Richie Beirach on two of his mentors, Stan Getz and Chet Baker
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- čas přidán 22. 05. 2021
- Richie spoke for about 20 minutes on the similarities as well as the unique personalities of Chet Baker and Stan Getz, two iconic players with whom Richie played early in his career.
You should watch this if you ever think that your lack of technical music knowledge will hold you back from becoming a good jazz improviser. These two didn't go to school to learn jazz, and neither of them knew any harmonic theory.
Learning the technical aspects of music can benefit you but only if you put it into the back of your brain when it comes time to improvise. This talk is another validation that your ears rather than your analytic brain is your best tool for playing authentic jazz. - Hudba
Richie, spot on as always! Having played with both Stan & Chet (both after Richie) I can attest to Richie's thoughtful insights. Thank you Stan, Chet, & Richie!
You are a monster in your own right
Wow. A piece of jazz history there. Thanks for that Richie.
Richie is such a underrated great pianist/artist!
Thank you, Richie!
Very moving (for me). An insightful and touching testament. For the most part, I think he’d be deeply honored hearing your words as I know he had a deep respect for your writing and playing.
Let me preface by saying that although I’m not a musician, I do have some insight and memories of conversations that dad and I had. Stan did in fact read music, and quite fluently. If one considers that he began his career playing the books of Teagarden, Herman, Goodman, and especially Kenton, not easy charts by any standards, he had to have a certain degree of reading chops. As I think we all can agree, his ear and musical intuition is what propelled him. He also had a photographic memory and needed to read a chart once and it was committed to memory. I’m sure the guys in his bands can attest to the fact that Stan could become quite prickly and ticked-off if a rehearsal went on too long. He hated to rehearse “music to death”, as he put it. He said reading it down and going over some key points was all he needed. Playing it over and again, caused it to become stale, at which point it become boring and killed his creative instincts and desire to play any given piece of music. I’m sure this didn’t apply in every situation, but for the most part, it did.
I have heard stories about how he didn’t pay well. I get both sides of this issue. It’s a well known fact that he was very generous with how he not only made room for, but encouraged his sidemen to stretch out and be heard. He did open doors (and ears) to all the great talents he featured in his bands. He was in a position to do that due to his own following. He truly loved most all of his sidemen and didn’t really think of them as “sidemen”, but more as fellow musicians that he created music with, who inspired him and visa-versa. I think he looked at it from the perspective of him featuring and presenting to a world audience, was worth more than a dollar value. That’s my understanding. But I do understand that people want to be paid equal to what they believe is their value. The jazz world in general, has never been known for dealing in big money! Sad, but true.
Finally, yes. He was a very complicated man who could be nasty, to the point of cruelty. He suffered a lot of demons. However, I know this wasn’t who he was in his heart. I know this because I grew up with him. One is forced to see many sides of a parent, both bad and good from the perspective of growing up and experiencing so much. From an offspring’s perch, the depth of understanding one gains about who a parent truly is, can’t be fluffed off. As difficult and “bad” as he could be, he was also capable of giving generously his love, support kindness and more. I need to stress this, as so much ugliness and mistruths are written, and will be an influence as to how he is perceived for the ages. I have to balance this a bit. He cannot speak for himself, so I will truthfully do that for him. He was dad to me , but also my best bud. And Richie, I am in no way implying that you have spoken untruhfully. What you said was profound, loving snd from your own experience. It touched my heart. Thank you!
What a wonderful perspective to share, Beverley. Stan remains for me the epitome of a jazz giant. No one has affected me or many in the world as profoundly.
As a professional scientist and part-time musician, I fell into the trap of approaching jazz by over-analyzing its theoretical foundations. This has led to over-thinking while improvising, falling behind by several bars while deciding which chord scale to use! I am slowly breaking away from this trap and letting "my ear and soul" guide the solo. Thank you and Richie for this great glimpse of true musicianship without theoretical barriers.
Une leçon de musique et une leçon de vie. Merci
Very insightful comments from Richie. Jazz schools and university programs have retrofitted the art of jazz into a curriculum of "uniformity" with scales, harmony, etc - the antithesis of creative improvisational Jazz ! It's like fitting a square peg into a circular hole. Perhaps modern jazz education programs should re-balance theory and practice with visiting faculty and real-life performance workshops with guest "greats" of our generation.
Wow, fascinating to listen to this. ❤️🎶❤️
Great insights into music and jazz life!
Great hearing these first hand memories and insights from Richie. I saw Stan with Richie and Dave Holland at this time in 1973 at the Half Note in NYC when it was midtown on 54th Street. - Zach Schwartz
Feliz Aniversário, Richie! E obrigada por mais essa aula!
Wonderful!
What a testimony! Just great!
A beautiful tribute and valuable data for us musicians. Thx so much
This was so great, thank you so much for making this happen and available for fans to watch!
Excellent interview. Learned a lot about the complexity of human beings through RB
Thank you so much.
So valuable. Thank you for this.
Thank you so much for another touching video. I could keep on listening for hours...
If it's possible to discribe in any sort of language or speech what music is about, this is by far the best try. Thanks for that one!
Many thanks for sharing all that experience
love this!
Beautiful insight, thanks for that Richie
Beautiful!😢
“Somewhere in Berlin, the hammer hits the string.” LOL. Perfectly said, Richie.
such a great moment!
Fascinating hearing Richie share his experience with Stan and Chet. Would love to read his book. Has he written it. Also can you recommend who I should see today that are worthwhile? I live in NYC and would love to see the greats of today!
Sarah, go to the websites of New York jazz clubs like the Blue Note and the Village Vanguard. I just took a peek at the Blue Note and see that John Scofield will be there late November. He is a friend of Richie's and a great guitar player. Joe Lovano will be at the Vanguard also in late November, and he is a great sax player. Enjoy!
Leaving.......
Stan Getz and Chet Baker couldn't read nor write music . The things one learns . CCJS is where we learn . For sure .
Wrong. They both read and wrote.
Stan was an expert sight reader. A well known story is that Stan quickly memorized all of his notated saxophone parts in the Benny Goodman and Stan Kenton bands.