They finish up with the Thelonious Monk piece.. classic!!
NO, I'M NOT GOING TO EAT STEAK! LOL
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Give The Drummer Some!
No, he's not a beat machine. ?uestLove unfortunately has to play to his listening audience. Drummers play a critical role when it comes to improvisation! Some are subtle others are right in your face. ?uestLove is not a Jazz Drummer, but he's definitely not mechanized. I would argue that some artist will typically play down their improvisational skills if they believe the audience is not willing to go on the journey with them. I saw it first hand when the Roots came to Richmond, VA during the summer of 2007. It was so clear to me at this show -> You had real fans of their music (I been down with them since 1993 when I heard them perform in Atlanta impromptu) and you had people who just came to see the Roots. For example, The Roots has a fifth Beetle Position which they allow other artist to sit in with them from time to time. Well, in Richmond, they had a tuba player named "Tuba Gooding Jr." (yep). People (non roots fans) in the audience really weren't feeling this Tuba player. I would say most tuned out (got beer/waited in lines). This was too bad because they missed the highlight of the show!
Tony Williams
Check out.. Chic Corea aided by the great Roy Haynes
They finish up with the Thelonious Monk piece.. classic!!
?uestLove and Travis Barker.. Improvising ..
NO, I'M NOT GOING TO EAT STEAK! LOL
They finish up with the Thelonious Monk piece.. classic!!
NO, I'M NOT GOING TO EAT STEAK! LOL
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Wonderful and creative music... No need to eat steak. However, some ash laden humble pie and crow was deserved and aptly delivered.
ReplyDeleteAubrey Pettaway
Impressive improvising, no doubt about it---your boy ?uestlove got skillz, there's absolutey no quesiton. The thing is, I never said he DIDN'T have them! I appreciated the clip, and I thought it was great, but I wasn't at all surprised. And I tell you what: if he played with that sort of improvisational intent, that sort of spontaneous rhythmic complexity underneath the Roots, I bet they're not as popular as they are right now. And the reason is right there in that word: "popular." I'm sorry, but improvising with that sort of complexity just isn't a part of "popular" music in this contemporary era.
ReplyDeleteSurely, today's rhythms are all about African polyrhythms, as they've been for the entire 20th century, and are almost guarenteed to be for the 21st. My favorite example is "A Life in the Day of Benjamin Andre," by Outkast. The invisible conductor, courtesy of hand-claps, bass drum, snare-tap, and various percussion... it's all there, and it's wonderful. I love it. But it's not improvised. The synthesizer floating above the groove sounds improvised at times, but the drum machine programming simply isn't. There's no criime there.
I'm not ready to call it tragic---it is what it is. But when ?uestlove SIMULATES the drum machine? so that the Roots will sound contemporary (and he does, and they do)? I'm not ready to call that tragic, either. But it is what it is, too, y'know?
Believe me, I'm not trying to place a value judgement on any of this, even though it might sound like it. The reason I'm not placing my own value judgement on it is because I understand the way black culture (in this case music) is about progression---and jazz-like improvisation isn't what's happening right now, machines are. [shurg] Maybe thirty or fifty or a hundred years from now there'll be a sound that priviliges the improvisational playing of instruments such that someone like ?uestlove can properly and fully demonstrate his talents, on records for his primary audience, as well as on stage and on side projects. Who knows? I certainly hope so, for his sake.
All hail ?uestlove! If I wore a hat, it'd be off to him---it's just too bad that he lives and thrives in an era where he can really get off on stage, but only so much on wax...
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ReplyDeletePerhaps to truly appreciate improvisation you have to be a fan of the instrumentational part of music vs. lyrics and the video/on-stage personnas. Some are into the lyrical content over the musical content and don't consume the two simultaneously. This is possibly the result of the de-emphasis on music education programs in schools. Radio contributes in delivering a nice, concise package of sugary tunes that are complemented by videos that don't even show the musicians (perhaps because there aren't many to show beyond the keyboardists). MTV made music less about the music and the musicians and more about the singer/dancer. All hail Michael Jackson!!!
ReplyDeleteI understand what you're saying. Bert your comment actually reminded me of a conversation between a few DJ friends of mine. At the center of the matter was artist who keep it real. No, I'm not talking about Thuggin' on wax and street cred, but real artist who are expressing music in a way that has never been heard before.. The downfall from a monetary standpoint.. is they've never been heard. The more I explore and venture into life I find that it's a common theme. How much are you willing to give up to "Just be me" or keep it real? I guess if we were being honest.. nothing in this world can exist without the opposite. So, ?uestlove could be underground and lootpacking it (as they say in streets) or playing to a diverse audience which forces him to make sacrifices. The latter is where you have the artist pressured by their record company and the A&R. To me, this is when an artist such ?uestlove loses his ability to "improvise". If it's not increasing sells.. it's not going on the album.
ReplyDeleteCase in point, Erykah Badu dropped her first album back in 1997. This album was great filled with hits such as "On and ON" and yes, "Tyrone". It touched off a sensation and the record execs ate it up. (Did you know.. ?uestlove played on several tracks along with D'Angelo for Erykah) Erykah was hot - See Impact-> incense sells increased threefold, Dick Gregory's vegetarian diet books flew off shelves.. you get the picture. This popularity went on for close to 5 or 6 years. The record company asked Erykah to stay true to her contract to make x number of albums. She wanted to stay true to her roots and to herself. So,in 2003, she released "Worldwide Tour". A masterpiece in my opinion, but a flop in records sells. Why? well, no she's no ?uestlove, but Erykah decided that she wanted to be creative and expressive with her music. (come with me on this musical journey) "Worldwide Tour" was filled with hip-hop, 70 funky grooves and jazzy beats. A wild mixtape adventure is what she wanted people to remember about this album. The mainstream success she had garnered started to fade. Even though Erykah was improvising and being creative, her audience did not want her to change or give them something different. Sorry to be so long winded, but I think you get the point.
I get your point all too well, Rodney---but you know what? My perspective on the public/private, mass appeal/artistic integrity tension has evolved over the years.
ReplyDeleteI used to resent the idiocy of the listening public, especially when it came to the way people flocked to listen to instrumental pop, otherwise known as jazz-fusion, or whatever term you prefer. I resented the hell out of people who weren't serious, who didn't truly care about the music as music, and appreciated it as aural wallpaper, as background, or, worse, as a way to feel "sophisticated" when it was playing, or when they were at concerts.
Then I went through a phase when I was mad at the musicians who got seduced by the money and fame and watered down their talent.
But eventually---now---I've come to feel like everybody should like what they like, y'know?---kind of a listen-and-let-listen stance. Right now, as I write this, late on a Friday morning, I'm at home, listening to Pandora. I created an "Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers" station, and I tap my feet as I grade papers and listen to hard bop. Part of why I hated listeners and musicians who went pop-jazz was related to my inability to hear the music I loved. But the Internet changed all that.
Now everyone can hear what they want. And, I hope, people can find and support the artists they're into, and it works out great for all concerned.
Artists like ?uestlove prettty much always had side projects that fulfilled aspects of their artistry that couldn't be satisfied with their main gig, but it's so easier, I think, for him to do it now and have access to potential listeners, particularly if the side project is difficult or "out"---these are good times, it seems to me...
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ReplyDeleteYes, I think I'm in the same place. Funny, a cool hour in Plan 9 can help to mellow your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI think the random drum machine pattern deal can be seen as a (perhaps misguided) attempt by artists to infuse the improvisation in the tradition of jazz they're somehow sensing is amiss. It's just that their using a totally non-organic instrument thoroughly complicates the very effect they're looking for. It gives the idea of being a slave to the machine a whole "Brave New World" kind of meaning. Cornel West talks at length about the state of music in his new book, Hope on a Tightrope. Aswesome book!
ReplyDeleteYup, yup---I don't know much about the way those "random drum machine patterns" work, but I can guess. And that's what was so important about Wynton's book: he emphasized LISTENING again and again as the most important aspect of being a jazz musician---and being a jazz fan.
ReplyDeleteAnd the fact is, even though some sharpie can program a drum machine to follow a rhythmic pattern that won't conform to the usual beat, unless some super-intelligent computers have been perfected while I wasn't looking, the one thing that the drum machine can't do is LISTEN to what the rest of the band is doing and then react to it. It's just a dumb machine, doing what it's told/programmed, and nothing more...
I'm not saying that some songs that use drum machines don't sound good, some certainly do---but nonetheless, they're missing a crucial element of the black vernacular tradition: IMPROVISATION! And more importantly, improvisation as both a RESPONSE to what's happening in the moment, and also a CALL, in the hopes that someone will respond, as well. Machines just can't do that. [yet]