[Dixielandjazz] Notation question

[Ken Gates]

Please forgive a naive question.  I'm still in the process of learning
some basics.
The fake book I have sometimes uses a chord notation with a slash.
For example--The first five chords shown for "Memories of You"--
are---Eb  Edim  Fm7  D7/F#  Eb/G   -------------------------
I'm assuming the /F# means to use that note of the chord as the bass note.
Likewise-- /G  to use the G as the bass note.
The bass line of these five chords then might be --Eb  E   F   F#  G
--------------------------
My question---Is this only important to the bass player---or maybe 
the piano player?   Who pays any attention to this?
Ken Gates