John Scofield w/ Bill Stewart, Dennis Chambers...

spleeeeen

Platinum Member
...and other legends making great music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-bWt4rZrA8

I remember buying "Loud Jazz" back in the 80s. My first CD (didn't even have a player yet!) and the first time I heard Dennis Chambers. When I bought Joe Lovano's "Landmarks" in the early 90s it was the first time I heard Bill Stewart.
Life-changing experiences, both of them.

Thought I'd post this in case any other fans are interested.
 
Very cool Spleen. Legends! Im lucky in regards to Dennis. He is from Baltimore, where Im from, and his wife was the secretary at my high school! So he'd do clinics at the school and we generally got to see him often, shake his hand buy him a Jack and Coke. Just a Monster Player!

Thanks for posting that.
 
Very cool Spleen. Legends! Im lucky in regards to Dennis. He is from Baltimore, where Im from, and his wife was the secretary at my high school! So he'd do clinics at the school and we generally got to see him often, shake his hand buy him a Jack and Coke. Just a Monster Player!

Thanks for posting that.

Wow, sounds like you had some great experiences interacting with DC back in the day! That's really cool!

I think Scofield's "Pick Hits Live" was probably the second CD I ever bought and hearing him play in that band in a live context just floored me. Still love listening to that, one of my all-time favorites.
 
Oh yeah, Pick Hits Live for sure! Yes, Dennis is a great guy, us locals were super lucky to be able to interact with one of the worlds greatest drummers like it was just normal lol. Dennis was a huge part of my journey.
 
Oh man, I watched this the other night. The Quiet portion gave me chills the whole time - Bill Stewart's got to be my favorite jazz drummer around these days; his touch is incredible.

And of course it doesn't hurt that Sco's my favorite jazz guitarist of all time. And that room! I've never seen such a cool venue.

But the Loud Portion seemed, I don't know, off to me. He says he got chills, but it seemed uninspired to me. DC's holding back when I wanted him to go kookoo-bananas all over his kit, and it just seemed weird to me.
 
But the Loud Portion seemed, I don't know, off to me. He says he got chills, but it seemed uninspired to me. DC's holding back when I wanted him to go kookoo-bananas all over his kit, and it just seemed weird to me.

Yes, I absolutely noticed this! Don't know for sure but it seemed like he was very conscious of keeping his volume in check. His stick heights were all lowered and it almost felt like I was witnessing a master class in "how to control volume at a gig." I don't really want to see Dennis have to do a gig like that, especially something this significant. As cool as the venue appeared, maybe there were issues with the drums being too loud? From one angle, Bill even appears to be behind one of those clear, paneled dividers that I always see on videos of people playing in church. I never thought I'd see him, of all people, stuck behind one of those. Ugh.

But I'm with you, Bill is...wow, his touch, his playfulness, the enormity of sounds he evokes from the instrument,...chills indeed. So good.
 
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