Brad Mehldau's timing
Michael Sattler
The time feel of his trio is incredible, isn't it?
In fact, sometimes I cannot even figure out, what they are doing.
It seems to be free time, but the time IS there, and they are probably
ALL doing some polyrhythmic things at the same time.
(I'd be lost in five seconds...)
Does someone know, what's actually going on there?
Which polyrhythms are typical for Brad?
I have no specific tune in mind, but anybody who has some recordings
of him, should know what I mean.
Thanks,
Michael
mbnelms
all. I liked the way he played a ballad--fantastic melodic concept. By
comparison, I saw McCoy Tyner's trio this year. It was one of the finest
jazz performances I've seen by anyone. It ranks with a Count Basie--Sarah
Vaughan performance I saw about 20 years ago.
The thing that struck me about McCoy was how much everything swung, no
matter how 'out' he was playing or how much activity was going on in the
trio. Brad Mehldau's group never got off the ground by comparison. Since
when is playing 7 over 4 hipper than just finding the pocket and swinging?
It certainly worked for Basie, and it seems to be working for McCoy. The sad
thing is, I know Brad Mehldau can do it if he wants to---he just doesn't
want to.
Morris
Alan Young
Sattler <misa3...@gmx.de> wrote:
> Does someone know, what's actually going on there?
> Which polyrhythms are typical for Brad?
I can't generalize, but when I heard them at Yoshi's they did "Get
Happy" in a fast 7/4 quasi-samba. It was really somethin' else!
--
alan
+++++++++
"I dreamed of a life that was pure and true
I dreamed of a job only I could do..."
---Monk's Dream (Jon Hendricks lyric)
Kevin Dooley
"Michael Sattler" <misa3...@gmx.de> wrote in message
news:bk51hu8vrtd9kthje...@4ax.com...
One of my favourite Mehldau recordings is "I Didn't Know What Time It Was".
It's almost like a musical joke, because it took me a while to figure out
that it
was in 5. In fact, I liked it so much that I transcribed parts of the solo,
just to
see how it worked. It was very hard to transcribe because there's so much
going on rhythmically between the piano, bass and drums. But, in the end,
by
digitally slowing everything down and looping short sections until I got it,
I found
that most of the time he's play straight eigth notes. Sometimes the accents
aren't
where you expect them, which helps to give you the feeling of being lost in
the
time, but they're actually rock solid.
In that way, I think he's similar to Lennie Tristano. Tristano was another
pianist
whose time was rock solid, but he'd mess up drummers by accenting things
strangely, or not at all. So you'd get the feeling of an enormously long
phrase
that doesn't begin or end where you'd expect it. But every note is right on
top
of the beat.
K
> Thanks,
> Michael
Kev
> The time feel of his trio is incredible, isn't it?
> I saw his trio live at Northsea in 1999, I think. I was not impressed at
> all. I liked the way he played a ballad--fantastic melodic concept. By
> comparison, I saw McCoy Tyner's trio this year. It was one of the finest
> jazz performances I've seen by anyone. It ranks with a Count Basie--Sarah
> Vaughan performance I saw about 20 years ago.
>
> The thing that struck me about McCoy was how much everything swung, no
> matter how 'out' he was playing or how much activity was going on in the
> trio. Brad Mehldau's group never got off the ground by comparison.
Odd comparison to make, IMO. They're totally different players, and their trios
are worlds apart, concept-wise.
> Since
> when is playing 7 over 4 hipper than just finding the pocket and swinging?
Depends. Who made that assertion, to begin with? Not Brad, I'll bet.
> It certainly worked for Basie, and it seems to be working for McCoy. The sad
> thing is, I know Brad Mehldau can do it if he wants to---he just doesn't
> want to.
>
> Morris
Or, he just hears things differently, which is much more likely. One could
just as easily ask of McCoy, "Since when is all this sus chord-based stuff
hipper than 'Strictly Confidential'?", or as Bud Powell fans why he departed
from Art Tatum's way of playing. Opinions are opinions, but the assumption that
someone's trying to out-hip McCoy or Basie (between whom I also find little
stylistic similarity!), merely because they depart from the older ways of
playing, is jumping to an unnecessary conclusion.
Marc Sabatella
> His trio is rythmically innovative. Sure, others, like dave Brubeck,
have
> played in 5/4 or 7/4 before, but this group is the first where
everyone in
> the band is playing "across the bar line" independently of each other
within
> an odd-meter structure.
Mehldau is a greta player, but this is going too far. There have been
thousands of other musicians doing this, within the world of jazz and
outside it. See Dave Holland, Steve Coleman, Ivo Papasov, Don Ellis,
and many others.
--------------
Marc Sabatella
ma...@outsideshore.com
Check out my latest CD, "Falling Grace"
Also "A Jazz Improvisation Primer", Sounds, Scores, & More:
http://www.outsideshore.com/
mbnelms
Odd comparison to make, IMO. They're totally different players, and their
trios
are worlds apart, concept-wise.
You miss my point. Basie got to me emotionally, as did McCoy. It had an
almost revival meeting quality to it. SHOUTING music. Sure, the styles are
different, but both swung like crazy. When I saw Mehldau, nothing had that
effect, and that effect is central to Jazz in my opinion. All the great
Jazz I've ever seen had this quality. If Mehldau likes to swing, why didn't
he swing anything in the hour set I saw in front of an adoring Jazz
audience?
> Or, he just hears things differently, which is much more likely. One could
> just as easily ask of McCoy, "Since when is all this sus chord-based stuff
> hipper than 'Strictly Confidential'?", or as Bud Powell fans why he
departed
> from Art Tatum's way of playing. Opinions are opinions, but the assumption
that
> someone's trying to out-hip McCoy or Basie
(between whom I also find little
> stylistic similarity!),
Perhaps we hear things differently as well. In both McCoy and Basie (and I
mentioned the two because they were among the best Jazz performances I ever
heard, not because they are alike, though both swing intensely). I would
also throw in concerts I attended by Dexter, Art Blakey, Stanley Turrentine,
Johnny Griffin. I was not impressed with some other folks because it simply
didn't swing or say much or emote much or whatever words you want to use to
describe it.
The emotive content of the Mehldau performance I saw was shall we say,
limited--in other words, he didn't really move me or say much to me. I did
hear a recording of a standard, "Come Rain or Come Shine" that was quite
good. I found myself wondering, "Where was this at the concert I attended?"
merely because they depart from the older ways of
> playing, is jumping to an unnecessary conclusion.
I'm all for exploration--however, we also have to face the possibility that
not all explorations will succeed.
Morris