The admins really want us to resolve this question, don't they? One of the few connections we have to our old environment is the description text for each forum, so...
Anyway, I'll start with a few nominations. I'm trying to stick pretty closely to the wording in the title, so ~I'm talking about those bass players "without whom..." rather than merely listing those who are the most virtuosic or those who happen to play in favourite pieces of music.
Jimmy Blanton was Duke Ellington's bass player for just a couple of years and died tragically young. Nevertheless in that short time he invented the art of bass playing: before Blanton the bass's role was merely to mark the beat with root notes, but Blanton arrived playing melodic lines that swung all around the rhythm - and he did it without the least compromise to the band's drive. He singlehandely made it possible for the bass to take a position alongside and on a par with the traditional lead instruments. Before Blanton the bass was completely anonymous; after Blanton, Charles Mingus, Ray Brown, Paul Chambers - everybody.
James Jamerson. Of course, James Jamerson. Turned the bass into the wellspring of funkiness: like Blanton, he found space for melodic invention where before the purpose of the bass was just to act as a sort of tuned kick drum, playing on the one and three; like Blanton, he did that without losing any of the bass's drive - in fact, in the case of both men, the introduction of melodic invention and harmonic sophistication added to the punch at the bottom end of the mix. And his legacy is immense - not just hit-factory soul, but throughout rock and pop players owe an immense debt to Jamerson's groundbreaking playing and the light that he shone on the possibilities of the instrument.
Carol Kaye: if anybody sealed the transition from double bass to the electric bass guitar in popular music it was Carol. As the premier session bass player in Los Angeles in the late 1950s and the 1960s she earned a reputation as one of the finest musicians - not just bass players - that a producer could call on. Quincy Jones said "Fender bass player Carol Kaye...could do anything and leave men in the dust." She played for them all - Phil Spector, Brian Wilson, Elmer Bernstein, Lalo Schifrin, Hugo Montenegro and John Williams - and though at the time she was an anonymous session player, once you know a bass part is hers you can hear that it just couldn't be anyone else. Carol Kaye showed that the bass could take on personality.
I dunno. This could turn out to be a knockout, but it might just be more fun to argue the toss.
Anyway, I'll start with a few nominations. I'm trying to stick pretty closely to the wording in the title, so ~I'm talking about those bass players "without whom..." rather than merely listing those who are the most virtuosic or those who happen to play in favourite pieces of music.
Jimmy Blanton was Duke Ellington's bass player for just a couple of years and died tragically young. Nevertheless in that short time he invented the art of bass playing: before Blanton the bass's role was merely to mark the beat with root notes, but Blanton arrived playing melodic lines that swung all around the rhythm - and he did it without the least compromise to the band's drive. He singlehandely made it possible for the bass to take a position alongside and on a par with the traditional lead instruments. Before Blanton the bass was completely anonymous; after Blanton, Charles Mingus, Ray Brown, Paul Chambers - everybody.
James Jamerson. Of course, James Jamerson. Turned the bass into the wellspring of funkiness: like Blanton, he found space for melodic invention where before the purpose of the bass was just to act as a sort of tuned kick drum, playing on the one and three; like Blanton, he did that without losing any of the bass's drive - in fact, in the case of both men, the introduction of melodic invention and harmonic sophistication added to the punch at the bottom end of the mix. And his legacy is immense - not just hit-factory soul, but throughout rock and pop players owe an immense debt to Jamerson's groundbreaking playing and the light that he shone on the possibilities of the instrument.
Carol Kaye: if anybody sealed the transition from double bass to the electric bass guitar in popular music it was Carol. As the premier session bass player in Los Angeles in the late 1950s and the 1960s she earned a reputation as one of the finest musicians - not just bass players - that a producer could call on. Quincy Jones said "Fender bass player Carol Kaye...could do anything and leave men in the dust." She played for them all - Phil Spector, Brian Wilson, Elmer Bernstein, Lalo Schifrin, Hugo Montenegro and John Williams - and though at the time she was an anonymous session player, once you know a bass part is hers you can hear that it just couldn't be anyone else. Carol Kaye showed that the bass could take on personality.
I dunno. This could turn out to be a knockout, but it might just be more fun to argue the toss.
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