jamersongoated

Knew that was coming…

I have never grown to virtuoso bass. I appreciate Jaco and his work, however past him and Wooten I don't find it impressive. I feel crafting a bass line around a melody and creating something that sticks through a mix and conveys the emotion of the song to be a lot more important. Which is why I hold Jamerson, Felder, East, Rainey, Louis Johnson, Benard Edwards, John Taylor etc in so high regard.

Plus we’ve all overlooked Motown/UMG’s Christmas payday song… Santa Claus is Coming to Town… the bass line is great on it and shows a lot of restraint while driving the groove.

Hi all, I’ve been trying to get my hands on a Sunn 200s or Solardo. None available to buy in the UK and of course amps are awkward to shop. What would be the closest alternative to one of these amps. (or if someone has one that they might be thinking of selling shoot me a dm)

Ron Brown has since disappeared… his daughter went on to talkbass 6 years ago saying that she had lost contact with him. Apparently he was last in the Texas area after moving away from La when the major session scene modernised in the mid 80s. He would be around 85.

Ron Brown is probably the pioneer of the LA post Jamerson sound. We would not have Felder without Ron Brown, Felder had mentioned in an interview with Jake Feinberg that he was given his big break by Ron Brown when he asked Felder to substitute for him on what I can only guess was the IWYB session.

There is a lot that Felder hasn’t been credited for unless you dig deeper. Some of his work fitting around a complex arrangement such as on The Hues Corporation Love Corporation or Take a Melody. I think Hungate also gets missed out far too often as one of the greatest too.

Hi all, Posing a highly opinionated question but hoping to get a collective answer at the end of it. Would you consider Wilton Felder one of the greatest bassists of the 70s. I know I want you back is the best bass line of all time however some of his other work either for Motown, RCA, ABC etc have also been hugely influential lines.

*Hungate isn't credited. Felder is...

Some of his work for RCA Victor (The Hues Corporation, Love Corporation) is great, too. Really playing for the song... Although he isn't credited, I believe he shared the sessions with David Hungate on this album.

In this video you can see him playing a Yamaha. He also seems to be playing with a variation on the Jamerson hook. I think this is the only video of him playing bass, I'm wondering if he learnt partially from sitting in sessions with Joe Sample where he would have seen Jamerson and maybe he picked it up from him? Look closely at his fingers at 3:54. Video here

Most famously, however he’s played a jazz bass, aria and later in life Yamaha basses.

He never owned a P bass. I believe he played a jazz bass on Rock the Boat, Mamma Pearl is also a spurious one as it doesn’t sound like a tele bass but I have the multitrack for that one so I’ll post his isolated bass soon.

I can get that kind of ponk sound on my jazz bass though, I think its also high action as well as playing fairly old flats but not Jamerson old and playing fairly hard?

Someone on talkbass (I think) emailed the crusaders management before he died, where he replied 'Always fingers, never a pick'. He's playing by the bridge (maybe with longer nails than most players would have) going straight into a DI with little to no EQ. The singe coil pickup of the tele bass would also help towards that I guess. Can't wait to receive the 51 p from you though and recreate this.

Although he is playing it at the bridge.

If you listen carefully… he’s playing the funk machine on Let’s Get It On. Jamerson was present at that session but Felder’s take was used over Jamerson for that track.

I think Wilton Felder is an underrated bassist and deserves more credit with his work from the late 60s when he was given his Fender Telecaster Bass by a club owner in 1968 (which is when he began to learn bass) to playing I Want You Back in 1969 and the amount of musical understanding that he shows throughout everything he played shows that he truly deserves to be credited amongst the session greats such as Chuck Rainey, Carol Kaye, Abe Laboriel, Nathan East etc.