Jerry Jemmott

 ( 1946 Births ) 

After a near-fatal 1972 auto accident in Manhattan that also involved Roberta Flack and guitarist Cornell Dupree, Jemmott temporarily quit playing bass due to injuries he sustained, but would return in 1975 in the midst of the closure of many of the recording studios, due to emergence of compact home recording studios that utilized the syncing of the drum machine with the synthesizer, the precursor to the decline of recording industry and the emerging acceptance of the sound of digital recordings. He continued to work in film and theater as an arrangement and conducting with John Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra. He was cited as a major influence by Jaco Pastorius, who incorporated Jemmott's funk bass lines into his own style.Bill Milkowski: The Extraordinary and Tragic Life of Jaco Pastorius. Miller Freeman Books, San Francisco 1995/Backbeat Books 2006, , p 32. Jemmott hosted the instructional video Modern Electric Bass (1985) which featured advice from Pastorius.

Jemmott began his solo career in 1978, playing jazz, blues, R&B, reggae, and soul as Jerry Jemmott & Souler Energy, a group that over the years included Steve Berrios, Eric Gale, Neal Creque, Patience Higgins, Lou Marini, Seldon Powell, Bernard Purdie, Arlen Roth, and Melvin Sparks. Later he formed Jerry Jemmott's The Right Reverend Jakie Neckbone Jubilee Special, and performed a mix of his original "cool groove" songs with his classic hits, in addition to presenting his "Soul Kitchen" improvisation workshops and clinics. That band members were singers Tina Fabrique, Connie Fredericks - Malone, Frankie Paris, Angel Rissoff, Catherine Russell, and Stan Wright. Drummers Tony Thunder Smith, Tom Kaelin, and others. During this period he was also a member of the Jimmy Owens Quartet, who made several trips to Europe, the Middle East and Africa for the U.S State Department, along with Dizzy Gillespie, the Heath Brothers, and Sonny Fortune . The group included guitarist Eric "Fabulous J" Johnson, and drummer Daryl Washington (brother of Grover Washington Jr). During this period he got drummer Herbie Lovelle out of retirement to record Robert Johnson's music for producers Gene Heimlich and Clark Dimond. The album was Incarnation and it featured vocalist/actor Tucker Smallwood and guitarist Arlen Roth, guitarist Pat Conte, TC James on keyboards and Jemmott on bass. It was not released until 1994, then reissued in 2019 as "The Incarnation Blues Band" on Soulitude Records.

Jemmott recorded solo albums for P-Vine Records: Caught in the Low Beam and The New York View; and Make It Happen! for WhatchaGonnaDo Records. He has written articles, books, and released audio and video bass instruction materials. He is the recipient of the 2001 Bass Player magazine's Lifetime Achievement Award and Chairman of the Electric Bass Department at the Richard Davis Foundation for Young Bassists.

In 2006, he joined Gregg Allman's backing band ("Gregg Allman & Friends"), in addition to Cornell Dupree's Soul Survivors. That same year, he was one of many guests at The Allman Brothers Band's 40th anniversary at the Beacon Theatre in New York City. In 2014 he rejoined Aretha Franklin on the David Letterman Show performing "Rolling in The Deep". He developed a universally recognizable ColorSoundMusic Learning System envisioned by Herbie Lovelle that he teaches at his clinics and workshops.

In 2023, Jemmott published his autobiography, MAKE IT HAPPEN!: The Life and Times of "The Groovemaster", Bassist Jerry Jemmott, in collaboration with editor William Knoblauch.