Latch Music's Ezine #15
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* "The Zine" content is contributed by Dave Latchaw and colleagues who use the Internet to promote their musical projects. You can check out previous issues at "The Zine" Archives.
- Article: "The Power of Music" by Dave Latchaw
- Guest Artist: bobbywayne - Groovy, "hip"notic, soaring guitar work.
- Featured Web Site: libertyunites.org
- Featured Web Video: Chick Corea
- CD Pick: Allan Holdsworth "None Too Soon"
The Power of Music
by Dave Latchaw
It is hard for anyone who has a platform not to say something about the tragedy on September 11th. It is immensely sad from every angle, and it has changed our world. The whole thing is going to take time to sort out and it is not going to be easy. Because this event was so internationally public, and I am a musician, I couldn't help but notice yet again how much music can intensify the emotions that are caused by such a tragic disaster. I watched the National Prayer Service (the Friday after the attacks) and heard the music, and it was the music that brought my emotions right to the surface. The next day, I saw a gospel choir on television singing "Lean On Me" on a street in New York, surrounded by people holding pictures of missing loved ones. Seeing and hearing scenes like that really intensified the sadness and the need to try to do something to help. Hearing Neil Young perform John Lennon's "Imagine" on the National Telethon was also especially moving for me. I have always appreciated the power of music, but this unprecedented event has increased that intensity for me.
Music has always been effective at enhancing any emotion. That is why music plays such an important role on so many occasions, from weddings to funerals and various other events. Music can seem unnoticeable in many daily routines, but have you ever been shopping when the muzak isn't on? It's very weird. (Support stores that play cool music!) Even music that is totally annoying can be missed if it isn't present as part of the usual routine. Good (and bad) commercials are greatly enhanced by the addition of music. Music is something that can unify all people and cultures at all levels. With all the different kinds of music out there, it's hard to find someone who doesn't like some kind of music.
At a couple of times in my life I have had the opportunity to make music with people who spoke a different language than me. On one such occasion in Plock, Poland, my drummer friend John Kaplanis and I were hanging out in a rehearsal hall with one of the local Polish bass players, without an interpreter. At the time, the only Polish I knew was "A beer please". We could not talk to each other and be understood, but we could play "F blues" and "Take The A-Train" together, and it was very cool. That was definitely one of the most rewarding and enlightening experiences I have ever had as a musician. I had always known music was cool, but to experience first-hand that connection solely through music was tremendous.
For a musician, it can be easy to get caught up in the process of making music, and forget what a great medium it is to be working in. Unless you can speak multiple languages, making music across cultures can be a quicker connection than trying to learn a few phrases or words from a language. I am in full support of cultural exchange programs that promote better relations between different societies. Music is not the cure for cancer, and it is not going solve world hunger, but it can bring our world closer together with the sense we are all connected at some level. Music touches us all in so many areas of our daily existence. Music can express our personal emotions, and also our collective emotions. At the very core of our human spirit there is a connection to music.
bobbywayne
#1 Where can people find out more about you, your music, and your online activities?
My artist's website includes info about my career, instruments and gear, discography, as well as musical hyperlinks. The URL is: www.bobbywayne.com. You can easily stream and download selections from both of my albums at my mp3.com site: www.mp3.com/bobbywayne. Recently, I began working on an audio loop project. A few loops from this project can be found at: www.mp3.com/bobbywaynes_loops
#2 Who were your early musical inspirations, and how did they influence you to pursue music?
I could list a gazillion guitarists and other musicians that influenced me over the years. My tastes have always been varied, and I enjoy almost anything with hot guitar or bass. I spent most of my time listening there, even though I did study what keyboardists and horn players were doing as well. Since I started out playing blues guitar, I would have to say the first guitarists I studied were Albert and BB King. Other blues players I admired ran the gamut from Muddy Waters to Robin Ford. Clapton was the first multi-genre guitar player that got me hooked, especially the work from his Cream days.
Some of my early progressive guitar influences came from McGlaughlin, Howe and Fripp -- and later on Steve Morse and John Petrucci. A few of the many jazz players I've admired and wished I could emulate were Matheney, Pass, Scofield and Carlton. Later on I listened to fusion of Gambale and Holdsworth.
During the mid 80's, I got into heavier rock and metal, and absorbed stuff from Malmsteen, Satriani, Vai, Eric Johnson and later on Macalpine. I guess the common thread here is that all of these players followed their hearts and truly honed recognizable personal styles. Their originality, extraordinary musicianship, and ability to evoke deep emotion through their instruments really drove me to pursue music. And still does today.
#3 What kind of training and what kind of practice is most important for your improvisational abilities?
Over the years, I have played with great classically trained musicians as well as autodidits. I realized early on that many trained musicians skilled in sight reading were really tied to that road map; when the map ended so did the music. It was harder for them to let loose and improvise. For several years I confess that I used this perspective as an excuse to avoid mastering the more technical aspects of music. I was pretty satisfied just playing what sounded and felt good to me. Of course, later I dove into sight reading and went through tons of books on chords and scales. But even then, I deliberately tried not to copy the music of others. I still consciously avoid copying someone else's licks.
Practice is a must, but some days it feels like the bane of your existance, especially when youčre striving to become a virtuoso. But you need to be able to translate what you hear in your head and heart out to your fingers and fretboard. Sometimes I will just practice a single group of arpeggios for hours. Other times, I'll focus on trying something entirely new for 15 minutes, and know that any additional investment of time would be a waste for that exercise.
I've taken long breaks from playing for years at a time, following other career paths. I always regretted it later when I have had to work hard to get my chops back.
#4 What is your compositional process?
I really don't have one single process. Many of my tunes begin on the guitar, and I build the other instruments' parts from there. Others might start from the drums, bass or keyboards, with the guitar added later. A lot of times, the songs end up being created in sections, like individual cars in a train, and I rearrange the order until I am happy with the result.
When I'm working on a melody, I can slave for days to find the best notes or supporting chord progressions during a specific passage. My ear tends to prefer off-tonic notes. Usually, I improvise several variations and settle on the one that seems to work structurally and emotionally. I try to avoid creating music beds to endlessly noodle over, even though I do like to solo. My approach tends to be more pratical, where the improvisational solos are kept in the bridge sections.
I use Cubase on a Mac to glue the composition together and sequence the midi instruments. I enjoy letting the groove carry the load in most of my pieces, so it's important that the rhythm section be inspiring. At times, I add techno and house elements using software tools, like Rebirth or Voodoo, to get a more comtemporary sound.
#5 When looking at your career, what are your favorite highlights?
I spent many years playing guitar with various original and cover bands. I also worked in recording studios as an engineer and session guitarist, where I had a blast recording with lots of bands and working on small films and radio spots. It provided a great opportunity to glean my production skills and ear training, and created a technical thirst for electronic gear tweaking. During that time I had the opportunity to do some session work with Etta James. I loved those sessions and picked up some great phrasing methods that are really emotive. I also played clubs in Las Vegas, toured thru California, and opened for such greats as Jimmy Carl Black (Mothers of Invention) and Kim Wilson (The Fabulous Thunderbirds).
My music career was on hold for many years as I pursued my other great passion, software engineering. I spent a good chunk of time working at Apple Computer. It was partly an economic decision: it was easier for me to make a living as an engineer than a musician at that time. Also, the rigors of the road had begun to wear on me -- late nights at Denny's, broken-down equipment vans on the road, piles of equipment to be schlepped, not to mention booking managers with a strange sense of humor. I hated playing on stage behind chicken wire.
I am now back to my music full time, forever building my chops, creating new compositions, and pursuing opportunities to work in film and television.
#6 How would you describe your two albums that are available on MP3.com, "[we'll see]" and your newest release "Second Nature"?
My first solo cd "[we'll see]", released April 2000, contains eleven instrumental compositions ranging in style from progressive rock to smooth jazz. The lead song, "Hwy17", is an accoustic guitar piece with an Indian tabla drum drone during the verse. I haven't found anyone that hasn't dug this track -- it was in top 40 of mp3.com's jazz fusion genre for several months. My jazz sense is more emotional than traditional, so songs like "Got No Ice Cream" and "Snakespeare" are really my own version of jazz guitar playing. On the rock side of things, "Time Travel" is a straight-forward Strat melody against a pulsing bass line, while "Sex Machine" is more progressive with surging strings and a Jeff Beck-like etude in the middle.
My second solo cd, "Second Nature", contains nine tracks written over a period of a year and a half. Some of the songs are smooth, and relaxing jazzy guitar, like "Island Destination" and "Baser Instinct". I wanted to have good contrasts and variety in the album, and included "Turn ON Tune IN" and "Seduction". Both of these started life as loop projects for websites, but something made me pursue them as complete pieces. I pre-released "Downhil Racer" online prior to the cd, and it's been a mp3.com featured song for several months. For "Greed", I layered some radical slide guitar -- processed within an inch of its life -- on top of a tv game show type bass line and Arabian rhythms. I had a lot of fun with some techno and house dance beat type stuff on "Catch Me", and went for a bizarre "Jeff Beck meets Roy Clark" sound. You'd need to hear them for yourself to better understand these explanations, some of the effects are hard to describe.
#7 How has the Internet changed your musical activities?
Ten years ago, I had to work real hard to reach a tenth of the fans that have heard my music via the Internet. For a pretty small investment, I've gotten some significant visibility, and my music has been heard by thousands of people who had never heard of me or my music before.
I really believe the Internet is an important part of how music is evolving, increasingly extending beyond the audio. That's why I personally did the design and construction of my website. I know a lot of artists hire that sort of thing out, but I really wanted to treat the site as part of an overall experience, not just a promotional activity for the music. I've recently incorporated Flash technology into the site, which makes it a more lively and interactive experience for visitors.
Another dimension of the Internet is the virtual connection to a broad geography of musicans and industry types. I enjoy networking with other musicians around the world. The Internet also provides a way to stay on top of latest sound and recording techniques, and gives you easy access to technical information on gear and music software.
libertyunites.org
With the incredible tragedy on September 11th, this seemed like an appropriate site for all of us to visit. I could not believe what I heard in one of the first press conferences I saw with Mayor Giuliani, he was making the public aware of a tele-marketer scam trying to benefit from the disaster! The charities highlighted on the American Liberty Project were selected in collaboration with the State of New York, the City of New York, the Office of the Governor of New York, the State of Virginia, and the Virginia Emergency Response Team. We are all in this together. Click here to visit libertyunites.org.
Chick Corea
As piano players go, Chick Corea has always been a master musician and the one to check out for "what is hip". He is one those players you can learn something new from each time you give him a listen. This video is from a concert at Nathan Philips Square, on the cool site PrimeTicket.net. Chick is on piano, with bassist Avishai Cohen and drummer Jeff Ballard. The concert was recorded on June 27th, 2001. It's really great to see such wonderful interaction between such accomplished musicians. There is a superb sense of enlightened rhythmic and harmonic interplay between the three players. It is always cool hearing and seeing great trio music. Trio music is one of my favorite formats to study and play. Studying Chick is a must for all piano players. Click here to check out this great trio. Video no longer available!
Allan Holdsworth
"None Too Soon"
Allan Holdsworth achieves the level of Improvisational Jedi Master, other than a hard core group of people who appreciate his efforts, he has not gotten the mass notoriety he deserves. His music could be described as too "Rock" for "Jazz" stations, and too "Jazz" for "Rock" stations. Most of the time Allan records his own material, but on this recording you can check him out playing brilliantly on some well known jazz tunes from John Coltrane, Joe Henderson, Irving Berlin and even Lennon-McCartney. The band for "None Too Soon" is great, with Allan Holdsworth on guitar and SynthAxe, Tribal Tech members Gary Willis on bass, Kirk Covington on drums, and Gordon Beck on piano. Very cool and worth checking out.
Tracks for "None Too Soon"
- Countdown
- Nuages
- How Deep Is The Ocean
- Isotope
- None To Soon Pt I
- Interlude
- None To Soon Pt II
- Norwegian Wood
- Very Early
- San Marcos
- Inner Urge
Click here to purchase "None Too Soon" at Amazon.com
Related Sites
- Allan Holdsworth
- Gary Willis
- Kirk Covington
- Gordon Beck
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