AlChuck
Well-known member
I just saw a great show last night. Mike Stern, long a favorite, is touring with the jaw-dropping Victor Wooten on bass and the monster force of nature Dennis Chambers on drums. They were having a ball -- Stern was grinning like a little kid having the time of his life, which was odd to one used to seeing him look so serious all the time in his photos. There was one place where Stern and Wooten played this low ostinato phrase while Chambers took a solo, and he tried to make them fall off the rhythm of the ostinato by playing some simple. powerful funk and rock grooves at a different temp; they just looked across the kit at each other and locked it and smiled while Cahmbers kept taunting them with irresistable grooves.... then he'd give up and explode into bursts and flurries... and a minute or so later, he'd try again...
...and Wooten did the most amazing two-handed bass solo with bubbling rhythms and counterpoint and bits of songs (started with "Night In Tunisia" and passed through "Norwegian Wood" and a few others on its way, including "Chopsticks").
And Stern, sometimes he gets a bit boring, he seems more narrow in his personal niche, but he can really burn, make no mistake, and his compositions are superior.
Finally, there was a tenor player whoes name escapes me, someone I haven't heard of, there to play heads with Stern and take many powerful Berg/Breckersque tenor solos. Very very good, and in one of the ballady numbers he played some very unusual and gorgeous things.
A great show all in all, at a great venue (Yoshi's in Oakland, CA).
...and Wooten did the most amazing two-handed bass solo with bubbling rhythms and counterpoint and bits of songs (started with "Night In Tunisia" and passed through "Norwegian Wood" and a few others on its way, including "Chopsticks").
And Stern, sometimes he gets a bit boring, he seems more narrow in his personal niche, but he can really burn, make no mistake, and his compositions are superior.
Finally, there was a tenor player whoes name escapes me, someone I haven't heard of, there to play heads with Stern and take many powerful Berg/Breckersque tenor solos. Very very good, and in one of the ballady numbers he played some very unusual and gorgeous things.
A great show all in all, at a great venue (Yoshi's in Oakland, CA).
