Bill Bruford's Earthworks - All Heaven Broke Loose: a) Psalm b) Old Song (Stuttgart, Mar 30th 1991)
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- čas přidán 27. 04. 2023
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This video is basically Earthworks version 0.1, with Django Bates (keys and Eb tenor horn), Iain Ballamy (tenor saxophone) and Tim Harries (acc. bass). The piece grows fairly seamlessly from the gentle opening of ‘Psalm’ to keyboardist Django Bates’ beautiful ‘Old Song’, via a loose but complete defragmentation of harmony and rhythm immediately before the rubato and climactic ‘Old Song’. The original ‘Psalm’ theme is recapitulated at the end, with Tim‘s arco bass adding a dark and sombre note to proceedings.
The track is the title cut from Earthworks 3rd album, 'All Heaven Broke Loose', recorded in Germany in 1991, to the sound of ‘shock and awe’. Remember that? All hell broke loose, so we turned that idea on its head for the title. The sessions and mixing lasted about 100 hours, almost exactly the same length of time it took Coalition Forces to liberate Kuwait from an Iraqi invasion. My old friend, guitarist and producer David Torn, was twiddling the knobs as producer. We’d spent a fair bit of time together during his albums ‘Cloud About Mercury’ and ‘Door X’, during which we’d come to understand and like each other and our respective musical choices.
Performing on electronic drums, I always took great care to ensure we weren’t all listening to the percussion in a cultural and ritual vacuum. If permitted, an invisible gauze can descend between listener and performer when electronics enter the relationship. Unless in some way humanised, that cold, separating gauze, that may have suited, say, Kraftwerk, was not at all part of my thinking. In performance you have to avoid the graded removal of context from which the listener might derive some sort of musical meaning from the actions:
1) Striking a drum at source, heard at source. See Taiko drummers, below.
2) Striking an amplified drum, the sound of which is then put into and received through a p.a. system - a first level of separation.
3) Striking a sample of the above, which is then put into and received through a p.a. - a second level of separation.
4) Firing a similar sample from a laptop, where even the physical striking is removed - a third level of separation.
It’s too weird for me seeing a performer on stage with a laptop as his or her primary or only axe. Without visual evidence of the instrument being struck, and in the laptop’s case, without evidence even of the musician striking it, the musical meaning of the action is lost to me. That's why in ABWH, the electronic stuff was raised high, so stick could be seen striking pad.
Harmonics, overtones, sympathetic vibration - all the mysteries and generally less controllable elements of music are not to be discarded lightly. They are of the essence. The increasing popularity of the oiled and loin-clothed Oriental Taiko drummers with the housewives of Oslo, Kristiansand or Sheffield, speaks to the vibrant humanity of the percussive arts, and explains why I shall never be far from the acoustic version of my instrument, the drum kit.
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#billbruford #yes #drummer #paistecymbals ##tamadrums #drumsolos #electronicdrumkit #kingcrimson #earthworks #jazzdrummer #billbrufordsearthworks - Hudba
I really do love this song! I love every memory of it and every memory with it.
Bill - as though I know you! Mr. Bruford - thank you for making and sharing this masterpiece.
I realize most of us here are probably drummers and find Bill an inspiration and/or influence but when it comes to the saxophone… good lord… is there another instrument capable of making you feel calm and serene… then sexy and seductive … then peaceful again… then inspired to charge across an open field and greet thy enemies head-on? All in one piece of music? Incredible.
Worthy of Heaven's jukebox.
Well what can anyone really say? Some of the finest musicians on the planet.
I feel so grateful to be alive and witness this mastery
Thank you for this beauty. I still cherish all the times i got to experience wonder,joy, and awe.
My all-time favourite Earthworks tune. Gloriously beautiful.
Outrageous sax and drums 😮 I Love it. All my personal problems are gone!
Gorgeous!
16:14pm(pst) Thank you BiLL! It's aLways nice to hear a memorabLe
Set for the mood😊 The beautifuL sound of jazz in the air! Thanks again & have a nice day buddy🙂
cya for now...michaeL
Man Bill, you always find the coolest cats in music!
Wonderful album !
Great video.
Bill, tu orígenes tienen que ver con el Jazz y el haber vuelto al mismo fue una excelente elección.
Saludos desde ciudad de Canelones, Uruguay.
"Great teachers teach students who exceed their reach." td
Guter Spruch!
I am so looking forward to this video answering my question "Is the ride cymbal a sample triggering with the chord sample, or is he playing the ride with one hand and the chords with another?" In this clip, it almost sounds like one of the pads is triggering a closed hi hat instead of a ride, so maybe it's the former?
And I wait...
The digital ride cymbal is assigned to the same pad as the chord sample. No closed hi-hat was assigned, so that might be something cutting off something else , or a digital glitch or an aural illusion! Admin
Wouldn’t Earthworks 0.1 be with Mick Hutton?
Very strictly speaking, yes, but Harries played on more albums with the Bates/Ballamy configuration than Hutton, so we could settle on V O.1.5?! Admin
CELESTIAL
How depressing to go from Yes to this bland boring airport music jazz.
You can't compare the two they are totally different idioms. And this is far from just background music. Listen closely. The artistry is compelling.,