Scott Henderson Discussion

[countandduke]

Hey Scott:

Wondered if you could share your memories of playing/working with Victor and Steve? Where were things recorded? Who did the writing? Did you all just "jam" for a bit and then use those jams to spark ideas? Did you all ever gig? I was hooked on the first cd (at least I think it was the first one, it's the one that starts with Victor playing and talking) from the first listen!!! I know you don't care for your tone particularly (I think it's fine but I can hear the improvement of your current tones) but I also was impressed that "Hey, that's the dude from Journey!"

Seriously though, any funny or interesting stories would be cool to hear.

Best,
Chris

[Scott Henderson]

Well, as with Tribal Tech, some good memories and some bad. I was told going into the project that royalties would be a three way split and we'd all contribute to the writing. I wouldn't call what those guys came up with much of a contribution. Steve had nothing but drum grooves, which is hardly composing, and Victor had bass grooves, but only one tune with actual changes which was easy to turn into a song. So I did the bulk of the writing, and in hindsight I should've asked for more money. Knowing how the first album went, I was smarter on the second one and only wrote two tunes - the rest of it is pretty much jamming.

Steve and Victor are good guys and I liked working with them, but the situation was like this - we had 10 days to write, record, and mix 10 tunes. It's hardly my best writing because it was thrown together so quickly. We recorded the first record at Steve's house, and the recording quality of that album is a disaster. I remember playing it for Alan Hertz, the drummer in my trio and engineer of Vibe Station - he was shocked by how loud the drums are, and he's a drummer... I made the terrible decision to bring a 4x10 cabinet with me because it was cheaper to fly than a 4x12 - I should've rented a 4x12 there. Live and learn...

The second album was recorded at the studio at MI and mixed by TJ Helmerich, so it sounds much better than the first one. We never did a gig, and I wasn't interested in doing a third record because I promised myself I wouldn't make any more albums which sound like they were put together in a hurry.

The only funny thing I can remember is on breaks we were watching Jerry Springer.... thrown together album, thrown together TV show.

[Kevin Thomas]

I know I may sound stoopid, ignorant, clueless, but here I go : how did you expect à drummer to come in the studio with a composition ?
To me, a drummer is a musician (don't get me wrong), yet I always wondered how much they can be part of the composition process. I think they can contribute to it (by doing what fits the best, which can make à huge difference), but I hardly can think of a drummer coming in the studio with a tune of his own. If he only puts down chord changes, I would not call that writing, and if he goes further, he's kind of doing the others musicians job (did you let a drummer write your part ?)
I always wondered how it works in a band that is led by the drummer. Is he really the one who writes the stuff, or does he only put his name on the sleeve cause he's famous so it Will sell more?
I hope I offended no drummer (but you know how sensitive those assholes are )

Kevin

[Scott Henderson]

If they play drums only, you're right, they don't have much to offer as composers in harmonic music, but many drummers also play keyboards and have written good music. Paul Motian, Jack DeJohnette, Jeff Watts, Terri Lyne Carrington, Bill Stewart - all are composers. I'm not sure if Billy Cobham wrote the music for Spectrum, but someone told me he did. Alan Hertz has written some nice tunes, he just hasn't recorded them yet. Gary Husband is a very good jazz pianist - I'm leaving out a ton of drummers but you get the idea.

Same goes for bass players and horn players - Jaco's compositions were incredible and mostly written on keyboards - same goes for Wayne Shorter and Gary Willis. I'm not a great keyboard player, but I use a midi keyboard to write all my bass lines - I never use guitar to write for bass.

[Scott Henderson]

I wanted to add that I mean no disrespect to Steve and Victor when I say "thrown together album." Those guys are great players and I'm using that term for the composition process only. Some of the best jazz albums were "thrown together" in a day - but they were playing good compositions which took who knows how long to write. There are gifted composers like Zawinul who could write a brilliant tune in minutes - I'm not one of those guys, as proven by the writing on the VTT albums.

[Red Suede]

That first album in ten days? Incredible! Those two albums are desert island albums for me. I tend to look past the production because if the writing is strong the production is barely looked at for me. The harmony on the first one, so sinister......

[Scott Henderson]

Well, we're all our own worst critics... I hear the writing and know that most of it was born from "licks" which I used because there wasn't enough time to come up with brand new information, but to a listener like yourself who doesn't have to hear me play on a daily basis, those tunes might sound cool. I'm hardly the guy to give an objective opinion about it.... all I can say is thanks and I'm glad you like it!

[Red Suede]

To always be moving forward, to want to do better than the last one, innovators think that way. You remind me of a friend of mine for years, Lyle Workman, he thinks like that also......

[paskiainen]

The fact that you can write and record an album as great as VTT 1 in 10 ten days is nothing short of amazing and a sign of superior musicality. And the guitar sound is quite okay. I never noticed it to be bad but then I'm not a tone monster like you are.

[muddytrane]

I have to agree with the others on how much I enjoy the two VTT albums. I was very interested in finding out how the three of you would mesh when I bought the first album. I have to ask/comment though about one of my favorite tracks off of the first album, King Twang. Is it me or is that possibly one of the worst recorded tracks in the history of music? Were you guys doing the Spinal Tap "turning it to eleven" when it was mixed? Every time I've listened to that track I've always wondered what your thoughts were on it's sound. Don't get me wrong I love the track itself, it's just how it's recorded and mixed. Scott, your thoughts............

[Scott Henderson]

The whole album sounds terrible to me, not just that one track. Definitely the worst sounding record I've ever been on, and that's saying a lot since I've been on some pretty bad ones.

It was Steve's studio and engineer, and though I was there during the mix, I didn't say much. I knew for a fact that the drums were way too loud, but that's the way they wanted it to sound, and I didn't feel like getting into a battle of the egos. There are tracks I've mixed where the guitar is way too loud, like Mech X on Tribal Tech X, so that's a fuck-up I have to take responsibility for, but at least it's not a whole record...

Actually the engineer was a really nice guy and he was just doing pretty much what Steve told him to do. I'm absolutely sure that the harshness and general bad recording quality of the record is partly the fault of inferior gear - the second album which was recorded at MI sounds OK - TJ is a great engineer and we had an SSL board and high quality outboard gear, plus I grew a brain and brought a real cabinet to the session.

[pbognar]

Scott, I gotta say, I listen to that "shitty" sounding first record quite a bit and really love it.

[sieuminh]

I - and I'm sure many others on here - would give my (our) left nut(s) to be able to play like that.

Well, I would, if I had three nuts ... still, you know what I mean!!!

[Scott Henderson]

I love many records which were badly recorded - I look past that and just enjoy the music. That being said, it's part of my job to make the music sound as high quality as I can, and failure to do that feels just as bad as playing a terrible solo. Nevertheless I'm always happy when fans are able to look past my mistakes and enjoy anything I do. So thanks guys!

[muddytrane]

Scott you are so right when it comes to great record/bad recording. If you want to see one of the most mild mannered people bristle about a record they have recorded ask Allan Holdsworth about Velvet Darkness. He's warmed to it a little over the years but early on after it was released he was mad about everything to do with it. He once told me that he was mad it even saw the light of day for his fans to hear. Sorry, but everything can't be a 50's Blue Note recording!