Billy Gibbons and Robben Ford -- Birthday Tribute

Funny how things come in pairs.

Billy F. Gibbons celebrates his birthday today with another esteemed colleague, Robben Ford.

With a career with ZZ Top spanning close to 40 years, Billy Gibbons (born December 16th 1949) continues to bring his 'just turn it up as loud as you can and go for it' brand of good time Texas rock 'n roll to legions of fans around world.




Robben Ford (born December 16th 1951) made a name for himself as a young blues guitar phenom playing in the bands of Charlie Musselwhite and Jimmy Witherspoon. But the hip youngster was as devoted to the blues as he was to the jazz giants. Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter also featured heavily in Ford's listening habits, inspiring him enough to take up the saxophone which he also played in Musselwhite's group.

A stint in Tom Scott's LA Express made Robben a name in jazz-fusion circles culminating in him joining horn-legend Miles Davis in 1986 before returning to his blues roots in 1988 with Talk To Your Daughter.

Robben has a new project Trial By Fire, featuring Jimmy Haslip, Gary Novak and session maven Mike Landau. I'm looking forward to this one!

Wes Montgomery | Impressions

Here's a clip of Wes Montgomery ripping it up on the John Coltrane tune Impressions.

From Coltrane's 'modal' period, Impressions is in an A-A-B-A format -- Dm7 (16 bars), Ebm7 (8 bars), Dm7 (8 bars). Compare this progression against Coltrane's Giant Steps which is a veritable minefield of key-center modulations.

The challenge of this tune -- other than keeping things interesting over the repetitive progression -- is not getting lost when the last 8 bars of Dm7 turns around to the top of the tune, starting out again with 16 bars of Dm7. In effect, that's a continuous 24 bars of Dm7 from the second 'A' back to the first 'A' section!

Wes' solo is, as always, a swingin' study in bebop lines.

He starts his solo with an Fmaj9 type triadic idea (some might want to analyze this as a Dm7sus idea), going on to play Dm7 type lines.

Wes seemed to love superimposing the relative major on minor, and vice versa. Freely superimposing his arpeggios in this way, which he extended to the 7th and 9th degrees, gave his playing a certain modern-ness. This technique also gave him a wider palette of sounds to work with, especially over harmonically static progressions.



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The Spiritual Sayings Of Carlos Santana -- Part II

My first article on The Spiritual Sayings Of Carlos Santana proved somewhat popular. I guess Carlos' nuggets of wisdom struck a chord in quite a few people.

In light of that, here are some more.

This time I've divided them into two sections. The first are from a 1974 interview he did around the time of the release of Love, Devotion, Surrender with John McLaughlin. The rest are from a 1999 interview he did after recording his multi-award winning record, Supernatural. It's interesting to see how Santana's perspectives have evolved over 25 years.

1974

"A lot of times, what I hear and what the Supreme hears are two different things."

"Sometimes I find myself living in the illusion that I've got to do it the way I hear it. But when I do that, it doesn't come out right, it sounds too thought out."

"The most natural thing on earth is your heart, your soul, because it rarely goes out of tune with God. What goes out of tune is your mind and your body."

"I am the string and the Supreme is the musician. And that's all I am, because I go out of tune just like a string goes out of tune."

"I've got a long way to go before I can be in any kind of environment and still keep that oneness with the Supreme, so I don't start swearing and trying to be stupidly proud."

"Sometimes I'm not aware I can do some of these things on my guitar, because in reality I'm not doing them, they are being done through me, which is one of the highest places anyone can reach."

"For Leonardo daVinci to reflect all his artwork, he had to get his chops out before he could try to reflect all that perfection the Supreme gave him."

"There's only one king, man, and that's the Supreme. And when he plays through you, according to your capacity, it's like music from beyond, and that's what I'm hungry for."

"If I'm not practicing my guitar and my technique, I'm reading certain types of books which make me constantly aware of how much conviction, surrender, devotion I have to have so that I don't go out of tune. So when I play, all those doubts and wrong notes don't come into the picture."

"Some music just goes right over you, and you start yawning. John Coltrane's music used to do that to me. It's so heavy it's like eating a big meal. But after a while I got hungry for it."


1999

"I had only one concern when making my new record (Supernatural). Would Jimi Hendrix like it if he were here?"

"It's important for me to appease Jimi and Wes Montgomery because I play for them too."

"We are multi-dimensional spirits dwelling in the flesh, solely for the purpose of evolution."

"I don't see myself playing black music or white music. I play rainbow music -- all the colors are there."

"Like Miles -- you know when you hit that note, you don't want to breathe until you finish with it. Miles, Peter Green -- there are very few people who can make you hold your breath until that note is ended. You get goosebumps."

I love musicians who make you want to laugh and cry at the same time. When they go for it, you go with them, and you don't come back until they come back. There are not many players who can consistently do that. Potentially, we should all be doing it."

"From Miles you get the alchemy of making 50,000 notes into five. But with those five, you shake the world."

"You don't have to be Jimi Hendrix or Charlie Parker -- you can get it done your own way. God made the world round so we can all have centerstage."

"The secret of life is that I have validated my existence. I know that I'm worth more than my house, my bank account, or any physical thing."

"Once you validate your existence, you have the wind in your sails -- where do you want to go?"

"When I hit that note -- if I hit it correctly -- I'm just as important as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, or anybody. Because when I hit that note, I hit the umbilical cord of anybody who's listening."

"When you hit a note like that people say, "What kind of guitar is that? What kind of speaker are you using? What kind of strings?" No, man. It's not all that -- it's the note."

"These are the ingredients for being a complete communicator: Soul, heart, mind, body, cojones. One note."

"Late at night, if I want to check in with my internal Internet, I load the tape recorder, get some nice tones, and play."

"The only thing that I have is my tone. That's like my face. Your tone is your fingerprint and your personality. I learned by listening to T-Bone Walker and Peter Green, so I have a tone."

"Attitude is as important as notes. You learn not to be intimidated. You learn to respect and find your place -- to complement."

"There's cursing and praying, and all that language is part of music. A lot of my best solos remind me of when my mom used to scold me, 'Dit-doo-dup-dat-doo-doo-bah!"

"When you get older you either get senile or become gracious. There's no in-between. You become senile when you think the world short-changed you, or everybody wakes up to screw you. You become gracious when you realize that you have something the world needs, and people are happy to see you when you come into the room."

"Whether you've got a green mohawk or a suit and tie, it's still the same. Are you saying something valid. Are you contributing, bringing new flowers that we haven't seen in the garden?"

"When you think, 'I should hang up my guitar and be a dishwasher,' listen to your other side: 'No, you too have something they need'."

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Bill Connors | Defining Jazz-Rock Guitar In Return To Forever

Like every teenaged guitar player of his generation, Bill Connors grew up listening to Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. By his own admission he was a ‘Rolling Stones glutton', and was soon learning every Keith Richards solo note for note.

His musical tastes soon evolved and he began listening to jazz -- Miles Davis, Bill Evans and John Coltrane became a preoccupation. A momentous epiphany came when he happened to hear one of Django Reinhardt’s recordings. At that point he decided he didn’t want to be a rock guitarist anymore.

Starting out his music career in the San Francisco jazz scene in his early 20’s, Connors was soon playing in groups with bassist Steve Swallow and saxophonist John Handy.

And when Chick Corea decided to steer his group Return To Forever towards a decidedly electric jazz-rock direction, he chose 24-year old Bill Connors for the incendiary role of lead guitarist. Connors recorded one album with the group, the groundbreaking Hymn Of The Seventh Galaxy.

Citing creative differences with his bandleader, Connors remained with Return To Forever for only about a year. With Chick starting to direct Connors more and more, the young guitarist felt that he no longer had any control in the music -- even over the form and direction of his solos. A committed Scientologist, Corea was also in the habit of requiring the members of his band to fill out forms and chart out graphs to rate their own performances every night.

In many ways, Bill Connors has not received his due. His forays into classical guitar on the ECM label following his departure from Return To Forever and his subsequent return to electric fusion with his own Bill Connors Trio in the late 80’s somehow did not bring him the recognition he deserved.

Stanley Clarke once stated, “When you talk to guitar players that followed the jazz-rock movement, a lot of guys mention John McLaughlin first and Bill Connors second”.

I couldn’t agree more. In my opinion, Connors paved the way for his successor, Al DiMeola, in Return To Forever. Connors created a sound in the band where none existed before. In the process, he helped further define the role of the electric guitar in the world of jazz-rock and fusion.

Perhaps when Connors reunites with his former bandmates Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Lenny White on 2nd September 2009 for one show at the Hollywood Bowl things might start looking up.




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Allan Holdsworth's Guitar Clinic 2006

A few years ago, one of my guitar heroes, Allan Holdsworth, made a rare visit to my neck of the woods.

Fronting his classic trio with Jimmy Johnson on bass and Chad Wackerman on drums, the concert was hurriedly organized due to the band's last minute confirmation of availability.

According to a friend of mine who was a promoter for the event, they barely had two weeks to pull everything together, including advertising and publicity. But press on they did, in spite of the obvious commercial risks.

And my hat certainly goes off to them for that. Other show promoters, with their eye firmly on the bottom line would have balked and run a mile away under the same circumstances.

As an unexpected bonus, a guitar clinic with Mr Holdsworth himself was announced. After literally decades of listening to the Master, I had to be there for sure.


The guitar clinic turned out to be more of a mini-concert with both Wackerman and Johnson in support. Even with the simple sound setup, in what was little more than a small function room, the band sounded incredibly balanced and cohesive. Their chemistry, one could only construe, was the result of years of playing together.

With his Bill Dunlap custom guitar -- the immediately recognizable Holy Grail for Holdsworth fans everywhere -- the man's touch, tone and technique filled the small room with sheer musical energy.

From what I could gather, Holdsworth's entire sound was being generated by three Yamaha Magic Stomp boxes. Interestingly, the rest of his guitar amplification equipment were rentals, including a Fender Twin that I had played on when I did a gig backing up The Supremes(!) a week or so earlier.  I recognised it because of the small tear in the grille cloth. Strange parallels indeed.


During the break, the trio mingled with members of the audience wanting to get a closer look. Holdsworth, quaffing a can of Tiger beer, was in good spirits and didn't seem to mind at all that his guitar fans were picking up his prized Dunlap for a feel of its extremely low action.

I had the chance to chat with Chad Wackerman for a bit, asking him about his recent move back to the US. I had the pleasure of having Chad guest on a few tracks of my solo album 'Santiago' in 2004 when he was still living in Sydney. Definitely one of my favorite drummers in the world.

After the break, the band played a couple more tunes and then answered questions from the audience. It was interesting and enlightening to learn how Holdsworth, despite his stature in the guitar world, relies heavily on the input of his sidemen to form a tune. He presents new compositions to the band by playing the chords and melody line, leaving them to formulate their own drum parts and basslines. And whatever happens from that point is strictly a group effort.

No wonder these guys jump at the chance to play with him.

And what would a guitar clinic be if not for the usual detractors. An expat musician in our local jazz community took up Holdsworth on why he identified himself as a jazz musician when there was so little 'jazz' in his playing. This guy had obviously not heard Holdsworth blow over the intricate changes of Coltrane's Countdown.

"It's still bebop, man!", blurted bassist Jimmy Johnson, obviously annoyed and miffed at the subtle put-down. Did I mention these guys have a chemistry?

Perhaps the best question of the night was posed by another guitar buddy of mine who asked Holdsworth "How's the beer?", referring to the can of the local brew the maestro had just cracked open. Which best summed up the entire evening.

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