James Genus

James Genus is an American jazz bassist. He plays both electric bass guitar and upright bass and currently plays in the Saturday Night Live Band. He also occasionally fills in for Mark Kelley of the hip hop band The Roots. Genus has performed as a session musician and sideman throughout his career, having worked with an extensive list of artists.

Biography

Genus was born in Hampton, Virginia. He began on guitar at age six and switched to bass at 13. He studied at Virginia Commonwealth University from 1983 to 1987 and played for a summer at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Then he moved to New York City, where he quickly began working with many noted players on the city's jazz scene. He has played with Out of the Blue, Horace Silver, Roy Haynes and Don Pullen, Nat Adderley, Greg Osby and New York Voices, Jon Faddis, T.S. Monk, Benny Golson, Dave Kikoski, Bob Berg, Geoffrey Keezer, Lee Konitz, Michael Brecker, Bob James, Michel Camilo, Elysian Fields, Branford Marsalis, Chick Corea, Didier Lockwood, Dave Douglas, Uri Caine, Global Theory, Ravi Coltrane, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, and Daft Punk.

Discography

As sideman

With Nat Adderley

The Old Country

With Greg Osby

Man-Talk for Moderns, Vol. X

With The Brecker Brothers

Return of the Brecker Brothers
Out of the Loop - 37th Annual Grammy Awards Best Contemporary Jazz Performance

With Gary Burton

Generations

With Uri Caine

Blue Wail
The Sidewalks of New York: Tin Pan Alley
The Goldberg Variations

With James Carter

Present Tense

With Dave Douglas

In Our Lifetime
Stargazer
Moving Portrait
Magic Triangle
Soul on Soul
Leap of Faith
The Infinite
Strange Liberation
Meaning and Mystery
Live at the Jazz Standard

With Benny Golson

Domingo

With Alex Han

Spirit

With Lee Konitz

Jazz Nocturne

With Geoff Keezer

World Music

With Pat Martino

Stone Blue

With Steve Masakowski

What It Was

With T. S. Monk

Take One

With Don Pullen

Random Thoughts

With Daft Punk

Random Access Memories

With James Williams

''Up to The Minute Blues''