Scott Henderson Discussion

[dizzy]

Scott

You are not in writing mode now but:

Have you ever had success writing without recording or sequencing as you write and then bringing charts to the band?

I’m experimenting doing that now. It is hard for me to know how things are going to sound but it sure is faster to write. I’ll probably have to make serious edits when I hear the music played and end up wasting time:)

[Scott Henderson]

I hate to be rigid in the way I write, but for me that would be a big waste of time. I've done some writing on the road, just coming up with ideas in my hotel room and writing them down. When I get home and record what I wrote, I've hated it every time. Apparently I judge my ideas differently while playing, as opposed to giving them my full attention when listening back. I can't count the times I've come up with things I thought were good until I listened to the playback - for me that's the true test.

That being said, Tribal Tech used to jam in the studio with no pre-written music, and that concept seemed to produce better music than one guy writing his ideas on a napkin before the session, which is what a lot of original jazz music sounds like to me. I think no matter how quickly or slowly the music comes out, recording it and listening back really helps with decision making.

[dizzy]

Yeah— I know what you mean. I’ve brought tunes into bands and embarrassed myself when I hear them played.
I wish I was better at imagining the idea without recording it because then writing would be much faster.