Scott, I'm curious about something which you seem to say frequently these days. You call Kinsey a Zawinul clone who "doesn't have a voice at all". That's about as harsh a statement as you can make about another pro improvisor.
But why would you and Willis have hired him and played with him for so long if that was the case to the extent you suggest?
I hear a lot of Zawinul in him obviously but I have noticed you speak more positively about guys like Joe Bonamassa (who has a ton of Gary Moore and Eric Johnson in his playing, guys you don't even seem to like much for that matter) or Chris Duarte who has a ton of you know who in his playing or Steve Cardenas who has a lot of Scofield and Metheny but you still seem to be more positive about their playing than you do about a guy with whom you played for a very long time.
A more general question about the vocoder...if only a couple of people use something, sure it will be even more striking but if a ton of people start to use a vocoder (or whammy bar for example) it becomes just part of the language right?
More generally, it seems like playing Charlie Parker or Wes Montgomery licks is fair game but if a guy plays lines from more distinctive players like Holdsworth, he's called a clone more easily.
Anyhow, is it at all possible that you're being a bit too hard on Kinsey in some regards?
I guess I'm mad at Scott because I respect his musicianship so much, and was really hoping that he could have a career as a bandleader. Unfortunately that's never going to happen if he stays on his current path.
Every player you mentioned has influences, but can you use the word plurally when it comes to Scott? Do you hear any other influences besides Joe? I do, because I've played with him in many situations where he was required to play funk or straight ahead jazz acoustic piano, but in the context of Human Element or the Scott Kinsey Group, not only does he sound like Joe, his music sounds like the Zawinul Syndicate, and his sounds sound like Joe's sounds, especially his use of the vocoder and African voices.
Scott and I are still friends, and we had a big conversation about this the other day. He's well aware that a whole night of one chord vamps and loops is not going over with promoters or the audience. On his new album Near Life Experience, the 1st cut, title cut, and last cut demonstrate his originality as a composer. That's the guy who should be recognized for the genius he is. The rest of the material is very well arranged, but still sounds like the Zawinul Syndicate in nature, and doesn't have enough meat to make it work in live situations. I'm not saying anything here that I haven't told Scott to his face. I think he's realizing that he needs to get away from the ghost of Joe and do something completely original for his next project, and I really hope he will.
And while we're on the subject of Joe, I said the same thing to him about his long-ass one chord vamp tunes, which without me or Gerald Veasley literally forcing the tune to end, could go on for 20 minutes. They were extremely boring to play and boring for the audience as well. That's the main reason I left the band - if we were playing fun harmonic tunes like we were at the beginning, I would have found a way to do my TT gigs and still work for Joe, but playing those one chord vamps was such a fucking drag, I had to bail. The next time I saw his band it was even more boring - almost all the songs were one chord vamps, and no one was playing solos, not even Joe. Then everything changed when he hired Sabine - not only is she a GREAT singer, she has a wonderful stage presence. I believe she's responsible for making the band popular again. Actually the band was at it's peak when she was there, not as a jazz band anymore, but as a real African/ World Music band. That music without a singer would be just like Beyonce music without Beyonce.
Kinsey doesn't have a singer, or his live gigs might actually work - but I'm hoping that he'll stay on the path of writing original sounding instrumental music and bail on the World Music thing, because it's already been done to death by Salif Keita and Joe.
Last edited by Scott Henderson on Thu Sep 22, 2016 9:58 am; edited 1 time in total
I just read what I wrote, and I forgot to add one important point. I'm a career musician, and it's hard for me to disassociate music from the paycheck it brings in. That doesn't mean I'm trying to be commercial to make money, but I am trying my best to be original to make money. As much as I love Allan's playing, believe me, if I sounded like him, I wouldn't get work. Promoters aren't stupid, and neither are audiences - when an act has a voice, something unique to say, people will pay to see it. When something is a clone of something else, good luck selling tickets.
Most unique jazz players, myself included, still have Wes and Bird in our vocabulary, but have so many other influences along with them that it's morphed into something completely different and original. I can't say that about people who are obvious Holdsworth clones, or clones of any modern player. I'm hearing more and more Kurt Rosenwinkel clones these days - they're good players, but until they develop their own voices, they'll never have successful careers and will have to be content with being sidemen.
Hi Scott,
What would you say to a player who is an excellent player but sounds like holds worth or rosenwinkel, or you for that matter? Do you think there is a way for a player to "shed" the influences? For some people, just stopping listening to that player may not be enough, since the influence is so strong and "embedded" in their playing.
To stop listening is definitely helpful, but it may take more work to undo the damage, like forcing yourself to stop doing things which sound too much like someone else. Easier said than done for sure, and I know from experience.
I got rid of humbucking pickups, because the tone on the bridge pickup sounded too much like Holdsworth, and the sound on the neck pickup sounded too much like Scofield. Single coils gave me a completely different tone, and influenced me to play differently too, so those two big influences started to disappear. There's still a strong Beck influence in my playing, but as long as I play more from my jazz vocabulary and not do the same things he does with the bar, or make the same sound FX, I feel like we're in pretty different territory. Also, my tunes are nothing like his, or anyone else's (I hope), and how we mold our playing to fit our music can play a huge role in developing an original voice.
Even though it's easy to imagine the Beck influence when hearing you and knowing your respect for him, I don't think it's something that dominates your style. It might be completely wrong, but I imagine that it's much easier to hear the Zawinul influence, through the phrasing, the choice of intervals and the same kind of rythmic bounce, which I think is very cool. Am I completely wrong..? BTW - what do you think of "Emotion and comotion" and Beck's verson of "Nessum Dorma"?
Weather Report was my first introduction to fusion, and I've been a huge fan ever since, so it would be impossible not to be influenced, but hopefully not too much.
Sorry, I heaven't heard the Beck tunes you mentioned.
That influence sounds like a perfect part of your playing to me! And in general I guess it's "less risky" to be heavily influenced by players of other instruments.
"Nessum Dorma" is from the opera Turandot by Puccini, so I guess it's more your wife's homeground. He recorded it with London Symphony Orchestra, and according to himself, his interpretation was heavily inspired by Pavarotti's version, and they way he phrases and his use of vibrato is simply perfect.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
Users Currently Chatting
