This past week, Fender officially released the limited edition James Jamerson 1962 Precision Bass (https://www.fender.com/products/james-jamerson-1962-precision-bass). At a cost of $3,000.00 retail, it is definitely more than the standard Precision bass available. However, the reasoning behind issuing this tribute instrument seems totally worthwhile.
Every bassist in the rock, jazz, blues, and R&B genres today is in some way influenced by Jamerson. He is often considered the greatest bass player in modern pop music history. Born in South Carolina, he move with his family to Detroit at a young age. He learned to play upright bass while in high school, and turned down a college music scholarship in order to play in the jazz clubs around town.
In 1959, he began to get work at Berry Gordy’s Hitsville USA studio, the home of Motown Records. He became the main bass player for what became known as the Funk Brothers, a group of musicians that created the “Motown Sound” on hundreds of recordings in the 1960s and early 1970s. The list of his work is earth shaking: “My Girl” by the Temptations, “You Can’t Hurry Love” by the Supremes, “Dancing in the Streets” by Martha and the Vandellas, “Bernadette” by the Four Tops, “For Once in My Life” by Stevie Wonder, and “Going to a Go-Go” by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles just to name a few.
Because Gordy felt that the Funk Brothers were merely employees of Motown, the members never received any recognition with their work. Their names never appeared on any liner notes until 1971, when Marvin Gaye listed them on his What’s Going On album. While recording the title track, Gaye would not proceed until Jamerson was located to lay down the bass track. When found, Jamerson was highly intoxicated, and was unable to stand upright. He recorded the legendary bass lines while lying on his back.
When Motown Records moved to Los Angeles in 1972, Jamerson made the move as well, but found that LA studios had a different attitude than what he experienced in Detroit. They required exact reading of charts, and a more bright sound from the bass guitar using roundwound strings (Jamerson had always used flatwound strings, similar to what was used on upright basses). While he did appear on some disco hits of the era, he slowly lost access to studio jobs by the 1980s. In 1983, Jamerson died of cirrhosis due to complications from alchoholism.
Largely forgotten immediately after his death, a book in 1989 entitled Standing in the Shadows of Motown did an extensive biography on Jamerson, including interviews with many rock and jazz bassists. The 2002 documentary of the same name highlighted his work along with the other Funk Brothers. Today, the number of bassists that name Jamerson as an influence is endless: Paul McCartney, John Entwistle, John Paul Jones, Geddy Lee, Bootsy Collins, Flea, Stanley Clarke and Sting just to name a few. Jamerson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, and the Funk Brothers received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013.
Back to the bass guitar, this is a recreation of the 1962 Precision bass that Jamerson used during most of his career. It was his third Precision model (the previous two were stolen), and he used a Fender Bass V and a Hagstrom eight-string bass on occasion. This bass comes with a rosewood fretboard, a three-tone sunburst body, chrome covers for the pickup and bridge, and a finger rest (guitarists playing the bass in the early days often used the thumb for plucking the strings). It is strung with flatwound strings, which give off a much more hollow sound closer to an upright bass. Jamerson was known to never change his strings unless they broke, so they may have remained on the bass for years. He claimed that the dirty strings gave the sound its “funk.”
While this bass guitar may get the player closed to the “Motown Sound,” one needs to remember that the bass is only half of the sound. In the studio, Jamerson’s bass was plugged directly into the mixing board. Strangely, many of the guitars were as well, and the monitoring for all of these instruments was done through a large speaker, which some of it bled back into the drum and other microphones while recording. When he did use an amplifier, it was usually an Ampeg B-15 Portaflex tube amp/speaker combo (one of the absolute best bass amps ever made!), or a Kustom stack.
If I had $3,000 to spare, would I snag this bass? Absolutely! Not only due to the sound that the early Precision basses gave off, but to appreciate the work that Jamerson gave to modern pop music. I recommend anyone to watch the 2002 documentary on the Funk Brothers, and if in Detroit, to visit the Motown Museum to see the “Snake Pit,” the recording studio that so many hits from the 1960s were recorded at. Jamerson deserves so much more recognition in the music industry than what he has received, but this Precision bass helps.
Next weekend I will be at the Charlotte Bluegrass Festival, so the blog may be late.
Chew on it and comment.
Luegra 