House of Drumming.com

sjj123 wrote:http://vimeo.com/54230457

That's already posted in this thread (not to be overly alert, just wanted you to know)

Here's the drum vamp from Water On The Brain in a recording from 2012 (Holdsworth/Hamm/Crawford/Donati)
https://soundcloud.com/virgil_donati/wa ... _drum-vamp

And here's a nasty 13/16 jam with Virgil and Anthony Crawford
https://soundcloud.com/virgil_donati/13 ... th-anthony

I've been busy finalizing the artwork and design for Virgil's upcoming album - and have been listening to the album pretty much non-stop these past few days.
It will easily be his best work since OTV's Serious Young Insects, both in terms of composition, playing and production.

Speaking of OTV, a live DVD of the reunion shows last year is in the works. I have no idea about the possible release date. Could be 2014,
but if the rehearsals are anything to go by, this could be something to look forward to. (see rehearsal footage earlier in this thread)

Virgil's touring Japan, South Korea and Taiwan with Jeff Berlin and Kazumi Watanabe. I don't really know what to expect from this,
as I would've never imagined them together on stage, but the remaining dates are here:

May 14th JAPAN - Blue Note Nagoya

May 17th SOUTH KOREA - Jarasum Festival

May 18th TAIWAN - Riverside Cafe

This is the kind of song where when I hear the groove, I want make that face where something smells bad, but because the groooove is so good. Simple, deep, in the pocket. Gadd-like. That's what this tune begs for.
This is not that groove unfortunately. =(

http://vimeo.com/63332378#at=0

It's hard to play simple and feel good. It's hard to not embellish AT ALL after 4 bars (Hi Weckl) . That's what makes JR and Gadd so great. Don't play drummy stuff. Just play a simple groove for THIS kind of song.

Truth is I understand this struggle pretty clearly. Constantly subdividing in my head and hearing all the phrases to a slow pulse. NOT playing them after spending years developing the ability TO play them is challenging. And all Virgil does mostly is constant gigs where he has total freedom to blow. TheN something like comes up and he's a fish out of water almost. He's playing so much stuff there, it's almost funny.
My respect for him would 1000x if he did his best Jeff here. Oh well.
I LOVE VIRGIL'S playing, have taken a lesson with him. I've drank with him at the Potato. This is just an opinion/constructive criticism. Do not. Panic.

Steve Holmes wrote:It's hard to play simple and feel good. It's hard to not embellish AT ALL after 4 bars (Hi Weckl) .

I disagree. It's hard to really make anything feel good, and it's not hard to NOT embellish at all after four bars. It's just a different approach. I think Virgil's playing is awesome and works perfectly here. The other musicians are leaving him plenty of room, and he's playing with utmost taste, precision and feel. If he were to play it with zero embellishments, the other musicians would probably fill the void (or maybe not), but either way, it would just be a different approach. I appreciate that Virgil has injected his personality here. It's not always about mimicking a drum machine. In fact, I would dare to say it never is.

Steve Holmes wrote:This is the kind of song where when I hear the groove, I want make that face where something smells bad, but because the groooove is so good. Simple, deep, in the pocket. Gadd-like. That's what this tune begs for.

Agreed... busy and distractive... sounds like he's pulling what he's been practicing, lacking restraint.. IMHO..

I'm with you here, Steve. It was a weird inclusion to begin with in this setting, and an odd arrangement of a song Virgil and Irwin Thomas have played countless times before.
Just for the record: I am not into everything he plays.

The original is here (and honestly, I don't think it's one of their best)

[youtube][/youtube]

I kinda dug what Vigril was doing with that Anthony Crawford tune. It was a bit to busy in parts tho. It's hard to get all of those notes in and make it groove. Thought he did a good job of pulling it off. He should have just played some embellishments here and there. The sound on that clip is really freakin good.

I had only listened to the first two minutes.... I see that by the end of the tune he went a little crazy with those two hi-hats especially... Oh well, it started out nice...