Video :Stanley Clarke - B.Cobham, C.Corea,J-L.Ponty '76

PBS broadcasted in Chicago

Great to see Bill Smile in 1976,


_____________________________

Outtasight
Colin.

Hey, Colin, There's a story Billy once told me behind
that very kit that he used for that shoot. The drum set
is a Ludwig Vistalite. Bill Ludwig Sr. personally brought
the set down to the studio and helped set them up.

The drums were fresh out of the box and Billy was going to
endorse the company, right up to the point when after
being set up the toms started falling off the mounts because
the nuts and bolts were lose. Needless to say, Bill Ludwig
took the set back to the factory after the shoot and The
company never got Billy's endoresment.

Bummer. I wanted to see that.

I wonder why they closed their account?

Man! Supergroup!! Never knew this existed. Components of my favorite fusion bands in one - MO, RTF, JLP.

I know people have favorites, but Billy was just the most exciting drumist of the day. Just so explosive.

*** Hey, that's interesting. The youtube account is under the name giulio cobham.

I actually like the sound of these drums more than others Billy has played. They sound more wide open and musical. Perhaps it was just head choices for this gig.

Funny you say that about Billy's drum sound, Asaph.
Those acrylic Fibes and Vistalites were (are) explosive!
Raw with a lot of bite ane attack. Not that they had to
be acrylic but I've always felt the more open drum sound
with attack suited Billy's style of play. Again, that's just
me.

As much as I enjoy today's progressive music, there's still
a certain rawness and even arrogance about the old school
fusion that I really miss. I liken it to a top fuel dragster or
funny car, when either is fired up you know exactly what it
is and it pulls no punches about alerting you of it's pressence.

And when you play acrylic drums with resonate, open heads,
that'sexactly the same no nonsense, no holds barred kind of
character you get from them.

Also, It was interesting to see how Billy suspended one of the
cymbals from the stand. Never saw him do that before or since.

Hanging the cymbal, tilter down. Yeah, I noticed that.

Stanley Clarke has a comment on a CD, I forget which one now, stating "When fusion was fun."

Somewhere along the line it got so complex, for complexity's sake, it just left the general audience in the dust. It lost the vibe. It has yet to come back, mostly because industry people seem to think there is no longer a market, but given the constant touring of 70s fusion artists that seems totally erroneous. Chick, JLP, Billy, all of them still play and tour and do the older material. JLP and Billy record new stuff. RTF has not. Younger people have "discovered" fusion.

Too bad it is not being pushed by jazz labels.

the beauty of music is it's infinite possibilities. if someone enjoys listening or playing music for complexity sake they have that right. I like a balance myself. Sometimes I just want music for dancing other times for relaxing. It's all got a place. As far as Stanley's solo career goes what about the putrid synthetic funk he put out for 30 years?
It might be big fun for him but i find it horrific to listen to. I wouldn't subject my worst enemy to that jive. But that's the beauty of it. he can do that if there is an audience for it. i think he picked up his acoustic again so that's a plus.

by "putrid, synthetic funk" do you mean things like his CD with George Duke? Perhaps he made more than one, I don't know, but I picked up this particular CD in a used CD shop. I could not get past the second song.

But, yeah, musicians can do whatever they want to. I still believe Clarke's comment on the original fusion of the 70s holds true. It was a lot more fun to listen to and play. It had melody, an essential element of what makes music, music, by definition. Some modern stuff ... it is difficult to pick out any melodies at all, and when you do it changes so quickly it's gone from memory.

That Video has gone again.


What a shame.



________________________

Outtasight
Colin.

Wow, that's weird. I wonder what the gig is with that video?