Hobbes' Choice wrote:Speaking as a drummer, I was always the most educated and smartest person in the band.
Another drummer!
Red Baron always reminds me of a time when I screwed up a jam on that tune that I didn't realise at the time was actually an audition. We jammed on a bunch of fusion-y tunes as a three piece (guit/bass/drums) and I had a scoob during the break. The first song after was Red Baron an in a moment of misguided enthusiasm I went for one of BC's hero fills, stuffed it up royally, and must have taken a bar or so to get organised again. Nobody is looking at me at this point. At all. After the jam the guitarist bandleader, who I'd done a fair few fill ins for up until then, ripped into me and never called again. Quite a triumph LOL. He was a very serious young insect and I was not so serious.
Still like the song, though. The steel drums was a creative touch in the version you posted. I never saw Billy live but I've seen John McLaughlin with Tony Smith, who had the best kit sound I've ever heard in a big room, and Ranjit Barot, who's more complex than I prefer but has astonishing command of the instrument.
I have mixed feelings about jazz and fusion. On one hand, I love the sound of jazz but the long noodling bores me to death. Meanwhile, so much fusion is a bit like heavy metal for grownups - loud, flamboyant and full of display behaviours (which is fun but gets old quickly), and can have the same problems with noodling. But when those styles are focused and in the hands of masters, not much is better. A friend recently put me on to Pat Metheney, who I'd thought of as an advanced smooth jazz guy who got angry at Kenny G for lowering the bar. How wrong I was!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMnRyJv ... &index=106
Also going through a Larry Coryell phase ATM. A bit less complex than most fusion groups with more of a rocky edge.
