Re: [Harp-L] Gregoire Maret

[Joe and Cass Leone <leone@xxxxxxxx>]

On Apr 17, 2005, at 4:03 PM, Chris Michalek wrote:
> I'm not a huge fan of Metheny but there wer some cool poly rhythms.
> ie 6/8 over 4/4.
> As far as Gregoire Maret is concerned, I his playing on that album
> lacked personality. But the french has said the same about me so what
> do I know ;-p
 Haven't heard the Metheny stuff yet, but if it's any thing like the 
Dapp Theory stuff, I have a theory that it won't go over for any but 
the 'fringe' element. It's modern jazz, rambles and has no core. I'm 
pretty sure Metheny is a little more conservative. I like Maret (as a 
player) but as I said on another list, there are 4 (basic) kinds of 
music, To wit:

1...fairly poor players with poor material
2...fairly poor players with good material   (MY choice between 2 & 3)
3...good players with poor material
4...good players with good material

I felt Maret fit into category 3 (not of his own choosing, you 
understand). I had written about this problem 4 1/2 years ago. It's an 
admirable thing to keep yourself pure, not sell out to the 
establishment, and do the stuff YOU want to do. It's quite another 
thing to try to eat the recordings that you can't sell.  I have heard 
many (spelled with 2 manyies) great super great players who persist in 
doing trype. May be good for their soul, but I think it's a mistake.
smo-joe