House of Drumming.com

Probably posted already...did a search and coudnt find it...
first tune VC's hat work is ridiculous...

The drum solo from that concert gets posted a lot but man Vinnie's playing on the other stuff is some tasty stuff.

Kurtis wrote:bought this album back in the day because Vinnie was on it.

Thanks for this one Kurtis - I was unaware of this track. As this album isn’t on Spotify, I bought a second-hand copy of this CD on eBay, which arrived yesterday.

Listening to this track makes me wanna say that this is just about as close to a representation of perfect drumming as I can imagine right now. My thinking this thought is also accompanied by an array of questions such as:

What is perfect drumming?
What exactly about Vinnie’s playing on this track brings forth this feeling of perfection I have about it?
How much of what sounds like perfect drumming is also dependent on the fact that it’s a great composition played by a band of other perfectly wonderful players who are interacting beautifully throughout?
And so on...

Some of my ‘quick sketch’ answers might be:

1. I can’t get past the integratedness of Vinnie’s touch on the instrument throughout. Dynamically and timbrally he’s bringing out wonderful colorings from the entire set. Using the contrast of range and register that are available in very tasty and mature ways.
2. It’s a gorgeous blend of groove and creativity wherein the groove is enhanced by creative punctuations. They’re pretty wild and ‘out’ choices, but they blend seamlessly.
3. The interaction and rhythmic counterpoint are sublime. Makes me think of really good big band setups played in a small group setting. Always thinking ahead and ‘setting up’ more than ‘filling’ if you get what I mean.

I could go on and on, but I’d love to hear your thoughts on this gorgeous track too.

Off topic, I watched Vinnie play with Herbie from behind the band at Sydney Opera House a couple of weeks ago. Man, I had the tingles in the first tune. They really transcended as a band right from the start, and they held it for the entire show. Something I’ll never forget. I’ll post a picture of my point of view when I get a chance to upload it somewhere. Geez I’d love to meet and chat with the great man. The opportunity to do so seems too elusive for me for some reason, even when he’s in town. Oh well. One day maybe?! Stay tuned for the pic!

Good stuff Dave...I feel the same about the track "Negative Girl" off SD Two Against Nature....

Dave Goodman wrote: They really transcended as a band right from the start, and they held it for the entire show. Something I’ll never forget.

I saw that band last year. Incredible. It was almost like a combination of Weather Report, Genesis, and Miles Davis rolled into one.

sjj123 wrote:Good stuff Dave...I feel the same about the track "Negative Girl" off SD Two Against Nature....

I know what you mean about that track!!! It seems so 'complete'. Nothing extraneous, and nothing missing. Again, if I can say it: perfect!

I have to add, re my post about he Eddie Daniels track, that it's nice to find out that it's the great Billy Childs on piano here. I've always loved his playing and his vibe. And, Bernie Kirsh is a genius in my opinion! And wow, Mad Hatter must be a great place to record. I've loved just about everything I've heard him record in that space, and this one is no exception!

Paul Marangoni wrote:

Dave Goodman wrote: They really transcended as a band right from the start, and they held it for the entire show. Something I’ll never forget.

I saw that band last year. Incredible. It was almost like a combination of Weather Report, Genesis, and Miles Davis rolled into one.

That's a nice way to put it, Paul. The totality of the music was at the forefront the whole night!

As promised, here are a couple of pics that I took as mementos of this great occasion. VC's cymbal setup here reminds me of late Elvin with the addition of all the 'special effects' splash, china, and ozone types. Out of respect for the cats, I didn't take these shots when they were playing. I took the first shot before the gig started, and the wider shot that you can see VC in (and you can see Herbie standing at the piano) I took after they finished playing. The gig hadn't ended yet, but they had to insert an intermission because - unbelievably - one of the speakers started crackling terribly (in Sydney Opera House), and they had to take a 15 minute break whilst one of the audio racks at the front-of-house desk was replaced. Something must've fried. The mood kind of disappeared once the crackling started. But it wasn't the band's fault. It took the SOH techs quite a while to stop the show and address the situation. Totally amazing watching VC from this point of view for an entire concert with Herbie - lovely to see his Moeller elbow work from here, especially in backbeat / groove settings!

(Incidentally, my friend Hamish took some footage of two of VC's solos and posted them to his Instagram. He was sitting pretty close to where I was: https://www.instagram.com/p/Byi19pGA_lr/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link and https://www.instagram.com/p/ByjwunGguIt/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link)

Here they are: enjoy!

So, I was reading on a forum and found out Johnny Cash covered this song The Boss, too. I felt a need to hear it in the correct time signature after that, so came over this live recording I haven't heard before, I like the little bit of push they had going on here..





Throwing in this other one for contrast.