Some twists and turns tonight - - everything revolves around the gig and the music - - every night’s a new challenge - - the days are slow - - the nightly set goes by so fast it’s over before it starts - - John tore up Señor C.S. tonight - -
After the bus ride, I read the blog comments and realized that most are from musicians. I really wish I had the time to meet with all the musicians. I would like to share ideas and hear all the new music and different directions. It’s an area of free expression that must be kept alive. If you have some questions about the music making - let me know and I can try to offer some of my cheap advice.
2 responses so far ↓
1 jimknopf // Nov 7, 2008 at 6:58 pm
As an amateur keyboarder playing in an electric jazz band I hardly dare to ask musical ques-tions after the Leverkusen gig. It was one of those concerts where I leave with two opposite feelings, one: “I have to practice much more to do my own little thing”, and the other: “I should sell my keyboards immediately”. It is really intimidating to understand enough to hear and see a bit of what is going on, and get completely carried away by it (in the end I was happy-exhausted), yet face the incredible gap in skill. experience and creativity meeting some of the very best musicians on this planet.
Though I was overwhelmed by each musician’s skill, what I enjoyed most this evening, was the interplay in the band. I heard a lot of stuff from both John McLaughlin and you over the years, and you both were always skillful in really stunning ways, but I don’t remember I heard you or John lately so, how can I say it, warm and soulful and enflamed by mutual chal-lenge as in this band! There was a magic equivalent of ALL FIVE this evening, no leading and being led, but warm hearted, intense interplay, as it seems to me. To me that is what music is all about.
Sometimes I was not sure if I got what was going on. For example at one time, while the band played a background vamp for a Vinnie Colaiuta solo, I had the impression that he, in midst of complex drumming, played behind and ahead of the band for some moments, just for pure, exploding fun. Was it only in my fantasy or really happening?
I just loved your sensitive piano play as much as your soloing, especially in Senior CS, just as John’s. There should be a chance to see perhaps one such solo of an artist like you once in our amateur lives midified or notated, just to look at it with all the time and leisure in the world, and get a glimpse into melody flow through harmony changes. I had to smile when I heard that the Beatles as autodidacts kind of “collected chords” at a time. That encourages me not to feel ashamed asking such questions. Please get me right: I don’t want to get hold of your playing (how could I), I just would enjoy meditating it outside of the real time frame.
I wish your band project a great time on your ongoing tour and thank you very much for this evening. My two sons, hearing all kinds of other stuff, including Metal and ProgRock, were with me that evening, and I worried that such a load of power jazz would be too much for them. In fact they were stunned for all of the nearly 3 hours, and afterwards told me they could hardly believe how good that was. You reached us throughout the generations – straight into the heart…
2 luan // Nov 8, 2008 at 1:34 pm
A 19 years guitarist here.
I’m a totally fan of John’s works and playing, everything he have done really inspired me, when I knew that you and him were going to tour I was shocked, like the apocalypsis is coming! plus you have christian, vinnie and kenny in the band, incredible!!
I still don’t know if i’m going to see you both playing together since I live in Argentina, but I’m really happy to know that this tour is happening.
My actual problem that I have to solve is what to play. I listen very diverse genres, jazz, prog metal, prog rock, fusion and some other things.
I’m still trying to discover what is the common element between all this music that makes me love it. For making things even more complicated, I actually play all those different styles of music.
I can learn Le danse du bonheur by Shakti, and then I go and learn an acoustic song of some metal band, or then I put an aebersold track and play with distortion over a standart, can you believe it? haha
If you have any idea of how to manage to make music and not caring about what should I do, it would be very good for me.
I know you have been very diverse since you started playing, which is a great thing.
Thank you so much! and sorry for my english.
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