Joined: 26 Mar 2004 Posts: 5 Location: Mesa, Arizona
Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 8:58 pm Post subject: Performances with Gary Novak??
I wanted to find out if anyone has any recorded performances of Robben with Gary Novak playing drums? I have a copy of the performace he played back in 97' with Chris Chaney on Bass and James Slaughtery on Keys! it's very cool, but I'm LOOKING for MORE!!!!!!!!
Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 886 Location: SF Bay Area
Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 2:03 am Post subject:
While I greatly respect Robben's views on bootleg recordings. A set with this line up was broadcast on KFOG radio from a live show in at the Filmore. I used to have a cassette of it but I've no idea where it is. This was the Tiger Walk era. Everything is really rushed. My least favorite line up behind Robben. All great players and I love Novack in other situations, but it didn't seem to flow, and Robben really didn't seem to be comfortable and let loose. The show I saw during that run was better than the broadcast.
Robben seems to like working with different folks, but there are some situations where he seems like everything works for him, and other bands where he seems to have to work at it. It's always puzzled me why he puts together bands that are difficult to play with. At clinics he's said that he enjoys playing off of other people. But watching him live, sometimes it really doesn't look like he's having as much fun as he does when the band is clicking with where he's at. _________________ There are no such things as wrong notes, there's only the look on your face.
My Stuff: www.stevekirbymusic.com
Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 3:04 am Post subject: TW Vibe
Hi Aeolian, might be a matter of taste. On the german video i really liked the way they played Tiger walk tunes, the magic was there (may be that's why you feel Robben is struggling). I really dig the Novak energy, Chris chaney was more than a puzzle for me ...... _________________ http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_music.cfm?bandID=147748
Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 886 Location: SF Bay Area
Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 8:33 pm Post subject: Re: TW Vibe
Bluelobster wrote:
Chris chaney was more than a puzzle for me ......
It seemed like he would be more at home in an Ubberjam like setting. Especially after watching Myron Dove on the previous Tiger Walk tour. Myron has the harmonic sophistication to keep up with Robben on that stuff. Robben kept looking over at Myron out of the corner of his eye and grinning. And Myron has the muscular drive to push the song forward without it being frenetic. Chaney has that more laid back, behind the beat feel. Myron somehow gets deep in the pocket without making everything sound late. There's more of a pulse. Maybe Novack was trying to compensate for Chaney's laid back groove by pushing really hard. But there is a difference between tempo and drive.
Of course, as you say, it's all a matter of taste. One man's energetic is another man's frantic. One man's dragging is another man's laid back groove.
Lately, I've been examining beat displacement. Moving different parts of the beat foward or backwards in time while keeping each measure at the same constant tempo. Some of the life in Robben's phrasing follows this. When he gets going, he tends to be way ahead of the 1'st beat. But he'll often resolve this by being late on the 4th beat a bar or two later in the phrase. It's this wobble or pulse to the beat that makes it sound interesting. I used to call certain drummers like Tom Brechtlien "loopy" for the kind of groove they played. Then listening to folks like Chambers and such I realized that they are pushing the first beat slighty ahead, the second beat way ahead, the third beat is right on, and the last beat is way behind. Then it starts all over again on the next measure. I have a tape of a solo that John Wedemeyer did where he started out exactly in time and gradually pushed foward in time until at the end of the solo, he was more than half a beat ahead. When I asked him about this, he said that it wasn't a concious thing, but that he was building the energy in the solo. I hear Robben doing the same thing. Although Robben takes it to the next level by occasionally letting the beat fall back to give our ears a rest, before pushing even further ahead. The same way he, John, Garth and lots of other great players kind of stair step or sawtooth up in dynamics. Pushing and dropping, teasing with what is to come, and making us want it before they finally give it to us. Robben will leave us hanging with a laid back resolution to a burning phrase, and before we catch our breath, come down on us with something even higher. I don't know if these folks do this deliberately, I think they just feel it as musical. But it's fun to figure it out, try to learn to do it, and get some of that musicality into our own pleebian playing. _________________ There are no such things as wrong notes, there's only the look on your face.
My Stuff: www.stevekirbymusic.com
Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 2:37 am Post subject: Re: TW Vibe
Aeolian wrote:
Bluelobster wrote:
Chris chaney was more than a puzzle for me ......
It seemed like he would be more at home in an Ubberjam like setting. Especially after watching Myron Dove on the previous Tiger Walk tour. Myron has the harmonic sophistication to keep up with Robben on that stuff. Robben kept looking over at Myron out of the corner of his eye and grinning. And Myron has the muscular drive to push the song forward without it being frenetic. Chaney has that more laid back, behind the beat feel. Myron somehow gets deep in the pocket without making everything sound late. There's more of a pulse. Maybe Novack was trying to compensate for Chaney's laid back groove by pushing really hard. But there is a difference between tempo and drive........................
Lately, I've been examining beat displacement.......... .
Thanks Aeolian for putting the right words in the right places (at least for me) .
On beat displacement : some drummers i knew where studying this technique : the teachers called this : Accent displacement. This give an intresting effect of tension & release. the same than you describe accurately. _________________ http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_music.cfm?bandID=147748
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