Masters of Funk

The electric bass may have shared its early-'50s birthdate with rock & roll, but its journey from adolescence to maturity paralleled the development of funk. Just as funk was derived from R&B, so did funk bass evolve from the efforts of such early R&B greats as James Jamerson, Duck Dunn, Willie Weeks, David Hood, Chuck Rainey, and Tommy Cogbill. While some of these pioneers continued on to make important funk contributions, probably the single most important factor in establishing funk as an idiom unto itself was the thumb of Larry Graham. True, pop music had absorbed its share of African and Latin syncopations, and jazz bassists like Pops Foster, Milt Hinton and Slam Stewart had been slapping their uprights for more than 40 years. But when Graham put thumb to string, the face of the bass -- and the music it supported -- changed forever.

The Thumb that Launched a Thousand Slaps: Larry Graham today,
with his bass "Moonshine," made by the Japanese company Moon.

THE GODFATHER OF SLAP

Born on August 14, 1946, in Beaumont, Texas, Larry Graham moved with his family to Oakland, California, when he was three. Larry's first instrument was the guitar, and by the time he was 15 he was working professionally in a trio with his mother, who sang and played piano, and a drummer. Sitting onstage at one of their steady Bay Area clubs was an old organ that would alter the course of bass history. Graham explains: "I started playing the foot pedals while I sang and strummed the guitar and it sounded great. Then one night the organ broke down, and we sounded kind of empty without the bottom end. The next day I rented a St. George solidbody bass from a store called Music Unlimited; I planned to play it temporarily until the organ could be fixed. It turned out that they couldn't get the neccesary parts anymore, so I was stranded on the bass! Meanwhile, thinking that my stint as a bassist would be limited, I plucked the strings with my thumb and never bothered to learn the normal right-hand technique, with two fingers over the top."

Eventually, Graham and his mother made another historically significant move when they decided to drop the drummer and work as a duo. "That was when I started to thump the strings with my thumb to make up for not having the bass drum," Larry notes, "and I also plucked [i.e. popped] the strings with my index finger to fill in the snare backbeat. Over time, I got it down pretty good, but I wasn't thinking in terms of creating anything new; I was just trying to do my job -- to provide as much of a foundation as I could."

Meanwhile, Sylvester "Sly" Stewart was working as a DJ at Bay Area radio station KSOL and hatching plans to start a band. Unbeknownst to Graham, a female fan of the duo began calling the station and imploring Sly to check out Larry's ear-opening basswork. "He finally showed up," Graham says, "and he liked what I was doing so much that he asked me to join his group, even though he'd been planning to play bass himself. We recorded A Whole New Thing in 1967, but it wasn't until our second album, Dance to the Music, became a hit that thumping and plucking got popular and started turning up on other records."

Internal problems eventually led Graham and other Family Stone members to begin departing in 1972. The bassist carried on, first with Graham Central Station -- a hard funkin' group that made seven albums -- and then as a solo artist, beginning with the crossover smash One in a Million in 1980. Following his fifth and final solo effort, the 1985 Japanese-released Fired Up, Larry has spent a few years away from the public eye. Since his re-emergence several years ago, he has become a sideman supreme, making concert appearances in Japan and Brazil with the Crusaders and Stanley Clarke, singing duets with Aretha Franklin and Amy Keys, and writing songs for everyone from Johnny Mathis to Stanley Jordan.

Graham's current schedule finds him busier than ever. He recently added bass and vocals to upcoming albums by Eddie Murphy and the English funk band Four Trans Five (sic) as well as singing with Sly's sister Rose on Robbie Nevil's new disc. He also provided the vocals for Carlos Santana's remake of Marvin Gaye's "Right On," and followed that with a trip to Mexico to appear in the video and several concerts. This year, his annual visit to Japan will include a Graham Central Station revival show also featuring Mimi, a Japanese pop artist produced by Graham and guitarist George Johnson. "We'll be doing some Graham Central Station, some of my solo stuff, some Brothers Johnson tunes, ansd songs George and I have written for Mimi."

Graham, who moved from Los Angeles, to Montego Bay, Jamaica, last year, still plays "Sunshine," a mid-'60's Jazz Bass prominent on many a hit. But his main bass today is "Moonshine," an updated active version of "Sunshine," custom made for him by the Japanese company Moon. He's also been using his new Peavey TL-5, a gift from Verdine White [bass player for Earth Wind and Fire], and is awaiting a Moon 5-string. "I'm really into all the new bass developments," he offers. "People ask me if I'm bitter that my technique is being used on so many hit records, but to ne it's the ultimate compliment. I feel great that I've been able to contribute something to the world of music." And more contributions are on the way: "Montego Bay is the most peaceful, creative environment I've ever been in. I have a home studio and a local band with Jamaican musicians, so there's no telling what kind of 'funk-gae' music we'll be making!"

-- Bass Player September '92 p. 35