Songs n' Shanties: The Fender Rhodes and Jazz Bass

Peyton Hoskins
Apr 12, 2021
4 min read

Updated: Apr 13, 2021

The Mix of the Fender Rhodes and the Jazz Bass

My first blog post will be related to the Fender Rhodes electric piano and the Fender Jazz electric bass. Now both of the instruments, despite being completely different, mix beautifully for being used over multiple decades and still being relevant today. Both have been used in multiple genres ranging from jazz, pop, soul, and rock. As well as being both produced by Fender, they both have completely different sounds, with the Rhodes having a variety of sound can go from intergalactic and spacy to a distorted bite; while the jazz bass gives a very unique sound that can range from punchy and tight to growly and defined.

Notable Players of the Fender Rhodes + Jazz fusion and Miles Davis

One musician who is credited as a ringleader for making jazz fusion popular is Miles Davis whose record “Kind of Blue” is credited as being the highest-selling jazz record of all time. Now although Miles Davis is a trumpet player, multiple of his piano players went on to play the Fender Rhodes on their ventures in music. Herbie Hancock who had played with Davis from 1963-1968, encountered the Fender Rhodes in 1968 who spontaneously took a liking to the sound. He later went to Make “Head Hunters” which was the first jazz record to sell a million copies with Rhodes and multiple other instruments in the track listing. Another of Mile's players, Chick Corea, played the Rhodes as well during the 1970’s and onward. On his record “Light as a Feather”, he used the Rhodes primarily with his tone being highly sought after and very difficult to replicate. The last player I'll mention from Mile’s list of features is Joe Zawinul; he is the founder of the band Weather Report. One of their more commercial albums; “Heavy Weather” was orchestrated and produced by Zawinul and incorporated the Rhodes as well as the Fender jazz bass with Jaco Pastorious, who we will return to, resulting in some of jazz fusion's most influential sounds.

Jaco Pastorious playing the “Bass of Doom”

More Players and Genre Spread

Another player who has a wonderful live appearance with the Rhodes is Billy Preston. He performed with the Beatles during their rooftop appearance which was their last public appearance. The Rhodes was used prominently in the 1970's from several of Stevie Wonder's recordings. A single from the band Pink Floyd uses the Rhodes on “Sheep”, alongside other synth sounds. It has also appeared in some media with one of the most notorious being used in the Peanuts Christmas specials. Another of the Rhodes appearances is in the film “The Blues Brothers”.

The Fender Jazz Bass: Origins

This was one of Fender’s oldest models originally being marketed toward upright bass players with the appearance of it resembling another of Fender’s models: the Jazzmaster guitar. When the guitar hit the market in March of 1960, it had the price of $279.50 and another variation at $293.47. The guitar went through multiple design revisions from 1961-1977. Although the bass’s name is the Jazz Bass, it was not immediately used by jazz players with many players coming around to it in the ’70s and beginning to experiment with it on recordings and live performances.

Notable Players and the Invention of a New Style

Alongside this new bass came new sounds and players with a new style being made called “Slapping”. This style involves popping and slapping on the guitar to make a percussion sound on the instrument. The technique began on the double bass in the 1900's and spread to the Jazz Bass later with the player Larry Graham being a known pioneer. Graham was born in Texas and played in the band Sly and the Family Stone; alongside collaborations with Prince and Drake. Another bassist who used this style was Bootsy Collins, who played his Jazz Bass with James Brown. After playing with James Brown, he went on to play with Parliament-Funkadelic and became one of the big faces of funk with their band being inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame in 1997. A bass player heavily influenced by Bootsy was Michael “Flea” Balzary. Flea’s style of music is very much his own, going onto bring slapping into popularity in modern rock music.

Jaco Pastorious and Marcus Miller

Some of the greats have come around to the style of the jazz bass. Returning to Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock, one Marcus Miller played with both and has many achievements playing bass as a session musician and on his ventures. Returning to Weather Report, Jaco Pastorius played his bass (nicknamed the Bass of Doom) and was lauded as being one of the greatest electric bassists of all time. His time on music showed a lot of what the instrument could make. His use of false harmonics and mix of afro Cuban percussion style lead his legacy to be heavily influential.