The bass giant that is Ocar Alston.

[Blazer]

Okay, Oscar Alston was the bass player for Rick James and all of James' side projects such as the Mary Jane girls. Prior to his death Rick James praised Alston by publicly calling him "The man responsible for all my success"

Nowadays Alston is keeping James' music alive by touring and performing it. But let's not forget what got Alston there in the first place, he's an incredibly tight and grooving player.


Mary Jane girls - "All night" 12 inch version


Mary Jane girls - "in my house" instrumental version.
Here you can really hear Alston working his Musicman bass

And of course we can't forget his best known work of all times.

This particular live version is absolutely smoking and a good showcase on what a show Rick James could lay down.

[uwe]

People like to laugh about Rick James nowadays and as an artist he iwas not in the league of that little guy from Minneapolis, but that Rockpalast gig was a credible performance. Less mannered than much of Prince's stuff.

[Blazer]

People like to laugh about Rick James nowadays and as an artist he iwas not in the league of that little guy from Minneapolis, but that Rockpalast gig was a credible performance. Less mannered than much of Prince's stuff.

Not only that but the Dave Chapelle impersonations of Rick James also give people the wrong impression about how James was as a person. This particular clip showed that after cleaning up and having paid his dues, he actually was very humble.

[Highlander]

I have been fascinated with "musical links" for years - used to collect the "Pete Frame Trees" - sad as I am... So, you start with an artist and see how you can link them with other acts, artists, etc ie Deep Purple to Spirit (direct answer, if not known, is Randy California deputised for Ritchie Blackmore Quebec 1972, who was sick mid tour - even got an encore - would love to get a copy of that gig, but never heard of one - they even played "When A Blind Man Cries", so I have read...) or Lynyrd Skynyrd to Lulu (Freebird to "playin' this for Duane and Berry" to Duane Allman's multiple session works - Lulu recorded an lp with the Muscle Shoals crew - actually some excellent RnB work)

This is an obscure link and took me by surprise when I googled the pair in question having never heard the song before...

Being somewhat interested in Neil Young, I have long known that Mr Young played in a band called "The Mynah Byrds", fronted by Rick James, back in the mid sixties, prior to travelling to LA and on into musical history...
So I was rather surprised to find this youtube of a song with a slideshow of pictures - the song features Neil Young, but the thing that surprised me was 2 of the pictures feature Bruce Palmer (also later in the Buffalo Springfield with NY), but to my surprise it shows him playing what looks like an EBO...



This links to an article with the EBO pic, but the top picture shows a Gretch like bass...?
http://www.nickwarburton.com/wordpress/?cat=7

Palmer was more an enigma than a player - just not on the same plane as most of us...

The Mynah Byrds also featured a chap that went on to Steppenwolf...

[Freuds_Cat]

One of my favourite Bassist singers  (Also Canadian) Neil Merryweather (AKA Neil Lillie at that time) was also a member ofthe Mynah Birds. And a close compatriot and band member with Rick James at different times.