BLUES AND RHYTHM & BLUES BASS TECHNIQUES. The mastery of Blues, Soul, and Funk styles. Jerry Jemmott. CD TABLATURE
LIBRO PER BASSO CON CD E TABLATURE
JEMMOTT JERRY, BLUES AND RHYTHM & BLUES BASS TECHNIQUE
Series: Bass Builders
Softcover with CD - TAB
Author: Jerry Jemmott
Jerry Jemmott wrote the book on R&B bass, and here it is! This book/CD pack examines Jerry's personal philosophy of music and teaches the secrets to mastering blues, soul and funk bass. Includes a CD with new compositions that demonstrate the techniques he used with legendary performers such as Aretha Franklin, King Curtis, B.B. King and Freddie King. Includes note-for-note transcriptions, comprehensive perfor-mance notes, an in-depth bio, and rare photos. 80 pages
JERRY JEMMOTT wrote the book oh rhythm & Blues bass -and here it is !
Share his personal philosophy of music and learn the secrets to mastering blues, soul, and funk bass.
- CD WITH NEW COMPOSITIONS
- NOTE FOR NOTE TRANSCRIPTIONS IN STANDARD NOTATION & TABLATURE
- COMPREHENSIVE PERFORMANCE NOTES, IN DEPTH BIOGRAPHY, RARE PHOTOS
- GROOVE ALONG IN THE STYLE OF THE GREATEST HITS OF ARETHA FRANKLIN, KING CURTIS, B.B. KING, FREDDIE KING.
In collaboration with Dave Rubin
Jerry Jemmott has had the singular experience of playing with a veritable Who's WHO of blues and Rhythm & Blues illuminaries. Here are a selection of his candid memories from this all-star group:
ARETHA FRANKLIN: "Being exposed to her creative process has had a profound effect on my writing, producing and playing. Performing with her and King Curtis at the same time has to be among the greatest of good fortunes that I have encountered. Her combining of gospel and jazz to form a Rhythm & Blues style really locked with my jazz and Rhythm & Blues styles. My style came out of playing dance music and jazz. I guess I h;1(jthe groove and the beat from playing dance music, and she had that soul and e1.'Pressionfrom playing gospel and jazz. It was quite an experience playing together, like lightening striking.
We met when King Curtis had me come down, with my bass, to be a paid observer at her sessions for Atlantic Records in New York in 1968. I sat in the control room and watched the Muscle Schoals rhythm section Gimmy Johnson, guitar, Tommy Cogbill, bass and Roger Hawkins, drums) play tills one song over and over. As soon as I heard it, I fclt the groove was a country kind of thing, you know, a country "two" feel. They went all around the world with different things, and never really hit that particular groove. They took a break, and when they carne back producer Jerry Wexler told me to go in the studio and take a shot.
Two takes later "Think" was finished.
In 1971 I was on the road with the King Curtis band backing up Aretha. After being out a while, the band had developed a thing of trying to outdo each other. We had really gotten tight in three months and we used to see how far we could push Aretha, because we loved playing with her, and she would always rise to the occflsioll, even if she was sick. One time in Paris things got so intense that Aretha almost passed out onstage."
KING CURTIS: "Starting at the Pine Grill in Buffalo, New York in 1967, the interplay between Curtis and myself was very personal. I never experienced that before or since. It was almost like two people feeding each other and never dropping a crumb of food. He hClda lot of faith and confidence in my style of playing.
That made me feel free to do whatever I wflnted to do, which helped me to grow quite a bit, and which he himself enjoyed.
He was a tough bandleader, particularly in regard to guitarists and drummers. He had trouble with Jimi Hendrix when he was in ills band, but he did not have a problem with me. The only problem I had with rum was when he would not give me the recording work I thought I should have! That's when I left the band from 1967 to 1971. But then he recognized that I wanted to stay in the studio, so he would just call on me to make records. However, when he got a good tour, like the one with Aretha, he would call me. At firstT did not want to do thflt one, but after thinking about it for a couple of days, I said okay, I'll do it, because I liked working with both of them. I actually tried to rationalize why I should stay in New York, where I had plenty of studio jobs, but then I thought I should do it for the fun of it. Billy Preston was going to be there, along with Cornell Dupree and Bernard Purdie, so it was going to be a great band.
The audiences were fantastic. Every place was sold out. The Fillmore West was something else! There were no seats in the place! They took all the chairs out and everybody stood up for two hours. I had never seen anything like that, because usually you have seats in a concert hall. Everybody stood right up against the stage as there was no barrier to keep them back. Their heads were right at stage level.
Istant groove
When the spirit of King Curtis appeared in my kitchen the morning after his death, I became a believer in the existence of a higher power. This power had been a force in my life all along, but I had never acknowledged it. The "instant groove" or "God is talking to you" is that phenomenon that reveals itself, thus enabling you to rf'cognize in a micro-second the true essence and direction of what could possibly happen.
You can then deal with the situation at that moment to achieve a positive result when you come into
the presence of another person, place or thing.
All through my life I have experienced many "instant grooves." These include coming in contact with the mllsir of P,lUJ C:hamhers along with all the other great musicians, singers, artists and philosophers who have affected me. Also, my introduction to Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism (Nam Myoho Renge Kyo) and the love and support of my mother, father, sister and my children Jeanine, Tishiro and Isis. Another time was my refusal to give Lionel ("Hey Gates") Hampton my place in line for the bathroom at the Pazant brothers home in Bufford, South Carolina. This resulted in "Gates" firing me, thereby sending me back to New York to begin my studio career full time in 1968. Lastly, there was the return of my dream girl, Miss Constance Bailey, back into my life after a twenty-three year absence to become my fiancee.
You've got to "recognize" and make it happen with courage, confidence and conviction. You rarely get a second chance unless, as they say in Egypt, "Insha-AllaJ1," which means "If God wills it."
Michael Bloomfield: "A great guitarist. We developed a friendship after meeting at the Fillmore East. I had already known his buddy Al Kooper from the "Well" session of B.B. King's Live and Well (1969). I arranged a telephone conversation between Michael and Cornell Dupree (who Michael was anxious to meet) when Michael and I were working together at My Father's Place on Long Island. I got to do a few more gigs with him just before he died. He was an incredible player."
DUANE ALLMAN : "Another great player, innovative, a real hard worker. He was very personable and we got along well together. Being with Duane was the first time I had played with a slide guitarist. This occurred on the Aretha Franklin sessions when she did a cover of "The Weight" by the Band.
The last time I saw him he was going home to start a band with his brother Greg. The Allman Brothers Band was formed and the next thing I remember was travelling through Georgia on the way to a gig and hearing about the accident on the radio." (Note: Duane Allman died in a motorcycle crash on October 29, 1971, in Macon, Georgia.)
FREDDIE KING : "He was great to work with and could really play and sing. Curtis brought Freddie to the Atlantic studios to record and that was the first time I heard him. He was really something. He knew what he wanted and we would just follow him. Freddie King IsA Blues Master(l969) gave us a chance to spice up some of his old instrumentals. Also, it was the first time that I got to record "Get Out Of My Life, Woman," (Allen Toussant), which I had played all my Rhythm & Blues life. My Feeling For The Blues (1970) had more traditional blues on it.
Freddie was from Texas, like Curtis, and he could play in a big way. He had a good set of chops and he had a very lyrical way of playing, almost like he was singing. I have heard that Freddie was also influenced by Louis Jordan, just like Curtis."
Robeta Flack and the jingle scene: "Another woman who played piano and sang. A different style
than Aretha, more of a jazz piano player. She was very similar to ina Simone, her whole persona and playing. I grew up listening to Nina Simone and had the good fortune to record with her, so playing with Roberta Flack was just one more extension of that experience, to a great degree.
She only worked on weekends because that's where the money was. During the week she took care of her dogs, cats, mother and her music business. She wouldn't do any recording then, and she took her time about doing stuff. She had it so she only worked on weekends, gigs at venues that held 20,000 or more people. The small group that backed her had Terry Plumeri, Eric Gale, Ralph MacDonald and Grady Tate. I loved working with Grady. We used to do a lot of jingles together with Herbie Hancock, with maybe Vincent Bell or Eric Gale on guitar. One company, Grant and Murtaugh, would hire the three of us a lot. The thing about it was that if you couldn't get one of us, you could get another. It was rare that we could guarantee all three of us showing up together at the same time. If I couldn't make it, Ron Carter would be there; if Grady wasn't there maybe Ed Shaughnessy or Herb Lovelle would be there. If Herbie couldn't make it, Dick Hyman or Keith Jarrett would be there. They would also use all the hip horn players like Hubert Laws, George Coleman, Jon Faddis, Joe Newman, Seldon Powell, Ernie Royal, Snooky Young, Heywood Henry, nothing but the best, the cream of the crop. It was like looking at Count Basie's Band and Duke Ellington's Orchestra all at once. I had come up with hom players and big bands, so I was in heaven!"
Wilson PIckett: '''The Wicked Pickett,' a piece of work, so to speak. I had always admired him, but did not get a chance to work with him until around January, 1968, at Atlantic studios in ew York. The bassist they had booked for the session did not show up so they called me at my house to come down. It ....
PREFACE
I want to let you in on a little secret. I was not born in Macon, Georgia, with a bass inIllYhands, as King Curtis once stated, butIllYpredilection to create hip, funky bass lines led him and others to think so. I was actually born in the South Bronx, New York, and after I heard Paul Chambers play I could not keep the bass out of my hands!
In addition to this secret, for those who want to know, a "few" choruses of biography follow to set the record straight, and a "few" Jines about my experiences with the extraordinary artists I have had the good fortune to record and/or perform with over the last five decades.
For you who want to groove, within these pages and on the accompanying CD there is a detailed account of what I do and the techniques I lise to do it. With the permission of Reel Souler Energy Music Publishing, I have written a set of music similar to the records I made with Aretha Frankl in, King Curtis, RB. King and Freddie King. I hope you enjoy playing them as much as I enjoyed creating them for you.
Jerry Jemmott
It has never been easy being Gerald Joseph Stenhouse Jemmott. I would like to acknowledge the love and support I have received along the way from my Higher Power, family and friends: Richard Davis, Fred Paterno, the Pazant brothers, Richard Otto, Agnes Hall, King Curtis, Cornell Dupree, Paul Gaulden, Don Covay, Arlen Roth, Constance Bailey, Paul Conway, Yoko Yamabe, MerrH Roberts, Daisy White, James Bailey, Rebecca Thomas, Robert Bailey, Gwendolyn Jones, Z Cookie, Mercer Ellington, my students, Seldon Powell, Paul Griffin, B. R King, Stewart Moore, Sam Leon, Alfie Wade, Herb Lavelle, Richard Dubin, Brent Owens, Kirk urock, Bill "Junior" Linton, George Naha, Chuck Raney, Phil Coco, Gordon Edwards, Roy Hicks, Joan White, Al Fontaine, Frankie Paris, Michael Moore, Bill Dawson, Dr. Janet Moses, Bob Moses, Miriam Citron, Dr. Joel Beddard, Charlie Kellam. Shad Polier. Abe Rivera, ESP, Vantage, Murphy's Music, Andre-audio-tronics, Carl Thompson, P Vine Non Stop Records and Hot Licks Tapes and Videos.
PAGE CD TRACK
What is "Instant Groove"
Preface and Acknowledgements
Foreward
Biography
My Biggest Influence
Jerry Remembers
Playing in a Big Band Versus an R&B Combo
Getting Down and Going Deeper
You Too, Will Groove
The Different Aspects of My Bass Technique
Recordings
TRANSCRIPTIONS WITH PERFORMANCE NOTES
In the Moonlight
Until The Day I Die
Big Maybelle
Sweet Mr. Soul
Sweet Trippin'
In Every Way He Treats Me Right
Jubilee Jam One on One
My Papa Always Treats Me Right
You Know I Know
Sableline
Ooh Scooby Doo
Good Cookin'
Always on the Way
Love Light in the Daylight
Jerry's Bass Equipment
Jerry Jemmott Selected discography
CD Production Credits
Bass Notation Legend
Italiano
English
