Very misleading title, because a bass solo battle against Marcus is like boxing a young Mile Tyson with you having one arm tied. Verdine is a master studio and live bassist. He holds the Grove and fills like no other, but respectfully, he can't solo his way out of paper bag. Nevertheless, he's hands-down one of the greatest bass players of all time. Much love and respect to both him and King Marcus. Great video.
While soloing may not be one of Verdine White's main things, he is BY FAR, THE GREATEST bass showman on Earth and has laid down more bass groove hits than any other bassist ever, with the exception of maybe James Jamerson. But there never has been, nor ever will be any bass player who can dance and drop the funk on the bass simultaneously. PERIOD.
This is Obviously a taped dueling bass battle that Marcus agreed to.Listen closely and look at their hands.My God, some of the notes are coming out with No hands on the fret board.Look again, and listen.Verdeen Obviously thinks it would be more effective to use a taped bass solo, than to play live, and possibly blow it.Big bands started doing that shit in the early 80s including the Jacksons.No different than Mariah Carrie or Milli Vanilli.Its called bass synching.
This generation doesn't even play anything. We had 5 great bassist in my neighborhood. One went to Burkley because I introduced him to fusion at 14. He already liked Willie Weeks and Rocco. My brother who play in bands from age 14. Two brothers The Shinns. One left music and went to GM. I had a ear and mind. Wanted to work in a factory and build a studio. North East Ohio. We had Howard Hewitt, the Ingram brothers, Dazz, Lots more Disco and white greed killed the funk.
Ok EWF were an exceptional group. I never really played attention to Verdine's playing. But from what I've heard in this video. I think he's ok. But I like Larry Graham, Marcus Miller, Louis Johnson and Prince guitar skills much better. But EWF were a badass group.
Behind The Funk. Curious to know just how many Verdine White haters, read classical charts. FYI, Verdine classically trained at Chicago's School of Conservatory. Any takers?
I'm as big an EWF fan as there is, I have all their recordings, I have loved them since the beginning. The thing I always noticed about Verdine is that he is having so much fun playing his bass, his smile was always huge.
It was NOT Marcus VS Verdine. I love the way Verdine White plays bass! However, Marcus Miller is an entirely different type and level jazz/fusion bass player. This is Marcus Miller! That is why Verdine brought him up on stage!
For all you braindead super technical nerds, there isn't a single song that I or anyone knows that has a whole lot of Marcus. Any asshat can slap play a bass. But it's Verdine who is classically and jazz trained that actually provides a solid bass and rhythm for the band. I'd pick Verdine any day over Marcus boring played out slap bass.
