This playing is just 'sick' ..

equalsql

Wayne Krantz - Whippersnapper (live) 

The solo kicks in at about 2:45 and just build unrelentingly.
I've heard this recording many times and it never fails to blow me away.

I'd love to know what's going on inside his head when he's playing 'out of the box' like that. 

Genius he is.

DulcetJones

While it's difficult to know for sure what is going on inside his head I would speculate that he's drawing on his knowledge of scale patterns and keeping track of where the bass player is in regards the chord progression.  Other than that I can say when I used to improvise solos live (in a rock setting and nowhere near the speed and agility displayed here), I would be paying some attention to where the song is, what I know about the scale I'm using and letting go of all of that at certain points when I hit on something that surprises me.  These moments are usually characterized by a repetition of a certain lick or run.   But that's just what's going on inside my head.

jonnyburgo

I think his head is under some headphones listening to a different song from the rest of the band.

Actually it is pretty awesome.

Bellycaster

Absolutely unbelievable skill in that playing, what an awesome talent. From my limited knowledge, I think what is going on in his head is that he is incredibly adept at mixing blues style pentatonics with complex diminished patterns and doing it really really well.

Thanks for that, most impressed.

beed84

Wow, thank for posting that. Superb playing and great tone. Thoroughly enjoyed it!

bingefeller

I have his Improvisers OS and his audio lessons and he uses basically uses formulas (which are essentially scales without a name).  The formulas are things like 1 b2 b5 6 7 etc.  The first half of the Improvisers OS lists every single possible combination of 2 / 3 / 4 / 5/ 6 / 7 note formulas that there are.  The second half is a Q&A about how he uses the system.  

I don't have the audio files to hand at the moment, but I remember him saying something that the band usually takes a 4 bar riff and then builds upon it using an agreed formula.  From what I remember he tends to stay in one spot and improvise horizonitcally.  

In some of the audio files he explains about rhythmic ideas.  Again, I can't remember as I haven't listened to them in a long time, but I do remember getting the impression that he couldn't really explain it because it was so natural to him.  

equalsql

I picked up his OS book as well and I felt like Homer Simpson trying to understand Springfield's Nuclear power station's safety manual. B-)

I just what love he does... and his rhythmic 'sense' is a force a nature.

bingefeller

Some interesting soloing here....

Loobs

Sick player. His playing on the new David Binney LP Anacapa is amazing.

equalsql

Loobs said:

Sick player. His playing on the new David Binney LP Anacapa is amazing.

Thanks @Loobs for that recommendation.. I'd not heard of David Binney ..but have just checked out some of his stuff on YT. I thinks he's got a new fan 

Loobs

No problem.

Dominic

Great playing I'm sure and very skilful but I can't hum or whistle it so its boring and unmemorable

I used to be fascinated by this sort of thing but I have come to realise that its not funny and its not clever !

I'm not a complete ignoramus -( I play reasonable jazz piano )-the old joke about playing the right notes just not necessarily in the right order is very relevant because with this kind of thing it could be any order of randomness so long as there a a few resolutions keeping it vaguely sane

A jazz tutor of mine had me go back to Baroque music and study the path of extensions and resolutions - the figured bass of Teleman and Bach together with the indicated space for typical baroque ornamentation were an early form of free-form improv in order to get an intuitive feel for jazz -it worked for me but endowed some sense of restraint and musicality which is nice in moderation but some of this stuff is just either too clever for me or the musical snake oil of a bullshitting salesman with a case of verbal diarrhoea

 The spaces between the notes can say more than the notes themselves and theres no getting away from the fact that a Cole Porter standard or a Lennon / Mc Cartney tune beats the pants off this anyday

JohnPerry

^this. sorry, unlistenable widdling. 

equalsql

Dominic said:

Great playing I'm sure and very skilful but I can't hum or whistle it so its boring and unmemorable

I used to be fascinated by this sort of thing but I have come to realise that its not funny and its not clever !

I'm not a complete ignoramus -( I play reasonable jazz piano )-the old joke about playing the right notes just not necessarily in the right order is very relevant because with this kind of thing it could be any order of randomness so long as there a a few resolutions keeping it vaguely sane

A jazz tutor of mine had me go back to Baroque music and study the path of extensions and resolutions - the figured bass of Teleman and Bach together with the indicated space for typical baroque ornamentation were an early form of free-form improv in order to get an intuitive feel for jazz -it worked for me but endowed some sense of restraint and musicality which is nice in moderation but some of this stuff is just either too clever for me or the musical snake oil of a bullshitting salesman with a case of verbal diarrhoea

 The spaces between the notes can say more than the notes themselves and theres no getting away from the fact that a Cole Porter standard or a Lennon / Mc Cartney tune beats the pants off this anyday

I would dispute strongly that it's boring. I find his approach exciting and dynamic and love the way that he tries to avoid clichés in his playing.

Granted it's not to everyone's taste and certainly is not something one can whistle a tune to, but the sheer inventiveness is breathtaking.  'Whippersnapper' is a stand-out fast track from his usual norm which tend to be more harmonically rich (and slower), it's Krantz flexing his muscles in a live environment. 

sinbaadi

It's interesting on an unusual, different, dissonant level.  

It impresses people who know what that sort of playing/thinking requires. 

I'm always impressed by technical playing, but I do not gravitate towards listening to that sort of music at all, because it does nothing for me at a base level.  It's like a poem with a lot of intellectually challenging but incredibly poorly-chosen words. 

Emp_Fab

Loobs

sinbaadi;450199" said:

It's interesting on an unusual, different, dissonant level.  

It impresses people who know what that sort of playing/thinking requires. 

I'm always impressed by technical playing, but I do not gravitate towards listening to that sort of music at all, because it does nothing for me at a base level.  It's like a poem with a lot of intellectually challenging but incredibly poorly-chosen words. 

I think what he does is very interesting and creative, not just technique for the sake of it.

axisus

I love that sort of music. Anyone who can't get it, it really is their loss as there is so much to absorb and get into. 

axisus

sinbaadi said:

.......  It's like a poem with a lot of intellectually challenging but incredibly poorly-chosen words. 

Not at all, it's like someone reading Shakespeare but you prefer Enid Blyton.

stickyfiddle

I got through a minute of solo before I gave up. Skillful? Yes. Musical? Absolutely not. Every man playing for himself and each of them playing a different song.

axisus said:

sinbaadi said:

.......  It's like a poem with a lot of intellectually challenging but incredibly poorly-chosen words. 

Not at all, it's like someone reading Shakespeare but you prefer Enid Blyton.

It's like someone explaining Noddy, but adding random Shakespearean words and feeding the whole lot through a Klingon translator.

sinbaadi

axisus said:

sinbaadi said:

.......  It's like a poem with a lot of intellectually challenging but incredibly poorly-chosen words. 

Not at all, it's like someone reading Shakespeare but you prefer Enid Blyton.

Ouch

This isn't Shakespeare.  This is the work of a play-write from the time that nobody remembers, because unlike Shakespeare his work was devoid of coherent plot or character development (nevermind story-telling on Shakespeare's level), and as such totally lacking in emotional connection or human-interest.  It was line after line of fancy words and grammatical tricks and embellishments.

For me it is as I say.  It just doesn't work, there's nothing fundamentally appealing to the music he's making, and so whilst I appreciate the skill of it, I dislike it.  The amount of skill and effort which is going into creating something completely (unless you count the random scales individually as such) without melody or tune is mind-boggling.