At Northwestern High, Jamerson picked up an upright bass that was lying on the floor in the music room and "found" his instrument. In 1953, Jamerson's mother moved to Detroit to find work. Forced to wear high-topped shoes in order to walk, the incident left Jamerson with a slight limp and a gnawing self-consciousness that would haunt him for his entire life. He began developing his innate musical talents while incessantly listening to gospel, jazz, and blues stations.Īfter a bicycle accident, he spent a year in a wheelchair. When his parents divorced, Jamerson divided his time between his grandmother who played piano, an aunt who sang in the church choir, and practicing piano at his cousin's house. His father worked in shipyards and his mother was a domestic worker. was born on January 29, 1936, in Charleston, NC, to the union of James Lee Jamerson, Sr. Licks" Slutsky (publisher Hal Leonard), not much has been written about the bass-playing wonder. Other than the loving tribute Standing in the Shadows of Motown: The Life and Music of Legendary Bassist James Jamerson, a classic book/CD set by Allan "Dr. Jamerson's playing was nothing short of revolutionary. The innovative bassist moved R&B/pop bass playing from the standard two-beat root fifth (dum-de de de-dum dum) to an approach that was more dynamic: using zipping passing tones, Ray Brown-like walking bass lines, double stops, and syncopation. Jamerson wasn't Motown's first bassist, but he was certainly the first to incorporate a fresh perspective and intuitiveness along with his own jazz/blues-oriented background to Motown founder Berry Gordy's R&B/pop leanings. Throughout the entire classic Motown catalog (and some non-Motown sides), Jamerson shaped a new inventive style of bass playing and brought what had been regarded by some as a "minor" instrument to the forefront through the use of the electric Fender bass, powered by his musical genius and amazing dexterity. It was a shame we didn’t know their names until the 1970s came around, but the recordings speak for themselves and still influence many players to this day.Legendary Motown bassist James Jamerson single-handedly revolutionized bass playing. And a lot of that came straight from Motown. For those that think that way, I’d say to look back a decade earlier, because there was some unbelievably fantastic bass lines heard in the popular songs of the 1960s and very-early 1970s. It’s a good thing Marvin did that because the end result was an amazing song that wouldn’t have been the same without James’s bass mastery.Ī lot of bass players feel that the later 1970s was the pinnacle of all bass playing. What’s Goin’ On by Marvin Gaye (released May 1971) is one of the more interesting tracks James played on, because Marvin actually had to hunt down Jamerson and almost drag him into the studio just to get the track done. Of course, James is well-known today as a very influential player because he has quite the impressive résumé, as he’s played for Stevie Wonder, The Miracles, The Temptations, Martha and the Vandellas (as heard above), Marvin Gaye and the list goes on and on. Why? Because for anything Motown released prior to 1971, session players weren’t credited. Motown Records had a few regular session bass players in their stable (such as Wilton Felder, heard prominently on the studio recording of I Want You Back by the Jackson 5), but the one you heard often but never knew his name was James Jamerson.
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