This continues a short selection of tracks from a trio I was in with my old friend from my late-70s band Bruford, Jeff Berlin, on bass, and new friend Kazumi Watanabe on guitar and leading the band, live in Japan.
There’s stuff in my performance here that I’m not at all in love with. The problem lies with my (mis?)-interpretation of the music. There are two snare drum sounds, both with very different colours and musical weight – I use the Simmons SDS9 until the ascending melody of the bridge at 0’46”, and then an acoustic snare. The acoustic snare comes in and its immediately too loud, but that’s not the house engineer’s fault, it’s because I played it that way.
Then, for some dumb reason, I made no change for the bass solo at 1’00”. That was a golden opportunity that went begging – the song could have opened out with quieter cymbals and looser playing at that point. Would have added an extra dimension to it. The electronic snare would then have been perfect for the return of the vamp at 1’24”, and finally moving to the loud acoustic at 1’35”, when Kazumi goes to the power chords and the whole thing steps up a gear. Now I know how it should have been done. Too late, too late! Well, maybe the house engineer could have helped a bit…
These are the fine details that the best guys get right all the time, not just much of the time. ‘Reading’ or interpreting a newish piece of music correctly and immediately – I don’t mean the notes, I mean its shape and its intentions – is a real skill born of experience, and this could have been better.
I love the ride-out with that cool semi-tone step down in the bass at 4’47”. It’s not on the album track so I guess Jeff pulled it out of the bag that night.
Didn’t mean this to be a music lesson, but a little detailed analysis of one’s own playing never does any harm. Hope you enjoy the track! See you next week.
There’s stuff in my performance here that I’m not at all in love with. The problem lies with my (mis?)-interpretation of the music. There are two snare drum sounds, both with very different colours and musical weight – I use the Simmons SDS9 until the ascending melody of the bridge at 0’46”, and then an acoustic snare. The acoustic snare comes in and its immediately too loud, but that’s not the house engineer’s fault, it’s because I played it that way.
Then, for some dumb reason, I made no change for the bass solo at 1’00”. That was a golden opportunity that went begging – the song could have opened out with quieter cymbals and looser playing at that point. Would have added an extra dimension to it. The electronic snare would then have been perfect for the return of the vamp at 1’24”, and finally moving to the loud acoustic at 1’35”, when Kazumi goes to the power chords and the whole thing steps up a gear. Now I know how it should have been done. Too late, too late! Well, maybe the house engineer could have helped a bit…
These are the fine details that the best guys get right all the time, not just much of the time. ‘Reading’ or interpreting a newish piece of music correctly and immediately – I don’t mean the notes, I mean its shape and its intentions – is a real skill born of experience, and this could have been better.
I love the ride-out with that cool semi-tone step down in the bass at 4’47”. It’s not on the album track so I guess Jeff pulled it out of the bag that night.
Didn’t mean this to be a music lesson, but a little detailed analysis of one’s own playing never does any harm. Hope you enjoy the track! See you next week.
Bill Bruford - Hiper K (Kazumi Watanabe, The Spice Of Life, 1987)
Comments
Post a Comment
Thanks for your feedback