Link to new Thomas Lang videos

[Schreck]

o.k. another point of view.
I take your example.
you listen to a drummer and associate at the same his work with music, he played in the past.
I really don't know, where to find the sense.
where is the point ?
if you would have played only the un-merry-go-round and nothing else.
how can I change my mind to your drumming, just because you played this one song ?
why it is important, to know, what kind of music lang played during his carrer, if you just have to say,
if lang played a good solo or not ?
perhaps, he never found the people, to make the music, he wants to ?
but anyway, I like more just the simple result in the PRESENT.
that's all, what's counts for me.
I don't want to watch someone and have in my mind, what he has done in the past.

and by the way, Lang played some stuff with Vienna Art orchestra - not too bad I think.

here are two examples.

I think, lang plays VERY well TO the music.

http://www.vao.at/v2/sounds/anything...ythinggoes.mp3

http://www.vao.at/v2/sounds/13-funandart.mp3

[Schreck]

hi dazzler,

=======================

All the clips I've seen of Thomas, it is all on one level - loud and relentless.
It just doesn't breath and you need that in music. If someone shouted at you for 5 minutes,
you would hate that and walk away.
Whereas if a person used their voice, dynamically and took breaths and paused to listen and think,
it would be a much more rewarding conversation and experience.

=======================

I agree with the point, that he is breathless and loud and his dynamics are just fullpower, yes.
And I'am not a big fan, I already mentioned.
but for me, it seems, that you don't want to mention, that he is really on fire.
his ideas changed every few seconds.
you really think, that he practiced this solo note by note before ?
really ?
perhaps tomorrow I understand the rest of your posting and I will be able, to answer.

Did you heard the mp3 examples bevore ?

[Shawn40]

Hi Guys,

I just want say that what some people recorded in the past is VERY IMPORTANT !!!
It's the story about the music and a kind a legacy.

It's with this legacy that Jeff, Elvis, Carlos, Miles Davis, Jaco Pastorius, Kenny Kirkland and many more are still with us and continues to inspire us.

Peace.

[Dazzler]

Schreck, I'm not judging Thomas on what he has or hasn't accomplished in the past and I don't treat other musicians like that, so I don't know where you got that from.
All I'm judging him on is those clips and other videos I've seen of him previously. I'll check out the mp3's you posted later.

[funkycarnivore]

Well, I don't play with chops OR feel. Heck, I don't even have a kit--just an HQ practice pad and a pair of Vater 5Bs.

As a bass player, though, I've seen these kinds of discussions. Some of the major chops guys, like Victor Wooten and Bill Dickens, are chastised for their considerable NAMM-show-level chops but lack of feel. Both of these guys have instructional videos that are pretty much just displays of technique, and I have to admit that I walked away from both of those with the same feeling: it's pretty remarkable what a guy can do with an electric bass, but it doesn't really help me in a playing situation. On the other hand, I listened to a tape of a Leland Sklar clinic. He didn't play a single note, but I learned a lot and felt like his wisdom had improved my ability to hear music.

So obviously, the conclusion is that Leland Sklar is better at "making music", right? Well, I'm not so sure. I know that Lee is one of my all-time favourites on the instrument, and in terms of chops, he's nothing that would draw notice; but he knows how to make a tune feel like it has a reason to exist, and his playing speaks to me. But I guess that's as far as I'm willing to go. I know that the inclination is to make some sort of profound pronouncement about the cosmic forces that inspire us to make music, and how the player I like better is more in touch with them than some guy who can play really fast. But when I'm honest with myself, I'm satisfied saying that I'd rather just listen to music I like, and skip music that I don't like.

Then there's guys like Richard Bona, who have chops and feel and soul and basically everything else that a bass player can have. I really don't know what to say about that except that he must be from another planet.

As far as playing with drummers, I prefer playing with somebody with whom I can agree about how the rhythm section is supposed to serve the music in its context, whatever that happens to mean.

And no drummer I've ever played with has had hair as good as Thomas'.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ January 05, 2005 03:05 PM: Message edited by: the grove ]</font>

[Andy Edwards]

Thomas was classically trained at the Vienna school of music and then he relocated to LA.
While living their he became friends with Vinnie.
Thomas has said how he learnt a lot directly from VC. One of the things I think that Thomas got from Vinnie was a certain approach creating an intensity and flow in playing.

It is interesting that I can see a direct line from Tony>Vinnie>Thomas but many out there see a big difference between these two players.

And, as I have said before, I remember the same sort of comments said about Vinnie when he emerged.

(my Dad -who is a drummer- said the same when I played him Tony Williams, but there again, Tony aint Joe Morello!)

[FuseU1]

Aw, this is terrible - you guys are ALL correct in your assessments!!
No winner! Darn. We Americans HAVE to have the BIG winner!! [img]wink.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/sure.gif[/img]

I think what Schreck meant by the "past" stuff is that we should not judge a player by 1, 2 or even 5 snippet performances over a few short years, but rather understand that we all develop over periods of time & take note of the fact that this does & will happen, & is happening as we speak.

I agree w Dazz - AND i agree w Schreck & others...but I take TL for what it is, & what it's worth. But at the same time, I'm also glad i can put on some
Gadd/Ersk/Porcaro/Keltner/Marotta/JR/Vega/Tribbett/Gully/questlove/SJordan
too...pocket, taste, musicality, & fonkay grooves.

TL is like the guilty pleasure of watching Godzilla & cohorts destroy the city when you were a kid... [img]wink.gif[/img] total unrelenting devastation...complete with those whacky newfangled techno-geek-wizardry weapons they came up with to fight some of those dreadful rubber suits... [img]cool.gif[/img]

TL is the Arnold Schwartzenegger of Drumming, Ya!
...Donati, AUSTralia...Lang, AUSTria...what's going on here?! [img]wink.gif[/img] J/K

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ January 05, 2005 05:53 PM: Message edited by: fuseU1 ]</font>

[PocketPlayer]

My last TL comment for sure...
I liked the clips of TL posted by Schreck, especially, "anything goes."

I think TL...and the others (I see this also in many other artistic pursuits) who have established a real reputation for being a certain way, are then categorized for that particular skill--some give "mind-burn" or such a deeply felt impression that they are labled for life! Actors really have to watch this, or, they can make a good living playing that same part.

Guys like TL shouldn't be so concerned with what we as drummers think. His main concern is what do producers think!

I had a good Email conversation with someone very close to a big name drummer and it is shocking how little he makes off all his efforts. He has to tour like a mad-dog.

So...as Curt Bisquera told me at NAMM a few years back...if you want to make $$, you got to play time...guess who gave him that advice?

JP! [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

[shedder]

Originally posted by Andy Edwards:
It is interesting that I can see a direct line from Tony>Vinnie>Thomas but many out there see a big difference between these two players.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">are you kidding me? tony to vinnie i can understand. you really hear tony's influence in vinnie's playing. but vinnie to lang? NO WAY! i don't hear, see, or smell anything of vinnie in lang's playing.

[Andy Edwards]

You can hear the evolution of the way Tony plays single stroke rolls between hands and feet to vinnie using this technique and now Thomas taking that technique through the roof...
I have also seen Thomas playing straight ahead jazz and the Vinnie (and Weckl) influences are evident.

I think the problem here is that Thomas' playing is underepresented when it comes to jazz and fusion playing (I have also seen him playing unbelievable latin grooves a la el negro)

You either hear him on pop records or blowing on clinics.
I myself have been taking a jazz trio out on clinics and a lot of people have said they have seen my playing in a different light.

Maybe solo clinics are not the best way of judging a player. You guys say you like to hear someone grooving on a clinic but from my point of view the audience want to see chops (and tricks and gimmicks...)