Ain't nothing like Jamerson

This post is obviously inspired by my previous one. It's useless right now to over-analyze James Jamerson's style of playing and its influence in modern music. I just want to enjoy the music. Here are several videos with isolated bass tracks played by the master himself. Bassists and musicians pay close attention. Listen and realize how you can still hear the whole song structure without the vocals, without the drums, without anything. Just bass... And you can still sing along. 

Ps. Hey... And before I forget... You can shove all your 5string, 6string, 1245string active basses up your ass. The truth hurts you wannabe guitarists...

Ps1. Bear in mind that James recorded the whole "What's going on" bass line while lying on the floor and looking at the ceiling.

Standing in the shadows of...

Yesterday, at about 4:00 am, I watched a great documentary called "Standing in the shadows of Motown". The title is obviously a paraphrase of "Standing in the shadows of love", a song performed by the Four Tops, which by the way is a song that clearly reveals the origins of US House.

It's the story of the Funk Brothers, the legendary group of session musicians, that shaped the so called Motown sound, performed on and wrote hundreds of hits known to everybody and who still remain unknown and poorly paid. At least half of them have died, tormented. Like James Jamerson, the bass prodigy, drummer Benny Benjamin, keyboardist Earl Van Dyke and guitarist Robert White, who is the inventor of the famous "My Girl" guitar lick.

The documentary also includes a one and only reunion concert of the Funk Brothers featuring guest vocalists like Meshell Ndegeocello, Chaka Khan, Ben Harper, Bootsy Collins, to name a few. It's a really moving documentary and you should definitely watch it and spread the word. It's the least we can do for this legendary group of friends and musicians. Enjoy...

Yours, Serafeim

Here's the trailer.

And here is a classic Motown song, whose title perfectly fits the occasion... By the way this classic guitar lick belongs again to the genius Robert White.