Latch Music's Ezine #17
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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: "Big Fish, Small Pond" by Dave Latchaw
- Guest Artist: Hugh Ferguson - Cool intense fluid riffage.
- Featured Web Site: Future of Music Coalition.org
- Featured Web Video: FPZ Multimedia
- CD Pick: King Crimson "B'Boom"
Big Fish, Small Pond
by Dave Latchaw
Being a "Big Fish in a Small Pond" can bring about complacency quicker than one would want to imagine. Especially in a small community of musicians, it's easy to become content with one's abilities. That complacency will completely squelch creative growth and expansion of musical expression. Since not all musicians are destined to live in a large metropolitan area where competition is a regular and daily event, it is essential for the remote regional musician to be self-motivated, especially if he isn't pushed by the musical community he lives in. The regional musician does not have the same obvious types of competition to stimulate creative growth and ability as big city musicians. For every capable musician you come across in a large city, there is a long line waiting, keen to replace them. If a musician stops being on top of their game, they can easily be replaced with such a big pool of players to draw from. This can be a great motivator for one to keep working on their abilities! In smaller communities, being replaced is less of an issue, due to the simple fact that there are fewer players available. Competition, either from others or against yourself, is necessary for motivation and the expansion of abilities and creative growth.
For the improvising jazz musician, creative growth is essential. One can learn to improvise and sound decent on a tune like "Blue Bossa", which is great, but after that has been mastered with consistency, you have to move on to the next thing. Moving on to the next thing is a challenging thing for many musicians. If a musician is curious and open-minded about music, it's easy for them to follow their instincts to find the next interesting challenge. Working on things that are past one's current ability is hard, but it's very rewarding, and essential for development. If it was easy, everyone would do it! The curious musician will tend to explore many varied aspects of making music, which leads to having a broader voice. As a musician moves on to other new challenges and then comes back to a tune like "Blue Bossa", they will add a creative energy to their performance of the piece.
In a small community, if the musician is playing enough gigs to pay the bills at their current level of ability, it is easy to be content with that and be the "Happy Gigster". Nothing wrong with being the "Happy Gigster", but if you have lost your curiosity about music, you won't be a vital, growing musician making a contribution to the improvement of all music. For the "Happy Gigster", it is easy to get a false sense of reality about their abilities because they are "It" in their own town. Those musicians who then just kick back and no longer work at their craft are not giving music its proper respect. Ego, and/or lack of competition, will increase the likelihood that a musician will sound like an uninspired bore. If a musician isn't challenged, from other players and their musical situation, they need to take responsibility and create their own challenges. In Smallville, U.S.A., change is scary. You can see this in communities where the same Jazz tunes are played the same way for decades, simply because it is familiar. The older players tell the younger players, "this is the way to do it", which in more remote regions creates musical in-breeding. The music education availability for Jazz keeps improving every year, and is developing younger and better players all the time. Take advantage of educational opportunities and stay curious about music always. If you think you are "It" or you have become complacent, you are probably just in the way. Work hard. MUSIC RULES!!!!!!
Hugh Ferguson
#1 Where can people find out more about you and your Internet activities?
My brother Peter and I have a new web site, www.maxferguson.net and my music is also on hughferguson.net. We will be adding new features soon like, an e-mail list so we can notify fans of new music or live dates.
#2 How were you inspired to get into music, and what continues to inspire your musical passion today?
I was lucky to grow up in a very musical family. My parents listened to all kinds of music, Sarah Vaughn, Bing Crosby and they had a lot of musicals including Oklahoma, The King and I and West Side Story (my favorite!). I was also the youngest of four siblings, so by the time I was four years old; I was hearing Chubby Checker, The Supremes and the Beatles all the time at my house.
My brother Paul was the first to get into playing guitar. Being eight years older than me, he kind of became my musical hero. When I was about six years old I had learned how to play Wipe-Out on the back seat of my dad's 57 Chevy and soon after I got some sticks and I started playing, using the coffee table, Sears catalog and assorted pots and pans as my drum set. My brothers and I would jam in the living room and it was really cool. A few years later I took some lessons at the catholic school I attended. I was taught by penguins! (Nuns). That didn't last long as my brother Pete and I were soon removed from that school (trouble makers!!). Being of creative minds, we had a hard time following the strict and demented rules and we were tired of having our knuckles and heads bashed all the time.
At the ripe age of eleven I decided to play the guitar and my brother Paul started to show me chords and songs. The first song I ever learned was "At The Zoo" by Simon & Garfunkle. I didn't have a guitar at the time so I used to sneak into Paul’s room when he was at school and use his. I would get caught sometimes, but somehow I did survive the beatings.
During the early 70’s Pete and me played in a band doing Allman Brothers, Santana and other rock of the day. I was into Duane Allman, Yes and Jeff Beck - - - Pete was into Santana, Paul Butterfield and The Who. Then we heard John McLaughlin! At first listen we didn’t like it, then we couldn’t stop listening to it. That led us to get into all the new fusion stuff coming out like Billy Cobham, Lenny White, Chic Corea, Tony Williams and all those cool artists. We also got to see some really good concerts in Boston including Jeff Beck, Santana and John McLaughlin together and Jan Hammer. But I think the most influential concert was seeing Tony Williams with Allan Holdsworth. It was at this time that I realized that I had been playing the guitar wrong. I spent many years changing my bad habits!
All the great music I was able to listen to in those days really inspired me to continue playing. I still listen to a lot of music now, but there doesn’t seem to be as much of that powerful music out there anymore. I think that the business of music has killed most of the real music. It is very hard for musicians to make a living doing what they believe in. Instead there is a lot of music being made to please the board members and to stimulate the quick sale. It’s very sad for the few who can actually play.
But I am still inspired to write and play. It is art, and if ten people like what I am doing then I will be happy.
#3 What aspects of your musical development best prepared you to be in The Graham Nash Band, and what was that like?
Luckily I grew up listening CSN and I knew most of the songs in my head already. I am also a singer so I was able to sing David Crosby’s cool classical vocal melodies underneath Grahams great lead vocals. I also have a rock, blues and slide background so I was able to pull some things out of my bag of tricks!
It was so cool to have the opportunity to play with Graham. It was fun to play big sold-out shows doing those great songs - - it was like a dream! I also had the pleasure of playing with David Crosby on some of the gigs, man that was cool!
#4 What was your experience like as a Guitar teacher at the Berklee School of Music, and do you still teach?
To set the record straight, I taught privately to many Berklee students in the dorms and apartments around the campus. It was really cool to meet all these cool musicians who technically knew more about music than me! I had recently been featured in Guitar Player Magazine and I was doing the warm-up gigs for Allan Holdsworth with my band Mr. Wizard at the time. That is how the teaching started. I basically taught them how to get out of the box.
#5 What techniques do you practice/study, and which would you recommend to students to increase the possibility of playing in "The Zone"?
I practice scales and try to learn how to use them along the whole neck. I have also written my own software that allows me to click on a one-octave piano and the notes show up on a guitar neck. Then I click on the notes that I don’t want, making them disappear creating shapes and patterns that I can remember. I used to do this on paper but it took a long time and I always made mistakes. This is a lot faster.
As far as recommendations go, I suggest being a good listener. Listen to the other people your playing with and paint your picture over their canvas. I also suggest playing from the heart. I have heard many great technicians who have no soul and I have seen limited technique with great soul. For instance I was able to watch and hang out with the late Albert Collins, that guy only used the upper half of the neck with a really strange tuning, but when he played, his soul would come out and slap you in the face, it was amazing.
#6 How do you approach your compositional process?
Sometimes I have chords or a melody on the guitar and then I create a quick beat on the computer and lay it down before I lose it. Other times I start with the drums then bass, then I start working on melodies. I really don’t have a set way of doing it, it just sort of happens. My subconscious takes over and I work my butt off for hours then all of a sudden "woop there it is".
#7 When people listen to your disc "The Jungle", what do you want to them get from your music?
I want it to be an adventure through the jungle. Every song except the last one on the CD has a theme about the jungle. I was really inspired by David Sancious in the 70s and his music took me places, I liked that.
#8 What new projects do you have coming up, and how has the Internet changed your musical activities?
Well, I will be in San Francisco in December to help mix and master my brother Pete’s new CD - - It’s awesome. Pete and I are also about half way done with a cool Rock/Blues project. It will be under the name of "Max Ferguson" and the title is "Max Rides Again". I am currently looking to by a drum set so I can lay down the drum tracks. It’s a fun project; it’s like a modern/fusion Allman Brothers thing.
I am also producing and writing music for a girl singer named Kim Black and her stuff is a cross between R&B, Rap and Trance. It’s going to be cool. Luckily I have sons that have their own studios and are really good at coming up with those types of grooves. I am also rehearsing with my new band and we are working on music for the next CD as well as playing live.
The Internet is a good thing for musicians to get their stuff out there. I think that once people can go from 56k modems to DSL, Cable or whatever, the Internet will be the way all music is sold. It will be a while though!
It’s kind of funny working with the Internet because that is what I do to make ends meet. I create huge database driven sites that are completely dynamic.
Weird huh?
Future of Music Coalition.org
The Future of Music Coalition is a not-for-profit collaboration between members of the music, technology, public policy and intellectual property law communities. The FMC seeks to educate the media, policymakers, and the public about music and technology issues, while also bringing together diverse voices in efforts to come up with creative solutions, and to serve as a voice for musicians and citizens in Washington, DC, where critical decisions are being made regarding intellectual property rights. As independent artists and consumers of music, we need to know what is going on in Washington regarding the new directions of music distribution and business models. The things that are threatening to larger music companies can be great for the independent artist, but the independent artist usually doesn't have the economic means to manipulate policy like a large multi-media corporation. The Future of Music Coalition has great wealth of information for one to be more informed about the future of music.
FPZ Multimedia
FPZ Multimedia provides a variety of short video clips from a wide range of artists. They are available to view with Quicktime or Windows Media Player. You can check out drummers Simon Phillips and Dennis Chambers, guitarists Steve Lukather and Tony MacAlpine with Planet X, also bassists Marcus Miller, Bunny Brunel and others, all in small venue settings. Great fun to check out!
Related Sites
King Crimson
"B'Boom" Official Bootleg - Live In Argentina
The double trio format that King Crimson used in the 90's was very refreshing and engaging to the listener. They had the intensity of a rock band, and the sensitivity of chamber musicians with complete improvisational freedom playing interesting, great music. An Italian bootleg company sent a person to South America to bootleg three groups, of which King Crimson was one. The unofficial bootleg was released in England for 28 pounds, and the sound quality was rubbish. "B'Boom is the response of King Crimson to the bootleg. These recordings are taken from the DAT recordings of the front-of-the-house mixing desk. Very cool of them to take control of their performance rather than let a bootleg company make money off of their musical efforts.
Musicians for "B'Boom"
Robert Fripp - Guitar
Adrian Belew - Guitar, voice, words
Trey Gunn - Stick
Tony Levin - Basses and Stick
Pat Mastelotto and
Bill Bruford - Acoustic and Electronic Percussions
Tracks for "B'Boom"
Disc #1
- VROOOM
- Frame By Frame
- Sex, Sleep, Eat, Drink, Dream
- Red
- One Time
- B'Boom
- THRAK
- Improv-Two Sticks
- Elephant Talk
- Indiscipline
Disc #2
- VROOOM VROOOM
- Matte Kudasai
- The Talking Drum
- Larks' Tongues in Aspic Part II
- Heartbeat
- Sleepless
- People
- B'Boom (reprise
- THRAK
Click here to learn more about "B'Boom"
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