Robbie Shakespeare – Bass

Robert Warren Dale Shakespeare (27 September 1953 – 8 December 2021) was a Jamaican bass guitarist and record producer, best known as half of the Reggae rhythm section and production duo Sly and Robbie, with drummer Sly Dunbar. Regarded as one of the most influential reggae bassists, Shakespeare was also known for his creative use of electronics and production effects. He was sometimes nicknamed “Basspeare”.

As a part of Sly and Robbie, Shakespeare worked with various reggae artists such as U-Roy, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs, Sugar Minott, Augustus Pablo, Yellowman and Black Uhuru. His production work also extended beyond the reggae genre, covering various pop and rock artists such as Mick Jaggar, Bob, Dylan, Jackson Browner, Cyndi Lauper, Joe Cocker, Yoko Ono, Serge Gainsbourg and Grace Jones.

In truth, I have no idea if he is the bass player on this tune. I wanted to put some Reggae on here and just put ‘Reggae’ into YouTube and this track came up. In truth, the bass part is only four bars long and features only four notes. The rest is the arrangement and production. I looked the track up online to see if I could see who played bass but there are several players referred to on the album but this track is reportedly based on a sample of and earlier Sly and Robbie performance so I have no idea really. This is the bass part on ‘Welcome to Jamrock’ by Damian ‘Jr. Gong’ Marley. Marley is the second youngest child of Reggae legend Bob Marley. This is one of the easiest reads on here but the feel is all in the tone not in the notes.