SKF NOTE: I don’t know if it’s sound guys managing band PA systems, the musicians themselves, or a combination of the two. But I have attended concerts where, opening to closing, the music was just LOUD. No dynamics.

To be fair, I’ve attended more concerts where the sound was beautiful. And the music had soft and loud spots, and even moments of silence.

This morning I’m thinking about the time I walked out of a Tony Williams Lifetime concert.

The venue was a club in Roslyn, NY on Long Island called My Father’s Place. I’d been there for other shows. Chuck Mangione and Captain Beefheart, for example. And I was really looking forward to hearing and seeing Tony Williams perform with his “Fred” band.

It was hot and packed inside the club. I remember that. And I was surely over my beer limit, which didn’t help. The club had a low ceiling. If there was a club ventilation system it wasn’t even coming close to scrubbing the heavy cigarette smoke from the room.

David Sancious’s band opened for Williams. Loud, fast, fusion music. That’s all I remember about Sancious. At one point I became aware Tony Williams was standing right next to my left arm watching Sancious’s band. I didn’t say anything to him. Even if I did, Williams couldn’t have heard me.

Sancious’s set ended. There was a long break. It seemed longer in the heat, smoke, and beer.

The Tony Williams Lifetime took the stage and began playing. L-O-U-D. Standing to his right, looking across the stage at Tony, he was almost invisible in the dark stage lighting and the smokey air. The Lifetime sound was one jumble of musicians trying to overpower each other.

There was no studying Tony. No listening to or watching Tony’s hands and feet. It was hard discerning the any kind of specific sounds from Tony’s playing.

With nothing enjoyable to see or hear, I walked my disappointed self out of My Father’s Place to the cooler, cleaner air outdoors, and made my way home.