Ropeadope

Day 2 here at Camp MMW.  Beyond incredible.  This morning started off with breakfast at 8 am, then a 9:30 masterclass with the band.  After years of listening and transcibing and scouring interviews for any sort of musical content, the master class was like having the motherlode unlocked.  You know Gus Johnson?  The guy with the key?  What happened to Gus?  What happened to Gus is he showed up this morning and dropped science.

The fellas started off by playing a stripped down early morning version of Syeeda's Song Flute.  Then some talking about general musical stuff, and then....they took a song - a seemingly happy and simple and innocuous song that is classic MMW as classic MMW gets - "The Lover" and broke it down.  Not the Rolling Stone, "I wrote this when I was on the road thinking about how I missed my girlfriend" breakdown.  Broke. It. DOWN.  To the ground.  For music nerds only.

Like what chords go to what and why.  C minor to E major with C minor pentatonic on top.  How they came up with the groove, how Billy thought the cowbell intro groove he was playing was lame.  Why Medeski chose C minor to E Major.  Why MMW cover bands inevitably and incorrectly play F instead of E.  why the bassline is busy in one part and simple in the other.  Stuff like that.  They really tried to remember back to 10 years ago when they came up with the song, how they came up with the individual parts.  Billy said the drum break - the "boom BOOM bap BOP boom BOOM bappy BOP" part - was originally a mistake of turning the beat around somewhat on his part that they ended up keeping in.

Then the "???!??!!?!?" blockbuster of the morning.  Guess where Medeski jacked the keyboard part to the C section of the The Lover is from?   That not a soul besides Medeski including the band knew until today.....not Ellington. not Sun Ra.  not even Schoenberg.  Where??? From a dirty, dirty, nasty ass Lil Kim song off her first album Hard Core entitled "We Don't Need It".  (listen at 1:04 right after when the dude says "If you ain't suckin' on head..."  Then compare back to the MMW's The Lover at 2:55.  WARNING: Your perception of this song will be tainted forever.

Before I go, here's a link to a couple photos from last night and this morning.  http://my.ropeadope.com/photo/photo/listForContributor?screenName=kh3a6wek8bt2

And a couple excerpts from my notes from the master class --- they don't read quite as well as the epiphanies they were this morning, but just for some flavor:

Chris - talked about hearing the space while you're practicing.  focus on the space when you play more than the notes you're actually playing

John - noted that musical styles that have more complex harmony and more complex linear melodies often have a swing rhythm to them.  Jazz, brazilian music, etc. Compared to fusion or shredder rock - the crazy lines don't go  well as straight 8ths or 16ths.

Kristof Pendorecki - Threnody for Hiroshima - blast on 10 at 3 in the morning while driving through Southern Georgia.

In a few minutes - "ensemble" with Medeski in the performance space.  I believe this could mean getting a chance to sit for a moment at Medeski's keyboard rig, with Hammond, Wurlizter, Clav, Moog, Wurlitzer combo organ, and last but not least, a Mellotron, which I have never ever trtried.  ?!?!??!!!!

--- Larry Legend