Recently I had the awesome pleasure of meeting one of the great musical geniuses of jazz, Alvin Fielder. He is a drummer. And, he plays the instrument quite well. He is a master articulator of music, making his most indelible statements by merely suggesting them. Which brings me to something he said that has left me inspired for weeks now.
While at the show, I also had the great pleasure of sharing a table with another great musical genius, Raphael Semmes. So, while listening, I got to attend which musical phrases paused for weighing in Raphael's mind as they swung by us. It was usually the ones that held back and let the listener infer. After the last set, I asked if Raphael could introduce me to Mr. Fielder. He agreed and approached it by asking Al how he was doing, who, in a vigorous grumble replied, "Man, Everybody hates me. How you been?" and then, before and answer was found, looked up from his drum set, and replied to his own question. "Raphael, man, you know, Everybody hates you too!" After resolving the initial shock of a seemingly rude insult, I sat there in my grin, adding nothing, occurring that I had just witnessed a great compliment.
I love how Al said so much with so little, and like his drumming, he always knows where the tempo is, so he can afford to let the music breathe in places. In a recent quote Al says, "Music is like painting a portrait or creative writing" adding, "Drumming is not beating on something. Like writing, there is form to it. There has to be a vocabuary to have good music." Thanks for saying it that way, Al. Everybody hates you, and now I've had the great pleasure of hating you too. :)
If you'd like to hate Al as well, check him out in a live recording from Fusion Coffee House in Ridgeland by visiting on the web at http://www.fusioncoffeehouse.net/events.html#
Oh, yeah, and you can also hate Raphael there too, just scroll down until you see his name, click on the pod cast symbol.
