Wednesday, 12/5/12
by musicclipoftheday
My favorite drummer?
There are days I’d say this is the guy.
Among the many things I love about his playing, which dances, always, is the balance of simplicity and complexity—it’s never more complex than it is simple, never simpler than it is complex.
Old and New Dreams (Don Cherry [1936-1995], pocket trumpet; Dewey Redman [1931-2006], tenor saxophone; Charlie Haden [1937-], bass; Ed Blackwell [1929-1992], drums), live
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lagniappe
reading table
Art is not in some far-off place.
—Lydia Davis, “Extracts from a Life” (The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis, 2009)
music clip of the day 
I was fortunate to hear him once playing with David Murray — such minimal means, such a big sound.
Did you ever hear Steve McCall live (Air, David Murray, et al.)? He, too, used a small kit. From time to time I’ve entertained the notion, half seriously, that there’s an inverse relationship between the size of the kit and the quality of the drummer. (There are, of course, notable exceptions — like Tony Williams.)