Patrick323
03-24-2007, 04:07 AM
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4SCZv7786KY
I guess being blind allows him to pay attention to his sound without all the visual distractions we face. Pretty spectacular, and I especially liked his ideas at what I remember to be about 3/4 of the way through it (the jazz part, with the hi-hat on 2 and 4).
I also just find it fascinating that he can't possibily read music. Not that that's prevented him from learning theory and using his natural instincts, but I remember my drum teacher telling me about a time when he was at a Tony Williams performance/clinic: Tony was up there soloing and there was this guy in the front row who began taking flash photography right in the middle of it. Tony stops playing and tells the guy that he can't play when he's doing that because he visualizes the notes he's playing as if they're appearing on staff paper.
I just find those different approachs intriguing because both Stevie Wonder and Tony Williams are/were fantastic improvisers and song writers (not to downplay their technical skills.
But I imagine even Tony didn't use that metod all the time. When I'm improvising alone sometimes I'll imagine I'm a saxophone (sort of - it's hard to articulate). Most of the time, when I improvise (and this includes playing time behind a soloist), for lack of better terminology, it really is about a conversation. Sometimes it's repeating their ideas back to them, or doing it in a different way (metanoia, in a sense), or I'll anticipate their next idea or (more often) the general direction of their phrasing. I'll anticipate where they're going to leave space and fill it in sometimes.
That's kind of disorganized and my way is far from methodical (it seems to me, thinking about it, and definitely the way I've written it out). Should it be methodical? What your guys' ideas?
I guess being blind allows him to pay attention to his sound without all the visual distractions we face. Pretty spectacular, and I especially liked his ideas at what I remember to be about 3/4 of the way through it (the jazz part, with the hi-hat on 2 and 4).
I also just find it fascinating that he can't possibily read music. Not that that's prevented him from learning theory and using his natural instincts, but I remember my drum teacher telling me about a time when he was at a Tony Williams performance/clinic: Tony was up there soloing and there was this guy in the front row who began taking flash photography right in the middle of it. Tony stops playing and tells the guy that he can't play when he's doing that because he visualizes the notes he's playing as if they're appearing on staff paper.
I just find those different approachs intriguing because both Stevie Wonder and Tony Williams are/were fantastic improvisers and song writers (not to downplay their technical skills.
But I imagine even Tony didn't use that metod all the time. When I'm improvising alone sometimes I'll imagine I'm a saxophone (sort of - it's hard to articulate). Most of the time, when I improvise (and this includes playing time behind a soloist), for lack of better terminology, it really is about a conversation. Sometimes it's repeating their ideas back to them, or doing it in a different way (metanoia, in a sense), or I'll anticipate their next idea or (more often) the general direction of their phrasing. I'll anticipate where they're going to leave space and fill it in sometimes.
That's kind of disorganized and my way is far from methodical (it seems to me, thinking about it, and definitely the way I've written it out). Should it be methodical? What your guys' ideas?