My YouTube algorithm is (predictably) weighted to music, so I get my fair share of, "See what this reaction was to that" prompts. I generally hate them. But, every once in awhile, I find an example that makes me want to think. This is one such example.
"How does a Metal drummer respond to/play to a 50 year-old Jazz/Fusion standard?" ALERT: (15- minute video.... for all you 'short attention-span' internetters)
I've wasted a ton of time online, since 1996. The time I spent watching and sharing this video is not part of that number.
"PS, This will most likely be moved to the everything else forum"
Thanks for alerting the refs. I posted this in the wrong forum, and spent days wondering why it hadn't picked up ANY traffic. [bangs head repeatedly on desk]
I stopped the vid at 0:55 of a 19:00 minute mini-doc after hearing the words: "Join us- as we dig into the genius of Art Blakey. " I'll come back to the vid, and respond again to your post with other observations. But, for a minute, I hope you (and the rest of The Pound) allow me to drop down a memory hole.
1981-2.
Lima Symph rehearsal is done. I cruise over to By's crib on Haller St. Beers, Blunts. The usual, for that time: spin vinyl, talk s# about the work day... and then he says: "Hey- Art Blakey is playing in Dayton next month."
We clocked the date. ROOOOAD TRIIIIIP!!!
Night of the gig: Gilly's Jazz Bar in Dayton.
Art Blakey takes the stage with young bloods the same age as myself & Byron. They are all dressed in tailored suits- in the Jazz Tradition. Art rolls up behind his kit- in a B&W horizonal tight-fitting tee shirt, beneath a worn-out-looking set of bib coveralls. Dude was in his 60's- and was cut/ripped. The band torched the house to ash.
Band took a break. Byron & I bought drinks for the trumpet and sax players in the Jazz Messengers Band. Those 2 guys: Wynton and Branford Marsalis. During the only year they shared under Mr. Blakey's band name/umbrella.
Yup. Byron & I were part of the moment when Jazz lightning was caught in a bottle.
Thanks for allowing me this memory lane moment. I'll now go back- and watch the rest of your vid.
I used to dream about being at "Birdland" back in the day to see the legends who played there.
Me, too. If we did it, we'd probably book 4-5 nights in NYC, and hit them all. Wouldn't have mattered who was playing that week- there would have been great music at each of them.
I'd pack 2-3 suits to wear, along with casual 'walkin' around gear' for daytime. I'd order top-shelf Bourbon at each place. Neat. I'd sip, stare vacantly at some point in the room... and just let the genius wash over me.
His chord structures are deeply Jazz, but he picked up on Elton's structure almost immediately. He knew he was listening to a 1-6-4-5 twelve-bar progression, but he added all these chord substitutions and extensions... probably because he found Elton's root chord progressions kinda boring.
The only thing I think he missed was Elton's initial premise. He's a guy in the mid-'70's, penning a contemporary hit that pays tribute to the 1950's. The root-position chords were actually the point.
No doubt, this kid has prodigious chops. I look forward to hear what he can do in another 5 years.
All of those mistakes I made when I was younger .......
If I could time travel .......
I could make entirely different ones .... lol
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
My YouTube algorithm is (predictably) weighted to music, so I get my fair share of, "See what this reaction was to that" prompts. I generally hate them. But, every once in awhile, I find an example that makes me want to think. This is one such example.
"How does a Metal drummer respond to/play to a 50 year-old Jazz/Fusion standard?" ALERT: (15- minute video.... for all you 'short attention-span' internetters)
I've wasted a ton of time online, since 1996. The time I spent watching and sharing this video is not part of that number.
lemme know whatcha think. Let's talk Music.
I like watching those reaction vids, even if I think some are fake, or at least staged. I am talking the ones where it is just a person or two hearing a song for the "first time" then they play Blue Suede Shoes by Elvis or some other song that nearly anybody over the age or 12 has heard.
I get some maybe not ever hearing a jazz standard as in this vid. Jazz is somewhat of a take it or leave it genre. But, as a pro drummer who knows how to listen to and read drum patterns, you'd think it wouldn't be totally foreign.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn.