BassPlayer 2017-01

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Charles Bradley’s
“Change For The World”
Nick Movshon’s Complete Bass Line
By CHRIS JISI |
ClaSSIC R&B, that baSS-driven amalgamation of impassioned
vocals, syncopated rhythms, and shifting minor chords, is alive and well
at Diamond Mine Recording in the Manhattan-shadowed Long Island City section
of Queens, New York. Owned and operated by guitarist Thomas Brenneck,
multi-instrumentalist Leon Michels, drummer Homer Steinweiss, and bassist Nick
Movshon, the crew is responsible for vocalist Charles Bradley’s latest acclaimed
album, Changes [2016, Daptone]. The New York-born Movshon has already established
deep rhythm roots on recordings with Antibalas, Sharon Jones & the Dap-
Kings, and Dr. John, and—as Mark Ronson’s first-call feel-maker—with Amy
Winehouse, Quincy Jones, Adele, Bruno Mars (“Locked Out of Heaven”), and
Ronson’s 2015 solo smash, Uptown Special [RCA]. For Changes, Movshon steps
up with a song-defining sub-hook on the pleading ballad “Change for the World.”
The session for the track took place at Diamond Mine in November 2014,
and featured Movshon, Steinweiss, and Brenneck cutting live. Added later were
Bradley’s vocals, background vocals, horns, and organ. Offers Movshon, “With
Charles, usually we send him a finished track and he writes the melody and
lyrics, and then he comes in and records with Thomas. As I recall, we got to the
studio, wrote the song, ran through it three or four times to solidify our parts,
and then we did two or three takes—and I believe the album version is the first
take.” Movshon plucked his ’69 Fender Precision sent into an unmiked Ampeg
B-18 and a Countryman DI. “We liked the amp leakage into the drum mics, so
you’re hearing some room sound.” From there, his signal chain was a Psidex
tube preamp, an Altec 1567A tube mixer, and a dbx 161 compressor. Known
for his use of vintage basses, amps, and strings, he allows, “The strings on my
P-Bass are a mixed set of 40- to 50-year-old flatwounds—three Pyramids and
a Fender on the D string. I’m the only bassist I know who trolls eBay for old
strings to use,” he laughs. “I’ll find sets that match in gauge and feel, and I’ll
come up with a combination of strings that sound good and consistent—this
set has been on for five years.”
The track begins with a drum fill into an instrumental intro that later becomes
the chorus. “The bass line just happened and seemed appropriate to what we
were writing. I had been listening to George Porter Jr. with the Meters and to
Howlin’ Wolf’s electric record [This Is Howlin’ Wolf ’s New Album, 1969, Cadet],
with Louis Satterfield and Phil Upchurch on bass, which probably had an impact.
Actually, I came up with the verse bass line [letter A] first, and the rest of the part
spun off that.” The intro/chrous line establishes a few parameters: the general
pattern of eighth-notes on beats one and three and 16th-notes on two and four,
and the key use of long and short notes (with short notes often on the downbeat).
Also of interest is the unorthodox chord movement of II–I resolving to
the III chord (Bbm–Ab–Cm). “At this point, we’re
so well-versed in vintage R&B chord progressions
that we try to move away from them, consciously
or unconsciously.”
For the first verse, at letter A, the aforementioned
intro/chorus rhythmic and note-duration components
continue in what is a more melodic bass part.
(Indeed, Bradley does as much talking as singing in
counterpoint to it.) Letters B (first chorus) and C
(second verse) mirror the intro and letter A. Letter
D begins as another chorus but veers off with an
instrumental interlude in the final four measures,
making it more of a bridge in Movshon’s mind. “We
often shy away from middle-eights [another term
for bridge] because they’re predictable, so this is
our undercooked version of a bridge!” Letter E’s
out chorus begins with no drums, creating a fourbar
breakdown before the drum fill-led full-groove
return in bar 54. Loosening up in the fade, Movshon
tosses in some E naturals in bars 63 and 65, where
he matches a drum fill on the last two beats. “That
major 3rd against a minor chord is something you
hear a lot on soul records, from James Brown’s bassists
to James Jamerson—whether it’s functioning
as a leading or passing tone, or ghost-note, or the
ingenious ways Jamerson used them, including open
strings in flat keys.”
Movshon, who has most recently spent his time
outside of Diamond Mine touring as a member of
the Arcs (with Black Keys guitarist/vocalist Dan
Auerbach) and tracking with Mark Ronson for Lady
Gaga’s latest, Joanne, advises, “Be sure to play the
part in the middle of the fingerboard, like I did. Also, I
plucked the strings just below the neck—I keep all the
covers on my Precision and Jazz Basses, and I pluck
in front of them. Feel-wise, the choruses are in the
pocket to a little pushed, but for the verses Homer
and I are sitting back. Be mindful of your melodic
role, but stay locked into the groove, and have fun.”
56 bassplayer.com / january2017