Herbie Hancock: How I Became Friends with Tony Williams

Posted on December 28, 2014 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: I received a copy of Herbie Hancock’s autobiography, “Possibilities,” for Christmas. It is a great read. Here’s a segment, in Herbie’s own words, on how he first met Tony Williams.

tonywilliams009Herbie Hancock: Tony had just turned seventeen, but…he was the hottest jazz drummer around. I had met him in late 1962, when he was living in Boston and I was gigging there with Eric Dolphy, but I didn’t get to hear him play…. [H]e moved…to New York in early 1963, [and] called me…. Well, what was I supposed to do with a teenage drummer? Hang out? …I just kind of put him off. About a week later I got a call from…Jackie McLean. Jackie was putting together a group for a gig.., and he asked me to play. “Who’s on the gig?” I asked. [H]e said, “Eddie Khan on bass, Woody Shaw on trumpet, and Tony Williams on drums.”

“Look, Jackie, I asked, “can Tony really play? Or does he just sound good for a seventeen-year-old kid?”

Jackie answered. “Just make the gig, and find out for yourself.”

So I did. We didn’t have any kind of rehearsal, but we were doing…stuff we all knew. When Jackie counted off the first tune, I play the opening chord – and then Tony started playing some amazing rhythm I’d never heard before. I took my hands off the piano and turned around to look at him, my mouth just hanging open. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing…! I had no idea how he was conceiving such rhythms, and it took me a couple of choruses before I could actually collect myself and play anything.

Tony had absolutely mind-blowing talent. He could play drums like no one else I’d ever seen, and even at that young age he had complete confidence in his abilities. Some musicians seem as if they were born playing their instrument, and Tony was one of those guys. He was magical to watch and listen to, because energy and creativity just flowed out of him. [T]he day after the gig I called him and said, “Hey, man, what’s happening? You doing anything? Can I come over?” And that’s how I became friends with Tony Williams.

Source: Possibilities, by Herbie Hancock with Lisa Dickey, Penguin Group (USA) LLC, 2014

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Ringo Starr’s New Album, Tour

Posted on December 28, 2014 by Scott K Fish

musictimes.com/
Ringo Starr’s New Album is Finished, Beatles Drummer Hints at Spring Tour

The drummer was elated when news broke that he would be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

“It means recognition. And it means, finally, the four of us are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame even though we were the biggest pop group in the land. You know that won’t look funny in black and white,” he told Rolling Stone.

“I can only look to Tony Bennett and B.B. King. We can go as long as we can go. That’s always been the way. If I can hold the sticks and I can stand up, I can do what I love to do. If people are still coming, that’s the deal. I don’t want to play with myself.”

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Composer Alec Wilder on Pianist Ellis Larkins

Posted on December 27, 2014 by Scott K Fish
larkins_ellis

Ellis Larkins (Photo from the Digital Collections in the Arthur Friedheim Library of the Peabody Institute.)

SKF NOTE: I am familiar with composer Alec Wilder and pianist Ellis Larkins. Through the writings of pianist Marian McPartland, and, I think, other sources, I’m also somewhat aware of Mr. Wilder’s command of the English language, and of his wit. This is from a short essay Mr. Wilder wrote about Mr. Larkins. The way Wilder describes Larkins’s musicianship is, in my opinion, first-class writing.

Alec Wilder: He achieves his musical points always by means of understatement. His economy is as brilliant as a Simenon sentence. He is strong and direct without ever spilling over into aggressiveness. His left-hand harmonic inventions and sinus bass lines are marvels of ingenuity and unexpectedness. His rhythmic sense is absolute, and his choices of tempi are as right as Basie’s or Norvo’s. His wit, manifested in interpolated phrases, is irresistible and his blues walk you right on down the aisle. His ballads are rich without being cloying and his up tunes are danced in felt slippers with an almost audible smile.

Source: “Ellis Larkins: An Appreciation,” by Alec Wilder, Down Beat October 26, 1972.

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Carmine Appice Lobbies For Led Zeppelin Drum Spot

Posted on December 27, 2014 by Scott K Fish

Carmine Appice Lobbies For Led Zeppelin Drum Spot
by Dave Lifton December 25, 2014 12:00 PM

appice_carmineOn the chance that Led Zeppelin decide to reunite, the odds are strong that John Bonham‘s drum seat would be occupied by his son, Jason. However, veteran drummer Carmine Appice feels that he is a better fit for the role than somebody who shares Bonzo’s DNA.

“Everybody in that band there is legendary,” he told the Totally Driven Radio podcast. “They’re old school and legendary. Jason isn’t legendary, and he’s not old school. He’s John Bonham’s son, but he don’t play like John Bonham…He plays like him. He’s not John. He’s got that name, but he’s not John Bonham. I’m not John Bonham either, but I think my style might be close, ’cause I came first, and John listened to stuff I did and did it his own way. And we took ‘em on their first tour. It’s very close-sounding stuff in feel.”

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Bob James (1978): Jazz-Rock Communicates to a Wider Audience

Posted on December 24, 2014 by Scott K Fish

james_bobBob James: [W]hat really has happened is musicians from all different styles and eras have started cross pollinating and the two majors that I’m involved with – rock and jazz – have developed a series of musicians who have their roots in both. [J]azz musicians…have learned from the rock musician to be better in touch with a wide audience, thus making our music more universal. [N]ot only has it increased tremendously the financial possibilities of all of us involved in it, it has generated a kind of communication between us and our audience and just people in general. [I]n the early 60’s or late 50’s [t]he jazz musician was really isolated and didn’t want to have any touch with the rest of world, and the audience that was interested in the music was a very narrow one, a bunch of fanatics that wanted to listen to that music or nothing….

I think it was a self-imposed exile that these people were in and it was severely limiting in so many ways by not being objective about the things that were exciting about other areas of music. I think that what we see now…is far healthier and for more expansive. What we saw happen with so many younger jazz musicians, who did want to communicate, who did want to embrace or become acquainted with, or the be stimulated by the best elements from other areas, it just expanded their music, and as a result it expanded the audience….

Source: “Bob James,” by Zan Stewart, Musician, Player & Listener, June 15, 1978

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