Black History Month

In this, the 51st year of Motown records and that legendary Sound of Young America, let us not forget who, by all accounts, is one of the architects of that paragon of popular music, Charleston master bassist James Jamerson.

Last year during the golden anniversary, James was inducted into the Fender Hall of Fame.

I've been in touch with Bob Lee, who I was introduced to by James' Cousin, Anthony McKnight, about 10 years ago.

Bob, a Los Angeles resident who has Lowcountry roots himself, went to the ceremony and has kindly agreed to share with us here on Jamerson's homefront some information and insights on James' illustrious career as a founding member of the Funk Brothers, the Motown house band that drove the Miracles, the Temptations, the Supremes, Martha and the Vandellas, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and all the rest.

Bob, whose mother was born in Sumter in 1912 and whose grandfather, John L. James, owned a farm in Rembert, is a bassist himself and is the world's foremost expert on James' approach to the instrument, his music and his technique.

Bob, a bassist, composer and arranger, video editor, photographer and recording engineer, operates (or co-moderates) Jamerson Web sites on www.BassLand.net, which contains a complete Jamerson discography, and www.MySpace.com/jamesjamerson578 with Anthony.

Following the induction in Tempe, Ariz., we talked about some things:

Q: Why was Jamerson important to the popular music scene?

A: James Jamerson helped usher in a new period in popular music. He did it mostly from behind the scenes, yet he was right up front and in your face with those bass lines.

Q: How long have you been researching and writing about him and why is that important work?

A: I first noticed Jamerson in about 1963 when I started playing bass. I was a baby boomer that was in the first wave of bands that consisted of one or two electric guitars, a drummer and an electric bass player, maybe a saxophone (at least that is how it was where I lived in Asbury Park/Neptune New Jersey).

Keyboards were optional. James Jamerson was right there when I posed the rhetorical question, "How am I going to play this thing?" I was there early and progressed right along with and because of James' every increasing role in how the music was being orchestrated.

Q: Why has Jamerson's work had to be defended over the years?

A: Mainly because of claims to many of his signature bass lines by Carol Kaye. Back in 1967, most bassists considered it a badge of achievement just to attempt to play "I Was Made To Love Her" by Stevie Wonder and "Bernadette" by the Four Tops.

By this time (since the mid-1960's) I was already aware of who Jamerson was and I bought every one of the Motown records that was released where I lived.

So, when I first got a Web site (1994), Jamerson was the first player I honored with a page dedicated (not to defending him but) to acknowledging who he was to me (an inspiration and a role model musically).

I got involved with an online bass forum called "The Bottom Line" and Carol eventually joined the forum. After a while, I read where she was claiming that she was the bassist on some of Jamerson's signature recorded performances.

Allan Slutsky (Dr. Licks, author of "Standing in the Shadows of Motown," a bio of Jamerson and the Funk Brothers, the Motown house band) was also on that forum and at one point, he wrote a rather lengthy post addressing Ms. Kaye's claims.

I contacted Allan and got permission to post his statement regarding Jamerson and Kaye on my Jamerson Web site. This was in 1995, and while I KNEW in my heart that the bassist on the contested recordings was Jamerson, I also knew (at that time) that if I were going to challenge the word of a famous musician that I had better back my story up and there was no better way to backup my opinion than Jamerson's biographer (Slutsky). After all, I never met Jamerson.

Q: How did you meet Anthony McKnight?

A: My Jamerson page also led to me meeting Anthony McKnight, who contacted me after a search of the Net for his first cousin, James Jamerson, resulting in his finding my Web site.

This meeting has led to a long relationship with the Jamerson family and an invitation to speak at a tribute to Jamerson given by the Charleston Jazz Initiative at the Avery Research Center in 2003.

Jamerson's widow Anne, his mother, the late Elizabeth Bacon, and two of his children, Joey and Penny, were in attendance for this tribute.

I remember being the only guy in the room talking about Jamerson who was holding a bass in his hands. Sitting in the Avery playing the opening line from "My Girl" and telling the audience how this simple yet effective line opened the song was an experience I will never forget.

I think Jamerson was looking down on these events saying, FINALLY.

Q: What is significant about the Fender Hall of Fame induction?

A: Jamerson played most of his Motown hits (those using electric bass rather than upright bass) with a 1962 sunburst Precision (or P-) Bass.

On that instrument, for the most part, he led the way forward to the possibilities of the emerging styles attributable to the instrument in general and during those days the role Fender was to play for most of the next 40 years in multiple genres of popular music.

Next week: James Jamerson and his role in the Funk Brothers.

Editor's Note: This is the first of a two-part series on the influence of Charleston bassist James Jamerson.

Jack McCray, author of "Charleston Jazz," can be reached at jackjmccray@aol.com.