Often people overlook bass players but they praise guitar players and drummers. However, as the music scene is evolving many are now recognizing the importance of bass players. Back in the rock era, there were many people who would just ignore the bassists so bass players were not much recognized. However, there were also those brilliant bassists like Bootsy Collins, Flea, Carol Kaye, and a few others who forced people to acknowledge them.
And John Paul Jones was also among those bassists which is the reason he is considered one of the greatest bass players in history. Jones began his music career with the band The Deltas when he was only fifteen and later joined Jett Blacks. However, people started noticing him after he joined the Shadows. With every band he joined, he was also sharpening his skills.
Furthermore, he also played for various popular bands and musicians including the Rolling Stones, Cat Stevens, Donovan, Rockestra, and others. Later he met a legendary guitarist and musician Jimmy Page in the early 60s and thus began their friendship. Later in May 1968, Jones joined Page’s band The New Yardbirds which we know now as Led Zeppelin as they changed their band name in October of the same year.
They are the most iconic band that even knocked the Beatles from the Billboard charts. However, they had mad respect for the Beatles. Jones even complimented the co-lead singer and bassist of the Beatles, Paul McCartney on his bass skills. He even went on to say that McCartney is perfect, so why is he perfect?
Why Paul McCartney is the perfect bassist according to John Paul Jones
Every now and then we see a fellow musician praise others and when Jones was in an interview with NME back in 1970, he talked and complimented several bass players including Paul McCartney. He said, “You can’t get away from [Motown], every bass player in every rock group is still doing Motown phrases, whether he wants to admit it or not.”
He then said about Paul, “I think he’s perfect, He’s always been good. Everything he’s done has always been right. Even if he didn’t do too much, it was still just right. He’s improved so much since the early Beatles days, and everything is still right.”
John also named great bass players such as Charles Mingus, Jack Bruce, Charles Mingus, and more. What a humble and simple person John is. Although he himself is one of the greatest bassists in history, he still spoke highly of McCartney and even called him a perfect bass player.
Jones has also shared an interesting story about him and McCartney. Before he joined Led Zeppelin he worked with various bands and artists including Donovan on his song Mellow Yellow. Jones had written something but Donovan and others did not like it in fact he said that they hated it.
However, McCartney appeared out of nowhere, and after he saw what Jones wrote he praised his lyrics. He said that McCartney told him it was fantastic and it changed everyone’s mentality and McCartney’s statement was totally correct because the song Mellow Yellow is the first ever Donovan track that crossed a million sales.
McCartney is also a fan of Jones and they are good friends. Furthermore, Jones was even a part of McCartney’s Rockestra. The Beatles disbanded in the 1970 and McCartney was on his own doing music. By the late 70s, McCartney started gathering several musicians into his Rockestra, and just as mentioned before he also brought Jones. Other than Jones there were an incredible and excellent bunch of other musicians including David Gilmour, Pete Townshend, John Bonham, and others.
