JOHN PATITUCCI - Subt. Español (about Chick Corea, Dave Weckl, Vinnie Colaiuta, practicing, timing)

[Music] sometimes you if you don't have enough facility you're gonna get to the point where you're gonna be frustrating because you're gonna be feeling things that you can't get out chick was the one who got me the record deal with GRP he said I'll do whatever you whatever you need me to do to help and I said what will you play - I had a lot of help a lot of mentors and I practiced all the time well at all those hi everyone we have today an incredible musical and human connection with an artist who is on top of the list of many things creativity his contribution to the evolution of the instrument there are some bands and artists he plays with his beautiful solo works and his passion for sharing his knowledge in many educational fields his credits include listening well Fox Chick Corea a DB team bonad right Herbie Hancock yours Benson Pat Metheny Steve Bon Jovi and many soundtracks with dead gruesome John Williams or Harry Mancini and if that is not enough his teaching in Berkeley and he has won four Grammy Awards friends this room won't be the same from now on please welcome mr. John Perry Tucci hi own how are you very good nice to be you a human John I thought that our meeting was going to be with you in New York but voila you are not there because you are in the middle of incredible tour and now here in Spain what are you now and what are you doing these days this particular tour is a the trio is a trio - with Danilo Perez and this time it's Terry Lynn Carrington on drums so it's a version of the children of the light trio you know usually the trio is with brian blade we're all children of Wayne Shorter basically so Terry Lynn is also one of the most important children of the life regarding the relationship to Wayne [Music] [Applause] [Music] about the yearning of music there is something beautiful that I think that everyone has done in one way or another Dean music funk or professional it's the personal journey of music in my case I'm sure in for many others too I come from a rock pop context or rock pop in initial points the purple Beatles and then I discovered a man in a drum machine and using an instructional drum video I didn't knew him at all it was the vehicle that video I think that changed my musical life because Dave took me to Chick Corea Chick Corea took me to you and then then to all the GRP records and from there - yes Brazilian Latin fusion about about European that a record label was a big thing and I think a great point in your in your journey right absolutely because before that you know I was writing a lot of music but I didn't have a band and when I got the gig with chick around 85 you know we hung out we started making records and touring and I would play my songs at the piano for him and he said man what are you doing I said well what do you mean he said you should have a band and you should be recording I said yeah but how am I gonna get a record deal I'm a bass player nobody wants to sign a bass player he said I'll take care of that so chick was the one who got me the record deal with GRP and then then they said okay we want to hear demos he said no no no you'll hear the record when it's finished and then they said well they asked chick will you help produce the record so the first record he helped me he taught me about making records and budgets and you know producing records then and he said I'll do whatever you want whatever you need me to do to help and I said well will you play too and he did and so but that was that was a big thing for me because then I did you know now I have this new record I'm putting out next month solo basic kind of project called soul of the bass it's number 16 that's a lot for me I never thought I would get to do one you know [Music] that's a fantastic experience John thank you those solo records that you did have some of the most incredible fusion music of all time having injure albums the breaker brothers Chick Corea Eric Marienthal Jonah Scofield and some of the best drummers of all time can you share with us some experiences and situations of those recording sessions for example creating the the grooves for the songs or the production or recording process of your first solo album well I was very excited to get this opportunity what chick kid was he let us use Mad Hatter studios in the night time from 6 p.m. to the next morning if we needed to and for a very low price so I had already been playing with Vinnie for years and then I had you know men and I was starting to play with Dave a lot which hick'ry toured a lot and then you know on those records I had Peter Burke and also Al Foster I flew him from New York on the second record to play people like Alec Secunia you know paulinho da Costa on percussion Luis Conte and percussion you know all kinds of people so for me because of when I was a young boy I wanted to play the drums so my connection with the drums has always been very important to me I was lucky and blessed to play with all these amazing drummers so you know with them once they heard what I wrote they always knew exactly what to do if I had a little idea I would just say well it's kind of like this sound and boom you know they they created I for me was very exciting to create vehicles for them to stretch out and Terri Lynn was on also Terri Lynne was fund the record called sketchbook there's all kinds of really powerful drummers that were great musician you know the way they interpreted the music and made the music and I always made a lot of room for drum solos too because I love the sound of that on the drums kick stir chick what are you doing [Applause] there is another period of your life from the past the present and I think the future too with one of the greatest bands of all time the chicory electric band or acoustic band I think that one or two of the secrets of that incredible group are incredible compositions by see Korea and the world band here what are they the main reasons for the success of that iconic band John well we stayed together for a long time we had 10 years solid you know we I talk a lot about this at Berklee College of Music where I teach with an emo and I think the greatest music and especially a lot of the music that this Army's that comes from African music so the roots and how that spread to all the countries and that's a community music it's a it's a it's a based on community you learn the rhythms and community you learn to singing community everything's in community I think the greatest advancements in music are with groups of people maybe there's a band leader who writes some music but the band makes the music go to the highest level because you need that family to make the music really powerful it's not just one person I know that your first playin session with C Korea was in a party ticket loved your playing and you sent him some tapes of do playing and then you were included in the band you were the first one higher didn't know well and at that time and I think that you recommend it for the drunk chair to your close friends Vinnie Colaiuta how was that that situation and how was your first correction with length you know the thing was when I talked to chick about it he said oh yeah I talked to Mike Brecker and I asked him who was the young drummer in New York and mic breaker said Dave Weckl so then I was like okay I gotta hear this guy you know and then he flew out to LA and uh first rehearsal you know it was easy it just started immediately I didn't know that you recorded for for Bobby was it a string arrangement a bass recording yeah I just played in this in the Strongs in a small string section the bow I didn't get to meet them unfortunately um it was a string overdose but it was fun for me because you know I grew up hearing I mean I'm I was born in 1959 so I lived through the 60s the 70s and all the music and in the Beatles and R&B music and blues music and Motown music so rock and roll music was also a part of my beginnings and I love that music still [Music] about the size and this is related to the Bon Jovi question your credits include a great collection of styles from gas to work a Brazilian or or Frank many people think that that learning many styles will steal the personality at their soul on the contrary I think that that it makes you a stronger no matter if you play in a heavy metal band or in a jazz band what's your thought about it about learning many styles to improve your playing yeah I for me I had to know I was just interested in so much different music and I've been inspired by all this music so I feel like if you open your mind up to many different kinds of music you can grow and become more developed as an artist for me when I started getting involved in Brazilian music the music from you know Cuba Puerto Rico Venezuela Panama you know Chile I got really inspired by that and I'm still studying there's so many different styles and Wow you know Peru also cuz about Alexei Cunha he turned me on to some music from man there's so many so much beautiful music you know and obviously I love the music from Spain too [Music] our practicing job achieving that level of musicality facility on the instrument freedom involves many many hours and years of practice of good practice what was your approach to practicing in your early days that can be useful for us well I think when you know since I started pretty young I started 10 to play the electric bass a little before that I was trying to play the guitar and it didn't work the pick I'm left-handed started out by ear first which turned out to be a very good thing because I said I was listening and learning things by hearing then I had a really good teacher who made me learn how to read music then by the time I was fifteen I started playing the big bass - the double bass one of the most important things for me was listening sort of transcribing learning by ear and then also my brother started me learning the technique of the electric bass because he was sick at arist he is a guitarist and then with the acoustic bass I wound up studying classical music as well so I had a lot of listening I went to see a lot of music I played in my brother's group so I had a band to be in to learn and develop and older musicians would take me and teach me about jazz and everything so I had a lot of help a lot of mentors and I practiced all the time you know especially before I got older and had a family or something I had the bass in my hands either one all the time and when I went to school yeah when I was in high school I I'd like sports a little bit but pretty quickly I gave everything up and just played music yes did they has only 24 hours well some tips about how to take the most from our practice session in any kind of instrument well I think you have to make sure that you spend time getting the tools so technical foundation is important but a lot of the times when people practice the tools or the technique things they do it in a very non music way yeah so they do it mechanically always try to to make a musical exercise out of some technical thing you're learning I a some drums too because I love them so for me I'll give you an example I'm always trying to get more fluid with the triplet feeling all around the instrument so maybe I'll play quarter notes on the ride cymbal and then I'll be trying to play the triplets between my left hand the hi-hat in the bass drum so I'm trying to play and get that thing because Elvin Jones is my hero so but if you do it in slow it down and do it in a way where you can make music and make little rhythm patterns melodies with the with the drums even the tom toms you can go around on all the kids and just practice your triplets and you're practicing your independence but you're also making melodies you know that's fun so always practice with music I'll propose yes yeah yeah because otherwise you're learning you're teaching yourself how to play mechanically and there's a lot of people with very good hands they play you know the the technique on the bass the drums and many instruments has evolved you know a certain part of the technique I would say dexterity and coordination but that doesn't make you a great musician absent [Music] I would like to talk about time in our internal clock keeping a steady tempo during the Sun in the groove in the note placement the time feel and sharing and solo beams with Wei Calcutta or or Anita Smith some tips about how to develop our internal clock bean farmers and bass players or any kind of player well I always tell my students to practice the drums and not only practice coordination so they so they learn how to make the time deep in their body so that the each part of their body can play time you know if that feeling then learn how to feel time sometimes with all the subdivisions and sometimes with none just one beat and then you keep the other three inside without tapping or moving that's another thing the other thing I make them do is learn how to sing drum vocabulary for those instances where you're holding an ostinato and the drummer's solo you have to understand the phrasing of drums you have to understand the language the drum language you know I always tell my students you need to be able to sing in a bar phrase or a four bar phrase or a chorus of the blues you know because if you understand the phrasing you know when a drummer plays of course they might go back take it to do back take it back that's a chorus you have to know what that is some specific exercises or routines for that for example working with a metronome with some bars with no sound and see how are you in the time when the beats sound comes back any useful exercises with a metronome or maybe or maybe without it that you can't recommend well both I think both sometimes you have to do it like I said with you know all four beats then 1 & 2 & 4 1 & 3 one beat per bar the metronome one beat every two bars one beat every four bars and then you learn how much is in here and that's really good and then I had this app and then now it doesn't work on my phone anymore but I really liked it it was called beat on you could start with a smaller thing like two bars on two bars off one bar on one more off four bars on four bars all [Music] okay this is two is called blues on the bottom 12 bar blues there's there several courses of a walking lunge on there is something that I see in the players that I like the most is their passion for sharing and helping others in the urine your educational career is incredible instructional videos teaching in Berkeley many clinics and master classes and offering an incredible instructional course in your in your website check the links and forks and shedding is good for the soul right yeah I think we all need people that can help us you know I had a lot of people I've had a lot of people teach me and mentor me and help me to learn in so many clinics on teaching experience that that you have done what is the field that you think that the players tend to have more witness or not work properly or that they overlook the most rhythm is the number one thing especially if you play the drums you understand that the rhythm is the communication line it's the language everything else gets communicated by the rhythm rhythm and sound and feeling those are huge there is a mantra especially in the music world that I personally don't believe in and I would love to have your opinion on it the concept of if you have do technique a great facility on your instrument and then you don't have soul filling pocket a groove I think that the history of any artistic field shows the contrary what do you think about that technique soul feel mantra yeah I I don't think it's true because well I mean let's talk about soul Donnie Hathaway was one of the most soulful singers or Stevie Wonder they have a lot of technique and they have a lot of feeling also people like James Jamerson the first Motown bass player he had a lot of technique Coltrane he had more technique than any saxophone player but he was very soulful here and play a ballot you'll cry you know so and he was swinging all that and drums you know there's so many drummers that I love you know Elvin Jones was a virtuoso to Jackies unit you know Dave Vinny Brian Billy Terry Lynn Carrington I mean they all have a lot of a lot of hands but they have a great feeling and they all have a different you know feeling my response to that as always when some some sometimes a student would say well I just want to play what I feel and I said well that's great but sometimes you if you don't have enough facility you're gonna get to the point where you're gonna be frustrated because you're going to be feeling things that you can't get out yeah and maybe it's an excuse for not practicing at the end of the day what matters is is the result sometimes the song needs to knows other times it needs 20 notes I'm thinking or bad metal Angelo Chick Corea or michael breaker or paul mccartney you may like their composition or not but the we shouldn't judge their works or live by the difficulty of of the piece yes music yes music should not be judged by density yeah absolutely density is just whatever is necessary if you need like you say if you need one or you need two million whatever you have played with some of the best drummers of all time Dave Weckl Vinnie Colaiuta Peter skein Steve Gadd Brian blade Takata units Nate Smith and many many more and you have a word with them in all kind of situation life in the studio real selves to him John from a producer composer or bass player point of view what are the things that you value the most in a drama a part of being musical playing for the song are not showing off yeah well the time feel is everything you know the time I like to say that the drummer's that make the beat big and wide are the are the most fun to play with because there's room in there you know it feels so good yeah it's easy to find because you have to agree together you have to be able to feel comfortable together placing things together and you have to focus each one has to focus on the other one to really listen carefully I also like the drummers who are very compositional you know they know how to create parts where there's room for other people to be inside the groove but also complementary you know and I also it's important for me because I've playing a lot of improvised music that the drummer can hold a groove or a feel that also respond to a soloist and feed the music and you know lift the music off the ground emotionally without crushing it without drowning everybody out you know so that's when the virtuosity comes in of the real greats because they're able to make it feel great at any level of volume and they can respond and keep the music moving forward that takes a lot [Music] I think that the DNA of every song is on some of the of the instruments even in a bar or less it could be a guitar culture drum groove or like many many masterpieces in the bass line what are some of your favorite bass lines of all times in the pop soul rock context the the one that made me really want to play when I was very young James Jamerson is a Stevie Wonder record call I was made to love her that's a classic there's so many chuck Rainey on peg Steely Dan Chuck Rainey on feel like making love with Roberta Flack Willie weeks on the Donny Hathaway record live I'm all those songs every song on that record you know ridiculous amazing Paul McCartney day tripper the Beatles I mean I could list songs from now till you know next year I mean the Yass award what lying would you like to mention that bass lying full of magic well there are many my big influences are Ray Brown and Ron Carter where my first big influences so you can pick any bassline that Ray Brown play with Oscar Peterson and Ron Carter does the stuff that I first heard him do with Wes Montgomery like the tune called the thumb and also all the stuff he did with Miles Davis Ron Carter it's like unbelieving but then also I used to lie I still love Dave Holland Charlie Haden Andy Gomez with Bill Evans there's one that Charlie played on the mic Beca record with nothing personal you know that's big that was a good one there's a lot of there's so many records with so many months a year on the road children is it possible to produce compose practice how is your music activity on the road a part of the concept it depends on the tour like this new solo record that I have console of the bass some of those songs a lot of them were written in hotel rooms like improvising and oh and I would record on my phone until I had a ton of those and then I started listening back and going wait a minute this one could be developed into a you know because they were very melodic oriented you know so sometimes yeah I can write in my room or on finale if I'm writing for Strings or something like that I can test test out things and that's sometimes good because when you write away from an instrument you're right for the instrument that you're hearing in in finale like violins or French foreign or whatever it makes you have to write for them and not write like piano on everything this tour is kind of crazy because I don't I didn't bring a bass this tour I'm picking up bases every because sometimes it's difficult if you're moving around a lot that the airlines charge you a lot of money for the bass and it can be crazy you know so this this this tour we're doing an experiment because I don't usually do it like this I usually bring my bass all the time and I'll bring both acoustic electric this time I'm not bringing them getting a base in each place so I won't be able to write in my room as much some tips about how to stay healthy on the road on those intense tools well I try to do exercise in the room you know the kind that you can do without weights just using your own body weight you know core exercises and do things I have to get back into it on this tour because over the holidays I think I I didn't exercise as much so now we're into the new year and I need to get back in there and and then you need to take care of your body you need to make sure you don't eat the wrong things I don't drink much alcohol I have a little red wine I tried to really take care of my body because I've been out here a long time and and I want to keep playing till I'm very old you have been touring the world for decades and keeping in mind all the aspects of touring economics festival organizations traveling the audience how do you see the pollution of truly is it getting worse better how do you see it I think it's more challenging now then it used to be I think there aren't as many gigs for everybody as there used to be also for the musicians like myself we noticed the development in Europe of festivals also having many more people from their own country which is good for the people in those countries to develop local musicians and but it does make you know I'm fortunate because I've been around a long time I'm still able to come over here and work but for a lot of people who maybe don't have us haven't been doing this as long as I have or didn't have the the same good blessing and fame it's difficult for them to come over and play now because some festivals will have all local people and hardly anybody international yeah so that's but it's so it's it's a my feel mixed about it because on one hand there's a lot of musicians who live in Europe who it's tough for them to get good gigs on festivals because it used to be the festivals would only hire people from America and other countries yes so it's on the other hand you know we you know I'm I'm still out there I want to keep playing you know so you have to adjust and one thing that always remains the same is that no matter how was the travel the flight delays or the soundcheck you have to be you have to give your best in the concept yes always and I love it so I don't mind that challenge [Music] young you recently did an album with us noise right yes yes amazing musicians on it and Vinnie Colaiuta on drums and when was the last time that you recorded with Benny a part of this a snowy album it had been many years yeah many years because I moved away from LA in 1996 I came back to New York so it's already 23 years and we played live a little bit since then I remember doing a big thing a Herbie Hancock tribute and some various things but we hadn't recorded in quite a while it was so much fun we had a blast it was immediately just like you know like a family reunion there was a Brazilian record that I did call him out he had a mouse a fake but that was for a record label that was only doing vinyl you know it was one of those deals where now I own it again so maybe I can put it out as a CD too but the new one number 16 is called soul of the bass there's a lot of solo things but also some things there's one piece with layered electric basses and Nate Smith kind of a funk thing there's some open things with the bow there's some things with the 6 string bass and the acoustic there's some thing with my wife and I with you know so eight strings it's four bases forcelli there's one with myself on six string with my daughter singing clusters harmonies but a lot of it is solo John what's next how is Laura scandal in the future crazy because I have some gigs you know different kinds of things some solo bass gigs some groups Trio Danilo and I will always be doing things I'm doing some crossover into classical music I'm doing a project with the Harlem string quartet and have an orchestral premiere of a protest piece I wrote about the situation in America mm-hmm it's called hypocrisy and the band with Nathan Smith on brain blades the electric guitar cort a Guitar Quartet yes we're gonna probably do some more gigs too we did some last year but we want to do more that's a fun band we have something with Dave and I and chick we're doing something in Tokyo coming up at the end of the summer yo time to say goodbye you have to rest for the concerts we appreciate so much your time here with us this has been one of the most beautiful moments in my life and for this room - talking with you about music and I'm sure our friends watching us have enjoyed and learned so much from you a good luck on the road in the studio on a stage with your family your music thank you so much young thank you very much goodbye amigo okay been very busy on as young [Music]

Channel: Mr Online Drums TV

Views: 15,571

Rating: 4.9911895 out of 5

Keywords: wincent drumsticks, juan expósito, john patitucci, vinnie colaiuta, lucas jiménez, chick corea, dave weckl, drum lesson, best groove

Id: FBIs9OPrvXQ

Length: 34min 50sec (2090 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 14 2019