One of the funkiest bass players ever to hit LA, “Sweetbass” talks about touring with Patrice Rushen, breaking into the LA music scene and the Solid Gold gig
Exclusive interview with FBPO’s Jon Liebman
June 25, 2012
Marvin “Sweetbass” Banks is considered one of the funkiest bass players ever to hit the Los Angeles area. Originally from Chicago, Marvin has recorded with such artists as Kurtis Blow, the Emotions, the Staple Singers and R. Kelly. He has also performed and/or toured with Patrice Rushen, Stevie Wonder, Brenda Russell, Jeffrey Osborne, Peabo Bryson, Kool & the Gang, Brenton Wood, the Delfonics, the Gap Band and many others, including Bob Hope’s famous USO tours.
“Sweetbass” was a band member of the television show Solid Gold with Cooley Jackson and has performed for the Children’s Miracle Network Telethon, as well as an episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia with Danny DeVito. In 2004, Banks founded TyghtBass Publishing.
FBPO: Tell me about your musical upbringing.
MB: I come from a huge family in Chicago, where everyone was very musically inclined. My uncle, Leroy Jackson, was a serious bass player for artists such as Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Count Basie, Charlie Parker and others. I had other uncles and cousins performing professionally, from Chicago to Los Angeles. I was always surrounded by music from a young age, watching family members rehearse in basements and perform.
FBPO: How did you end up a bass player?
MB: Wow, that was a trip! When I was 4 years old, my mom used to take me for guitar lessons in downtown Chicago. After that, a cousin tried to teach me for a while until I said I wanted to play drums. I started playing drums in grade school and continued through high school. I started playing bass, but I was still considered a drummer. Then I got an opportunity to play bass with The Emotions at the Famous 500 room at the Roberts Motel in Chicago. I was only 17 years old at the time. It was one of the biggest things I’d ever done back then. From that point, I was hooked on bass!
FBPO: You toured with Patrice Rushen back in the early ’80s. How would you describe that experience?
MB: Actually, that’s where I really got the experience. I was still a studio drummer for Tanya Records in Chicago, a subsidiary of RCA Records, when I heard Patrice Rushen needed a bass player. I auditioned, along with about eighty other participants, and I got the gig. I was the youngest one in the band, only 18 years old. From the response I was getting, I knew this is what I would be doing!
FBPO: Chicago has such a rich musical heritage. What made you decide to “take the plunge” and head for LA?
MB: In 1981, my father passed away and I really didn’t know in what direction I should head. The Patrice Rushen tour came in 1982. Since it was a tour of the western states, we eventually ended in Los Angeles, Patrice’s hometown. My mom and sisters were already in LA, so I stayed and sent for the rest of my stuff. I set up camp and have been here ever since!
FBPO: How did you manage to break in to the music scene in LA? Needless to say, the competition is fierce!
MB: Yes it was and it still is! At the time, I moved with my mom to Santa Ana, not knowing that city had a music community all its own. Among the musicians and artists there were O’Bryan, Melvin Lee Davis (Lee Ritenour), Byron Bordeaux (Bobby Womack) and Cooley Jaxson (Solid Gold dancer), just to name a few. Trust me, there were a whole lot more talented musicians and artists in this one area. I really felt I didn’t have a chance. Then a good friend, guitarist Myke Jones, met me in one of the many local bands in that Santa Ana neighborhood and took me to the Solid Gold auditions, where I met Mr Cooley Jaxson. Things started taking off from there!
FBPO: Tell me about being in the Solid Gold band. That must have been a lot of fun!
MB: I was like a kid in a candy store, just being around all the people from the show, meeting them, performing and sharing the stage with so many different types of musical icons. Occasionally, we performed at other venues away from the Paramount Studios. We even did the Children’s Miracle Network telethon in Utah at the Osmonds’ studios. That was very exciting.
FBPO: Your name isn’t closely associated with any one particular artist, yet you always seem to be in demand. Are you pretty much a freelance, bass-for-hire kind of guy?
MB: Actually, I am whatever you want me to be at any given time. I am continually looking for consistency in this business! That just seems to be the hardest part of all. I’m always performing with different artists. I frequently get hired to music direct different projects and I currently have my own band, TYGHTSHIP, that I’ve been blessed to continue since 1998.
FBPO: What’s keeping you busy these days?
MB: Right now, I’ve been pretty consistently performing with TYGHTSHIP, working a lot of the Southern California clubs and the casino circuit. I’m currently MD-ing two different projects. Just trying to keep it moving!
FBPO: How about the future? What else is on the horizon for Marvin “Sweetbass” Banks?
MB: Finding consistency! My motto always is “To be a good leader, you have to be a great follower.” I’d like to continue performing with more known artists, do some more MD work and to be surrounded by great, talented, musically-inclined individuals, who, like me, are searching for new and inventive ways to keep the groove in the pocket!
FBPO: What would you be if you weren’t a bass player?
MB: Man, that’s a good question! All I ever wanted since I was 4 years old was to be a musician. Ten years ago, I would have said a professional basketball player! [Laughs] I think I’d like to teach music to the youngsters today, so they can really see there capabilities of a hands-on musician!
