Jim’s favorite gig these days is playing upright bass with anyone who will put up with him. After 40 years of playing electric bass in nearly every band from Boston to Portsmouth, he bought an upright bass and discovered that it’s a 'hoe nutha' animal. Jim started playing bass in 1965 by ‘learning the parts’ in the band Victims of Society. Despite a few personel and band name changes, they were frequently booked for high school dances and many of the local ‘psychedelic dungeons’ of that era, where they played the top 40 radio hits of the day – which equates to much of today’s classic rock.
Through most of the 70s Jim played with an extensive list of top seacoast area artists including Steve ‘Turbo’ Thompson, Joe Paradise, Sandra Koski, Dan Savage, Steve Toland and many others. This was followed by a 5 year stint spent partially in Hawaii and then in Boston. He found the Hawaii music scene to be very eclectic and wound up playing bass in a bluegrass, Hawaiian and country band (honest) called the Pakalolo Pickers (honest). During his Boston years. it was Jim’s association with Tom Ghent (a living musical legend) who challenged Jim to ‘Work Out’ and only sing and play what really worked for him. At the same time he worked for Aztech Electronics where all of Boston’s biggest rock and jazz musicians kept their gear tweaked. During this time he got to meet Pat Metheny, Nokie Edwars, Steve Miller, Joe Lilly, Bobby Keyes and other notables, along with having the opportunity to play with Sleepy Labeef who became a real hero and mentor to Jim. This was then followed by a short stint in Austin where he gained connections to such folks as Butch Hancock, Billy Joe Shaver, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Jerry Jeff Walker, Tommy Hancock, Alvin Crow and Nancy Griffith.
By the mid 80s it was back home to Portsmouth where a blossoming music scene was developing in his own back yard. He made lots of new connections with the local talent, hooking up with Jim Tierney (of the Postcards) and together with Kevin Guyer on guitar and vocals, and Paul Wolf on drums they formed the legendary local rockabilly and surf band, The Beach Cowboys. Also during this time you could find Jim with other seacoast acts such as Big Night Out, Lunch at the Dump, The Boys, and Seventh Peak. It was also during this time that Jim met Rick Watson and joined him in such eclectic enterprises as Lonesome Dave & the North Dixie Road Kings (doing a spoof on bluegrass) and the Swingin Bachelors (50s, 60s, 70s rock and party band).
Perhaps the most unusual jump in his musical direction came during the time he was playing with the Beach Cowboys and they were joined by international accordion giant Gary Sredzienski at a wedding gig. The results were so good, they morphed the ‘Cowboys’ into a new band called The Serfs. Although it’s been over 20 years since the first Serf gig, Jim still holds the bottom down in what is some of the most original melding of musical genres ever. And for the last 2 years, he has been joined in that band by Rick on guitar – making the connections even deeper between Jim, Paul, and Rick. It was these old bonds, along with a desire to just hang out and play music for fun again, that brought the three of them together to form The Old School Band.
Jim has always been on demand as a bass player due to the fact that, among other reasons, he plays the bass the way it’s meant to be played. It’s always about the groove and never about how many notes he can play. He prefers to play the right notes at the right time and that’s what makes the music feel good.
2009 THE OLD SCHOOL BAND - PRESENT
2007 GEEZERTEEN
1997 CURT BESSETTE BAND
1990 THE SERFS - PRESENT
1987 THE BEACH COWBOYS
1985 LONESOME DAVE & THE NORTH DIXIE ROAD KINGS
1985 THE SWINGING BACHELORS
1985 THE HYPNAUTICAL HAWAIIANS
1982 The ORIGINAL JAMES TAYLOR REVIEW
1979 THE PAKALOLO PICKERS
1972 KICK (YANKEE REMEDY)
1968 UNITY (THE NEXT MOURNING)
1965 THE VICTIMS OF SOCIETY
