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R&B Gold
Motown: The Early Years
By Ed Friedland |
When you think “Motown,” iconic songs like Marvin
Gaye’s “Heard It Through the Grapevine” or the Supremes’ “You Can’t Hurry Love”
come to mind. The record label’s signature sound featured polished, well-produced
vocals and backgrounds over a hard-grooving rhythm section, with songwriting
that easily crossed over to the pop market. But it didn’t necessarily start that way.
Berry Gordy founded Tamla Records in January 1959 after several years in the
industry as a songwriter (he penned the Jackie Wilson hit “Lonely Teardrops”),
and the earliest releases were fairly conventional for the time. However, as the
fledgling label grew, glimpses of genius began to appear, and the paradigm-altering
bass contributions of James Jamerson can be heard in their nascent form.
The first single released by Tamla was “Come to Me” by Marv Johnson, a
classic I–VI–IV–V progression played with a gospel-influenced even-eighthnote
feel. Even at this early stage, Berry must have understood the power of a
strong bass line, as he has the upright bass tripled with bass vocals and baritone
sax. While Jamerson did start recording for Gordy in 1959, this session
was said to be anchored by “Professor” Joe Williams on bass. However, a conversation
with Andy Skurow, vault manager, reissue producer, and Motown historian
at Universal Music Group revealed that James Jamerson is in fact listed
as the player on this track in the liner notes of The Complete Motown Singles Vol.
1. While he admits that Motown didn’t really get its personnel record-keeping
solid until mid 1962, this info comes from the official source. Listening to the
song, there is nothing to suggest it’s him either way. The performance is solid
if not exceptional, but it was a period of rapid growth for the young player.
The bass plays a typical rhumba-type triad line hitting on beat one, the “and”
of beat two, and the downbeats of three and four, which I introduced in an earlier
column as the tresillo rhythm. The baritone sax, however, uses an eighth/
quarter/eighth syncopated figure on beat three that anticipates the downbeat
of the next bar. It’s kinda funky. Doubling the sax is a bass vocalist (singing
“bum, bum, bum, bum”) placed very high in the mix. While these discrepancies
cause some slop, the blend makes it sound like the upright is
playing a much busier part—perhaps foreshadowing things to
come. Example 1a shows the upright line, while Ex. 1b is the
i
baritone-sax part—by today’s highly sanitized pop production
ethos, it’s hard to imagine something like this making it on to
a record, but by the end of the track, all three bass instruments
have congealed into a unified groove.
While the first Tamla/Motown track Jamerson played on
has been subject to question, in his groundbreaking book Standing
in the Shadows of Motown, Alan “Dr. Licks” Slutsky states
that “Way Over There” by the Miracles is the first significant
track that can be definitively credited to James. An interesting
point about this song is it was recorded and released several
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times. They are identified primarily by the instrumentation: The first version is
without strings, while the second has lush orchestration. The first version is a
rougher performance with audibly out-of-tune rhythm guitar, poorly recorded
bass, and an overall lack of polish to the mix. But from a bass-playing standpoint,
the track is a formative moment in Jamerson’s career, and it gives us
a glimpse into his developing concept when compared to his second shot at
the tune. The song is a simple I–VIm vamp in Ab, except the original version
has a brief interlude at the 1:52 mark where the bass plays the 5th under
the I chord before going to the VIm. The second version replaces it with an
orchestrated string break over the normal progression before the outro vamp.
Example 2a shows the basic pattern James plays over the vamp, a Latin
rhythm that was in common use. As you listen to the track, you can hear James
altering the pattern, but not in the thematic way he would eventually master, as
he was still searching for the part. Example 2b simplifies the pattern in the first
bar with a half-note—the space feels good, but he only does it once. He experiments
with a half-note in the second bar of the phrase (Ex. 2c), but once again,
he does not repeat it. Example 2d is a busier variation that introduces the idea
of the repeated Eb note; he does this a few times, but eventually drifts back to the
original idea in Ex. 2a. Still, it is interesting to note its similarity to the rock-solid
pattern on the second version of “Way Over There” (Ex. 3). No longer fishing for
his line, Jamerson approaches the part with a firm attack and authority, providing
the rhythmic drive he became famous for. Examining the two parts, there are
many similarities, but the extra pickup note on the “and” of beat three makes a
surprisingly big difference in the line’s effect. The repeated Eb gently breaks the
mold of a typical upright part, and with Gordy’s improved production, the bass
sits front-and-center in the mix, pumping the thump for perhaps the first time
on a Tamla/Motown record. The "strings" version of "Way Over There" was also
remixed for the 1961 album Hi! We're the Miracles, as well as a remix for a compilation
called Ooo, Baby Baby.
James Jamerson’s history at the label is epic, and there are
many gems, groundbreakers, and blown minds ahead as we look
deeper into the work of this giant of the bass. In addition to Dr.
Licks’ book, it is mandatory that you watch the film adaptation.
This part-dramatized, part-documentary film features many of the
then-surviving members of the Funk Brothers, the fabled group
of players that made up Motown’s session crew, of which Jamerson
was the undisputed King of Bass. In addition, check out my
book The R&B Masters; The Way They Play [Backbeat Books], which
features a chapter on James and his contribution not only to our
instrument, but to the world of R&B Gold. Special thanks to Paul
Damien Barker at the Motown Museum, and Andy Skurow, for
their invaluable help. BP
54 bassplayer.com / january2017