In the beginning, it’s a direct thing. It’s the material that decides. I prepare the ground-by cleaning my brushes on the canvas, for example. Spilling a little turpentine can also work quite well. If it’s […]
Category: very occasional quote of the day
VOQOTD: Pete La Roca on backbeats
What an insult for Fusion to impose the repetitive BackBeat on Jazz drummers! How ironic, since the BackBeat is merely the handclap used by American slaves when they were forbidden to have drums! How bizarre […]
Very occasional quote of the day: Brian Eno
I used to think that, given enough goodwill, anybody would be able to “get” any music, no matter how distant the culture from which it came. And then I heard Chinese opera. – Brian Eno […]
Very occasional quote of the day: Jeff Watts
Messing up is not really that bad; it’s the recovery that’s important. – Jeff Watts
Very occasional quote of the day: Randy Brecker
It’s a reality these days that it is harder to tell guys apart trumpetistically, because we all study out of the same books, and there’s a certain trumpetistic artistry that’s prevalent these days. So it’s […]
Very occasional quote of the day: Jack on Max
“…and he could play the fastest tempos!” – Jack Dejohnette on Max Roach I thought this one deserved its own post.
Very occasional quote of the day: Paul Motian
I had at the time 7A drumsticks. After one set one time, Oscar came over and looked at my drumstick and started bending it. He said, “Man, what the f__ kind of stick is that? […]
Not so very occasional quote of the day
“Technical knowledge is not enough. One must transcend techniques so that the art becomes an artless art, growing out of the unconscious.” —Daisetsu Suzuki (1870-1966)
Very occasional quote of the day
The problem of being an artist… is that it takes a lot of time learning the technique. And when you’ve learnt it… probably you’ve forgotten what you want it for. – Older artist to a […]
Very occasional quote of the day
“Stop being against something just because it looks ‘weird’.” – Boris, from Blue Movie by Terry Southern. Hadn’t thought of this book in years, then woke up thinking about that quote. The character is based […]