less known basslines by James Jamerson and it was very interesting. Unfortunately I can´t find it anywhere. Does anyone know where to find it?

Edited by Tom Jung
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On 01/01/2020 at 16:58, chris_b said:

A Pointer sisters track from the 70's, featuring a fantastic bass part from James Jamerson.

I guess this is from his LA period. This is nothing like his Motown tone, but sounds equally good IMO. Impeccable playing a fat punchy tone. I can't see why those producers didn't like him.

Enjoy.

 

Big Jamerson fan the reason I picked up the Bass....he sounds so different on this track and it's well documented about his falling out of favour with producers, personally if you hadn't pointed out this was Jamerson I would of never thought it was him, I prefer the old Jamerson tone but that's what I love about him he remains in my opinion the best ever....RIP.

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As I've already posted on other related topics, it was hearing 'I Was Made To Love Her' that cemented my lifelong infatuation with the bass in general and Jamerson in particular (when I found out who he was).  This guy was in a league of his own and it's no wonder he was earning IIRC $25k a month when that was a HUGE amount of money.  I know this stuff is always subjective but I have yet to hear a Jamerson part that I can fault.  He just had that natural ability to come up with parts that set the benchmark for the song in question.

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5 hours ago, scrumpymike said:

As I've already posted on other related topics, it was hearing 'I Was Made To Love Her' that cemented my lifelong infatuation with the bass in general and Jamerson in particular (when I found out who he was).  This guy was in a league of his own and it's no wonder he was earning IIRC $25k a month when that was a HUGE amount of money.  I know this stuff is always subjective but I have yet to hear a Jamerson part that I can fault.  He just had that natural ability to come up with parts that set the benchmark for the song in question.

So true.

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For me it was bass lessons with @chrisaxe where he had me analyse JJ's bass line to Ain't no mountain high enough.

The breathtaking ability - alchemy I should say - to create bass gold from the same mundane, every day scales we all have at our disposal.

As a poet who, having no more than the same 26 letters that you and I employ to ask for directions to the bus stop, creates a delicate, unexpected and powerful piece of written art, so Jamerson's work, at its heart has nothing remarkable and yet is extraordinarily beautiful. The master indeed.

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@chris_b thanks for posting this - I've been working my way through What's Going On using the Standing in the Shadows of Motown transcription and with La Bella 1954 Deep Talkin' Flats on the P,  but as soon as I heard this I had to try it out.

May need @chrisaxe to help decode the second part of the lick though!

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