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I just noticed that Mike Stern is going to be at Blues Alley in early February with Richard Bona, Dave Weckl and some poor guy on sax that most people aren't really going to care all that much about.
I have really been thrilled with Bona's albums (and am looking forwards to when I can pick up his most recent one). Weckl has been a long standing drum great, so I might just drag myself down to Blues Alley again to catch Stern play with two of the greats in contemporary jazz.
I caught Stern play at Blues Alley back in May, with Victor Wooten and Dennis Chambers on drums. Chambers is an absolute monster to see play -- if you ever get the chance, it's worth your time. I went mostly for Vic (and he was his usual greatness), and it was interesting to see him perform in an almost completely supporting role instead his normal supporting/melody/lead style of playing he does with the Flecktones.
But Chambers was just a revelation. I had heard of him, but only in passing. He did some of the most amazing things with time and meter that I have ever seen all while maintaining rock solid groove -- one of the things he did during one of his solos (while the other members of the band were hanging back, holding down the groove) was to keep his right hand in time and then alter the tempo of his other limbs back and forth, faster, then slower. And he did changed the tempo of each foot, each hand independently of the other limbs without losing the time on his right hand -- and looking completely bored in the process (literally chewing gum). I was completely floored.
Posted by Casper at December 31, 2003 11:33 AM