saw Mangini clinic at Hollywood GT

[drumjunkee]

Went to check out the buzz about Mangini and coincidentally so did other top cats; notably: Marvin Smitty Smith, Hilary Jones, Virgil Donati...Philip Bynoe and a bunch of Guitar players...

My personal verdict: think of the fastest (20 beats per second hands and feet), most complicated phrasing (subdivision of 19 to 11 at about 90 bpm: grouped into 5's, 7's, 9's and orchestrated between hands and feet), most independence taxing, most outrageous chart drum part you can imagine, Mike can probably play it...this guy is a freak of nature...

During the solo Hilary Jones laughed out loud because of his empeccable preciseness and outrageous exucution of wild ideas...

However, I didn't particularly dig his music nor drumming too much...I respect his ability, but not necessarily his playing...It's almost similar to the way I feel about Cobham: he's great...but not to my liking...

Vinnie is still king in my book...and forever...

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[Gaddabout]

I'm like you. I'm impressed by the stuff he can play, but I can't put my heart into it. There's rarely a reference point to anything conventional. It has been said often, but Vinnie's ability to make odd meter sound like 4/4 puts him in an entirely different category. Be able to read the stuff on the fly, play against the meter, and still state a pulse where 4 conventional beats land over the bar ... that's not human, man.

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[Clintuplet]

I saw Mangini once and I'd have to agree with you guys on his playing. His is a more scholarly approach. I think that type of playing has its place though. Just as classical music holds a cerebral attraction, so does Mangini's style of playing. Neil Peart's playing might fall into this category as well. (I grew up on Rush) As I get older they are not at the top of the list, but still on it. After the clinic I saw him at, he shook hands until there were no more to be shook. Great guy. More personality than some I've seen.

Clint



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[manuwash]

I was on a Mangini clinic, he's a great guy.
I have to diagree on the comparation with Peart
though.......
Sometimes I think that peart lack some feel, he's and incredible drummer anyways don't misunderstand me, but I have heard Mangini play with a really great feel( example mike keneally) while keeping an oustanding technique.
Anyways both of them really great musicians

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[Nikk]

Give me Dave and Vinnie's highly musical phrasing over Mangini's 128th notes anyday. Damn, I just wanna hear some nice six-stroke rolls and BD/tom combos. Know what I mean?

[jonthibault]

I was playing my G3 cd last night and realized Mangini's on it. Yeah, he plays really well. Vai does a lot of bizarre changes and syncopated hits. Good stuff.

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Jack

[Buckman]

I dunno if youve seen marco minnemann but he plays like that too. I saw him at a clinic here in lexington, ky, and he was jaw dropping. He could play a pattern in 5 with his left hand, one in 7 with his feet, and then solo in 4 with his right. It was amazing, he basically has complete interdependance. But alas, like you said there are problems. his playing was very very LOUD.....ALWAYS. And it seemed to all sound kind of alike while sounding completely different.

There was also a moment when someone mentioned the black page, and he said he could probably play it, if he found it. SO he looked around, found it, and basically read the sucker right off the stand. But then he proceeded to play through a huge zappa medely that got really long and kind of boring. And to end the show he play buddy rich's time check, and slaughtered it. It was amazing, but durring the sax solo, he was playing on EVERYTHING, and i couldn't even hear the sax, literally.

these guys sound best by themselves i think.

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[drumjunkee]

I made the the four hour drive from Los Angeles to Fresno actually to catch the Minneman clinic...it was trip worth driving...

Having seen and heard Virgil, Mangini, and Minneman I must say that Minneman made the biggest impression on me...

The obvious aside that these cats are virtuosos with more chops that is necessary to make living in playing drums, I feel more musically connected to Minneman's playing...

But of course, Vinnie is still king in my book...

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[arin]

Some of these guys are sometimes more like olympic champions than musicians.

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[Steve Holmes]

Agreed.
Physical ability, independance, speed, none of these things have anything to do with musical validity.

Music is a language. What is being said?

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