The brother's musicianship

[lp_zep]

Hi,

I'd like to have your thoughts on a topic not often discussed deeply : the musical talent of each brother on instruments. Of course it's more about Tito, Jermaine and Randy. I've not seen another topic about it.
Here's what I think :

Tito : he's never been a great lead guitar player, always sounding a bit sloppy on the solos, but I appreciate his ability to play in different styles : blues, funk, pop...his parts weren't so easy and he did them well.

Jermaine : I listened carefully to his work on the concert recordings we have, and he sounds really good to me, he obviously learnt a lot from the Motown studio guys. I'm impressed by his ability to sing and play complex bass lines at the same time. For a clear sounding bass playing by Jermaine, listen to "I wanna be where you are" at the Save the Children 1972 show. Probably the best with his instrument of all 6 brothers (not counting Michael with his voice of course !).

Randy : a really nice addition to the group. The percussions he played in his early years were quite good. It's not easy to rate his keyboard playing because there were 2 keyboard players when he started playing it live, but the little I've heard suggests a great talent (the clavinet solo on "Blame it on the boogie" at the New Orleans 79 show is a good example). I'd love to hear a full show from this tour from the multitracks (along with a good video) to hear more of his musical input.


Does anyone now when Tito and Jermaine starting playing on the records ? I was listening to the recently leaked Dancing Machine multitracks, and the bass track may be Jermaine to me, as it sounds good but not as clean as a pro studio player. Did Tito and Randy played on most studio songs when they became The Jacksons ?

 

[SheilaMJFan4Ever]

If I'm not mistaken, it was studio musicians that did most (if not all) of the playing for them during the J5 years. Gordy was something of a control freak and saw to it that the Motown Sound functioned like a musical Ford assembly line, cranking out the very distinct sound that represented the label his way. Not having creative control of their own sound, not being allowed to record/write/perform their own music is the main reason the brothers left Motown (except Jermaine, of course. He was married to the boss' daughter).

 

[#MJforever57]

If I'm not mistaken, it was studio musicians that did most (if not all) of the playing for them during the J5 years. Gordy was something of a control freak and saw to it that the Motown Sound functioned like a musical Ford assembly line, cranking out the very distinct sound that represented the label his way. Not having creative control of their own sound, not being allowed to record/write/perform their own music is the main reason the brothers left Motown (except Jermaine, of course. He was married to the boss' daughter).

This say it all that is the way it was done at Motown no freedom.

 

[DuranDuran]

Jermaine : I'm impressed by his ability to sing and play complex bass lines at the same time.

Geddy Lee from Rush, Janice Marie Johnson (A Taste Of Honey) and Sting (The Police) also sing and play bass at the same time

Does anyone now when Tito and Jermaine starting playing on the records ? I was listening to the recently leaked Dancing Machine multitracks, and the bass track may be Jermaine to me, as it sounds good but not as clean as a pro studio player. Did Tito and Randy played on most studio songs when they became The Jacksons?

I don't think they play on the studio J5 albums, just the live ones. Ronnie Rancifer, who played keyboards on the J5 concerts, did do some writing (I Am Love, Come Into My Life). Ronnie also played on some Smokey Robinson studio songs, but not on the J5 studio songs. I think the Funk Brothers play on the earlier J5 songs, not sure about the rest. Motown didn't list musician credits on most albums of the time. The session musicians used depended on the producer and there wasn't really a house band once Motown left Detroit. Wilton Felder from the jazz group The Crusaders played bass on I Want You Back. Tito did record an instrumental album at Motown that was never released. Jermaine played bass (and other instruments) on his solo albums at Motown, starting with the 3rd one My Name Is Jermaine and also on some songs by the band Switch. Tito and Randy do play on The Jacksons' albums at CBS.

 

[Victory22]

The brothers are decent musicians but nothing outstanding by a long shot.

 

[SheilaMJFan4Ever]

The brothers are decent musicians but nothing outstanding by a long shot.

I agree with that. I also think the thing that killed their chances at making a good living (but not on Mike level) is to accept their slightly above average skills and become session musicians for hire. The people behind the Milli Vanilli fiasco were studio musicians and were good enough to earn a Grammy (which should have been given to them after it was snatched back from MV). There's money to be made in session work, especially when you have the RRHOF cred under your belt.

Ain't no shame in honest work.