RE: [Harp-L] Extended Solos

["Rene Carlson" <Rene@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Kim Wilson plays an extended solo in his performances.  But he adds drama by having his band drop out piece by piece and literally walk off the stage, leaving him soloing as a lone virtuoso.  After 5-10 minutes (?) they come back on stage, , instrument by instrument, and join in again.  Very impressive, but then I'm a harp fanatic and a big Kim Wilson fan.  He can't play too long for me...

-----Original Message-----
From: harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Pierre
Sent: Friday, May 13, 2005 3:51 PM
To: Chris Michalek; harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Extended Solos


Chris asked:
What are your thoughts on taking extended solos.  I don't mean 3 or
> four choruses I talking about 20 choruses or more you know going on 
> for 20 minutes...


Q: Do I like long speaches?

A: Only when they are really interesting.

I think that few artist can keep things interesting for more than a minute or two, although some can. A good example is the Charlie Parker Jam session CD. Charlie seemed to have lots of ideas so he could keep things interesting.

Some of Coltrane's longer solos were really bad and boring. Yeah he could play the same 4 notes forever without repeating, but you can't say it was interesting. Some of these tunes (Love supreme) are supposed to be classics, I don't get it, (if someone can explain what he was doing, I would appreciate it).

I generally prefer Béla Fleck type jams where a few members interact. Led Zeppelin are another good example, (See: How the West Was won CD) and of course there is Freebird which is a classic although the intro sure is long and boring. But it really makes you want the solo (teasing).

Victor Wooten has some long bass solo that are excellent. Few artist can jam like he does. Albert Collins' bass player plays a long solo on a tune called Cold cut which is fantastic. Don't know who the guy is but he is fabulous.

In a sense the longer something is, the higher the probability that it will be average rather than spectacular.

Do it, but only if you can; if your not inspired on a given night, forget it.

Pierre.

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