Re Odum...I'd say that Odum was James Browns signature bassist, although James fired and hired a lot of musicians and had some real good bassists in the mix.

Check Babbitts discography on his website. In addition to his body of work at Motown, he had some terrific perofrmances for artists as diverse as Barry Manilow, Elton John, The Spinners, etc. Talk about versatility!

I met Tony Newton, as I said, down at Smokeys house when I was about 14. I'd see him around a lot. He had an interest in a music store in Northwest Detroit. He had a guitar company come out with a signature "Newton" bass. When I was looking to upgrade from my first electric...a Kent, Tony tried to convince me to get a Newton. I considered it, but wisely opted for the Fender Jazz bass. When they formed The 8TH Day, I ran into Tony and he told me about his band. He just got a house in an upscale neighborhood and invited me to come over and his whole band was there...sort of like a hippie commune. When I moved to L.A. I ran into him and as I said...he offered to let me record a new demo tape at his apartment...I was working as a radio newscaster at the time. I was driving him nuts trying to get out a solid demo tape. Probably reminded him of some of the Motown producers doing 40 takes...

Haha I remember that episode!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBsuwtm8180[/youtube]

Ariel, what's wrong with Deacon at 18/19? we are talking about one of the greatest bassline creators and a wonderful bassist indeed while his playing in an enourmos band like Queen give him a lot of influence too.
About Lesh vs Casady I tend to prefer Jack's work and playing, in terms of greatness they are really close though but again I don't think they are greater of the likes of Deacon or Harris (I'm still not sure about Hamm too).

"Papas Got A Brand New Bag" is Odum...terrific groove.

My alltime favorite James Brown bassline is Tim Drummond on "Licking Stick". Check that one out.

I will definitely check it out Stu.

In the meantime, how about Lee Dorman from Iron Butterfly? Sooooo underrated...

What we now call Metal didn't exist in those days. Bands that played this kind of music were simply called "Heavy" or "Hard Rock". By the Early 70's the term Heavy Metal began to be used to describe bands as diverse as Iron Butterfly, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple. Eventually the Riff driven massive chord (and not Blues based) music of Black Sabbath had the most influence and followers spawning bands like Uriah Heep, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Motorhead which evolved into what today is referred to as Heavy Metal or just Metal.

It's really difficult to objectively judge Aston Barrett as a bassist since there's so few other well known Reggae bassists to compare him to. Barrett did set the tone for that style, but Reggae is often quite repetitive in nature, although the timing in that music form can be quite challenging...unless that's all you play, which seems to be the case with Barrett. When I was in Jamaica last year I caught a few reggae bands and the bass parts, once you get past the odd rhythm structures, all seemed relatively simple and supportive. Obviously, Barrett lacks versatility, and I'd have to say that he's probably the second best Jamaican bassist...behind Phil Chen.

That was just epic.
I'm actually not so sure that Harris is more creative, after watching that.
This guy has an amazing melodic sense on the instrument.

Me either. Some of the criteria are a bit difficult to determine unless there is an obvious difference. Influence for example. I'm sure that Harris has influence over a greater number of players due to playing in a well known band but I suspect Hamm may have more influence over the best "virtuoso" bass players.

Wishbone Ash was one of my favorite bands from the 70's and I always liked the bass playing of Martin Turner. Turner was a founding member. They also pioneered the twin guitar sound that became popular later on. I particularly like their Argus album.

Deacon doesn't have enough influence on his own, or innovation quite, despite his out of this world creativity and very respectable versatility. Lesh and Casady are both more innovative and influential, and both are also very creative. They're also both more important as individuals in the history of rock bass.

I suspect I'll put Lesh one spot before Casady as a temporary thing pending learning more about the two, if only because I suspect the Dead's much bigger listenership and reach/popularity than the Airplane probably means more influence for Phil (but I could be totally wrong)

FWIW if this were a talent/creativity list Deacon would be top 10 in rock.