I feel like it is very difficult to be an extremely gifted musician and attain commercial success all at the same time. Reason being, the average ear would prefer to hear a simple (yet familiar) 4 chord progression with a constant 4-to-the-floor beat versus an intricate jazz/funk band jam. Musicians respect other musicians... the general population respects what they hear on the radio everyday and what tune sticks in their head...
lokijam it’s unfortunate, but true. And quite logical. The better you become as a musician, the greater the gap between you and the average person. So your tastes and preferences become more and more distanced from the norm. So ditto for the music you gravitate to - fewer people understand it or are able to hear/like it.
Oteil and Kofi are(were) two of the chillest guys I've ever hung out with. And the baddest-ass of any bad-asses out there. As a bassist myself, Oteil's pocket fucking floors me every time.
Oteil really is a beast. I recall hearing him on the Howard Levy/Jerry Goodman album "The Stranger's Hand" many years back before I knew he was in the Allman Brothers. He is simply remarkable.
Thanks for uploading these all the time, it's always a real treat being able to watch great musicians play some funky tunes after a long day, can't wait to see more!
You said "studio" and that's right, but Oteil flies on his bass as if he was in a concert in Woodstock or isle Of Wight festivals...live, also same sensation. You know, I play the bass, a kind of grunge/hard rock stuff, not slap and sometimes use a pick, mostly my fingers, and this Ray Charles Beat is in Butter Biscuit all the time. Yeah I invented this term, like, in a given moment...booooooooooom! Ray's What'd I Say had it. Not every musician gets it inside...it might be exeptionally dexterity and even so, miss it, but Oteil Burbridge gets this dexterity, has the Ray Charles Beat in abundance. Yeeeeah!!
+george mandom Plus it would have been nice to see Vernon smile a little bit. The rest of the guys were clearly enjoying themselves, which makes it more fun to watch. How could you do anything but smile being in a room with all of those insanely talented people? Either way, I LOVE Vernon's playing with Living Colour.
Well, the tone did not compliment his technical skills or the overall ensemble. Also he was playing mostly chromatics up and down. While I don't have his technical abilities, I wish he had applied those skills to lines that made more melodic sense. It sounded like something you would hear in speed metal. There was a lot of energy from the backing instruments for his solo spot but I think he could have done much better.
I dunno... it just doesn't work for me in a jazz fusion setting where all the players are precise with their notes. I'm accustomed to hearing Reid's style in Speed/Trash metal i.e. Slayer.
