Unreleased James Jamerson Recordings Coming: Legendary Motown bassist James Jamerson seems to be in the news quite a bit this month, first in the wake of his bass-playing Motown colleague Bob Babbitt‘s death, and secondly with a special television feature tonight on the long-running PBS series “History Detectives”. Show host Eduardo Pagán attempts to determine if a recently discovered Ampeg amp with the name “James Jamerson” stenciled on the back did, in fact, authentically belong to and/or was used by the great Jamerson. The episode, which is the 2nd installment of the series’ new season that kicked off last week, will likely be repeated on the PBS network, and show clips can be seen on the PBS’ History Detectives website. I would personally like to thank the producers of the show for reaching out to me earlier in the year for help with background info on Jamerson, and asking me to contribute to this particular episode.
In other news, it appears that previously unreleased late-career recordings made by James Jamerson have been unearthed, and will finally be released later in the year. Bass Musician Magazine has the inside track on this report, which has been validated by sources who were close to Jamerson while he was alive. Look for my exclusive article on this important news item in the near future.
