The World According to Josh

Return to Forever are (left to right): Al Di Meola - guitar, Chick Corea - Keyboards/piano, Stanley Clarke - bass, Lenny White - drums. They reunited after being apart for 25 years and are just kicking off their tour. Tonight was their third show, after their first two shows in Austin.

First off, let me state that I was already a huge fan of this band, as well as a huge follower of both Al Di Meola’s and Chick Corea’s works. Therefore I do not pretend to be objective in this review. This concert kicked Houston’s rear, to say the least.

I was very aware of the musicianship displayed, right from the start. Lenny White gave the impression that, although he does not play a “tuned” instrument, you could hear him playing thematically, right along with everyone else. Each group member traded phrases back and forth with the others, and it was almost creepy how they seemed to read each other’s minds while improvising. At one point, Stanley Clarke was doing a solo on the electric bass and walked over to Chick’s Rhodes keyboard and the exchange they had was something I truly wish I had on video or at least on audio. Clarke improvised an amazing melodic pattern that Corea instantly blended into, playing complimenting chords precisely on the rests of Clarke’s passage, as if he somehow knew the improvisation before it was executed. I am obvisouly having trouble writing out what actually happened. Just take it from me, it was absolutely magical, and it is one of the reasons I love music so much.

Lenny White appeared to be on a musical-political campaign this evening. He spoke between songs at one point about how we may notice that there are no singers or dancers on stage, it’s simply musicians, and that instrumental music needs to make a comeback. He even called on us to help start a musical revolution. I was floored to hear that, since I have been waiting for a revolution like this for a very long time. I could go on about how most of today’s music is complete trash, but that’s another post. Lenny’s best quote of the night: “In an era of boy bands…we are a MAN band!” to which the crowd burst into applause.

Let me just say something about Chick Corea. I wish I could attribute his virtuosity to his countless years of playing with so many different musicians on very high levels, but I went back and listened to some of his old stuff, and he was just as good as then as he is today. I mean, this guy, when he’s playing onstage, if you closed your eyes, you would swear that 3 guys were playing different keyboards at the same time. He is a sight to see on stage. He literally made it look like he was sitting comfortably in his keyboard chair and merely raising his arms to keyboard level and relaxing, and his hands were going crazy all on their own! The level of comfort in his playing is truly astounding.

While I am unable to list every song they performed, I can say that I recognized Romantic Warrior. It must have lasted literally about 30 to 40 minutes, featuring each group member as a soloist for an extended period of time…each. Chick gave an amazing solo performance to start the tune out, then Al Di Meola absolutely shredded on his Ovation acoustic guitar, then left the stage while the rest of the soloists had their turns, then returned for the close of the piece. Di Meola manages to pick every last 16th note triplet by some miracle. It’s truly amazing to see this insanely fast picking in person.

Stanley Clarke was next to solo. He did things on the upright bass that most electric bass players will never be able to pull off on their instruments. At one point he was slapping and popping the upright profusely, with harmonics, and it sounded for a moment like Jaco Pastorius’ Okonkole y Trompa, with the 16th note harmonics that sound like frantic bongos, being so percussive.

Then Lenny White had his turn to solo on the drums. At first he played a little of this and that, which was great, but then he started a bebop swing with his left hand on the ride cymbal (sounds like two 16th notes and an eight note pattern as with most fast bebop, “chicka-dah chicka-dah, etc), and his left foot on the hi-hat (he’s a left-handed drummer that keeps his hi-hat on the left side and all other drums situated just like a right handed drummer, with the exception of the ride cymbal moved to the left side).

What then happened was the most amazing thing I have seen on drums, ever. And I have seen many amazing drum solos (including some of my own. HA! ) While keeping relentlessly steady with his left hand and foot, he played an entirely different drum solo with his right hand and right foot on the bass drum. The right side of his body was completely independent of the left side. The drumming on the right side would change time signatures and even tempo completely, while the left side stayed precisely constant! He even allowed the right side to phase into the timing of the left side, then phase back out again. I can’t begin to explain to you how difficult it is to accomplish this on the drums. My jaw hit the floor and the crowd went wild for White’s performance. (Side note: I have never seen Terry Bozzio play live, but I imagine he may be one of the only other people who could pull something like this off.)

I am truly happy to have seen this band in a relatively intimate setting, compared to the scale of jazz festival s, which are usually held in amphitheaters and I would have to sit on grass. No, the Verizon Wireless here in Houston is grass-free. My friends and I sat about 12 rows back from the stage and to the right, on the Chick Corea side of the stage.

I highly recommmend that you see this tour, because it will most likely not come around again. These guys are very busy musicians with multiple projects each waiting for them, I’m sure. Many of the shows are sold out, so you may have to do the VIP thing just to get in. Best of luck to Chick, Al, Stanley and Lenny. Hopefully this tour will help bridge the gap between generations and begin the music revolution of which Lenny White spoke tonight.

May the syncopated improvised fusion-groove be with you,

Josh Haley

rtf site

Concert, Houston, Music Review al di meola, chick corea, Houston, lenny white, return to forever, returntoforever, stanley clarke, tour

SICK PUPPIES!!! This is one of the ONLY bands from the late 90’s and beyond that I truly hold dear to my heart. These guys truly GET IT. Honest, deep-feeling music with no apologies and no boundaries and endless energy. Their studio recordings are amazing in themselves, but to see them live would be a completely unforgettable experience. I finally got to see them in concert on Monday. I had to drive to Austin to do it, but it was worth it. Heck, I would have traveled much farther!

The opening acts were pretty darn good, too. Saving Abel was loud and proud and had some pretty mean deep grooves going on.

Dropping Daylight was great. They brought a ton of energy to the stage and really got the crowd warmed up well. The newest song they played, which talks about suburbia and getting out of its madness was my favorite and has a great guitar riff/hook to it. Check it out.

Read more…

Concert, Music Review, video austin, dropping daylight, emma anzai, Houston, josh haley, review, saving abel, sick puppies

A friend and I went to see Pat Metheny last night at the Verizon Wireless Theater in Houston. It was the first time seeing him in any setting and we were already big fans, but after seeing him with his current trio (amazing drummer Antonio Sanchez and virtuoso bassist Christian McBride), we are now superfans for life. After listening to the burning bebop opener “Day Trip”, I leaned over and told my fellow musician friend “We are nothing.” Words cannot describe the level of musicianship these people have…so the only thing I can do is find a video on youtube and share it. Here you go. Enjoy.

Concert, Music Review antonio sanchez, christian mcbride, day trip, Houston, pat metheny, trio

Tonight another dream of mine came true: to see Van Halen with David Lee Roth live in concert.

I have been a faithful Van Halen follower since the late 70’s when Eddie Van Halen’s first released guitar solo Eruption changed the world of electric guitar and rock and roll forever. Every rock guitar player today knows the name Eddie Van Halen and is influenced by him one way or another.

But I saw Eddie do his thing live on three different occasions before tonight…twice in Honolulu, Hawaii and once right here in Houston, but with Sammy Hagar as the front-man. Tonight I finally got to see the original Van Halen (almost…bassist Michael Anthony is no longer with the band) with David Lee Roth, yes, Diamond Dave himself, fronting the band once again.

Be it known that I LOVE Sammy Hagar, even before he joined Van Halen. He will always be the Red Rocker, and now the heavy metal equivalent to Jimmy Buffet, with his Wabo-rita-let’s-all-go-to-Mexico and eat-fish-and-wear-aloha-shirts-and-drink-Mas-Tequila attitude-with-a-different-latitude. Some of my favorite Van Halen songs/moments come from when Sammy was with the band. But there is something amazing about being able to say that I indeed saw David Lee Roth with the band live, in concert, in Houston. They simply kicked ass.

Eddie was sober and healthy looking. Alex never missed a beat on drums. New bassist Wolfgang laid low but was able to have a few moments in the spotlight. Roth was same old Roth…tons of attitude, martial arts and sexual innuendo. Oh, and he can still sing, too.

I will say this about Roth’s vocal chops of present: I think I can Roth-Hawk better than he can. In most songs tonight, when we expected him to make his signature sqwuak of a scream, he just wouldn’t do it. His voice must be thrashed from “all those crazy years gone past”. I didn’t mind helping him him out, even though I was sitting in nosebleed seats at the Toyota Center. Actually, my friend mentioned tonight that this would be the last time he settled for the cheaper seats, because it’s just too important of an occasion to be trying to save a couple of bucks. I have to agree.

The sound mix, at least from my angle, left much to be desired, but it didn’t seem to matter after a few songs. The band just drew us all into their catalog of songs from the old Van Halen days, not one of them being a song from after 1984 (the year and the album). OK, for all of the geeks out there who really need it to be said, yes, technically there was one passage of music that was not written until about 1990 or so. The 316 bit that Eddie did for his solo. There, I mentioned it, now go get a life.

In an effort to get this blog out there, I will end my comments here for now. Following is the setlist from the show last night and some notes. I hear Van Halen is touring well into April. I hope you all get a chance to see them!

Setlist and notes:

• You Really Got Me
• I’m the One
• Running with the Devil
• Romeo Delight (Wolfgang tapping on bass…not bad)
• Roth on Harmonica/Scat leading into…
• Somebody Get Me A Doctor
  • During the breakdown of the song, they go into a Crossroads tribute. Nice!
• Beautiful Girls
• Dance the Night Away
  • (Dave’s hat trick. His top hat is magically held up by his crotch.)
• Atomic Punk (without all of the Roth-hawk screams…sigh.)
• Everybody Wants Some
  • (Roth vocal imitation of a Harley - impressive! vs Eddie’s guitar. Eddie won! I also loved how when Dave finally got around to the line “I like the way the line runs down the back of your stockings” the crowd went nuts!)
• So This Is Love
• Mean Street (That tapping is still just as impressive as the first time I heard it!)
• Pretty Woman
• Alex Drum Solo
• Unchained (Wolfgang gets to say “C’mon Dave, gimme a break”)
• I’ll Wait (canned keyboard parts)
• The Cradle Will Rock (also canned keys)
• Hot For Teacher
• Little Dreamer
• Little Guitars (I almost lost my mind that they actually played one of my faves…this lesser known track)
• Jamie’s Cryin’ (great but hard not to hear Tone Loc’s Wild Thing now. Damn him!)
• Dave acoustic guitar/storytelling
  • He talked about the actual ice cream truck his friend had. They threw away the ice cream and kept the beer cold for the party that night. Also about how he sang this song to his Mexican girlfriend? OK, Dave.
• Ice Cream Man
• Panama
• Eddie Guitar Solo
  • Little Guitars intro
  • Spanish Fly
  • 316
  • Drum stick tapping blues
  • Cathedral
  • Eruption
• Ain’t Talking ‘Bout Love
• Encore: 1984/Jump

Over 2 hours solid of Rock and Roll history I was very glad to be a part of! Somebody give me a shot!

Here’s a decent video from a different night showcasing a few of the songs. Thanks to youtube user VandeGroep.

Concert, Music Review

It was 10 years ago this week that my first fanfare for orchestra, Kolob, was performed for the first and only time. I have recently digitized the performance and it is now available on youtube for all. Below are the notes as written on youtube.

This is the world premiere (I know, sounds so official) of KOLOB, a fanfare for orchestra by me, Joshua Haley. It is my first large-scale composition for orchestra, and definitely the first one that I was able to have performed. The University of Hawaii at Manoa Symphony Orchestra (of which I was a member for years on bass) was kind enough to rehearse and perform this piece.

It was performed as shown here at Kahala Mall center stage, in Honolulu, Hawaii on November 11, 1997. Theresa McCreary, the 1st chair cellist, served as guest conductor for Henry Miyamura.

I make no apology for using inspiration from John Williams and his wonderful works. He was the key inspiration for this fanfare, as well as completing my college composition assignment! :p

I must tell you, a LOT of work goes into getting to this point. It’s one thing to have the piece written, another to have all of the parts properly formatted and printed, and then be lucky enough to have an orchestra perform it for me.

I had a dat recorder and a video camera at this performance to get proper recordings, and guess what? Neither worked properly! I went through days of discouragement until I found out that a parent of one of the bass players recorded it on his camcorder and was willing to let me make a copy. Thus the focus on one of the bass players for a time in this video.

Enjoy! Feedback appreciated.

Josh

Concert, Making Music, Personal, school

Last night I saw Alice in Chains in concert with Velvet Revolver. I am indescribably STOKED!! My friend Justin hooked me up with tickets as a birthday gift and we went together to see them at the Woodlands Pavillion. We had lawn seats, but we got there early and got lawn chairs, so as far as lawn goes, we had front row seats.

The lights went down to a deep purple and the next thing you know, you hear the droning strumming of the intro to “Again“, which totally set the mood/tone for their set. The new singer, William DuVall, was excellent, although I was able to hear his take on the music as slightly different than the late Layne Staley’s, which normally would include exaggerated “r” and nasal sounds and sound so dark and desperate. Perhaps I am imposing that onto Layne’s performances knowing about his bout with heroin, but there is definitely a different sound coming from DuVall, and it’s actually really good. I can’t wait to hear what they come up with when they finally come out with new original material with DuVall as the established lead singer! OK, back to the concert…

(video footage from other people at other shows)

The band jumped right into “Grind“, another great track from their 1995 self-titled album. I was reminded at the genius of the band’s sound. The guitar part and bass parts are usually not “the same” as in rhythm and chords. This song illustrates it well. On the surface, it sounds like both instruments are doing the simple “jung-jung..jung-jung” double eighth-note rhythm. But the subtle difference is that the bass holds onto it’s second of the two notes and slides down each time, making the already heavy notes seem 20 times heavier, so heavy that the player can’t keep them up as they keep sliding down.

The guitar part is those same two notes, then two more, but as chords, outlining the root and minor third of the song’s tonality. The cycle of this rhythm can be construed as nothing other than a relentless grind, which, combined with the lyrics make quite the homogeneous dark song. When the song reaches the chorus, the vocal harmonies simply soar and for a moment, an inexperienced listener might not understand why that “positive”, “upbeat” sound of the chorus would belong in this genre of music at all, less such a dark song. BUT IT WORKS! So very well. It’s difficult to describe how well this songwriting works! On to the next song performed:

Jerry Cantrell cranked out the intro to the first song on their first album Facelift (1990), “We Die Young“. This picked the pace of the set up quite a bit and everyone was rocking out. It also gave DuVall a chance to really strut his vocals. Even by this third song in the set list, it still hadn’t sunk in to me or many around me that we were actually watching Alice In Chains perform live, right in front of us. It was truly surreal. For long-time fans, it is especially sweet since we know the history and how once Layne Staley died and AIC disbanded, they had told the media that that was it. No more Alice In Chains, that they would never get back together or write new music as Alice In Chains without Staley. Thank God for people who say “never” and tempt God/fate what have you, because they finally came around and agreed to get back together AND write new material as Alice in Chains, which makes the likes of me VERY excited!

Borrowing from the faster pace of “We Die Young”, the band launched right into “Them Bones“, which is THE definitive Alice In Chains song, in my book. This is the song that has it all: odd time signatures, dark and crunchy guitar, parallel 4th and 5th vocal harmonies, dark and crunchy guitar, desperate, painful themes and dark and crunchy guitar. At only 2 and a half minutes, this song gets in quick, punches you in the nuts and gets right out, leaving the listener to wonder what the heck just hit them, yet wanting more!

The tone slowed back down with the slippery bass line intro to “Rain When I Die“, an increbilbly dark and powerful song that starts with the guitar solo before the first verse. (Side note: I am SO in admiration of the fact that this song is in 6/4 time as well. How many friggen metal songs pull off 6/4 so seemlessly? This guitar riff is SO perfect for it, I just have to say.) I honestly don’t know exactly how well DuVall did with this song because I was busy singing along with this song at the top of my lungs! Singing along with this song (and later on “Rooster” was a huge highlight for me.)

Sheeeeee won’t le-eeeeeeet me hi-iiiiiide.
Sheeeeeee don’t want meeeeeee to cryyyyyyyyy!

(fyi, this particular youtube vid includes a guest gutarist from Kill Hannah)

Cantrell then cranked up the grungy-crunchy intro to “It Ain’t Like That“, another chance for DuVall to show off his vocal chops and sensitivity to the original singer’s version. The one thing I noticed about this song live that separates it from the original is the chorus. The original recorded chorus uses 3 eighth notes in triplet groupings and the song stays in time, as in, does not slow down. In the live version, they really slowed it down on this part to about the speed of quarter note triplets and it gave the chorus an incredible punch and emphasis that was not there previously. I really dugg it. Hard to describe. OK, I found a vid from another night so you can see what I mean. (They do it sorta in this vid but it seemed like it hung forever last night at my concert)

There were two songs that I was REALLY hoping they would play last night…Junkhead and Down In A Hole. And that’s exactly what they played next! I was about to lose my mind!

Junkhead, as many of their songs are, is about drugs.

“You can’t understand a user’s mind, but try with your books and degrees.”

and

“What’s my drug of choice? Well, what have you got?”

This song continually testifies to me the anguish and pain and helplessness that a heroin addict must feel, which keeps me even farther away from the stuff than I already am. I love the effectiveness in which this band is able to communicate these feelings through this music, to people who have not experienced what they have, like me. Pain by proxy, I guess, and for some reason, I really, really dig it.

(Here’s a version of it live before the studio release AND with Layne Staley! Enjoy!)

Down in a Hole is a less grinding song than Junkhead, but is no less poignant in demonstrating helplessness and isolationism:

Down in a hole and I don’t know if I can be saved
See my heart I’ve decorated like a grave
You don’t understand who they thought I was supposed to be
Look at me now a man who won’t let himself be

Down in a hole, feeling so small
Down in a hole, losing my soul
I’d like to fly,
But my wings have been so denied

This song is also one of their best musically crafted songs. The woven vocal harmonies throughout are very slick and enticing, almost a lullaby that Staley was singing to himself while alone in that hole of which he sings. The live version is well done and the moody lighting helped illustrate the story.

The classic grunge guitar sound can be heard in all of their music, but the intro to Angry Chair, which they played next, is one of the most recognizable grunge guitar intros ever. The droning of the parallel 4th/5th vocal harmonies on the verses is contrasted by the chorus section with the more melodic:

I don’t mind, yeah
I don’t mind, I-I-I
Lost my mind, yeah
But I don’t mind, I-I-I
Can’t find it anywhere
I don’t mind

The tempo of this song allowed the band to slide right into their very popular hit “Man In The Box.”. The crowd went nuts! So did I! As I looked closer at the band on stage, I realized they were being joined by a 5th person who was tall, black and holding a microphone. IT WAS DUG PINNICK OF KING’S X!!! I completely lost my mind at that point! I wanted to scream, sing, call someone, write it down and rush the stage all at once, I was so beside myself! I ended up simply watching as intently as I could to get as much detail on this impromtu treat that was hapenneing right before my eyes! Dug and DuVall alternated phrases, and I have to tell you, when it was Dug’s turn to sing…oh my…THAT GUY CAN SING! He “Put A Little Soul” into that performance for sure! He changed up the lyrics a bit in a soulful way that was completely amazing! I still can’t believe what I saw. Just a few minutes ago, I commented on Dug’s myspace about it, letting him know how fricken awesome that was! I did overhear yougner people in the crowd asking “who the heck is that guy?”, but I know. No, WE know, Justin and I. Hell yes!!!!

I’m the dog who gets beat
Shove my nose in s%t
Won’t you come and save me, save me

Well somebody needed to come save ME after a surprise like that! That was just too much! After the song, Dug waved and hopped backstage and the thundering unmistakable bass line intro to “Would?” blared. Yes, the question mark is part of the song title, so shut up.

This is another popular Alice song that defined grunge and their sound back in the day and was even featured in the Singles soundtrack, a grunge-days early 90’s movie with Matt Dillon and Bridget Fonda, but I digress.

Into the flood again
Same old trip it was back then
So I made a big mistake
Try to see it once my way

DuVall shined on this performance and proved that he belongs in this band at this time. Seeing the entire crowd shout the end of the song with fist pumps was very cool:

IF…..I……..WOULD……COULD…….YOU?

Hell……….YES! That was so awesome. And I just knew they would play that song. I also had a feeling they wouldn’t be able to escape alive from the pavillion without playing Rooster, and they did not dissappoint! Rooster was next and was the closing song.

Once again, the crowd played its part in the eerie begining (and end) to Rooster:

Oo-oo-oo-oooh Ooh Ooh Ooh Oohooh ooh ooh ooh

The whole crowd was united and surprisingly in tune! Throughout the beginning of the tune, cell phone lights and lighters were all lit, everyone chilling and letting the song pour over them:

Ain’t found a way to kill me yet
Eyes burn with stinging sweat
Seems every path leads me to nowhere
Wife and kids household pet
Army green was no safe bet
The bullets scream to me from somewhere

Here they come to snuff the rooster
Yeah here come the rooster

(and then this next downbeat is when it gets very loud and the crowd goes INSANE!)

Ah, YEAH
you know he ain’t gonna die
No, no, no ya know he ain’t gonna die

When I hear the guitar “singing” the melody after this part (especially in the many, many times I have heard it on the studio version), Jerry lets the last note of the phrase, a minor 7th in the key of the song, it just sits there and rings and makes no apologies and it, to me, has always been a goose-bump or chills moment in the song. To experience that live was INCREDIBLE. I actually shut my eyes for most of that part and just let it wash over me. I wonder if anyone else besides Jerry knows what I mean about this. (it begins at 2:34 in the studio version. Just……go and listen to it, please.) It’s one of my favorite moments in all of Alice’s music.

The song had to end at some point and it was time for them to leave. They graciously stayed on stage for a good minute or so (some bands just bolt when they’re done…ahem Rush!) and you could tell that they were very grateful to all of the support and that they wanted to play more. I predict they headline a tour in a year to support and album that is supposedly in the works! That would be as important to me as the Beatles reuniting after John died, were it to happen. In a way, I guess it did for those two songs. Of course, now we are down to only 2 Beatles, but that’s another story.

Please! Long live Alice in Chains and their unique and amazing sound, and with the absence (I believe) of drug abuse, what will their new material sound like? What will it be about? They still have so much to draw upon, I am certain.

After the stage change, Velvet Revolver came on and played for an hour and a half or so. I have never seen a Guns n Roses show from back in the day, and didn’t know much Velvet stuff, so I wasn’t expecting much. (You can read more about about that part of it at Mike McGuff’s blog here.) VR was OK, but it completely paled in comparison to Alice’s historical show. They played Patience, It’s So Easy and Mr. Brownstone from the GNR repertoire and Intertstate Love Song and Sex Type Thing from the Stone Temple Pilots repertoire, all of which rocked very much. But what does it say when the GNR and STP songs completely outperform the VR songs? Sad, really. I guess I can say I saw Slash and Duff, though, so that’s cool. But I feel so disrespectful even talking about them in the same breath as ALICE IN CHAINS!!!! I will never forget that concert last night! Thanks Justin!

Josh

Concert, Music Review

OK, this oughtta be better…

I have gathered 52 clips of the Police concert, some of which were the Houston one I went to. They are somewhat repetitive, but they are labeled so you can enjoy whichever ones you want, just scroll and click.

Enjoy, and don’t stand so close to me.

Josh™

Concert, video