James Genus (born January 20, 1966) is an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

bassist. He plays both

electric bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

and

upright bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

and currently plays in the Saturday Night Live Band. He also occasionally fills in for Mark Kelley of the hip hop band

The Roots The Roots are an American Hip-hop, hip hop band formed in 1987 by singer Black Thought, Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and drummer Questlove, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''T ...

. Genus has performed as a

session musician A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a reco ...

and

sideman A sideman is a professional musician who is hired to perform live with a solo artist, or with a group in which they are not a regular band member. The term is usually used to describe musicians that play with jazz or rock artists, whether solo o ...

throughout his career, having worked with an extensive list of artists.

Biography

Genus was born in

Hampton, Virginia Hampton is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 137,148 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, seve ...

. He began on guitar at age six and switched to bass at 13. He studied at

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a Public university, public research university in Richmond, Virginia, United States. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virgin ...

from 1983 to 1987 and played for a summer at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Then he moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, where he quickly began working with many noted players on the city's jazz scene. He has played with Out of the Blue (1988–89),

Horace Silver Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver (September 2, 1928 – June 18, 2014) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, particularly in the hard bop style that he helped pioneer in the 1950s. After playing tenor saxophone and piano at sch ...

(1989),

Roy Haynes Roy Owen Haynes (March 13, 1925 – November 12, 2024) was an American jazz drummer. In the 1950s, he was given the nickname "Snap Crackle" for his distinctive snare drum sound and musical vocabulary. He is among the most recorded drummers in ja ...

and Don Pullen (1989–91),

Nat Adderley Nathaniel Carlyle Adderley (November 25, 1931 – January 2, 2000) was an American jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It ...

(1990), Greg Osby and New York Voices (1990–91), Jon Faddis (1991), T.S. Monk (1991),

Benny Golson Benny Golson (January 25, 1929 – September 21, 2024) was an American bebop and hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and arranger. He came to prominence with the big bands of Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie, more as a writer than a p ...

(1991),

Dave Kikoski Dave Kikoski (born September 29, 1961) is an American jazz piano, jazz pianist and keyboardist. Biography Born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, Kikoski learned piano from his father and played with him in bars as a teenager. He studied at the Ber ...

(1991),

Bob Berg Robert Berg (April 7, 1951 – December 5, 2002) was an American jazz saxophonist. Biography Berg was born in Brooklyn, New York. Berg started his musical education at the age of six when he began studying classical piano. He began playing ...

(1991–96), Geoffrey Keezer (1992),

Lee Konitz Leon "Lee" Konitz (October 13, 1927 – April 15, 2020) was an American jazz Alto saxophone, alto saxophonist and composer. He performed successfully in a wide range of jazz styles, including bebop, cool jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Konitz's ass ...

(1992),

Michael Brecker Michael Leonard Brecker (March 29, 1949 – January 13, 2007) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as a performer and composer, received an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music in ...

(1992–96), Bob James (since 1994), Michel Camilo (since 1995), Elysian Fields (since 1995), Branford Marsalis (1996),

Chick Corea Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain (instrumental), Spain", "500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba" ...

(1996), Didier Lockwood (1996), Dave Douglas (1996),

Uri Caine Uri Caine (born June 8, 1956) is an American classical music, classical and jazz pianist and composer from Philadelphia. Biography Early years Caine was born on June 8, 1956, in Philadelphia, to Burton Caine (1928–2023), a professor at Temple ...

(1997), Global Theory (1997), Ravi Coltrane (2000),

Bill Evans William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, block chords, innovative chord voicings, a ...

(2005),

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...

(2008), and

Daft Punk Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. They achieved popularity in the late 1990s as part of the French house movement, combining house music, funk, disco, tech ...

(2013).

Discography

As sideman

With

*''

The Old Country ''The Old Country'' is a 1921 British silent drama film directed by A. V. Bramble and starring Gerald McCarthy, Kathleen Vaughan and Haidee Wright. It adapts a play by Dion Clayton Calthrop (same year, same title). The play was adapted by ...

'' (Alfa, 1990) With Greg Osby * '' Man-Talk for Moderns, Vol. X'' (

Blue Note Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by German-Jewish emigrants Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it derived its name from the blue no ...

, 1990) With The Brecker Brothers * '' Return of the Brecker Brothers'' ( GRP, 1992) * '' Out of the Loop (Brecker Brothers album)'' ( GRP, 1994) -

37th Annual Grammy Awards The 37th Annual Grammy Awards were presented on March 1, 1995, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Bruce Springsteen was the night's biggest winner with 4 awards, including Song ...

Best Contemporary Jazz Performance With

Gary Burton Gary Burton (born January 23, 1943) is an American jazz Vibraphone, vibraphonist, composer, and educator. Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the prevailing two-mallet technique. This approach caused ...

*'' Generations'' (Concord, 2004) With

*''

Blue Wail ''Blue Wail'' is an album by pianist Uri Caine that was released on the Winter & Winter label in 1999. Reception In his review for Allmusic, David R. Adler notes that "Caine and company imbue every tune with an extraordinary blues feeling and a ...

'' (Winter & Winter, 1999) *'' The Sidewalks of New York: Tin Pan Alley'' (Winter & Winter, 1999) *'' The Goldberg Variations'' (Winter & Winter, 2000) With James Carter *'' Present Tense'' (EmArcy, 2008) With Dave Douglas *'' In Our Lifetime'' (New World, 1995) *'' Stargazer'' (Arabesque, 1997) *'' Moving Portrait'' ( DIW, 1998) *'' Magic Triangle'' (Arabesque, 1998) *'' Soul on Soul'' (RCA, 2000) *''

Leap of Faith In philosophy, a leap of faith is the act of belief, believing in or accepting something not on the basis of reason. The phrase is commonly associated with Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. Idiomatic usage As an idiom, ''leap of faith'' ca ...

'' (Arabesque, 2000) *'' The Infinite'' (RCA, 2002) *'' Strange Liberation'' (Bluebird, 2003) *'' Meaning and Mystery'' (Greenleaf, 2006) *'' Live at the Jazz Standard'' (Greenleaf, 2007) With

*'' Domingo'' (Dreyfus, 1992) With Alex Han *''Spirit (3 Deuces, 2017)'' With

*'' Jazz Nocturne'' (Venus/Evidence, 1992 994 With Geoff Keezer *''

World Music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

'' (DIW, 1992) With

Pat Martino Pat Martino (born Patrick Carmen Azzara; August 25, 1944 – November 1, 2021) was an American jazz guitarist and composer. He has been cited as one of the greatest guitarists in jazz. Early life Martino was born Patrick Carmen Azzara in Philad ...

*'' Stone Blue'' (Blue Note, 1998) With Steve Masakowski *'' What It Was'' (Blue Note, 1993) With T. S. Monk *'' Take One'' (Blue Note, 1992) With Don Pullen *'' Random Thoughts'' (Blue Note, 1990) With

*''

Random Access Memories ''Random Access Memories'' is the fourth and final studio album by the French electronic music duo Daft Punk, released on 17 May 2013 through Columbia Records. It pays tribute to late Music history of the United States in the 1970s, 1970s and e ...

'' (Columbia, 2013) With James Williams *''Up to The Minute Blues'' (DIW, 1994)

References

*Mark Gilbert, "James Genus". '' Grove Jazz'' online.

External links

Conversation With James Genus, 4/01/2009
{{DEFAULTSORT:Genus, James American jazz double-bassists American male double-bassists American jazz bass guitarists Guitarists from Virginia 1966 births Living people Musicians from Hampton, Virginia American male bass guitarists 20th-century American bass guitarists Saturday Night Live Band members Jazz musicians from Virginia 21st-century American double-bassists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians