I see him in person when i was 20 years old...In quebec city...
It was "rolling" for sure...
But "rolling" dont refer only to drummers "beat" ...
Elvin Jones!
Jazz for aficionados
Lucky you! And my wife and I love Quebec -- especially the Charlevois region. As it happens, my Boucher acoustic guitar is built in the province.
OK. I'll be the first to admit I don't fully understand what the term means. Reading your descriptions, Elvin Jones happened to be the first artist that sprang to mind.
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No, you are absolutely right... I remember as yesterday memory because Jones impacted me a lot and at this times at 20 and yet i regarded jazz as inferior to classical music ... i lacked musical education at 20 and i am not alas! a musician ... 😊 now i loved jazz as much as classical...And any traditional music in the world...
But to my surprize at 20, Jones dont put easy previsible beats to express his virtuosity, as many drummers with no genius would, instead he demonstrated his musical understanding of the "rolling" into ONE of all musical aspects in his gesturing.... It was the first time in my life i encounter a really great musician...
He was able to make music "roll"... not rock n and roll AT ALL.... Only subtles variations improvised with the highest artistry... But as i said rolling is not about a repeateable swing or beat, it is the way the musician creative gesture improvise on the spot by expressive necessity ... Keith Jarrett "roll" his improvisation at Koln concert in one masterpiece for example ... "rolling" is the integration of melody, rythms, harmonies, IMPROVISING playing micro tonal gestures in ONE single expressive event ... For example in classical there is difference when some pianist play a piece with no understanding but only perfect reproduction ,or high virtuosity and some others who are able to improvise a real EXPRESSIVE felt interpretation... When the music "roll" it is beyond perfection or imperfection , it is living... There is no relation with any musical genre, the african master who tell about "rolling music" to the american black jazzman , does not spoke about african music nor about jazz, it is the way i understood it... A japanese musician playing koto can roll or not...The African master express a universal truth about playing...
" Roll" mean a SPIRAL integrating every aspect of music and sound in one musical gesture... It is IMPREVISIBLE.... Coleman Hawkins know how to "roll" and Sofronitsky playing Scriabin knows too... And pygmies songs "roll"... The last interpretation of choral music i hear and which was "rolling" is Schutz Geistliche Chormusik by Mauesberger... The chorus roll as pygmies singing... Miraculous so much i listen to it really 1000 times in the last 35 years...
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It is my Bill Evans day... i listen to him non stop on my computer with a very good small dac by Hifimedy and my self powered M-audio AV40 low cost desktop speakers optimized speakers in my "acoustically installed " dedicated corner, i can assure you that Bill Evans "roll" so much well , it is impossible to stop listening him...( and yes a listening on 100 bucks well optimized speakers can almost be audiophile experience they must delivered basic good upper bass for sure for piano listening but my M-audio is the model with a very good bass boost with no distortion , i used diffusion and absorption and a three pieces foldable screen as an acoustic tool and some shungite and quartz on the speakers😁) He is not a great jazz pianist, there is many others i loved very much, he is one of the greatest i ever listen to , not because he plays better, some plays more virtuoso than him , but no other roll so much well... He is humble and music dedicated as the late Chet Baker was... The way he play cannot be taught, you feel the "rolling" in ONE or not.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI8zUgR8czI&list=PLnQJF3Qi_4_A1sxJ9O8sIpxKOTsGoe_Ya&index=12 |
Ah, OK -- I think I get it, now. Thanks for the further explanation. When I listen to Evans, I tend to get so caught up in the emotional expression that other concerns (technique included) simply recede into the background. I suppose his lyrical approach may strike some as overly feminine/lacking in masculine fire /vigor but I'm not one of those. Are you familiar with Michele Petrucciani? He made no secret of the fact that he was strongly influenced by Evans, but he is more playful, more outgoing, more overtly passionate player, with no shortage of technique. A marvelous musician. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFvAmN3Vp7w I particularly like "The Complete Concert In Germany", which I could not find here but was able to purchase in Paris. It does not seem to be available on Youtube, currently.
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