Marvin Isley died Sunday night right here in Chicago, and my heart is certainly heavy.
He was & will always be one of my all time biggest influences on the bass. Marvin was the engine room that propelled the Isley's heavy bottom end groove, and I was completely captivated by their 3+3 era sound. I have spent so many hours practicing Marvin's funk/ rock bass riffs from so many Isley Brothers jams that I can't count them all. If you have not heard their double platinum 1977 album "Go For Your Guns" you need to do so, TODAY. It is an absolute tour de force of heavy rock influenced funk jams with hendrix-isms. One of my top 10 badass albums of all time...Anyway, this is shaping up to be a suck year for losing bass players. I guess we're all getting older.
Here's a bio:
Marvin Isley, 56, the bassist who helped the rhythm 'n' blues vocal trio the Isley Brothers reinvent themselves as a self-contained band and was featured on such hits as "That Lady," "Fight the Power," "Choosey Lover" and "Between the Sheets" died June 6 at a hospice in Chicago from complications of diabetes. Marvin joined the Brothers in 1972 when they were already well established as one of the most influential acts in soul and rock.
The original Isley Brothers trio, Ronald, Rudolph and O'Kelly Isley started as a Cincinnati gospel group in 1955, and the influence of the "church wrecking" style could be heard on such early hits as "Shout" (1959) and "Twist and Shout"(1962). They briefly hired young guitarist Jimmy James (Jimi Hendrix) for their road band in 1966, and started their own record company, T-Neck Records. Anyone who was around in the late 1960s probably heard (or danced to) the Isleys' biggest hit in that era, "It's Your Thing" which was ubiquitous on the radio in 1968.
All that happened before younger brothers Marvin and Ernie joined the group.
In 1973, the trio added brothers Marvin on bass, Ernie on guitar and drums, and brother-in-law, Chris Jasper on organ. As a sextet and a self-contained band, they recorded the album "3+3" which included the hit "That Lady" (which most of us recall as "Who's That Lady?"). The infectious song, with Marvin Isley's kinetic bass grooves and Ernie Isley's stunning, Hendrix-influenced guitar work, gave notice of how mainstream soul was changing under the influence of Hendrix and rock-infused funk bands like like the Isely Brothers. From 1975 to 1980, the 3+3 era Isley Brothers had 14 Top 10 R&B records, including “Fight the Power Part 1,” “Harvest for the World,” and “Livin’ in the Life.”
In 1984, the three younger members left to form Isley/Jasper/Isley. Eventually, Marvin and Ernie rejoined the Isley Brothers, although Marvin retired from active performing in the 1990s when he was diagnosed with diabetes. The illness eventually forced doctors to amputate both his legs.
All six Isleys were inducted into the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
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