New to Board and G&L Revitalized

[Robert Marcus]

Greetings. Robert Marcus currently residing in Florida south of Tampa. I do not have a long history with G&L but definitely with what are now vintage Fender Precisions and Jazz but most Precision. I was a Jamerson nut as a kid. I grew up in Miami that had to of the best AM radio stations in the country -- WFUN and WQAM, the latter not sure about call letters. In '68 Miami was a relatively small town, news spread fast, I got to work professionally before I graduated high school. it was at the Newport Hotel 7 Seas Lounge that hosted the headliners -- Smokey, Four Seasons, Wayne Cochran and the CC Riders where I met bassist Artie Goleniak who taught me where the sound of the Fender bass is,Louis Prima, Bo Diddley, etc. I worked in the house band and watched tremendous artists and worked as back-up bands for several, Bo Diddley and Wayne to name a few. These were grueling jobs -- 6 nights a week, 4 sets a night revolving around two other acts. My 1957 Precision, LaBella heavy flats through an Acoustic 360 never let me down. I knew Jaco Pastorius where we would come to see each other's acts in Laud. Will Lee would come to my awful gigs once in awhile, and took me backstage to meet all the cats in Dreams at a concert venue with some British rock band. When the business crumbled starting in the later 70's (the Mob moved out of Miami Beach thanks to Pres. Carter's Mariel boat lift) I got out of music in the 80's, worked a small business for 25 years before retiring. During that time I sold off my remaining Fenders, first to buy from my brother, then with Tim McGraw's Dancehall Doctors, a 5 string Gibson Tobias bolt on. It was funky and a fabulous recording bass. Live, it sounded awful through my Genz Benz Contour 500. Sold that for a used G&L L-2500 until I got the desire to sell that for an EB MM Stingray Classic 4, au natural finish in 2011. Kept that until I realized I never loved that thing like I did the old Fenders and the Tobias. Found a fabulous G&L JB just last month that is now my dream bass. It is pristine, it is funky. It is a funk machine as much as any vintage Fender. The Stingray isn't funky. Not got me. The active pickups started to sound phony where as the JB sounds as natural as can be. It has a huge, thick sould like the old Jazz but BETTER! I will attest this must be Leo's crowning glory -- the JB which has all the refinements he set out to do his entire career.

[Craig]

Greetings. Robert Marcus currently residing in Florida south of Tampa. I do not have a long history with G&L but definitely with what are now vintage Fender Precisions and Jazz but most Precision. I was a Jamerson nut as a kid. I grew up in Miami that had to of the best AM radio stations in the country -- WFUN and WQAM, the latter not sure about call letters. In '68 Miami was a relatively small town, news spread fast, I got to work professionally before I graduated high school. it was at the Newport Hotel 7 Seas Lounge that hosted the headliners -- Smokey, Four Seasons, Wayne Cochran and the CC Riders where I met bassist Artie Goleniak who taught me where the sound of the Fender bass is,Louis Prima, Bo Diddley, etc. I worked in the house band and watched tremendous artists and worked as back-up bands for several, Bo Diddley and Wayne to name a few. These were grueling jobs -- 6 nights a week, 4 sets a night revolving around two other acts. My 1957 Precision, LaBella heavy flats through an Acoustic 360 never let me down. I knew Jaco Pastorius where we would come to see each other's acts in Laud. Will Lee would come to my awful gigs once in awhile, and took me backstage to meet all the cats in Dreams at a concert venue with some British rock band. When the business crumbled starting in the later 70's (the Mob moved out of Miami Beach thanks to Pres. Carter's Mariel boat lift) I got out of music in the 80's, worked a small business for 25 years before retiring. During that time I sold off my remaining Fenders, first to buy from my brother, then with Tim McGraw's Dancehall Doctors, a 5 string Gibson Tobias bolt on. It was funky and a fabulous recording bass. Live, it sounded awful through my Genz Benz Contour 500. Sold that for a used G&L L-2500 until I got the desire to sell that for an EB MM Stingray Classic 4, au natural finish in 2011. Kept that until I realized I never loved that thing like I did the old Fenders and the Tobias. Found a fabulous G&L JB just last month that is now my dream bass. It is pristine, it is funky. It is a funk machine as much as any vintage Fender. The Stingray isn't funky. Not got me. The active pickups started to sound phony where as the JB sounds as natural as can be. It has a huge, thick sould like the old Jazz but BETTER! I will attest this must be Leo's crowning glory -- the JB which has all the refinements he set out to do his entire career.

Welcome!

Please do post some photos of your JB. See: Welcome! Read This First and you find the link to the Tutorial on posting photos.
Also, do add your bass to our G&L Registry, too!

[FZTNT]

Welcome Robert. Sounds like a lifetime of memories back in Tampa and Miami in the day. I miss Jaco and his music greatly.

[Robert Marcus]

Welcome Robert. Sounds like a lifetime of memories back in Tampa and Miami in the day. I miss Jaco and his music greatly.

Hey, man! It's nice to meet you so to speak and I do have some Jaco stories, most by cats who were much closer to him than I. There's some funny stories from my friend Prof. Jack Pezanelli, Wayne Cochran CC Riders alumni about Wayne, Jaco, Charlie Brent and stuff from my buddy Scott Kirkpatrick who's interviewed thoroughly in Bill Milkowski's Jaco bio. To better understand Jaco one must understand South Florida's rich musical history but the tourist business, the Mob run big hotels, the money thrown around, great AM radio in the 60's and we kids had access to everything musical. I worked with Ira Sullivan and with Pete Graves and Larry Warrilow before Jaco and barely out of high school. I might be redundant. I do know I was one dumb kid compared to Jaco who rose to stature locally around mid 70's just as all local scenes were in decline. It is my firm commitment Jaco was the last great musician and closed the 80's out. His importance is not readily understood IMHO. And yet I personally never had his aspirations but could have 'cause of attending U of Miami's school of music with those I may have mentioned prior. He went into the stratosphere and I into the basement (Jameson, Jemmott, Rainey). Now my telephone don' neva rang....