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Thread started 02/22/12 5:37pm

manthevan

Jermaine Jackson a great bass player and vocalist? Watch this

I knew Jermaine was good but I didn't know he was this good. Here are some very rare clips that I came across on youtube.

First there's a live performance from around 1976. First there's a performance of "Let's Be young Tonight" and then Diana Ross comes up on stage with Jermaine and after that there's a performance of "Touch of Madness". Listen to Jermaine's bass solo at 1.40 and listen to the groove he creates from 2.40 and what about his ad libs from 4.40.

This is Jermaine singing live at The Apollo and on The Pat Sajack Show. Great vocals!



[Edited 2/23/12 1:36am]

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Reply #1 posted 02/22/12 6:05pm

MickyDolenz

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You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton
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Reply #2 posted 02/22/12 6:09pm

MickyDolenz

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You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton
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Reply #3 posted 02/22/12 6:15pm

PlayboyOrigina
l

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The best singer technically in the family...... all bullshit aside. biggrin

Stevie Wonder = EARTH
Prince = WIND
Chaka Khan = FIRE
Sade = WATER
the ELEMENTS of MUSIC
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Reply #4 posted 02/22/12 6:15pm

manthevan

MickyDolenz said:

great stuff

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Reply #5 posted 02/22/12 6:16pm

PlayboyOrigina
l

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MickyDolenz said:

I LOVE THIS!!!! music

Stevie Wonder = EARTH
Prince = WIND
Chaka Khan = FIRE
Sade = WATER
the ELEMENTS of MUSIC
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Reply #6 posted 02/22/12 6:30pm

MickyDolenz

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Jermaine had some tutoring from James Jamerson.

You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton
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Reply #7 posted 02/22/12 7:11pm

mjscarousal

PlayboyOriginal said:

The best singer technically in the family...... all bullshit aside. biggrin

Crack is wack

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Reply #8 posted 02/22/12 9:32pm

Cinnamon234

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Jermaine probably had the best or most naturally soulful voice, but MJ's voice was much better overall if you ask me. Pretty much any song they sang on together especially as they got older, it was obvious Mike had that extra fire and uniqueness to his voice. Jermaine's voice was pleasant and soulful, but nothing out of the ordinary and he didn't have the range or fire in his voice MJ did. Period.

Listen to "Tell Me I'm Not Dreamin" and tell me again who sings better. Hmmmmmmmm. Anyway, MJ & Jermaine were clearly the two best singers in the Family. The others had okay voices, but MJ & Jermaine were clearly the best singers in the family.

"And When The Groove Is Dead And Gone, You Know That Love Survives, So We Can Rock Forever" RIP MJ heart

"Baby, that was much too fast"...Goodnight dear sweet Prince. I'll love you always heart
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Reply #9 posted 02/22/12 9:37pm

ThruTheEyesOfW
onder

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mjscarousal said:

PlayboyOriginal said:

The best singer technically in the family...... all bullshit aside. biggrin

Crack is wack

Yeah, fo'real!

lol

The salvation of man is through love and in love. - Dr. V. Frankl

"When you close your heart, you close your mind." - Michael Jackson (Man In The Mirror)

"I don't need anger management, I need people to stop pissing me off" lol
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Reply #10 posted 02/22/12 9:47pm

LittleBLUECorv
ette

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Everyone knows (even Jermaine haters) that homie had talent. Probably the most talented musician in the family, and right up their with Mike on the vocals. His Motown albums are all great, but once he got with Arista, started sounding really waters down.

Also, I know Mike was pissed when he was on Midnight Special with Diana. He was like "Nigha, get yo greasyass away from my woman." Diana was lookin right though ...

PRINCE: Always and Forever
MICHAEL JACKSON: Always and Forever
-----
Live Your Life How U Wanna Live It
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Reply #11 posted 02/22/12 10:02pm

PlayboyOrigina
l

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LMAO @ predictable ass MJ fans.... ignorance is bliss. falloff

Stevie Wonder = EARTH
Prince = WIND
Chaka Khan = FIRE
Sade = WATER
the ELEMENTS of MUSIC
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Reply #12 posted 02/22/12 10:04pm

alphastreet

Jermaine's a homewrecker! Now we know the reason MJ whooped grease butt in 91' lol

But in all seriousness, MJ would agree Jermaine was a great vocalist, he did after all, learn how to sing by imitating Jermaine when he was baby, with how he moved his mouth and all.

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Reply #13 posted 02/22/12 11:56pm

mjscarousal

Jermaine was good but he is no where near Michaels vocals... get the fuck outta here with that bullshit

[Edited 2/26/12 11:22am]

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Reply #14 posted 02/23/12 12:06am

MattyJam

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PlayboyOriginal said:

The best singer technically in the family...... all bullshit aside. biggrin

LOL. Just LOL.

The lengths some people will go to to discredit MJ is laughable....

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Reply #15 posted 02/23/12 12:20am

LiLi1992

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MattyJam said:

PlayboyOriginal said:

The best singer technically in the family...... all bullshit aside. biggrin

LOL. Just LOL.

The lengths some people will go to to discredit MJ is laughable....

Well, MJ had a very special voice, so that some people simply do not perceive it. wink
Though really quite strange that the poster focuses on the word "technically",
because MJ had one of the best ever vocal techniques, it is his strengths as a vocalist.

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Reply #16 posted 02/23/12 12:21am

HuMpThAnG

Very underrated as a bassist....guitar

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Reply #17 posted 02/23/12 2:01am

manthevan

No need to compare with MJ. There was only one MJ.

But all BS aside. A lot of people discredit Jermaine too much. I've even seen some people put him at the bottom in the talent department among the Jackson siblings and that's just ridiculous and frivolous. Sure Janet has the IT factor, great looks and dancesteps to help her voice, Randy may be multi-talented as a instrumentalist and Tito has his blues thing but no living Jackson sibling can carry a tune live with nothing but his vocals except Jermaine. Listen to how he sings "Don't take it personal" here. Listen to the flawless falsetto and vocal runs at 2.44, 2.54, 3.04 and especially 3.57 and 7.27.

Add the way he handles the bass at the same time and you have to give it to Jermaine. Not many pop or RnB singers can get a bass groove like this at the same time.

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Reply #18 posted 02/23/12 4:13am

Japha11

For me there's no excuse with starting in the wrong key when the intro clearly sets you up with the correct key for 25 seconds. I know everyone is human and to go out of tune happens all the time to every singer but to *start* singing in the wrong key (for far too long) when the key is blatant (and he's playing bass) is inexcusable to me really.

That should never happen to someone who can play an instrument well and can sing, which I do think he can but to me I just feel that it's not as 'technical' as some might think lol No way. If he was so technial it would just never happen.

There's not an ounce of truth to him being a better technical singer than Michael Jackson. Please. Stop.

But don't get me wrong, I do think he's good just not that great. Really good bassist though, wish he got more recognition for that.

[Edited 2/23/12 4:24am]

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Reply #19 posted 02/23/12 4:25am

manthevan

Japha11 said:

For me there's no excuse with starting in the wrong key when the intro clearly sets you up with the correct key for 25 seconds. I know everyone is human and to go out of tune happens all the time to every singer but to *start* singing in the wrong key (for far too long) when the key is blatant (and he's playing bass) is inexcusable to me really.

That should never happen to someone who can play an instrument well and can sing, which I do think he can but to me I just feel that it's not as 'technical' as some might think lol No way. If he was so technial it would just never happen.

There's not an ounce of truth to him being a better technical singer than Michael Jackson. Please. Stop.

Not saying Jermaine is a better singer than MJ but Jermaine clearly had a monitoring problem there so it has nothing to do with technical ability.

Btw, MJ begins out of tune here. Can happen to anybody

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Reply #20 posted 02/23/12 4:31am

Japha11

manthevan said:

Japha11 said:

For me there's no excuse with starting in the wrong key when the intro clearly sets you up with the correct key for 25 seconds. I know everyone is human and to go out of tune happens all the time to every singer but to *start* singing in the wrong key (for far too long) when the key is blatant (and he's playing bass) is inexcusable to me really.

That should never happen to someone who can play an instrument well and can sing, which I do think he can but to me I just feel that it's not as 'technical' as some might think lol No way. If he was so technial it would just never happen.

There's not an ounce of truth to him being a better technical singer than Michael Jackson. Please. Stop.

Not saying Jermaine is a better singer than MJ but Jermaine clearly had a monitoring problem there so it has nothing to do with technical ability.

Btw, MJ begins out of tune here. Can happen to anybody

Sorry but singing out of tune is different to singing in the wrong key. I totally understand that 'out of tune' happens all the time to everyone (but it was just the 'are' in the first 'we are the world' line that was slightly flat, and he's hardly 'performing'). Jermaine sang in the complete wrong key and he's playing bass lol

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Reply #21 posted 02/23/12 5:17am

manthevan

Japha11 said:

manthevan said:

Not saying Jermaine is a better singer than MJ but Jermaine clearly had a monitoringproblem there so it has nothing to do with technical ability.

Btw, MJ begins out of tune here. Can happen to anybody

Sorry but singing out of tune is different to singing in the wrong key. I totally understand that 'out of tune' happens all the time to everyone (but it was just the 'are' in the first 'we are the world' line that was slightly flat, and he's hardly 'performing'). Jermaine sang in the complete wrong key and he's playing bass lol

Yes Jermaine was off key but you have got two things completely wrong. First is that it is easier to sing in tune when you have to concentrate on the bass at the same time. Wrong if you're playing in the style of Jermaine Jackson...I am a musician myself and to play the same melody as you are singing will help you stay in tune but this is not the case here. To play a bass line, a counterpoint or lots of syncopation etc makes it much harder to sing in tune. In general the bass player has a totally different roll in an ensemble than the lead vocalist. The bass player maintains the rythm. However Jermaine usually has no problem doing this and sing lead vocals at the same time. Since Jermaine plays in the style of James Jamerson, Nathan Watts etc it is much much harder than let say Paul McCartneys style of playing. This is what makes Jermaine's skills so great. To think that Jermaine's bass playing helps him manage his singing at the same time shows how far off you are. On the contrary, the fact that he usually does both at the same time is what is most impressive about Jermaine. To play a few chords on the piano or guitar and sing at the same time is not hard and a piece of cake in comparision. I know this from first hand experience.

However all the above isn't even relevant here since the problem here seems to be monitoring. The live performance of Tell me I'm not Dreaming you are refering to starts in the key of C minor and Jermaine starts in the wrong key. If Jermaine was tone deaf and had lack of technical ability he A) wouldn't be able to adjust his singing when he hears he is off because if he was tone deaf he wouldn't be able to hear he is off in the first place 2) would sing off key and would be all over the place all the time in all his performances. So the second thing you are wrong with is that this is a matter of slightly flat vs wrong key. Given the conclusion has to be monitoring problems Jermaine could even be more off key without this being a matter of technical ability.

All that said, I think Michael is the better singer. Jermaine's good though.



[Edited 2/23/12 6:24am]

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Reply #22 posted 02/23/12 5:30am

Japha11

manthevan said:

Japha11 said:

Sorry but singing out of tune is different to singing in the wrong key. I totally understand that 'out of tune' happens all the time to everyone (but it was just the 'are' in the first 'we are the world' line that was slightly flat, and he's hardly 'performing'). Jermaine sang in the complete wrong key and he's playing bass lol

Yes Jermaine was off key but you have got two things completely wrong. First is that it is easier to sing in tune when you have to concentrate on the bass at the same time. Wrong if you're playing in the style of Jermaine Jackson...I am a musician myself and to play the same melody as you are singing will help you stay in tune but this is not the case here. To play a bass line, a counterpoint or lots of syncopation etc makes it much harder to sing in tune. In general the bass player has a totally different roll in an ensemble than the lead vocalist. The bass player maintains the rythm. However Jermaine usually has no problem doing this and sing lead vocals at the same time. Since Jermaine plays in the style of James Jamerson, Nathan Watts etc it is much much harder than let say Paul McCartneys style of playing. This is what makes Jermaine's skills so great. To think that Jermaine's bass playing helps him manage his singing at the same time shows how far off you are. The fact that he usually does both at the same time is what is most impressive about Jermaine. To play a few chords on the piano or guitar and sing at the same time is not hard and a piece of cake in comparision. I know this from first hand experience.

However all the above isn't even relevant here since the problem her seems to be monitoring. The live performance of Tell me I'm not Dreaming you are refering to starts in the key of C minor and Jermaine starts in the wrong key. If Jermaine was tone deaf and had lack of technical ability he A) wouldn't be able to adjust his singing when he hears he is off because if he was tone deaf he wouldn't be able to hear he is off in the first place 2) would sing off key and would be all over the place all the time in all his performances. So the second thing you are wrong with is that this is a matter of slightly flat vs wrong key. Given the conclusion has to be monitoring problems Jermaine could even be more off key without this being a matter of technical ability.

All that said, I think Michael is the better singer. Jermaine's good though.

[Edited 2/23/12 5:24am]

I'm also a musician sir but I never said that playing bass will make singing easier when done together. All that I said it will help is knowing which key the song is in lol that's all. If you can hear the key of the song you should be able to at least roughly sing in tune, even if a word or two is out of tune at first. But he failed to do that here.

We won't agree here but that's ok smile

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Reply #23 posted 02/23/12 6:20am

manthevan

Japha11 said:

manthevan said:

Yes Jermaine was off key but you have got two things completely wrong. First is that it is easier to sing in tune when you have to concentrate on the bass at the same time. Wrong if you're playing in the style of Jermaine Jackson...I am a musician myself and to play the same melody as you are singing will help you stay in tune but this is not the case here. To play a bass line, a counterpoint or lots of syncopation etc makes it much harder to sing in tune. In general the bass player has a totally different roll in an ensemble than the lead vocalist. The bass player maintains the rythm. However Jermaine usually has no problem doing this and sing lead vocals at the same time. Since Jermaine plays in the style of James Jamerson, Nathan Watts etc it is much much harder than let say Paul McCartneys style of playing. This is what makes Jermaine's skills so great. To think that Jermaine's bass playing helps him manage his singing at the same time shows how far off you are. The fact that he usually does both at the same time is what is most impressive about Jermaine. To play a few chords on the piano or guitar and sing at the same time is not hard and a piece of cake in comparision. I know this from first hand experience.

However all the above isn't even relevant here since the problem her seems to be monitoring. The live performance of Tell me I'm not Dreaming you are refering to starts in the key of C minor and Jermaine starts in the wrong key. If Jermaine was tone deaf and had lack of technical ability he A) wouldn't be able to adjust his singing when he hears he is off because if he was tone deaf he wouldn't be able to hear he is off in the first place 2) would sing off key and would be all over the place all the time in all his performances. So the second thing you are wrong with is that this is a matter of slightly flat vs wrong key. Given the conclusion has to be monitoring problems Jermaine could even be more off key without this being a matter of technical ability.

All that said, I think Michael is the better singer. Jermaine's good though.

[Edited 2/23/12 5:24am]

I'm also a musician sir but I never said that playing bass will make singing easier when done together. All that I said it will help is knowing which key the song is in lol that's all. If you can hear the key of the song you should be able to at least roughly sing in tune, even if a word or two is out of tune at first. But he failed to do that here.

We won't agree here but that's ok smile

I agree with you about this of course. But see, monitoring problems means that you have trouble hearing your own voice in a live setting not because you fail to recognize key because of lack of music ear but because you can't hear your own voice on stage. In a live setting performing on stage, each musician (including the vocalists) needs to hear his or her own instrument or voice clearly and distinctly from the other instruments around them. But sometimes the acoustics on stage make this difficult. Suddenly, one's ability to perform well has been diminished severely by the inability to hear one's own playing. You can read more about this here http://www.soundonsound.c...toring.htm

As soon as Jermaine did hear himself he obviously could hear he was totally off key and adjusted accordingly.

However the point of this thread was not to make this a MJ vs Jermaine thread. 2 bad that always tend to happen as soon as Jermaine becomes a topic. Not that he helps by always talking about Michael himself.

Best regards

[Edited 2/23/12 6:30am]

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Reply #24 posted 02/23/12 6:30am

Graycap23

I've never liked this guy as a musician or vocalist.

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Reply #25 posted 02/23/12 6:32am

Fiona01

Are we seriously comparing Jermaine to MJ?

GTFO with that bullshit.

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Reply #26 posted 02/23/12 6:37am

manthevan

Fiona01 said:

Are we seriously comparing Jermaine to MJ?

GTFO with that bullshit.

Unfortunately for Jermaine that happens all the time.

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Reply #27 posted 02/23/12 7:39am

csharp57

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I don't care about all this who sings better than whom stuff, I just never knew Jermaine had skills like that on the bass!!!! Thanks original thread starter. Enjoy the vids,
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Reply #28 posted 02/23/12 7:47am

ThruTheEyesOfW
onder

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PlayboyOriginal said:

LMAO @ predictable ass MJ fans.... ignorance is bliss. falloff

Look, man.

I love Jermaine. I honestly do. I never once doubted his talent in singing or as a bass player. But fandom aside, I wouldn't say he was a better vocalist than his brother. He certainly had more talent than the other siblings, that's for sure.

But hey, you're entitled to your opinion.

The salvation of man is through love and in love. - Dr. V. Frankl

"When you close your heart, you close your mind." - Michael Jackson (Man In The Mirror)

"I don't need anger management, I need people to stop pissing me off" lol
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Reply #29 posted 02/23/12 8:21am

manthevan

csharp57 said:

I don't care about all this who sings better than whom stuff, I just never knew Jermaine had skills like that on the bass!!!! Thanks original thread starter. Enjoy the vids,

Glad you liked it. I agree about the bickering. To display his underrated talent was the purpose of this thread. I've heard most of Jermaine's albums, seen a lot of performances with him on youtube but even I didn't know he was this good on the bass. I think it's a combination of the fact that the brothers didn't get to record with their instruments in the studio during J5 Motown days and that Jermaine mostly put his efforts into being a lead singer during his solo years.

[Edited 2/23/12 8:23am]

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