Tonight I got to meet one of my true heros in music, Clyde Stubblefield.
He is traveling with the house band for the radio show "Whad'ya know?",
a jazz trio with John Thulin and Jeff Eckels, who are doing the radio show
live tomorrow morning. As a bonus the band was appearing downtown for
free tonight.
If you haven't heard of Clyde Stubblefield, he was for a time James Brown's
drummer. In that capacity, he was the subject for the track "The Funky
Drummer." Before the Amen break became the cliche, the "Funky Drummer Break"
was a staple of hiphop and later pre-drum&bass hardcore.
But of course Stubblefield was way more than one breakbeat. During his
tenure with Brown he was perhaps the originator of intelligent funk drumming.
Listening to any of the JB recordings he played on, his drumming always
happened on two levels simultaneously: a rock solid groove, overlaid with
a constant subtle counterpoint of ghost hits, flams, and cymbal accents
that reflected and propelled the other players. He is above all a drummer
who listens deeply to the other players, seeming to lead, follow, and
carry on a conversation with them all at once.
To be able to sit a few feet away from his unamplified trap kit for a couple
of hours was for me a real feast. If anything his drumming has improved
since his heyday, becoming more supple and subtle. And more than most
drummers he's developed a unique tone and attack that to me is instantly
recognizable. Like only a few drummers I've heard, and probably better
than the lot, his solos were expressions of the tune being played -- you
can hear the ghost of the melody through the drums.
During a break I was able to go up to him and babble like a complete fanboy.
I'd brought a sharpy and a vinyl copy of "The Original Funky Drummer Breakbeat
Album" (Music of Life MOLLP44) to sign. He seemed to be genuinely tickled
to see it, and the other musicians seemed amazed by it, passing it around
like a talisman of a bygone era. Little did they know!
And this really doesn't have anything to do with IDM, or does it? IDM
for me is at its best when the percussion sounds leave behind robotic
precision and become fractally varied conversations with the funk within
the beat. You can hear a hint of this in the drum programming of artists
like the aphex twin when they drop in triplets, breaks and screwy fills.
Doing this on a computer doesn't normally have the visceral push of a person
physically hitting things, but when it's done well, it can approach it,
and at the same time go beyond it by leaving behind the kicks, snares, toms,
and cymbals we've been hearing for 500 years.
At any rate, if you're up saturday mornings in the USA, check out "Whad'ya
Know" on your public station. If they're touring away from their Madison,
Wisconsin base, they almost always bring Clyde along to fill out the trio.
The show itself aims to become the acme of mild amusement, but in between
the cranky schtick of the host, you'll be able to hear a living legend
at work. Not a bad thing when you're doing the laundry.
kent williams -- kent@avalon.net
http://www.mp3.com/chaircrusher -- tunes
http://www.live365.com/cgi-bin/directory.cgi?autostart=chaircrusher -- mix
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