In a message dated 12/13/01 7:08:58 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: >perhaps im missing it, but i just find that both of them [Jaco and Brian Blade] : > - play in a way totally unlike anyone thats gone before them, > - are incredibly creative, > - manage to make their instruments sound totally unique
Both are very creative, it's true, and both are/were leaders in their own right. But a big difference to me is that while Jaco absolutely revolutionized electric bass playing (as you said, played in a way totally unlike anyone before and managed to make his instrument sound totally unique, not to mention spawning thousands of imitators, clones, and devotees of his style), I don't really feel that the same is true of Brian Blade, as great a drummer and musician as he surely is. The position Jaco held in music, and his effect on musicians, is something very few players have had in the history of jazz (Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Jimi Hendrix, Pat Metheny, Miles Davis are some well known examples). One can tell it's Jaco (or at least one of his imitators) in two or three notes; I don't think the same could be said of Blade. -Fred
