Robert Fripp's Diary

Sunday th August Toyah opened

Sunday 13th. August, 2000; 18.21 Toyah opened as Dora Marr at the Assembly Rooms today this noon. A very good performance on a very well designed set. Monday 14th. August, 2000; 12.00
A morning of reading & reflection; then I walked Toyah up to her theatre for today's show.

12.52
For instruction in the life of the professional player, and education passing itself lightly off as entertainment, I've been trolling through Ian Wallace's hummer of a Diary. How I wish that information of this quality was available to me as a young player. From Ian's diary:

Sunday 6th. August, 2000
<Speaking of drums, which I do often, and drummers per se, I was reading RFs diary and saw a quote in it which I'm not sure was himself speaking, or the opinion of an interviewer, for it was in the middle of a piece, and hard to tell. However, the quote was this; The character of a group is determined by the drummer: If you have a jazz drummer, you will never be able to play rock and vice versa. Pat is a rock drummer, and this new album is King Crimson reconnecting with its roots as a rock group. Very hard." Although I agree with the first part; The character of a group is determined by the drummer, I could not disagree more with the sentence; If you have a jazz drummer, you will never be able to play rock and vice versa. This, to me, is simply, wrong. Today's drummers should be able and equipped to play all styles of music, not just jazz and rock, but Latin, reggae, blues, fusion etc. etc. How can I teach if such boundaries are imposed? How can I learn if such boundaries are imposed? I've spent many years studying and playing all forms of music, and teach the same. Many of my friends who have also done the same are successful not just as jazz drummers, but as rock drummers too. A few examples; Greg Bissonette, studied drums at North Texas State and one of his first jobs was with the Maynard Ferguson Big Band. After leaving Maynard, he became the drummer for David Lee Roth. Greg's played with many bands in LA including a stint with Toto. Check out his new album, it's full of diverse musical influences. Steve Gadd, studied with the Army band. Steve is one of the greatest drummers alive and has played not only on many great jazz albums, but on many great rock albums too. From Michel Petrucciani, to Paul Simon, to Art Farmer, to Steely Dan, he is one of the most recorded drummers of all time. And speaking of one of the most recorded drummers of all time there is Earl Palmer. This guy played on records by Frank Sinatra, Count Basie, Ray Charles and Sarah Vaughn. A jazz drummer from New Orleans, Earl Palmer in the early fifties, INVENTED ROCK DRUMMING! This is the man who played with Dave Bartholomew's rhythm-and-blues band and the Studio Band, rock's first recording-session group. He's the one you hear on all the early Little Richard and Fats Domino records, Lloyd Price's "Lawdy Miss Clawdy", the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' ", Ike and Tina Turner's "River Deep, Mountain High", Sam Cooke's "You Send Me". I rest my case! I've a feeling, by the way the quote was written, that it wasn't Robert speaking, but the interviewer expressing his opinion. I hope this is the case.>

I have to dash Ian's hope. I cannot lie (a lie in itself, for any who look closely at themselves, surely?): it was I. So how to reconcile this? Let's begin with the point of agreement:

The character of a group is determined by the drummer.

Then, perhaps move to:

If you have a jazz drummer, you won't have a rock group.
If you have a rock drummer, you won't have a jazz group.

Then, perhaps:

If you have a bi-disciplinary drummer, you may have an eclectic group (I'll duck "fusion").

IW: I could not disagree more with the sentence; If you have a jazz drummer, you will never be able to play rock and vice versa. This, to me, is simply, wrong. Today's drummers should be able and equipped to play all styles of music

RF: Two key words: "today" & "should".

1. Today.

In the past 30 years technical standards of rock players have moved forwards to a remarkable degree. "Rock musician" is no longer (necessarily) considered to be the random conjunction of two mutually exclusive terms, nor synonymous with "long-haired oaf-person" and "drug impaired miscegenation". This is partly the natural development of the music form as practiced.

So, rock music becomes an authentic music form worthy of the attention of jazz players; jazz becomes a music form within the technical reach of rock players.

To the names Ian mentions, we might add Keith Jarrett & Wynton Marsalis as players with primarily a jazz background whose work in the field of the conservatory ("classical" music) has been widely accepted as legitimate & authentic.

2. Should:

"Able & equipped" refers to the professional level, and is a great deal more possible with the training, and relative lack of prejudice, available today. A glimpse through "Guitar Player" (on my instrument), for example, demonstrates how much cross-border information is on easy call.

To be convincing, the professional player needs to have the vocabulary in their body, and a feel for the music. This is, at least, competence within the "style". I'm not sure that "convincing in the style" equates to authenticity in the genre: for that step there has to be a connection with the music stream from the inside. But certainly we begin by assuming the virtue.

Then, we move to the specifics: examples of particular players. Some have a "connection with the ocean of music", others with a particular "river" or "tributary". I have worked with rock players who loved jazz & who had chops, but who didn't convince me that they spoke on behalf of the jazz current; and jazz drummers who were happy playing rock but didn't quite convince me either. In neither of these cases did I feel that "boundaries were imposed" but that the musician's essential nature (whatever we might understand by that) was genre-specific.

I have no difficulty accepting that the nature of musicians is not necessarily genre-specific. I have no difficulty accepting that, increasingly, external "boundaries" are irrelevant to a practising player: cross-border excursions have been growing to the point that the passport office is closing down. So, this may be an indication that the "ocean" is flowing upstream. It may also be an indication that "boundaries" are increasingly irrelevant as an internalised musical reality.

That leaves "boundaries" as an industrial category, and therefore a form of marketing and industrial practice; and an indication of preferred lifestyle. I love Billy Sheehan's quote, when asked why a player with his chops worked in rock rather than jazz: in a rock group you get "to party". (I mentioned this to Billy in Osaka in 1993, after a stunning Mr. Big show: he affirmed his preference).

22.04
Toyah & I are back from a long walk around town, a good local Mexican, & "Stigmata" (a play on celebrity stalking) at the Assembly. And then afterwards I ran away from a person who really only wanted to say hello.