Wilton Felder appreciation

[jamersongoated]

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.  

[ian61]

Totally agree with you, IWYB is a stellar piece of bass writing and playing. I think the problem is he didnt really play on that much that is known, as saxophone was his primary instrument which he played on the Steve McQueen film, Bullit among others.

[chris_b]

I guess his name isn't well known amongst the general public, but as a 1st call session player in LA, he wasn't unknown or underrated by the music business. I first heard him in the early 70's when I bought the 2nd Crusade double album. His bass lines were simple, effective and musical.

[Piers_Williamson]

3 minutes ago, chris_b said:

I guess his name isn't well known amongst the general public, but as a 1st call session player in LA, he wasn't unknown or underrated by the music business. I first heard him in the early 70's when I bought the 2nd Crusade double album. His bass lines were simple, effective and musical.

Did he play on Sreet life?

[chris_b]

Yes. One of my favourites.

[obi 2 kenobi]

Also, check out Inherit the Wind solo album

[jamersongoated]

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. 

[jamersongoated]

Although he is playing it at the bridge.