Just got back, wow! 10 amazing guitarists from around the globe and Fripp heading the band. There was an atmosphere of ritual and discipline as the 10 took to the stage. All dressed in black, all carrying Ovation guitars, Fripp appeared to have a Gibson SG but I could be mistaken. Fripp had his stack of devices placed between him and the audience. He sat at his stool and worked the effects peddles and often would reach up mid-riff to tweak a setting or two.
Before the show began he had all of the guitarists read a message from him to the audience in their own tongue, the message was about respecting the performance and not taking pictures or making recordings. Then they all walked up to the mic and read their individual statements at the same time and it sounded like an over-packed stadium, which I believe was the point. Well someone must not of understood and tried to take a photo. Mr. Fripp stopped the performance, went up and talked to the man and had his camera taken away, then he signaled to the others that they should walk off stage and they did.
After an uncomfortable moment or two Mr. Fripp walked back on stage and suggested that we all start again. His point was not that he did not liked to be photographed but that by doing so you are disturbing the atmosphere which the musicians work so hard to create.
Then he and the guitarists went on to prove exactly what they meant by this statement. One person would start the crew off on a single note, the next person would play another note, and right on down the line. They would twist their guitars subtly and the sound would wash across the audience in waves. Every so often the pattern would switch and instead of going across it would start in the center. Entire compositions were broken down in this manner where each guitarist played a part of the whole.
They dabbled with a few Crimson numbers but branched out into Asian, African, American and European sounds with ease. The 10 treated Fripp with the respect of a Martial Arts Master, he returned that respect with the look of a proud father showing off his lot at the town dance.
It was in the small theater at the Egg in Albany, NY which holds maybe 500 tops. The acoustics were incredible, the crowd offered up three standing ovations. They closed with the theme from James Bond and then unplugged completely and did a very delicate reprise of one of their earlier pieces.
Fripp of course is using new scales and tonal patterns, the strings and picks they use are made just for this new scale, I picked up a few of each and will try my best to learn. Seeing Fripp a few years ago with King Crimson changed my life by changing the way I perceived the guitar, seeing him again has already changed my view again because I didn’t know acoustic guitars could sound like they made them sound.
Go see these talented performers!
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tonight?
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this show mirrored what Buhdy is trying to have us do, namely all play our part, it was democracy in action as each person relied on the other to do their part and during the turbulent improvisational parts, to at least hold on to one key part of the composition.
Imagine if we were all in our top form and treating blogs with some sort of respect and discipline.
my husband and I were talking about folk music and we somehow got onto songs in our culture about murdering women on the banks of rivers . From the Kingston trio, Tom Dulley to Neil Young, Down by the River, then old ones like the Banks of the Ohio. Morbid heh? Think I’ll get out some old Joan Biaz traditional folk songs and see if it is a American theme.
I loved an old album I had that was Fripp and Eno. Saw them play on tour in LA years ago. You evening sounds great. When you hear bands that play together and let it rip it’s inspiring on a collective level thats pure creativity.
and I just got a CD of Etta James playing with Taj Mahal.
…to You Tube and checked out a couple of clips to see what you were talking about. I must admit to not recognizing the name until you mentioned King Crimson. Philistine I guess.
The clips of the League were interesting, if a bit cerebral for my taste, so I went poking around and listening to some Johnny Winter and Al di Meola.
I’m kinda new to this browsing YT, only recently getting high speed internet service. One disadvantage of living in a small remote town is a lack of opportunity to see good live music very often.
If you’re of a mind there are a couple of clips over there of Johnny Winter at the Pistoia Blues Festival that are pretty damn good.
on the Indiscipline tour with Adrian Belew, Bill Buford, and Tony Levin.
To this day one of the greatest shows I have ever seen.
Thanks for the tip. I will definitely be on the lookout for Fripp’s new project if/when they come out to the West Coast.
Due to marrying a blood heir to Polish music traditions, I became aware of… well, a lot of things, but particularly Chopin’s mazurkas as played by William Kapell.
For those unfamiliar with Kapell, a star of the classical realm who was killed in a 1953 plane crash at 31, he utterly put Rubenstein and Horowitz to shame. To quote what Stirling Newberry wrote in a comment on the above diary:
The mazurkas are techically simple enough for a child to play, but the subtlety of the rubato at Kapell’s hands is like the grace of a bird’s wing in flight, impossibly delicate in treatment. The piano is transformed into another instrument at Kapell’s hand, as if it no longer had moving parts. The mazurkas (derived from traditional Polish/Gypsy/Jewish dances) are a modality perhaps unmatched in complexity.
Nietzsche said “I am still enough of a Pole to give up the rest of music for Chopin.”
Treat yourselves to this!
PS… plugging away at interpreting some of the mazurkas to guitar here…