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Looper's Delight
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Hey, Bill, I'm no academic in this realm by any stretch, but how do you figure in people like Martin Denny who seemed to ( perhaps, haphazardly) play any instrument they found from any part of the world? And, I think, maybe a few years earlier than the mentioned masters. JD > Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 04:39:12 -0700 > From: looppool@cruzio.com > To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com > Subject: Re: anti-looper bigots / Miles & Teo > > > earlier in this thread I wrote: > > "In a way, by introducing tape loops on 'In a Silent Way' (neglected as > > the predecessor and I feel, the superior record to the more famous > > "Bitches Brew") he was doing the same thing to the percussionists. > > By introducing a static loop that held down the groove, in essence, the > > percussionists and drummers were free to explore more. " > To this, Andy Butler replied: > > "Rev's link does not confirm the methodology for recording > that this suggests." > > No, but go read the liner notes of the remastered special edition of "In > A Silent Way" > or just listen carefully to the recordings > themselves................it's very evident > what is looped and what isn't. > > What I should have said is that the net effect of hearing the record > made in this way has > a direct line of inspiration to the percussive approaches of, say, the > early Weather Report and their > great percussion/drumming rhythm sections. > > > ******* > Also, you took me to task (by saying I"d had my 2nd espresso of the day) > for talking about the expansion of timbres in percussion that came from > that time period. > > I've studied percussion and the introduction of new percussion > sounds/textures/cultures in > modern popular music (and I"ll add jazz and jazz fusion to that list) > since the early 70's > and I did a lot of research into the history of percussive sounds in > American music > in particular back to the 19th century and you can clearly see > that there was an explosion of new percussion textures in jazz, jazz > fusion and popular music > that starts right at this time. > > Before this time, so called ethnic influence in jazz had been limited > to very small amounts of traditional West African > music (and usually played on Afro Cuban and NOT African instruments), > Afro-Caribbean musics > (and almost entirely Afro Cuban and Afro Brazilian and NOT the other > strong rhythmic style from the > Caribbean ---Afro Haitian, Antillean, Jamaican, etc.) and a very tiny > amount of Indian and Japanese > influences. > > Around the time following 'In A Silent Way/Bitches Brew' there was a > virtual explosion of new percussive timbres. > This was way before successful companies like Latin Percussion had > gigantic catalogues filled with > percussion from around the world. > > Mind you, it's not that those instruments didn't exist (or the cultures > that they came from weren't vibrant in their own countries) > it's just they were impossible to find physically to purchase and play, > at least in American (maybe the UK was different, but if it > was, it's certainly not born out from the popular music that came from > there at the time). I know because I fanatically searched it out > in every city I visited in the US at that time. > > I studied Malinkan rhythms from a fantastic drummer who had learned his > percussion in a state penitentiary and a student of his of all weird > things. > We played for a good two years before we even saw a Djembe. There > were none on the West Coast of the US. > Now every third hippy on the mall has one and they are available for > purchase all over the planet. I remember seeing borrowing a Sufi > woman's Tar > and then after I had to return it, I didn't see another one for five > more years, when I finally bought one. > > In the late 70's I put together a double Ghanaian Gonkokui Bell and a > Brazillian double Agogo bell using a kluged > stand that used two triangle holders, a hell of a lot of gaffing tape > and a cymbal stand to play four bell Senegales bell > parts for dance classes because there WERE NO percussion stands/ > percussion trays/ cowbell footpedal beaters for sale. > > In those days, a metal Afuche and a Flexitone were incredibly exotic > percussion instruments. > One by one, I marked when I'd first hear a new sound or a new drum on a > recording or in a performance. > > Things exploded percussively at the beginning of the fusion movement > (which as long as we are talking about it, > has to go to Tony Williams Lifetime 'Emergency' as the first record of > the movement --- a record that Miles most > definitely heard). > > So, 2nd espresso or no, I stand by my statement that timbre and > texture ramped up considerably around this time > and I think these records had a large part in that. > > I also think that "In a Silent Way" and "Bitches Brew" though not > first in this movement, were, nonetheless > vastly more influential on the subsequent history of the movement than > the first records. > > I think the trance like qualities of both of those records had a huge > influence on records to come that > the rawer and far less groove oriented drumming of Tony Williams had, > say, in "Emergency". > > Show me a single popular recording that sounded like "In a Silent Way" > that precedes it. > I say popular! There may have been more obscure predecessors but > millions of people heard these records > and certainly tens of thousands of musicians. > > Miles didn't invent anything really. Modalism existed before him, > Trance music existed, Fusion Existed , blah, blah, blah. > > Somebody once said that artists are the antennae of a culture. They > pick up change coming long before the rest of the population > does and they broadcast it. > > Miles was certainly an antennae and he most certainly was a popularizer. > He had an enormous influence on modern music and the sound of modern > jazz and I think it's okay > to credit him thusly. You don't have to take a single thing away from > all the musicians you mentioned who also contributed > to say that. > > > Get free photo software from Windows Live Click here. |