Posts : 1157 Join date : 2008-01-05 Location : Port Chester, New York
No that's not a typo ! They played together at Montreux when the opening act for headliners Roxy Music were not able to make it. As far as I know it was just the two of them. Here's a short clip from youtube and there are various pictures and stories about it. Boomer is in Italy tonite, and I've asked him about what happened so if I hear back, I will let you all know, or of course, he could tell you himself !
I can't tell you how ecstatic I am to hear that this happened . Not that anything further might come of this, but it still is a great thing to have occurred !
A couple of days ago I went to Montreux to check out Phils' Motown presentation. The reason I wanted to experience this was about Chester Thompson and the consistant way that he has performed for better than 20 years with Phil. To me Chester T. is the ultimate professional in that he can adapt to many musical performance situations with a minimum of effort. Phil Collins' Motown presentation is a great example of Chester's dedication and focus as the "straw, in rhythm section that stirs the drink" here. If any of you want a lesson in concentration and commitment to a cause check out Chester and how he handles the many musical aspects of drumming in this particular performance environment. I am not a fan of Motown music but I am respectful of all the musicians who have taken part in the creation of the material. Trust me when I say that it is not easy to play because it appears so simple on the surface yet the opposite true below the "water line"................But, once you are committed to perform it, you find out that holding the tempo is not as simple as it appears, to point out just one aspect of the challenge one faces. The show is about 2 and one half hours of music and transitions, all of which Chester handles as if it was just another day at the office. Impressive! In my opinion he is a drummer's musician and not just a drummer's drummer. BC
Posts : 780 Join date : 2008-07-15 Age : 69 Location : Philadelphia, PA
Thank you for that Billy, and Ted that was just fantastic to see, I loved seeing that you just don't know.
And here is a little bit about Chester Thompson.
Chester Thompson
Chester playing with Genesis during the Turn It On Again Tour (2007) Background information Born December 11, 1948 (1948-12-11) (age 61) Baltimore, Maryland, USA Genres Progressive rock Pop rock Jazz fusion Instruments Drums Years active 1973-present Associated acts Genesis, Phil Collins, Steve Hackett, Frank Zappa, Weather Report, Era Website chesterthompson.com
Chester Cortez Thompson (born December 11, 1948 in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American drummer and session musician. Thompson made his name as a session drummer, going on to play in Frank Zappa's touring band (as part of the 1973-1974 lineups which also featured percussionist Ruth Underwood and jazz keyboardist George Duke) and with Weather Report[1]. He played on such noted Zappa albums as One Size Fits All and Roxy & Elsewhere.
His longest standing gig was with Genesis[2]. His relationship with the band began with the departure of frontman Peter Gabriel. Then drummer, Phil Collins, assumed Gabriel's role in live shows but remained behind the drum kit in the studio. Thompson became the touring drummer[3] in 1977, playing on their tours in that year and in 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983/4, 1986/7, 1992 and the 2007 reunion Turn It On Again Tour. Chester is featured on their live albums Seconds Out, Three Sides Live and The Way We Walk Volume 1, Volume 2 and Live Over Europe 2007. He chose not to be involved in the band's Calling All Stations tour, following the band's failure to invite him to join the studio band following Phil Collins's departure.
Thompson continues to work with Phil Collins on his solo concert tours, drumming on the 1982/83 Hello, I Must Be Going! tour, 1985 No Jacket Required tour, 1990 ...But Seriously tour, The Tarzan Premiere tour of 1999 and The Final Farewell tour of 2004/05. Chester also appears on Phil Collins' Serious Hits... Live! live album and DVD, and has released his own solo album, A Joyful Noise.
Chester also plays on the Steve Hackett albums, Please Don't Touch and Watcher of the Skies: Genesis Revisited. Later on, he played on Tony Banks' solo album A Curious Feeling. He also appears on The Tokyo Tapes album released in 1998 which features Steve Hackett and John Wetton amongst many others. He was also a founding member of the band Fire Merchants with Brand X guitarist John Goodsall and bassist Doug Lunn and appeared on their first recording in 1989.
Chester's playing style is widely acknowledged and respected, and can be seen on numerous live videos of Genesis, from late 1970s up to early 1990s. His live playing with the band is a striking mixture of his own style and Collins' own, being equally comfortable with acoustic and electronic drums. In the past, Chester has endorsed Ludwig Drums (1970-March, 1977), Pearl Drums (April, 1977 - July, 1987), Sonor Drums (1990 - 1999) and Paiste cymbals (1970 - 90), but now endorses DW drums since 2000 and Sabian cymbals since 1990. [edit] References
Posts : 861 Join date : 2008-02-13 Location : Honolulu, Hawaii
I had the awesome privilege of seeing (4 ft distance) Chester perform live at a drum clinic here at Harry's Music Store in Honolulu back in the late seventies. He was playing (endorsing) Pearl drums at the time and it was a great seminar to say the least. As Boomer noted, Chester is truly a professional in every aspect of the word and, I might add, a gentleman skilled not just in his profession but also in communicating in a instructional sense; he was very meticulous in answering all questions that was posed during the QA segment of his seminar. Every concept and technique he verbalized was demonstrated in different speeds, having the audience's understanding enlightened. At closing everyone, including myself, left with awe and a sense having learned something of practical value that would remain forever in our arsenal of drumming coupled with musicianship.
Just Kidding, B.C. So many great memories as I grew up on not nearly as much jazz as soul and r&b... It also played a major role in the growing stages of my approach to drumming and even how I play today. I think you're totally right about this music not being as easy to play as it sounds. But that which is based upon a unified harmony rather than any one individual never is. If you listen to a tune by say, James Brown (preferably a live cut) and you go through and single out each instrument, you will discover that what each player is playing is quite simple and even redundant. But collectively if forms a wonderful masterpiece of agreeable sound. Same thing with Motown music.
You'd be surprised to find out how many (even well known) players cannot play with simplicity, collectively. Hell, You'd be surprised to find out how many (even well known) players cannot play with simplicity, PERIOD!
Yes, Spanky... James Jamerson, the greatest bass player in the history of Motown along with being one of the greatest of all time.
He could play very intricate bass lines and make them sound puzzlingly simple because he played them in such a way that they worked and sounded like they were absolutely supposed to be played that way. No one epitomizes the "Motown sound" more than James Jamerson
Listen to the bass line in this Jackson 5 cut, "Darling dear"... Brilliant!
Posts : 1157 Join date : 2008-01-05 Location : Port Chester, New York
I've always loved the Motown sound. I've told this before but the very first records I purchased [ 45 rPM] were Ruby Tuesday by the Stones and Standing in the Shadows of Love by the Four Tops . I think they were .69 each and that would have been 1964. Still have em too !
Posts : 780 Join date : 2008-07-15 Age : 69 Location : Philadelphia, PA
D. Slam wrote:Yes, Spanky... James Jamerson, the greatest bass player in the history of Motown along with being one of the greatest of all time.
He could play very intricate bass lines and make them sound puzzlingly simple because he played them in such a way that they worked and sounded like they were absolutely supposed to be played that way. No one epitomizes the "Motown sound" more than James Jamerson
Listen to the bass line in this Jackson 5 cut, "Darling dear"... Brilliant!
Don: You hit the nail on the head yet again but, shhhhhhhh, not too loud as someone might be listening and get the message through your words, finally. That would really be too good for the music now wouldn't it? I think 'communal performances as in what we as a group seek to present to our audience is the ultimate achievement in all music but rarely found these days in Jazz and other western pop genre, unfortunately. I am however, hopeful that this will change so that we become witnesses to more purposeful collaborations in music as opposed to the current general direction that leans to none achievement of artistic purpose at the end of the day. Great input on everyone's part as regards thoughts in this post, in my opinion and please accept my apology for shifting the focus from me and John Mac to Chester. It's just that he (chester T.) rarely gets the credit for a trait he has honed in performance that is as elusive as it is valuable to all who seek to grasp it. It was a blast for me to play in the old tradition once more with John. At least I think I understand the demands of those days past in comparison to my musical directions now. Boy! Things have change quite a bit! But then there we are.
Totally agreed, synergy is where it's at. This way of playing is exemplified in African drumming tradition where each part is simple, but put together is massive. This site breaks all the rhythms down to their individual parts: http://tontinkan.net/ (it also gives meanings/social uses for each rhythm which is interesting in itself. Not sure why so many were created for the circumcision ritual, perhaps a time when music was needed more than ever!)
Posts : 861 Join date : 2008-02-13 Location : Honolulu, Hawaii
"You'd be surprised to find out how many (even well known) players cannot play with simplicity, PERIOD!" D said
On a Mission for Groove That's because Motown's sound evolves from people's life experiences and where that two and four (groove) was the basic definition of the music. It's probable that what we are hearing today is music simply reflecting the times/culture we live in; much more complicating, have no definite structure or order. The lyrics alone has much to say about where we are in the midst of all the chaos. What structure in music today 'means' is totally different than what it was understood it being yesterday. In other words, this generation has evolved out of what they have created for themselves and so that becomes the 'norm' for what music should sound like today. Mention Motown or R&B to them and they have no idea of what we're talking about. The closest answer we would get is probably Rap or Hip Hop as being their perception of R&B...so they tell me.
The underlying issue to me is that this generation of musicians have not nor have the interest to even listen to what was happening in the past. So my answer to why playing in a simple groove is difficult for these people is simply this; true R&B to them is a non-existent and there is no interest in it's possibility of it ever having being real. The outcome of that mindset is as same as an atheist's statement back in the late seventies on the front pages of Time magazine which boldly stated; God Is Dead as is....... GROOVE IS DEAD. We need to continue to believe, educate the young and advocate that Groove continues to be alive and well! Yes my friends we are on a mission; a mission to Groooooooooooove!
The underlying issue to me is that this generation of musicians have not nor have the interest to even listen to what was happening in the past.
I was watching Pixar's animated creation "Cars" the other day and there is a scene where "Mater", the tow truck shows "Lightning McQueen" how well and fancy he can drive backwards. At the end of this mind blowing backward drive, Mater says: "Don't need to know where I'm goin', Just need to know where I been."
This is how I see what you're talking about, Rac. Many of these youngster don't know where it's been and therefore have no Idea where they're going or how to get there. They're trying to build a house on a foundation of sand. But let me also point out that this is not just a this generation problem. It goes back a ways.
That is an awesome photo. My apologies, Ted, I didn't mean to denigrate the epic reunion (and that's no understatement). Don, my peeps use an egg timer and then we eat a lot. To bring it full circle, circumcision, though I don't agree with it, is connected to fertility. Prune a tree and it grows larger than ever. Maybe it's time for some new recordings from this duo, taking us places we didn't know were places.
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