Re: [Harp-L] NY's #1 Premier Kickass Band (was: Little Walter Hall of Fame In...

[IcemanLE@xxxxxxx]

<<More generally, I'm interested in your views on whether, and  when, a 
rehearsed song's structure should be adjusted, on the spot, by a band  when it 
becomes clear the featured singer or instrumentalist is at a different  place in 
the structure.  I think the answers are 'yes', and 'almost  always', and it just
 doesn't matter who is 'right'.  At that point, the  major job is to prevent 
a train wreck, and if the featured player is elsewhere,  the band needs to get 
there too.  Just my 2 cents.
Respectfully,
John  Thaden>>


Good question. I've been there in performance, too. 
 
Talk it out within the band - a good band leader should make the call on  
stage in real time and have the attention of the side men. Visual cue could  
correct the problem as long as musicians are competent.
 
Sometimes you adjust in one direction - sometimes the other. Band leader  
decides. There is nothing worse than both directions digging in and neither one  
willing to budge for the remainder of the song. 
 
I shouldn't say "there is nothing worse" on second thought. In the 80's,  my 
top 40 band was doing a top 40 song. Time for the guitar solo - about 24 bars  
in the middle. Guitar player accidentally dropped 1/2 measure and played to 
the  changes in his head going by as the rest of the rhythm section stuck to 
the  original form. The result was the hippest guitar solo this guy ever played 
- way  over the heads of the dancing disco crowd, but I caught it. He was 
never able to  duplicate anything close to this ever again.
 
The Iceman





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