Milestones In Rock ‘N’ Roll History: Bassist Jet Harris

Published on: 27 Apr, 2019
Updated on: 26 Apr, 2019

The bass player is sometimes the neglected star in a rock band. In the latest of our features on Milestones in Rock ‘n’ Roll History, Dave Reading decides it’s time to set the record straight

There’s an old joke told by rock musicians that if you can’t play guitar you take up the bass. There are only four strings to worry about and all you need to do is stand at the back looking moody.

But there are bass players who are the rock-solid foundation of the overall sound of their band – and in some cases they provide the key elements that give a sound its unique quality.

Jet Harris.

One of the masters of the craft was Jet Harris. My guess is that not many people under 50 will have heard of Jet. But as a member of the Shadows in the early 1960s he was a pioneer of the electric bass in Britain and a role model for the bass players of my generation – including some who went on to become stars.

With his mean and moody look, Jet Harris was the James Dean of British rock ‘n’ roll. But he was much more than a pretty face. In the late 1950s and early 60s, Jet’s bass work provided the solid backbone to a string of Cliff Richard hits during the three years before Cliff became a sugar-coated family entertainer. 

But even better times were coming. The Decca record label recognised him as a solo star and he began performing in his own right – and later as a duo with ex-Shadows drummer Tony Meehan.

It was during that period that Jet produced sounds that proved that the bass guitar could be more than part of the rhythm section – it could be the lead instrument. The Harris-Meehan combination had three top ten hits. Their first, Diamonds, reached number one. A few years later the Who’s John Entwistle took creative bass playing to new heights but Jet got there first.

Among those Jet inspired to take up the electric bass was the future Led Zeppelin member John Paul Jones, who was briefly a member of the Harris-Meehan touring band. And ex-Jethro Tull bassist Glenn Cornick piled on the praise in an interview with Bass Player magazine. “British bass players of my generation learned everything they knew from Jet,” he said.

“We copied every note he played. His solo on Nivram (a 1961 Shadows track) was the first bass solo that any of us had ever heard, and 50 years later I can still play it. There were other bass players with other bands, but there was nobody as important as Jet.” 

But towards the end of 1963, things started to go wrong. Jet was seriously injured in a car accident and he later confessed that the crash turned him into a physical wreck and he began drinking heavily. There was a series of unsuccessful comebacks and for a while he took on manual work.  

I met Jet Harris many years later when he appeared with his band the Diamonds at Ragamuffins night spot in Camberley. He spent rather too long in the bar before the gig. We bought each other drinks. Maybe I am partly responsible for what followed.

When he got up on stage the act fell apart. His timing was a mess and the melodies were unrecognisable. It was like he had picked up a guitar for the first time in his life. 

But Jet never seemed to lose the affection of those who had idolised him in the 1960s. Many of us like a wounded hero. The later years of his life were a success story of sorts. He performed well with Shadows tribute band the Rapiers, made occasional appearances with groups led by other veterans of 1960s beat music, and released a couple of decent albums. 

Jet’s significance as a pioneer of the bass guitar was recognised by Fender, who presented him with a lifetime achievement award in 1998.

He was appointed MBE for services to music in the 2010 New Year’s honours list. When he died of cancer in 2011, there was no shortage of tributes from the world of music. As Cliff Richard put it: “Jet, the bass player, will always be an integral part of British rock ‘n’ roll history.”

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