The episode "On Bass" in the BBC4 Series "Guitar, Drum and Bass" was presented by Tina Weymouth, bass guitarist of Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club. She was a brilliant presenter of the story of how the stand up double bass was transformed into that electric instrument fundamental to rock in all it's forms.
She starts by describing the walking bass rhythms of the double bass to the slapped bass that made up for no drummer, and the vocal bass used in do-wop. With the introduction of the electric bass guitar in the early sixties, we were suddenly hearing those innovative riffs and bass lines created by the new bands. From Paul McCartney's bass line in "Day Tripper" to his earlier ground breaking (and my all time favourite) playing in "I saw her standing there".
Tina's explanations of new techniques was excellent. She describes one of the greatest bass players ever. James Jamerson was an uncredited and invisible studio bass player on Motown records. But his bass lines on tracks like My Girl" gave these records the iconic status they have today.
I had never heard of Jamerson nor Carol Kaye who played, and invented more iconic bass lines on "The Beat Goes On" and many, many other hit records.
Nor had I heard of Herbie Flowers. (Where have I been all these years). Herbie was a jazz double bass player who also played in the orchestra of many musicals in the West End. Starting out his career in pop music with David Bowie, he gets paid £12 for the session with Lou Reed where his bass line on "Walk on the Wild Side" is one of the most famous of all. I learnt about portamento, one note going up and the other down. But he got no composing credits.
However, just after half way in the programme, I lost interest in the more modern sounds. Not my era I'm afraid, but what an education about the early electric bass.
No comments:
Post a Comment