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James Jamerson
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
James Jamerson was born on 29 January 1936 on Edisto Island in South Carolina. He was raised partly by his grandmother, who played the piano, and he listened to gospel, blues and jazz on the radio. In 1954 he moved to Detroit with his mother. At high school he began playing the double bass, and before long he was working in the city's blues and jazz clubs.
Music and breakthrough
From 1959 he was a permanent fixture at Hitsville U.S.A., the studio of Berry Gordy and Motown. He belonged to the core of session musicians who called themselves The Funk Brothers and who play on the vast majority of Motown records of the 1960s. In the early 1960s he switched from the double bass to an electric Fender Precision. His bass can be heard on My Girl by The Temptations, You Can't Hurry Love by The Supremes, Dancing in the Street by Martha and the Vandellas, Reach Out I'll Be There by The Four Tops and most of What's Going On by Marvin Gaye. He played on 23 number ones on the American pop chart.
Influence
Before Jamerson, a bass player mostly played root notes and simple patterns. He turned them into flowing, melodic lines, with chromatic runs and syncopation, that nevertheless stayed locked to the groove of the drums. Bass players from Paul McCartney to Sting and Flea name him as an influence. Even so, he was not credited on a sleeve until 1971. After Motown moved to Los Angeles he faded from view, and he died there on 2 August 1983 of the effects of alcoholism.
Listening
In School of Rock
The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.
- Mixtape 6: Fear of a Black PlanetNL Reader
- Mixtape 12: The Hit FactoryNL Reader
Mentioned in other articles
- Fender Precision Bass Technology
In the Motown studio in Detroit, James Jamerson played agile, syncopated bass lines that form the heart of the hits.