Re: Kowald and Parker at FIMAV
the Fujii half of Fujii and Yoshida.
Pretty curious about that, since I'm a big Yoshida fan. Though I mainly know him from his amazing rock drumming, at almost nothing of his jazzy stuff, which I expect this was. Can you comment more on this conert? Thanks. _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com
Arthur: Without knowing it you hit the nail on the head when you ungrammatically wrote about Yoshida: "I mainly know him from his amazing rock drumming, at almost
nothing of his jazzy stuff".
There is no jazzy stuff. Unlike sophisticated improv drummers like Gerry Hemingway, Tony Oxley, Hamid Drake and even William Hooker -- all of whom played at the festival -- there was no flow and fluidity to his work. It was all bang bang bang. Every part of the kit was miked, every item was used as much as he could --including a (jacket) zipper solo -- but excess can't take the place of ideas. Yoshida also felt he had to scream, yelp and jump around when he played. The unfortunate consequence of that is that Fujii seemed to think she was left out of the show if she didn't do the same. I like energy as much as the next man (or woman), but this appeared to force Fujii into a stance that negated her lyrical qualities. Ken Waxman --- Arthur Gadney <a_gadney@hotmail.com> wrote:
the Fujii half of Fujii and Yoshida.
Pretty curious about that, since I'm a big Yoshida fan. Though I mainly know him from his amazing rock drumming, at almost nothing of his jazzy stuff, which I expect this was. Can you comment more on this conert?
Thanks.
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http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/zorn-list ===== Ken Waxman mingusaum@yahoo.ca www.jazzword.com - Jazz/improv news, CD reviews and photos ______________________________________________________________________ Find, Connect, Date! http://personals.yahoo.ca
But Ken, we know that you don't really like rock drummers :-). I saw the band in Portland and the fact that the drummer was not a regular jazz/improv drummer is what made the show different (and prevented me from falling asleep since I find regular jazz/improv quartets more and more predictable). Now I am willing to accept that in this contect the lyrical side of Satoko was lost. But this project has a different objective than your usual jazz/improv quartet, no? If she hired Yoshida, it was not to get Elvin or Joey behind the kit. Patrice.
Patrice: I know you have a different point of view when it come to rock drummers :) But if I understand your note correctly you saw a quartet with trumpet and bass in Portland. There were two other musicians along to pick up the slack and give the music a different lilt. At FIMAV it was only the two of them with the drummer controlling the presentation. Ken --- "Patrice L. Roussel" <proussel@ichips.intel.com> wrote:
But Ken, we know that you don't really like rock drummers :-).
I saw the band in Portland and the fact that the drummer was not a regular jazz/improv drummer is what made the show different (and prevented me from falling asleep since I find regular jazz/improv quartets more and more predictable).
Now I am willing to accept that in this contect the lyrical side of Satoko was lost. But this project has a different objective than your usual jazz/improv quartet, no? If she hired Yoshida, it was not to get Elvin or Joey behind the kit.
Patrice.
===== Ken Waxman mingusaum@yahoo.ca www.jazzword.com - Jazz/improv news, CD reviews and photos ______________________________________________________________________ Find, Connect, Date! http://personals.yahoo.ca
On Thu, 23 May 2002 12:53:52 -0400 (EDT) Ken Waxman wrote:
But if I understand your note correctly you saw a quartet with trumpet and bass in Portland. There were two other musicians along to pick up the slack and give the music a different lilt. At FIMAV it was only the two of them with the drummer controlling the presentation.
Are you saying that the extra two diluted the nefast influence of the drummer :-). Anyway, I believe that Satoko hired Yoshida because shw wanted something different. And I feel that he definitely brings something different to the music due to his non-jazz background (and quite idiosyncratic style). And talking about schtick (sp?), compared to some improvisers, he is in a minor league :-). Patrice.
Patrice: I'll agree with you on the last point. When it comes to antics Yoshida can't hold a candle to Han Bennink, something I've been often tempted to do myself. And far be it from me to restrict *any* musician from playing with *any other* musician. It's just that Satoko seemed uncomfortable matching nonsense syllables with Tatsuya. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of SF's romantic interludes either. I prefer it when she has a hearty rhythm section -- say Dresser and Black -- behind her. And from what Kurt says about Vulcan it appears as if I may even like the CD. What is "nefast" BTW? Est-ce sait un expression francais idiomatic que vous ne traduissez pas en anglais? Finally, a propos of nothing here, but because I wanted to say it to someone French-speaking at FIMAV, what would be the idiomatic French equivalent of "a busman's holiday"? :) Ken --- "Patrice L. Roussel" <proussel@ichips.intel.com> wrote:
On Thu, 23 May 2002 12:53:52 -0400 (EDT) Ken Waxman wrote:
But if I understand your note correctly you saw a quartet with trumpet and bass in Portland. There were two other musicians along to pick up the slack and give the music a different lilt. At FIMAV it was only> the two of them with the drummer controlling the presentation.
Are you saying that the extra two diluted the nefast influence of the drummer :-).
Anyway, I believe that Satoko hired Yoshida because shw wanted something different. And I feel that he definitely brings something different to the music due to his non-jazz background (and quite idiosyncratic style). And talking about schtick (sp?), compared to some improvisers,he is in a minor league :-).
Patrice.
===== Ken Waxman mingusaum@yahoo.ca www.jazzword.com - Jazz/improv news, CD reviews and photos ______________________________________________________________________ Find, Connect, Date! http://personals.yahoo.ca
on 5/23/02 4:03 PM, Ken Waxman at mingusaum@yahoo.ca wrote:
And far be it from me to restrict *any* musician from playing with *any other* musician. It's just that Satoko seemed uncomfortable matching nonsense syllables with Tatsuya.
This is quite a subjective evaluation, with which I am in complete disagreement. Remember, that the unison "nonsense syllables" (maybe only nonsense to the non-Japanese speakers among us, of which I am one) is what they opened the performance with. The performance seemed to be pretty much worked out (and if it wasn't, then that stop-time stuff that they did a lot of speaks volumes about Yoshida's ability). If so, I believe that Fujii was quite comfortable with all that went on--and she seemed quite happy with the performance when I spoke to her about it the next morning.
--Mike
on 5/23/02 12:53 PM, Ken Waxman at mingusaum@yahoo.ca wrote:
Patrice:
I know you have a different point of view when it come to rock drummers :)
But if I understand your note correctly you saw a quartet with trumpet and bass in Portland. There were two other musicians along to pick up the slack and give the music a different lilt. At FIMAV it was only the two of them with the drummer controlling the presentation.
Funny how we saw two completely different concerts. Do you really believe that a strong musician like Fujii (who directs not one, but two large ensembles, and has recorded with Mark Dresser, Jim Black, and Mark Feldman) was being pushed around by a no-talent rock drummer? Certainly, Yoshida doesn't swing. But that doesn't mean that he can't play at all. There are other things to do with a drum kit, you know. His responsiveness to Fujii's prodding was quite remarkable, and as far as I could tell, it was Fujii who was totally in control of the direction of the proceedings. As for the "yelping," that was singing--in Japanese. (Helps when you check your ethnocentrism at the door.) And Fujii didn't finally take the "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" approach. They came out "yelping." Jumping around? This is a sin? Have you seen Fujii before? Is this something that she always does, or was it merely the deleterious effect of that barbarian Yoshida? I loved the concert. It was a great deal of fun, and Fujii got everything there was to get out of Yoshida's vocabulary. Which is more than I can say for Keith Tippett and Louis Moholo, who was reportedly in Tippett's band. :-) And to answer the question that I know is sitting there in the back of your head--yes, I would probably have preferred the musical results of a Fujii/Drake or a Fujii/Hemingway concert. --Mike
At 9:48 AM -0700 5/23/2002, Patrice L. Roussel wrote:
But Ken, we know that you don't really like rock drummers :-).
I saw the band in Portland and the fact that the drummer was not a regular jazz/improv drummer is what made the show different (and prevented me from falling asleep since I find regular jazz/improv quartets more and more predictable).
Now I am willing to accept that in this contect the lyrical side of Satoko was lost. But this project has a different objective than your usual jazz/improv quartet, no? If she hired Yoshida, it was not to get Elvin or Joey behind the kit.
Patrice.
I was at the same show in Portland as Patrice, in fact, I ran sound for it. It was a challenge, because Yoshida plays at a volume that is difficult for the venue they used, but I really enjoyed his contributions. I'm glad that he made no attempt to play "jazz", he just played in his normal style, and I felt it really worked in that group. I could certainly see Fujii in a more conventional setting, and intend to check out some of her other recordings. Fujii seemed to really enjoy this band, she mentioned several times how much fun it was to play with Yoshida. The bassist was excellent also! -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dave Trenkel New and Improv Music http://www.newandimprov.com improv@peak.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------
participants (5)
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Arthur Gadney -
Dave Trenkel -
Ken Waxman -
Mike Chamberlain -
Patrice L. Roussel