Does anyone know who the bassist on Marvin Gaye's 'The Last Concert Tour' is? If you've heard this album you know that the recording itself - the sound quality - is not very good. Saying it's mediocre is being kind. I've heard Grateful Dead bootlegs done from the audience by, uh, enthusiastic amateurs, that put this recording to shame. And, sadly, Marvin's vocal performance is a bit rough and worn in some places (but this is Marvin and even a less-than-stellar performance is pretty good and moving), but the band is pretty is fairly smoking and the bassist is not just solid throughout but he puts his stamp on the performance and elevates the whole album. I can only imagine playing bass in concert with any of the great Motown performers would be a tough gig from the word go. Having to nail some of the funkiest and best-known bass lines - and the comparisons to some of the best bassists would have to be daunting. Whoever this bassist is doesn't try to imitate Jamerson (or Babbitt or...) in tone or style. There are no dead flat wounds here and there's a fair amount of thumping and popping as well, which if you'd told me that before I'd heard it would have made me wrinkle my nose up and make a funny face usually associated with smelling bad milk - but this guy sounds fantastic all over Marvin's catalog and in the vamps and intros between these songs. Between songs Marvin asks for a round of applause for his musical director, McKinnley Jackson, and he does laud the band himself and again asks the audience for support to "c'mon, lay it on the band, y'all!" but he never gets around to introducing said band. If anyone could enlighten me, I'd be in your debt. I'd love to check out other work by this monster player, whoever he or she might be!
