{"id":18117,"date":"2020-02-04T05:30:06","date_gmt":"2020-02-04T10:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=18117"},"modified":"2020-02-05T07:39:50","modified_gmt":"2020-02-05T12:39:50","slug":"jerry-jemmott-the-groovemaster-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2020\/02\/04\/jerry-jemmott-the-groovemaster-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Jerry Jemmott: The Groovemaster (Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One<\/a>…<\/i><\/p>\n

But now he had to learn to play the new instrument. \u201cAnd it didn’t happen right away,\u201d Jemmott says. \u201cI had encountered it before, but the sound just turned me off. I said, ‘I will never play one of these things.’\u201d But he felt that he had no choice. \u201cI knew I had to go for it, and get my own sound that would be pleasing to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Initially, it didn’t go well. \u201cI thought I had it after practicing for a couple of weeks,\u201d Jemmott says with a laugh. \u201cThe first gig I did on electric bass was at a social club at one of those Greek letter clubs on 142nd<\/sup> Street up in Northern Harlem. It was so bad that I had to end up playing an acoustic bass that I borrowed from the other band that was on the gig.\u201d That experience only strengthened Jemmott’s resolve. He practiced more and more until he finally got it together.<\/p>\n

As much as Jemmott enjoyed being part of bands that entertained, he set his sights on being a studio musician. He had made that decision when he was only 16, while playing in a group called the Mixed Birds. That group’s leader was trumpeter Richard Dubin. \u201cHe would come back with stories about playing with Richard Davis, Ron Carter and Snooky Young,\u201d Jemmott recalls. \u201cHe was a white kid, a couple years older than me. But he had a receding hairline, so he looked like he was 30. And he talked like he was 40.\u201d Dubin’s stories lit the fire inside Jemmott, leading him toward studio work. \u201cBut it didn\u2019t happen until I started playing electric bass,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jerry Jemmott’s first studio date was a historic one. \u201cI played with Nina Simone in 1965 on [a session for] her blues album,\u201d he says. The track, \u201cTurn Me On\u201d appeared on Simone’s 1967 LP, Silk & Soul<\/i>. \u201cIt wasn’t a hit, but it got me some exposure. There was nothing on that level for a few years, but I kept on working and doing demos for different people.\u201d He did quite a bit of demo recording for Don Covay and JJ Jackson. \u201cLater on, Don taught me how to write songs,\u201d he says. \u201cI had some great time working with him. We became songwriting partners as time went on.\u201d But for the time being, Jemmott was heavily into demo sessions. In fact, he points out, he’s never stopped doing demo work.<\/p>\n

Jemmott’s plan to stick to studio work was nearly derailed when he was discovered by saxophonist and band leader King Curtis. \u201cI was playing downstairs at Smalls Paradise with Frankie ‘Downbeat’ Brown,\u201d he recalls. Fellow bassist Chuck Rainey had recommended him for that gig. \u201cFrankie had a book of charts, and we played whatever was on the radio.\u201d King Curtis has a gig upstairs. \u201cHe heard me playing, and approached me to join his band. I was like, ‘Eh, I don\u2019t know if I want to go on the road because I\u2019ve really got the taste for making records.’\u201d<\/p>\n

In the end, he took the gig, heading out on tour with Curtis. \u201cHe baptized me, basically, on the road,\u201d Jemmott says. \u201cIt was like, ‘Oh, yeah. This is where it\u2019s really at.’ And it took my playing to a whole other level. I was always engaged with the audience, but this was being engaged with another musician of his caliber; there\u2019s nobody like him.\u201d He recalls the moment at which the musical bond with Curtis really took hold. \u201cIt was at the Pine Grill in Buffalo, New York in 1967,\u201d Jemmott says. \u201cThat was it<\/i>. I fully embraced the whole idea of music. I was enjoying it before, but after that I found out this is where it\u2019s at. You have to learn to fully express yourself and let yourself go, and he taught me that. From that point on, nothing was going to stop me.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a downside to working with King Curtis. \u201cWhen ‘Memphis Soul Stew’ came out and I wasn\u2019t on the record, I left the band,\u201d Jemmott says. \u201cBecause he had promised me studio work.\u201d After just three months with Curtis, he returned to New York. But Jemmott quickly returned to the road \u2013 this time for a month-long series of one-nighters with Lionel Hampton \u2013 because studio opportunities were scarce.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn’t want to be noticed getting on the road, but that\u2019s exactly what happened,\u201d Jemmott says. \u201cOnce you go on the road, people don\u2019t call you [for studio dates].\u201d And to some extent the damage was done. \u201cPeople still thought I was on the road with King Curtis. I had a hard time to break that idea, to convince people, ‘No, I\u2019m here to stay. I\u2019m here, you can call me anytime.’\u201d Eventually, studio opportunities started coming around again. \u201cI stayed in New York,\u201d Jemmott says. \u201cAnd I refused to leave.\u201d Then Curtis called him again. He told Jemmott, \u201cListen, you don\u2019t got to go on the road with me anymore. Just make my records.\u201d For Jerry Jemmott, that sealed the deal.<\/p>\n

Jemmott’s next major studio gig was with Aretha Franklin’s older sister Erma. She cut the original version of \u201cPiece of My Heart,\u201d a hit single (#10 R&B, #62 pop). \u201cThat’s when things were really picking up for me,\u201d Jemmott says. The sessions \u2013 bigger and better, often for Atlantic Records and its associated labels \u2013 just kept coming his way.<\/p>\n

Jemmott says that in 1968 and ’69, he made quite a few runs down to Muscle Shoals, Alabama. \u201cDuane Allman and I did about five albums down there,\u201d he says. \u201cAt least I did; Duane wasn’t on all of them.\u201d He recalls working with Arthur Conley, Clarence Carter, Wilson Pickett, and Otis Rush. \u201cMaybe there was somebody else in the mix there,\u201d he says with a chuckle. \u201cI forget.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another time the phone rang, and Jemmott was scheduled for yet another session. \u201cI was called to do the date like any other date,\u201d he says, \u201cbut knew who it was for: B.B. King.\u201d Jemmott had become well versed in King’s style of music through another musician, blues man Ray Schinnery. \u201cI heard B.B.’s music on the radio, and I played with Ray, who sounded just like him,\u201d Jemmott says. Schinnery’s band also included Leo Morris, who later became Idris Muhammad.<\/p>\n

Click here to continue<\/a>…<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One… But now he had to learn to play the new instrument. \u201cAnd it didn’t happen right away,\u201d Jemmott says. \u201cI had encountered it before, but the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18127,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,41,69],"tags":[4091],"class_list":["post-18117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-funk","category-interview","category-soul","tag-jerry-jemmott","cat-31-id","cat-41-id","cat-69-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18117"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18290,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18117\/revisions\/18290"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}