What I Learned from Paul
Because of Paul's incessant habit of grabbing you and forcing you to listen to music, we heard a lot of great music. It's already been said that Paul wasn't narrow in his tastes. I can remember him playing "Celebration" (by who Earth Wind and Fire? Cool and the Gang) and saying that Traffic had a great groove, "sometimes", which is true. If there's one lesson from him, it would be "it's the groove, not the licks". Cop and blow. Cop and blow.
I hate to dissect music, but there is a story and a history about how Log Jam, attached here, was created. We were in the studio in 1993, Victor Conte, Ronnie Beck, Nate Ginsberg, Coleman Head and me. At the end of the day, the engineer told me there was like 3 1/2 minutes of tape left. I asked the guys if they would be willing to lay down one funky tune, handed out some chord changes. We went through the changes once or twice, then we cut it and you can hear how improvised it was, yet there was a beginning and an ending that we more or less got right. Paul had an enormous influence on me musically, and the stuff he made me listen to helped create what you hear in Log Jam. Spontaneity for sure, but also an intro with a tritone phrase stated and then repeated one beat off in the bar. The "hesitation shit" he used to call it, from Ron the bass player. An outro that becomes a shuffle blues riff, then a cadenza that uses two-handed tapping on the diminished scale that could be in Schillinger's book, and for all I know, maybe it is, literally. Here's a short video of that cadenza. During the bridge, contrary motion in the chromatic changes with a Coltrane-inspired, story telling kind of phrasing in the final chorus of the solo. The harmony is bluesy and light, yet uses fourths and 13s and all the shit I spent my life listening to and digesting. Almost a blues with a bridge, but more a vamp with changes... This may not be your cup of tea, it may not be your style, you may not think much of it, but it's me with some great players and I hear a lot of Paul in it, not so much in the drums as in the whole concept. Enjoy the Chianti and the music on the 15th and raise your glasses with me to a great musician and teacher's eternal stay in what I hope will be the "Blue Jazz Heavenly Grill". Dulo
Posted by randulo
