James Genus

James Genus (born January 20, 1966) 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 (1988–89), Horace Silver (1989), Roy Haynes and Don Pullen (1989–91), Nat Adderley (1990), Greg Osby and New York Voices (1990–91), Jon Faddis (1991), T.S. Monk (1991), Benny Golson (1991), Dave Kikoski (1991), Bob Berg (1991–96), Geoffrey Keezer (1992), Lee Konitz (1992), Michael Brecker (1992–96), Bob James (since 1994), Michel Camilo (since 1995), Elysian Fields (since 1995), Branford Marsalis (1996), Chick Corea (1996), Didier Lockwood (1996), Dave Douglas (1996), Uri Caine (1997), Global Theory (1997), Ravi Coltrane (2000), Bill Evans (2005), Herbie Hancock (2008), and Daft Punk (2013).

As sideman
With Nat Adderley With The Brecker Brothers With Gary Burton With Uri Caine With James Carter With Dave Douglas With Benny Golson With Alex Han With Lee Konitz With Geoff Keezer With Pat Martino With Steve Masakowski With T. S. Monk With Don Pullen With Daft Punk With James Williams
 * The Old Country (Alfa, 1990)
 * Return of the Brecker Brothers (GRP, 1992)
 * Out of the Loop (Brecker Brothers album) (GRP, 1994) - 37th Annual Grammy Awards Best Contemporary Jazz Performance
 * Generations (Concord, 2004)
 * Blue Wail (Winter & Winter, 1999)
 * The Sidewalks of New York: Tin Pan Alley (Winter & Winter, 1999)
 * The Goldberg Variations (Winter & Winter, 2000)
 * Present Tense (EmArcy, 2008)
 * In Our Lifetime (New World, 1995)
 * Stargazer (Arabesque, 1997)
 * Moving Portrait (DIW, 1998)
 * Magic Triangle (Arabesque, 1998)
 * Soul on Soul (RCA, 2000)
 * Leap of Faith (Arabesque, 2000)
 * The Infinite (RCA, 2002)
 * Strange Liberation (Bluebird, 2003)
 * Meaning and Mystery (Greenleaf, 2006)
 * Live at the Jazz Standard (Greenleaf, 2007)
 * Domingo (Dreyfus, 1992)
 * Spirit (3 Deuces, 2017)
 * Jazz Nocturne (Venus/Evidence, 1992 [1994])
 * World Music (DIW, 1992)
 * Stone Blue (Blue Note, 1998)
 * What It Was (Blue Note, 1993)
 * Take One (Blue Note, 1992)
 * Random Thoughts (Blue Note, 1990)
 * Random Access Memories (Columbia, 2013)
 * Up to The Minute Blues (DIW, 1994)