Saw Jean-Luc Ponty, Stanley Clark, and Al DiMeola in concert last night (in a 1200-seat venue; I was in about the 15th row ) and it was a wonderful concert. The only one I’d seen live before was J-L P, who I saw in a similar small venue about 30 years ago – he’s amazing. Stanley Clark was definitely digging being in front of a hometown crowd – also amazing. They did a duet of an old bebop number (something by Charley Parker, I think – I don’t know the title) that was excellent. Then J-L P did a solo that cooked, and got a standing ovation; then SC did a solo that blew everyone totally away and got a standing ovation, and then A DM did a solo and just kept playing and playing till he got his damn standing ovation, which took about four songs, or one song in four parts, I couldn’t tell, but it went on and on and on and on.
Finally realized why I don’t care for him, and never have – although the stuff he does is ridiculously hard and he does it well, it a) isn’t interesting, and b) doesn’t have an iota of actual emotion behind it. So now that I’ve figured that out I can stop feeling guilty about not “getting” him. There’s nothing (for me, at least) to get.
So – if you’ve got a chance to see these three – go for it – but plan your bathroom break (which you may need, they played for almost two hours) for during Al DiMeola’s solo.
(And, BTW, Return to Forever fans: apparently they’re going to do a project together – not sure if it’s recording or touring – next year.)
My wife swears the loudest concert she ever went to was a Stanley Clark show in Norfolk. She went expecting a kind of laid back jazz show and got INCREDIBLE VOLUME instead.
Let me qualify that. For Clarke, I’m more impressed with his work as an upright bassist. IMO, he’s not much of a composer. He is a good soloist on both instruments. And with the right group he’s a very listenable electric bassist. As a young bass player, I bought a lot of his solo stuff, and just didn’t get why people said he was good. He was very good on some RTF stuff. Ever hear him sing? :eek:
I’ve found that mega-uber-talented players, in general, aren’t all that great when it comes to songwriting. I think it may be that some of the more interesting compositions come from people who aren’t such masters of their instruments, therefore have to be more creative when it comes to making a song sound good. IMHO, it’s that compensational creativity that is more interesting than “look mom, I can play a million notes a second!”. Maybe it’s a forest/trees thing.
Right. With Clarke and Di Meola in particular, the stuff they wrote was mostly fusion, which has a tendency to be vapid to start with. Their brand was almost always just a vehicle to play some spiffy riffs and fast stuff. And if that’s what you are trying to write, it’s probably going to be soul-less crap. If it isn’t, it was an accident.
That might be why the Charley Parker number worked so well.
What do you think of Ponty as a songwriter? Of the three, he’s the only one I’d at all consider myself a direct fan of – a huge chunk of my personal '70s soundtrack would be his music.
) and it was a wonderful concert. The only one I’d seen live before was J-L P, who I saw in a similar small venue about 30 years ago – he’s amazing. Stanley Clark was definitely digging being in front of a hometown crowd – also amazing. They did a duet of an old bebop number (something by Charley Parker, I think – I don’t know the title) that was excellent. Then J-L P did a solo that cooked, and got a standing ovation; then SC did a solo that blew everyone totally away and got a standing ovation, and then A DM did a solo and just kept playing and playing till he got his damn standing ovation, which took about four songs, or one song in four parts, I couldn’t tell, but it went on and on and on and on.
)