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Concert Review: Billy Hart and Yoron Israel Date: 04/04/02 Venue: The Berklee Performance Center Artist: Yoron Israel Personnel: Ron Mahdi on bass, Billy Pierce on saxophone, Warren Wolfe on vibraphone and Yoron Israel on drums Lithe, agile and beautiful. That is Billy Pierce in his performance on the the waltz is a beautiful composition played with committment and deep emotion by Yoron Israel. Smooth brush work...here Yoron defies tradition with his use of one stick in the right and one brush in the left hand. Dag This vibes player is slammin'... vibes is such a beautiful peaceful instrument, and Warren Wolfe exhibits self control and calm. :-) Yoron brings up the energy with sticks in both hands and then settles down providing a gentle polythythmic frame work to rest the bass solo by Ron Mahdi on. This is heavenly. :-) Nice dynamic contrast between the previous section of the composition and the present one. :-) Ron Mahdi is relaxed here haha is he pacing himself for his upcoming duties with Billy Hart? :-) haha maybe not. It's a beautiful bass solo. quite apropos for the mood of the piece. wow! beautiful counter melodies by Yoron Israel using mallets.... :-) picture timpanies!!!!! :-) Nice! :-) Nice dynamics with feeling. Here Yoron exhibits the emotion of a seasoned and mature professional. Hey what an interesting subtle brush solo in the end of this waltz. Rick Peckham on guitar with Billy Hart. This concert is a tribute to Monk. Pity I missed the beginning of the evenings festivities. I walked in on an interesting powerful rendition of Bemsha swing by Thelonius Monk. This is ferocious swinging. excellent. :-) Warren Wolfe on the vibes. -very melodic-. Yoron is letting it all hang out! whoo hoo!... Philly Joe and Max look out!....Tony look out this is fantastic. uh oh!....... TWO ARMS!....TWO ARMS! THE BRITISH ARE COMING! :-).... haha April fools! :-) actually, Yoron is using two arms "a la Tony" between the cymbals and toms with flams on the toms and bass drum in unison with the two cymbals. ah! now the fanning technique is slammin' wow wow Yoron is letting it all hang out. He's hangin tough with the masters. :-) wow this is one of the most extensive drum solos I've ever heard him do. I hear classic Blakey and even a quote from "Bebop" by Dizzy Gillespie and a masterful return back to the head!! :-) whoo hoo! :-) very satisfying ending: FADOOMP!!!!! I love you Diz wherever you are! You showed me so much. I am reminded by Yoron that I ain't the only one! :-) All in all a very satisfying concert. Yoron kicked butt. That's why they call him MISTER vice chair, sir! YAAAAAY! Hat's off! :-) OK now the next concert.... Event: Billy Hart Date: 04/04/02 Venue: Berklee Performance Center Artist: Billy Hart Personnell: sax: Dino Giovanni, piano: Consuelo Candelaria, drums: Billy Hart, bass: Ron Mahdi, guitar: Rick Peckham. OK here we go... Interestingly, Billy Hart goes on stage very early and helps the roadies set up the drumset. He is visibly approachable and personable. He seems intent on getting the perfect tuning. I knew we were in for a master drummer when Billy played a popular leit motif from Peter and the Wolf... "sol do mi, do sol fi, sol do mi sol fi..." hahaha Hi Billy. I heard that! Don't be so mean! :-) hahaa thought I didn't see ya na didnya uhuh uhuhh gimme whatcha promised me give it here. That's a quote from Johnny Taylor for all you groovagitilizing friends who maybe haven't heard of that r and b singer! pretty tone colors on his toms.... huge bass drum in a jazz context. That is refreshing. It's all in his body. I can tell. The tuning is in his heart and mind and body. :-) This is Billy Hart's fourth day. Yoron Israel is the mc now... lol he gets around (so does Ron Mahdi) :-) "Such a privilege to have him here at the school" says Yoron,"(He played with) Miles, McCoy ...on and on ..." I agree with Yoron. It's a privilege to have Billy visit Berklee during this Percussion week! Here's the lineup with Billy Hart: guitar: Rick Peckham tenor sax: Dino Giavonni "Ivories": Consuelo Candelaria Drums: Billy Hart "the great one" as Yoron puts it! :-) I agree! :-). Billy gets my nod easily. "I want to show ...my gratitude to the chair of this fantastic percussion ...machine Dean Anderson" says Billy to open up. His delivery is measured and dramatic. I think all of the drummers are incredibly lucky to have him and how about the assistant chair Ron Israel. Yoron gets his OWN "A PLUS". He sets an incredible example. OK let's see what have we here. is it a new level? a new direction? yes it is. I believe this is the new metarhythmic level that we need in the entertainment world and in humanity. latin ish flavor. I find it impressive that Consuelo opted not to play a typical montuno inspired intro. Very impressionistic instead. :-) This drum beat reminds me of Poinciana. Consuelo plays a flurry like Ahmad. OK she's hitting her stride. whoa she breaks it up - surprise- with unorthodox comping again OK back to the head. Nice choreography and smiles from Jabali! Billy u de man! my love goes to you my bro. your relaxed musicality and refined touch allows you to accentuate the bass drum brilliantly :-) this is Billy's nod to bossa nova. (really batucada at a bossa tempo) nice. this is the 6th tune. smashing and colorful. he puts such extra feeling into the ending. That's what the world needs!!! exactly!!!!! precisely!!!!!! MEN WITH FEELING! :-) Gitilizers I wonder how many of you agree! next tune: heavy funky ...Tony... marching drums... -humorous introduction- is he tuning up? nope he is surprising. using tone color and the avante gard to create a tone poem. he seems happily surprised by the moving hh. beautiful thematic development ... he hints at a medium swing... he goes into three in the hh and two on the bell of the cymbal... his bass drum has quite a big tone. This is a long intro I hesitate to cite Tony influences but I hear it. Philly Joe is in the house again. Long pause before the intro before the body of the song there is a pause. :-) hee hee He has us on our toes. people don't know whether to clap or not. :-) powerful accents he plays that snare with his whole life. Wow these are his compositions! Nice writing! :-) he really knows how to follow through when he plays a loud crash. He hits hard. nice smooth playing, too. Billy plays dotted quarter cross rhythms... he purposely turns around the time. he hit an early stride on this tune picture a large ship already sailing smoothly at sea! fast! ...Dino sputters COHERENTLY! :-) ...+2 on open hh and loud bass drum.. Billy throws us for a loop. Did you expect him to play that? of course not. lol! :-) Rick Peckham is listening intently to the drummer. How nice. Rick Peckham plays a brilliant guitar solo with a guitar sound that sounds like a soprano sax. HEY!!!!!! DINGDING DING : Billy and Consuelo play a metarhythm ! WOW that is rare! unusual! while she comped they play a simultaneous rhythm on 4. Billy noticed it right away wow a metarhythm is so rare. dag consuelo is swingin so hard. This pianist is sophisticated in her rhythmic comping. like Herbie is. George Benson has that quality too on the guitar. These are musicians who I have had the pleasure of working with. they all share an unorthodox rhythmic comping style sophisticated difficult to transcribe. Ahmad, too. :-) two sticks in one hand did Billy write this? the tempo is incredible. This pace about 8 half note equals 144 Much respect to you Billy Hart. intensity and relaxation for days. ...Dino is wailing...this is tight. wow Billy swinging hard at this ridiculous tempo. Billy attacks the one with a solid vengeance he gives us a deep sense of satisfaction and resolution in contrast to his mystical polyrhythmic playing. Wonderful! Rick comes through again with an interesting sound. lots of treble. Billy shows approachable open-mindedness by offering eye contact. Although he doesn't get it right away, Rick connects with him wonderfully precisely as his guitar solo is coming to an end. None of these musicians are slouches by any stretch of the imagination. damn! :-) Consuelo is playing two-handed unison incredible. I remember as a youngster, the unison of Oscar Petersen used to amaze and fulfill me. My mother and I would listen together and share having our minds boggled and going back for more and more! wow! :-) ... a super fast max... this time Billy quotes the full bebop from Dizzy Gillespie. Did he do it on purpose? nah It's probably the mysterious workings of the universe. :-) who among us is not influenced by Dizzy Gillespie! lol! :-) If anybody sees Jabali, please ask him if he quoted Yoron quoting Dizzy. Heck. prolly not I guess. huh? Rick Peckham sounds like a guitar on this one lol very pretty. Billy has quick flurries around the set an original version of Tony Williams. :-) again Billy's bass drum technique is strong and consistent. Billy is laying low and wonderfully marking time instead of the original busier playing he was doing earlier... ah Dino takes it to a Coletrane level ... Billy fools Consuelo this time. hee hee a kind of a metarhythm in contrary motion. hahaha I've never heard that before! u go is there an x point for originality? yeah #2 for genius and originality. Billy is just racking up the x points it's incredible. rare! :-) this is smooth damn hands flailing from right to left super fast. and at the same time smooth and rapid phrases "Boy that was fast" he says (I am reading his lips here) as this maturing monster doesn't even break a sweat. he's one of the few jazz masters who use the first gear: pivots from the shoulder ...plays with his whole heart. his whole life. plays hard. I feel the sun coming out because of his gentle rubato intro after the striking 1st gear opening drum solo...very pretty... ...and the light man is on point. this music inspired him to lighten up briefly. I'm feeling this. Billy uses the mallets to wonderful advantage. colors galore this is like the fourth piece right? avant garde drum opening, straight eighth notes piece a second piece and then the up tempo piece and now he has settled into a 1/2 jazz funk Billy knows how to relax when the spotlight is on him. some younger players really freak out as soon as all eyes are on them. Rick is consistent with the guitar sound diminished lick 5421,5421,5421,5421 sequence Billy is deep in the middle of swinging like there's no tomorrow. flair / confidence: 97% for his normal flow through then in this case he bounces back off the cymbal. Dino starts quiet and rough and gritty at the same time. Lots of feeling there. so far Billy gets x point #1 for confidence... interesting how that contrasts with his humility! Nice! He is world renowned for his humility. :-) dag free improv for a moment scrapple all f*cked up! fantastic! :-) Rick's still on "guitar". He sounds good either way. as a virtual soprano or as a guitarist. very nice. Rick Peckham is wailing again. :-) let's see if there are anymore x points for Billy he got #1 for confidence and #2 for genius swiss army triplets between the snare and cymbals... he stands up ever so briefly in the middle of an incredibly fast flurry ... Rohn Mahdee is cool but swingin! Billy breaks it down. He really knows how to break it down wow strong Tony stuff and basically just as strong as Tony only older. What wonderful stamina how come he's not out of breath... :-) wow he's letting it hang out again.:-) back to the head... well overall...here are the adjudicating comments: Yoron: 100% = technically accurate + confident + clever + moving + uplifting for the human spirit. The artist uplifts me wonderfully. So much feeling and dignity here. Billy Hart said it right. Yoron gives a great example to the students at Berklee. Billy: 100% + X#1 + X#2 + X#5 + X#6= technically accurate + confident + clever + moving + uplifting for the human spirit. Incredible...plus... "X#1" = Super confident. You exhibit quite a flair, style, aplomb. Thank you so much for exhibiting such artistry. To me, Paganini is an example of flair and confidence. -born in Genoa, 27 October 1782; died Nice, 27 May 1840; by his technique and his extreme personal magnetism he was not only the most famous violin virtuoso but drew attention to the significance of virtuosity as an element in art. -Grove Dictionary plus: "X#2" = Exhibiting some measure of ingenuity or genius. Humble thanks for your genius example. To me, Stevie Wonder is a wonderful example of musical genius. -The boy wonder burst onto the music scene when he was just ten years old, and his mission ever since has been to bring joy into people's lives. "He has been pop music's unquenchable optimist for nearly a generation," said The New York Times in 1986. "His skills at writing sinuous melodies and gently uplifting harmonies, and his cheerful yet determined eclecticism - from funk to ballads, bossa nova to quasi-showtunes - have made Mr. Wonder a one-man Tin Pan Alley through two decades of rock." plus... "X#5" = You played a "metarhythm" = a rhythm which transcends rhythm. You played beautifully and telepathically with the pianist Consuelo. This is rare indeed plus... "X#6" = You played another "metarhythm" ... You paced yourself and got better and better every day of your stay at Berklee. :-) I dedicate this system to my late step mom, Doris. Because of her kind love, I have determined to hold myself to the same high standards I hold for the reviewees or my students. :-) Together: LET'S ADVANCE! :-) Overall, I find that DOING MY BEST is the secret key for unlocking excellence. So as artists let's continue to do our best and let's ADVANCE together towards human excellence! :-) I hope you enjoy the journey and I hope you find, as I do: THE ARTIST CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE! :-) Peace! :-)
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