Is Wilton Felder one of the best bassists of the 70s

[jamersongoated]

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. 

[EdLib-3]

His playing on Jimmy Smith's Root Down live album is pretty damn great too. I would say for me Joseph 'Lucky' Scott from Curtis Mayfield's band and George Murray from Bowie's classic 70s era would just edge Wilton for two of my picks for greatest bassists of the 70s. That is if we're talking less well known, less acclaimed players of that decade. So, not the guys who would regularly top Bass Player magazine polls for best bassists - Geddy, Jaco, Anthony Jackson, John Paul Jones and the like.

[Burns-bass]

Utterly pointless to try and grade art and artists. Just sit back and enjoy.

[EdLib-3]

On 04/11/2025 at 21:20, Burns-bass said:

Utterly pointless to try and grade art and artists. Just sit back and enjoy.

I'm not grading anything. I'm talking about players whose playing connects to me most on a personal level, related to topic of the thread. As with any form of art and music, everyone has their favourites and it can make for an interesting discussion.

Edited 15 hours ago by EdLib-3

[Bagman]

“Root Down” is very good 

[chris_b]

I first heard Wilton Felder in 1973, on the Crusaders album 2nd Crusade. I bought it the next day. . . .

 

ps Click on the 1/9 on the right hand side of the screen to play the rest of the album.

 

 

[DF Shortscale]

5 minutes ago, chris_b said:

I first heard Wilton Felder in 1973, on the Crusaders album 2nd Crusade. I bought it the next day. . . .

 

ps Click on the 1/9 on the right hand side of the screen to play the rest of the album.

 

 

This album has some beautiful bass playing on it, pretty much all the way through. One of my all time favourites.

[Mrbigstuff]

5 hours ago, jamersongoated said:

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. 

He played on some great records in the 60s/ early 70s, like Chris B I particularly enjoy The Jazz Crusaders music. But Jaco pushed bass playing further than anyone has and that started in the 70s.

[jamersongoated]

3 hours ago, EdLib-3 said:

His playing on Jimmy Smith's Root Down live album is pretty damn great too. I would say for me Joseph 'Lucky' Scott from Curtis Mayfield's band and George Murray from Bowie's classic 70s era would just edge Wilton for two of my picks for greatest bassists of the 70s. That is if we're talking less well known, less acclaimed players of that decade. So, not the guys who would regularly top Bass Player magazine polls for best bassists - Geddy, Jaco, Anthony Jackson, John Paul Jones and the like.

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.

[Leonard Smalls]

8 hours ago, Mrbigstuff said:

But Jaco pushed bass playing further than anyone has and that started in the 70s.

As did Stanley Clarke...

Bootsy started in the 60s, as did Larry Graham...

[Mrbigstuff]

16 minutes ago, Leonard Smalls said:

As did Stanley Clarke...

Bootsy started in the 60s, as did Larry Graham...

I thought about bootsy and Stanley before posting. Both incredible and I have music from both, but neither put the bass front and centre quite as strikingly as Jaco (although bootsy’s image might give a different narrative). While he wasn’t the first virtuoso, Jaco was the Hendrix of the bass world in the mid to late 70s. 

[iainbass]

The brilliant Wilton Felder played on one big hit, the Jacksons  IWYB and a stonking groove it is to, but he was primarily a highly sought after saxophonist. For my money there's a whole tranch of little known post Jamerson players from that period worthy of consideration including Scott Edwards, Philly souls Ronnie Baker and Henry Davis who played on Love Hangover.. etc. All top flight studio guys who very few people have even heard of.

[EdLib-3]

22 hours ago, chris_b said:

I first heard Wilton Felder in 1973, on the Crusaders album 2nd Crusade. I bought it the next day. . . .

 

ps Click on the 1/9 on the right hand side of the screen to play the rest of the album.

 

 

Wow! This awesome!!! Thanks for sharing!! 

[jamersongoated]

On 05/11/2025 at 10:37, iainbass said:

The brilliant Wilton Felder played on one big hit, the Jacksons  IWYB and a stonking groove it is to, but he was primarily a highly sought after saxophonist. For my money there's a whole tranch of little known post Jamerson players from that period worthy of consideration including Scott Edwards, Philly souls Ronnie Baker and Henry Davis who played on Love Hangover.. etc. All top flight studio guys who very few people have even heard of.

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.

[jamersongoated]

Just now, jamersongoated said:

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.

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.