CALL IT A PERFECT STORM OF BASS. The setting is Studio A at Universal Mastering Studios East, in midtown
Manhattan. Sitting at opposite ends of the board are Anthony Jackson and James Jamerson Jr., the world’s foremost
authorities on the style and substance of Motown master James Jamerson. Harry Weinger, VP of A&R for Universal
Music’s catalog division, with a menu of original session tapes at his fingertips, starts the Supremes’ 1968 single, “Reflections.”
Instantly, and without noticing the other, Anthony and James Jr. begin intently playing air bass, each precisely
matching the notes emanating from the speakers. And what notes they are. With several instruments turned off in our
custom mix, and Jamerson’s bass boosted, his part is more than just ghost-in-the-machine groove, it’s a living, breathing
entity that can physically move you—as we learn when one of his token drops causes our collective bodies to bend
sideways in delighted reaction. Recalling his vault experience in BP’s December ’02 cover story.
Standing in the Shadows of Motown
author Allan Slutsky described Jamerson’s
isolated tone as “reeking of bad
breath, cheap booze, and body odor.”
Our noses twitch at that very accurate
notion while our ears marvel at the
warm, round, slightly overdriven sound
of the ’62 P-Bass “Funk Machine” captured
direct to console.
It was at the suggestion of Slutsky,
and with the aid of Weinger and his
crack staff, that we decided to visit “the vault” to commemorate
the 50th Anniversary of Motown, the label that launched
the legendary career of the father of the bass guitar. As James
Jr. noted, “When you say, ‘the Motown sound,’ you might as
well say my dad. Take his bass off all of those tracks and then
see what you have. What still amazes me is how he developed
a different style for each Motown artist; he could be busy for
Stevie Wonder, melodic for Marvin Gaye, cool and laid-back
for Smokey Robinson, deep and resonant for the Temptations,
and come up with something else for the Supremes, the Four
Tops, and Martha Reeves.” Indeed, for
countless bassists worldwide, whether
they knew his name or not, Jamerson
forged the rudimentary template for
the instrument, as well as the creative
inspiration to reach higher on it. One
teen disciple was Jackson, who recalls
going to clubs and draping himself
over the jukebox to feel Jamerson’s
parts. “He was my greatest teacher.
In my formative years on the bass guitar
it’s astounding to think of how prolific he was; there was
a new masterful performance hitting the airwaves every week.
For me, in terms of contributions to his instrument and his
art, he stands shoulder-to-shoulder with such singular musical
giants as Charles Ives, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, and
Jimi Hendrix.”
Over the next four hours we would experience some of
Jamerson’s best-known “hits” up close, enhanced with the
secrets contained in the masters. An alternate vocal take of “I
Was Made to Love Her” began with Stevie Wonder chiding,
“It’s a crying shame that a sighted guy can’t work a recorder!”
And laughing to a fellow musician, “You’re so wrong you can’t
even do wrong right!” It ended with the discovery of a cello
part in the fade that both doubled and played contrary to
Jamerson’s famed bass line. “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing”
revealed guitarist Robert White’s penchant for doubling the
bass in overdubs, as well as eliciting one of James Jr.’s many
straight-out leg thrusts—the same move his father made when
a track was really happening. And with only the original room
sound around it, “What’s Going On,” Jamerson’s personal
favorite song and album of his work, sounded as fresh and relevant
as if it were cut in Motown’s “Snakepit” last week. Adding
to the vinyl-era vibe, ex-Supreme Mary Wilson phoned in to
express her support for the proceedings.
The hits, however, were not what brought us together. We
were on site to hear tracks hand-selected by Jackson and Jamerson
Jr.; songs that for the most part were B-sides at best, but are
seminal within the Jamerson lexicon [see sidebar]. To that end,
the real find of the day occurred while searching for all the available
multi-track masters of a song entitled “If You Let Me,”
recorded by Jimmy Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, and the Four Tops.
On one of the tracks for Ruffin’s single version was a 1968 complete
demo sung by the song’s composer and producer, Frank
Wilson. As the tape rolled, a few warm-up tugs on the bass
strings heard during the count-off were a telling sign. After a
three-bar intro, Jamerson burst forth with a staggering steady-
16th-note part outlining the descending changes, mirrored by
the string section soon after. With Wilson’s scratch vocal and a
light drum part, it was the ultimate in-your-face subhook, almost
over the top even for King James. Adding to the magic was James
Jr.’s sudden realization that he was in the Snakepit the day it
was recorded. He offered, “I remembered as soon as I heard
the introduction. Frank always let Dad be himself. There was a
period where live audiences were complaining the songs didn’t
sound like the records, while coincidentally, the road bassists
were complaining that dad’s parts were too hard to play, so
Motown sort of reined him in for a while. This part probably
reflects both the frustration of that situation and the start of his
return to stretching out, which peaked with Marvin Gaye letting
him loose on What’s Going On.”
As our time wound down, both appreciative aficionados
reflected on the impact Jamerson had on their early playing careers.
Said James Jr., “Of course, for me it started when I was 14 and at
the session for ‘Flower Girl’ [from Smokey Robinson & the Miracles’
A Pocket Full of Miracles, 1970]. Dad stormed out for one
reason or another, and Robert White and Earl Van Dyke told me
to pick up his bass and play! That was my first recording. Dad
was so busy with Motown, tracking all day and playing clubs at
night that I’d see him at Hitsville as much
as at home. Still, he was very helpful and
supportive, insisting that I learn to play
upright before I played bass guitar, guiding
me, and later recommending me; he took
pride in my career.” Jackson recalled, “There
were no credits on the albums, so I didn’t
know his name for years. Finally, it was listed
it on the back of the Four Tops’ Still Waters
Run Deep [1970] as, ‘Bass personified: James
Jamerson.’” He continued, “When I started
doing sessions, I was trying to do Jamesand-
more, and none of the producers would
have it; only Jamerson was allowed to play
the way he did. But it was a great discipline;
it forced you to find another way to make
a powerful statement without shining the
light in people’s eyes, so to speak; through
judicious note choices, phrasing, touch, and
dynamics—concepts I’d learned about from
Jamerson in the first place.” Summed up
James Jr., of this latest look at his father’s
legacy, “Somewhere, dad is once again smiling,
knowing his work wasn’t in vain. The
one gig he always wanted was to be a music
teacher at the high school or college level.
Well look at all the players he has reached
now; he’s teaching the world.”
“REFLECTIONS”
ALBUM: Reflections, Diana Ross & the
Supremes, 1968
DESCRIPTION: Suitably trippy for the time,
this brooding classic rides Jamerson’s
bouncing groove rife with his singular
brand of syncopation and chromaticism.
Ex. 1 shows a typical four-bar transition
between the verse and chorus.
Anthony: “To start with, the orchestration
here is unheard of in pop, even 40
years later: Two electric guitars, bass guitar,
simplified drum kit with hi-hat, bass
drum and snare drum, accordion, Wurlitzer
electric piano, piccolo, and string
quartet. That was the brilliance of the
writer-producers, Holland-Dozier-Holland.
It’s also a class-one, outstanding
Jamerson performance that shows his gift
for musical solutions to complex challenges.
His use of open strings, such as
the A-naturals in bars 3 and 4, work more
as a melodic line than notes that strictly
follow the harmony, making them ‘extraharmonic.’
He knew taking a consonant
set of changes and using chromatics for a
melody creates great contrast; it moves
by quickly and doesn’t linger, so there’s
no sense of wrong-sounding notes.”
James Jr.: “In addition to the orchestration,
given the limited amount of tracks
Hitsville had, it’s fascinating to hear what
instruments they would bounce to one
track, like say, bongo, tambourine, and
vibes. But they always kept Dad alone on
his own track.”
“THE HAPPENING”
ALBUM: Diana Ross & the Supremes
Greatest Hits, 1967
DESCRIPTION: What is essentially a show
tune with a near-corny “two feel” co-written
by L.A. film composer Frank DeVol
becomes a laboratory for Jamerson. His
between-the-beat ghost-notes, drops, and
climbs single-handedly provide the feel and
attitude, and make the song hip. Ex. 2
shows the first four bars of the verse, with
a devastating drop in bar four that has to
be heard isolated to be fully appreciated.
Anthony: “This track really shows Jamerson’s
first-rank musicianship. The chord
changes move around, alluding to different
key centers, and there’s even some
doubling of the melody in what was no
doubt a written part. You can hear the
effect of the passing tones he uses, being
dictated often by open strings. Most
remarkable is that when the tune goes up
a half step, from G to Ab, most players
would change their part, or at least where
they play it. Jamerson doesn’t. He uses the
same open strings to preserve the impact
and integrity of his bass line.”
James Jr.: “The key here is this track was
cut in Los Angeles with another bass player
but then they sent it back to Detroit to rerecord
the track; they felt it needed my Dad.
The same thing happened later with the
Temptations’ ‘Papa Was a Rolling Stone.’
The producers at Motown in L.A. began to
think that way: What would this song sound
like if we put Jamerson on it?”
“MUTINY”
ALBUM: Roadrunner & Home Cookin’,
Junior Walker & the All-Stars, 1966 (cut in
1964 on three-track)
DESCRIPTION: A halftime-starting, doubletime-
ending, swinging blues jam, with solos
by Walker on alto sax, Victor Thomas on
organ, and Jamerson on a pre-“Funk
Machine” P-Bass. His intense, uprightfounded
walking lines build to a breathtaking
crescendo by track’s end and his solo is
melodic and well paced. Ex. 3 shows three
bars of his solo starting from the IV chord,
at the 2:21 mark. Note the stock jazz lick
in measures 1 and 3, and the thunderous
drop in measure 2.
James Jr.: “When I first put this on the record
player at home I was completely blown away.
Dad came down the steps with a little smirk
and was like, ‘Uh-huh; okay, let’s see you
play this.’ Although he rarely talked about
or wanted to hear Motown music at home,
he would occasionally let me know when
he liked something he played on, like What’s
Going On, Shorty Long’s Here Comes the
Judge [Soul, 1968] and Houston Person’s
The Real Thing [Eastbound, 1973]. He came
home with Houston’s album one night and
said, ‘Your daddy did the thing on here.’”
“I’M WONDERING”
ALBUM: Stevie Wonder: Greatest Hits, 1968
(first issued as a single in 1967)
DESCRIPTION: A down-home, feel-good
track jam-packed with textbook “Jamersonics.”
Ex. 4 shows the four-bar chorus at the
0:14 mark. Note the numerous open-string
and fretted passing tones and the delay in
getting to the Ab root in bar 4 (with the Db
on the downbeat, momentarily reharmonizing
the chord).
Anthony: “This is a very bold, busy, improvised
part loaded with notes outside the
chord that are as important as the consonant
notes; as such it almost functions as
percussion accompaniment—it even sounds
more heavily-muted, like he might have
had more foam onboard that day. Because
all the inside and outside notes are played
in a repeated pattern the part sounds well
thought out and not random. Still, by itself
it doesn’t really suggest a lot. But in the
context of the track it works splendidly.
As I’ve speculated in the past, Jamerson
likely conceived of his open-string
approach to facilitate position shifts, particularly
when followed by a fretted note
on the next lower string in one raking
motion. But it soon became an essential
part of his style, as is visible here in bars
2 and 4, where some open strings are followed
by ascending pitches.
“How was he able to play so many notes
without sounding busy? In short, he simply
had the magic formula—a musical intuition
for how to give and take, and pick his spots.
People have pointed to Benny Benjamin’s
solid, steady style, with his trademark quarter-
notes on the snare drum, as freeing up
Jamerson, but I believe he still would have
sounded the way he did without Benny.
Together, they were a team without equal.”
James Jr.: “Just incredible; my dad is dancing
on the bass right there. I had to record
that part verbatim for [guitarist] Al McKay;
he wanted it exact—it kicked my butt around
the room!”
“MY WHOLE WORLD ENDED (THE
MOMENT YOU LEFT ME)”
ALBUM: My Whole World Ended, David
Ruffin, 1969
DESCRIPTION: A medium pop tune with a
bouncy, doubletime undercurrent that rides
a (Four Tops) “Bernadette”-like ostinato
shown in Ex. 5. A key to the line is the ghosted
note on the second 16th of beat two, which
Jamerson lays back on. While he repeats this
figure through the C-Bb-F-C chord pattern,
dig his in-between fills and climbs.
James Jr.: “This is one of my favorite tracks
for the syncopation dad has going on and the
way he’s digging in. He rarely finessed the
bass, he would pull on the strings like he was
playing his upright. As a result, he could make
one note sound like a thousand. A lot of the
younger bassists think he’s playing more notes
than he is, and they overcompensate. They
haven’t learned yet how to come with the
power—how to make one note sing.”
“MY CHERIE AMOUR”
ALBUM: My Cherie Amour, Stevie Wonder,
1969
DESCRIPTION: The classic Stevie bossa is
the best-known hit on our list and a stellar
example of Jamerson’s modus operandi.
Ex. 6 shows the first four bars of the verse,
at the key change (1:56).
Anthony: “This is another top flight example
of Jamerson’s mastery of an improvised
bass line, which also happens to be well up
in the mix. He starts off with simple roots
in the intro, and when the verse enters he’s
off to the races. Yet because he begins so
sparsely there’s a sense of contrast and relief
when he gets moving. He then plays each
of the verses the same way, with minimal
variation—even when he modulates—
demonstrating complete control of the part.
There’s no ego factor nor a sense of ‘wait
till you hear my next set of licks in the second
verse.’ Jamerson might play a complex
phrase in a song but he would repeat it later,
which showed he was listening and knew
what he was doing. Also of note here is that
due to a light drum part, the bass carries
the groove. The Four Tops’ ‘Baby, I Need
Your Loving’ is another example of this. It
has an offbeat, Charleston-like drum part,
so Jamerson’s upright provides the pulse
and pushes the music forward.”
James Jr.: “The bass indeed carries the
whole song rhythmically, and is important
melodically, too. What caught my ear is the
different tone of the bass; either dad was
playing another P-Bass or more likely he
had new strings on the Funk Machine.”
“TOO MANY FISH IN THE SEA”
ALBUM: The Marvelettes: Greatest Hits,
1966 (first issued as a single in 1964)
DESCRIPTION: Jamerson anchors this classic
early-’60s groove with just two notes,
waiting patiently to make it his own. Think
Marvin Gaye’s “Ain’t That Peculiar” with
a simpler bass line. The first measure and
the first ending of Ex. 7 show the main bass
part. The second ending contains a typical
pickup he adds, starting at 1:58 and con-
tinuing in subtly varied forms through the
fade. Note the C on the last eighth-note of
the second ending, an anticipation of the
C coming on the downbeat of the next
measure, without being tied to it, and held
over the bar line. At other points Jamerson
leads up the C downbeat chromatically.
Jackson: “I first heard this in someone’s
car when I was 15 and it really made me
sit up and take notice. Everyone plays their
same parts throughout, until the end, where
only Jamerson stretches out. Although under
the radar, the impact of his musical decision,
whether dictated to him or not, is as
powerful and important as his more standout
tracks. When it comes to Jamerson’s
use of theme and development of a simple
part, however, his performance on Stevie
Wonder’s ‘Uptight’ is unsurpassed.”
“HOW LONG HAS THAT EVENING
TRAIN BEEN GONE”
ALBUM: Love Child, Diana Ross & the
Supremes, 1968
DESCRIPTION: A laid-back, ultra-funky
16th-note feel that brings to mind the kind
of New York City grooves Chuck Rainey
and Jerry Jemmott were playing at the time
(with Jaco on the horizon). Anthony Jackson
analyzed and transcribed the part for
the Standing in the Shadows of Motown
book/CD.
Anthony: “My cousin had a copy of Love
Child so I put it on and this was the third
song; by the time it was over I was in shock.
I’d been listening the Jamerson for some time,
but this was staggering. It became the song
I’d practice to and work on first and last every
day. All the key Jamerson elements are here,
dissonance as an effect, use of open strings
as both a rhythmic and melodic device, powerful
groove, and great sound. It has been
said that Chopin had a touch of the influence
of two other pianists of his time, but for
the most part he came out of nowhere, much
of his music was not as easily digested and
was technically demanding. The same can
be said of James Jamerson. Even five decades
on his genius is just impossible to trace.”
James Jr.: “Man, ‘How Long’ is one funky
track. If he could have kept playing like this
I often wonder where else he could he have
taken it to. There might have been a whole
’nother level after that!”
“HONEY BEE”
ALBUM: Love Child, Diana Ross & the
Supremes, 1968
DESCRIPTION: A bright, eighth-note-driven
track that’s deeper than it seems.
Anthony: “On the surface it sounds almost
like a throwaway track that the Funk Brothers
just went in and ran down. But it’s classic
Jamerson: heavily muted, aggressive, not
that many notes, and strong. The second
chorus opens with James playing a rake so
powerful it stands as a peak example of him
using that particular technique; it’s the E on
the D string, down to the B on the A string,
to the open E—real fast and twice in a row.”
James Jr.: “It’s one of my favorite Motown
tracks; it really moves.”
“IF YOU LET ME”
DEMO: Producer Frank Wilson on vocals
for Jimmy Ruffin version, 1968 (Ruffin version
issued on single as “If You Let Me, I
Know I Can”)
ALBUM: People... Hold On, Eddie Kendricks,
1972
DESCRIPTION: The first four measures of
the verse bass line in the demo version
described in the main story are shown in
Ex. 8. Most intriguing is how Jamerson plays
the 16th-notes straight against a feel that
has a 16th-note swing to it. Also, note his
use of C# ’s against the D chord in the last
two beats of bar two. His decision to dispense
with the harmonically correct D likely
has to do with him thinking ahead to the
octave-5th-root shape on beat four. Equally
impressive is Eddie Kendrick’s reggae shuffle
version, with Jamerson’s deep, bouncing
groove and sextuplet pickups seemingly
impossible to play with one finger (he also
plays the correct F# -D interval over the D
chord in the example above). Although not
heard the day we were in the vault, the Four
Tops’ version of the song—on their 1972
album, Nature Planned It—is closer in feel
to the Wilson demo, but with Jamerson scaling
back from 16ths to eighth-notes.
Anthony: “Both are great tracks. My feeling
is the demo line was probably not written;
perhaps Wilson showed him a basic
idea on piano and Jamerson ran with it.”
“IT’S WONDERFUL
(TO BE LOVED BY YOU)”
ALBUM: Ruff ’N Ready, Jimmy Ruffin, 1969
DESCRIPTION: A well-written, eighth-notebased
pop song that cleverly pivots between
C major and C minor.
Anthony: “I first came across it many years
later on the BBC; the single was only released
in the U.K. It’s just a great song with a terrific,
active Jamerson performance.”
James Jr.: “This is my first time hearing this
song and it is wonderful! I probably haven’t
heard half of my Dad’s work, they did so
much recording. And there are songs I
remember listening to while they were being
cut that I’ve never heard on record or radio.
Often, after the take I’d ask Dad who it was
for he’d say, ‘I don’t know, whoever.’”
“SHOE LEATHER EXPRESSWAY”
ALBUM: Sugar n’ Spice, Martha Reeves &
the Vandellas, 1969
DESCRIPTION: A funky bass riff and openvoiced
chords on acoustic piano make for
an offbeat but compelling track. Ex. 9a shows
the two-bar phrase, which is always the same
in bar 1, with bar 2 serving as an improvised
or fill measure. Here, note the ultimate Jamerson
“extra-harmonic”: landing on the Bn on
the (second) downbeat of a Gm7 chord. Ex.
9b shows the killer bass break at 1:39.
Anthony: “This is a stellar example of Jamerson’s
use of dynamics, which is the key to
making his repetitive part breathe. The highly
original track also reminds that Motown
was a collection of people who knew just
how far to push, from Berry Gordy on down.
Especially the Funk Brothers, who always
seemed to find a niche—even if their parts
were written—and do their own thing, while
maintaining the wishes of the composer,
producer, arranger, and artist.”
JAMERSON FILE
LIFESPAN: Born January 29, 1936, in Edisto Island, South
Carolina. Died August 2, 1983, in Los Angeles, California,
from a combination of cirrhosis of the liver, heart failure,
and pneumonia.
MOTOWN CAREER: 1959-1979. An upright bassist by training,
he first picked up a P-Bass in 1961 on the advice of
bassist Horace “Chili” Ruth.
KEY NON-MOTOWN ARTISTS: Jackie Wilson (“Your Love
Keeps Lifting Me Higher and Higher”); The Sylvers (“Boogie
Fever”); Al Wilson (“Show and Tell”); The Hues Corporation (“Rock the Boat”); The Crusaders
BASSES & STRINGS: Jamerson favored Fender Precision Basses, having a few stolen until in
1966 he found “The Funk Machine,” a stock sunburst ’62 P-Bass with high action, foam under
the bridge cover, and LaBella flatwounds gauged .052-.110. According to James Jr., the E and
A strings were “killer,” and the Bb on the A string “just exploded from the bass.” Although his
father would occasionally polish the body, he would never touch the gunky buildup on the fingerboard,
famously noting, “The dirt keeps the funk.” Unfortunately, the instrument, on which
Jamerson carved the word “funk” into the neck heel and filled it in with blue ink, remains missing.
His Motown German-built upright, however, now resides in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
AMPS AND RECORDING: Generally, when Motown switched from three-track to a hand-built
eight-track recorder, Jamerson recorded direct at Motown’s Hitsville Studio A, plugging into
one of five wall inputs. He would boost the volume on the input to get the VU meter slightly in
the red, giving him a bit of warm overdrive from the tube console. A Fairchild limiter and Pultec
EQ also figure into his sound, which he heard through a Bozak studio monitor. Later sessions
would sometimes include a miked Ampeg B-15.
TECHNIQUE: It has become legend that Jamerson plucked only with his index finger, notoriously
known as “the Hook.” James Jr. supports this, saying his Dad played upright the same
way. Jackson, however, recalls Jamerson using two fingers when trying out Jackson’s bass in
their lone meeting. Usually, Jamerson plucked the strings just in front of the metal pickup cover,
with his thumb hanging freely and his pinky, index, and middle fingers anchored on the cover.
AJ & JJ
Although they hadn’t
seen each other since
the 1989 book release
party for Standing In the
Shadows of Motown,
Anthony Jackson and
James Jamerson Jr.
have much in common
besides their expertise
in Funk Brother #1. Both are working on feature projects. Jamerson Jr., who can list the
Temptations, Teena Marie, Chaka Khan, the Crusaders, and his ’70s session-man band
Chanson among his extensive credits, is more than halfway through the recording of his
solo debut with the help of Cameo saxman Melvin Wells. He plans on releasing his cover
of “I’ll Be There,” in tribute to the late Michael Jackson, as an advance single. Anthony
Jackson, who after the vault visit appeared as a guest speaker at “The Motown Legacy”
class being taught by Harry Weinger at N.Y.U.’s Tisch School of the Arts, is putting the
wraps on a new project by Greek composer/bassist Yiorgos Fakanas [BP, Dec. ’08]. The
CD showcases the bass work of both men, with music orchestrated for a large ensemble
that includes Dave Weckl, Frank Gambale, and Mitch Forman.