Todd Coolman continues to impress...

[Tbeers]

I saw Jon Faddis' quartet in Hartford tonight at a free concert (huzzah!). It was him on trumpet, Todd Coolman on bass, Renee Rosnes on piano (wow, wow, wow, by the way), and some drummer whose name I cannot recall.

From what I could see, Coolman was playing his French bass with a Realist pickup, into a WW head, into a 1x8 cabinet by EA (it must have been the VL108). His sound was good, but I think a larger speaker enclosure would have done him a bit better for the venue. I do not think he was running into the PA, since he and Renee got stuck in horrendous traffic and were a bit late to the concert (there was some awful accident on I-91).

Anyway, Coolman strikes me as a guy who knows how to stay relaxed and keep his head in the game. He never missed a single thing, even when Faddis kept telling the rest of the group complex last-minute instructions during pieces. Todd Coolman also seems like a good old selfless bass player -- he took few solos and didn't have any annoying thirst for recognition. I like to hear a guy who performs his role and contributes to the entire ensemble.

Does he have great chops? Hell yes. But he knows when to hold back, and I think a lot of the best players could even learn something from that.

Is Todd Coolman a bassist with which people here are familiar? If not I highly recommend you check out some of his recordings.

edit: I just have to praise Renee Rosnes one more time. She's absolutely fantastic, although she always looks like she is trying to squeeze out a painful dump when she's on stage. If she learned how to smile it would make watching her much more enjoyable.

[Pcocobass]

Everytime I see Todd play I gain new respect for his mastery of the instrument. Each note he plays is well thought out and important. He never bull s***ts his way through the changes when he walks or solos. He is also an extremely intelligent and articulate person and top notch educator. I have the priviledge to study with him (and Jon Faddis) at Purchase College and it's been such a rewarding and positive experience for me. Both Todd and Jon are real masters of the art form.

[Ed Fuqua]

Originally Posted by Tbeers

edit: I just have to praise Renee Rosnes one more time. She's absolutely fantastic, although she always looks like she is trying to squeeze out a painful dump when she's on stage. If she learned how to smile it would make watching her much more enjoyable.

I doubt it would affect her solo line much, though. Maybe you oughta start taking pictures of kittens and puppies, if you need something pleasant to look at to pass the time. Otherwise you're just going to be forced to enetrtain yourself by actually listening to and comprehending what's being played.

[Jeremy Allen]

Close your eyes. I usually do it unconsciously when I'm listening to a good live performance anyway.
Or, if the faces really bug you, limit your live show attendance to those by artists who manage to conceal their lack of talent behind a facade of smiles, audience interaction, "into it" bodily movements, and other useless ephemera. There are plenty of them out there, even in the jazz world.

Of course, maybe she really was suffering and needed a perceptive and sympathetic audience member to fetch her a gentle herbal laxative. The couple of times I've seen her, her lower G.I. seemed to be in good working order and she didn't make faces--but she did stare down Rufus the whole time she played a solo, it was like they were communicating both musically AND telepathically.

Oh yeah, Coolman--he sounds good.

[Tbeers]

Why do you write as though you dislike me or think little of me? You never even met me!

Anyway, this thread is about Todd Coolman. If a moderator would be so kind as to delete Ed's post and my own, I would be most grateful.

[Ed Fuqua]

Think of me as an avuncular relation, alert to every personality foible.

T- I don't like or dislike you. I just think you are easily distracted by non-musical stuff that someone who professes serious involvement in this music really should NOT be distracted by. If you want to be a regular person, fine. Go ahead and talk about what they were wearing and how much they smiled and what tempos they played and how impressive it was that they stopped and started all at the same time. But if you want to be a musician, there's a higher standard.

If the thread is about Todd Coolman, why did you bring up Renee? If it's OK to express your opinion about how she should look (and I hesitate to point out you didn't say anything about the facial expressons of any of the MALE musicians), then why is it a censorable offense to express an opinion about whether or not that matters? If it is a strongly held opinion of yours, that looks are a valid way to judge a musician's competence, then why not defend it? Why take it as a personal slight? Perhaps deep down you realize that you said something kinda dumb and rather than owning up to it, you'd rather it would just go away. Because right now you can't seem to seperate you, yourself from the things you say. That's a function of youth, I'm afraid. We all have gone through phases growing up where we base our identity on "externals" rather than our own core. We identify ourselves through what we do, what we say, what we think. Not to worry, everybody outgrows it.
But right now you can't see that just because I think you said something egregiously stupid, that doesn't mean I think that YOU are stupid. Cause that's all the same thing to you.

If you have such an insufferably large ego that you just can't bear having such things pointed out to you, there is a feature called the IGNORE LIST. You put me on your IGNORE LIST, you never have to read a thing I type ever again; all that shows up is a little window that says "This person is one your IGNORE list." whenever I post in a thread.

I would suggest that you ask yourself whether or not insulating yourself from dissenting viewpoints is an advantage or a disadvantage.

[Tbeers]

You know, one of the things that I found amusing and impressive at the concert was the ability of the trained jazz musicians in the combo to play a rap song with perfect believability.

Near the end of the set, Jon Faddis started rapping to the audience about Dizzy Gillespie or something (it was very silly) and he had the group playing a hip-hop groove behind him. And I thought to myself, damn, Todd Coolman is this white guy who can play perfectly convincing ghetto-type rap grooves. He has such diverse skills and interests -- I suppose that is part of what makes him such a great teacher. He conducted the CT all state jazz band last year and it was amazing how well he interacted with young jazz musicians.

Visit Todd's website... you will notice immediately his strong focus on education.

P.S. I forgot to mention this until now, but he is one of the funniest men I have ever met.

[Pcocobass]

Tbeers -

The cool thing about Ed is he always tells you things the way he sees them without sugar coating it. I think it's a good thing because you know he wont BS you. BTW, remember he has a ton of experience and he is a great player, even if he's a little rough around the edges.

Oh, and Ed, don't let my compliment go to your head... I only gave it out of necessity.

[Ed Fuqua]

Between my teacher and the playing of any number of cats on this site, my head is regularly deflated...in fact, given the number of heavy cats here I probably should be referred to as deflater mouse.


Thanks, I'll be here through Wednesday...

[Pcocobass]

Originally Posted by Ed Fuqua

Between my teacher and the playing of any number of cats on this site, my head is regularly deflated...in fact, given the number of heavy cats here I probably should be referred to as deflater mouse.

You know I can dig that...

[The Clap]

Originally Posted by Tbeers

Why do you write as though you dislike me or think little of me? You never even met me!

Haha, what a classic response. But the answer is 'Its Ed Fuqua!' I like Ed's posts, he aims to keep the overstaters in their places, and with good results.

You did say that "If she learned how to smile it would make watching her much more enjoyable" and that's going to sound pretty silly to anyone who's been around the block, as you can see.

[nypiano]

Having known the fuquaybeast for roughly 18 years I have come to these conclusions:

He has 2 distinct personalities:

The one you know first hand. Couldn't be a nicer guy or a better friend. Bends over backwards to help

The writing persona. That fuqua can get kind of snippy. Kind of a pompous ass sometimes. Don't bother trying to best him in a war of words. His English SATs are probably higher than yours. Who else would use the word avuncular on a message board?

The latter is paralleled in his driving personality. I have never heard this soft spoken Georgian swear more than over NY drivers. But he gets out of the car, enters an establishment and holds the door open for a stranger.

Now compare this to me.
In person. I'm a pompous ass. Me. Me. Me..Oh yeah and about me. Extremely snippy. Especially over mistakes. Don't get on my bad side. (I believe it's my left). I'm occasionally nice. But I wouldn't trust me as far as I could spit.

My writing persona. I like to bend over backwards to tell you everyone has something to say and the world is a great place. I'm like the Tony Robbins of jazz. Everything I say sounds great but is completely unverifiable in reality, but you might be inclined to buy what I have to say..

The latter or the former is completely unparalleled in the auto realm as I don't drive and am constantly bumming rides from the fuquaybeast. But the likelihood would be that I would slam the door behind me narrowly missing severing your hand. And the likelihood of my scoring future rides with him will drop exponentially as of this writing.

Tbeers:the point of this little soliloquy is that in an internet forum thing--you can't really know somebody at all. We are kind of putting on capes and trying to stick in our most witty barbs and marvelous 2cents. Think of it this way-you were briefly in the fuquaybeast headlights because he thought you said something shallow. From my viewpoint were just making conversation. For example I revere and loathe Keith Jarrett sometimes and have made the case that Jarrett's moaning and grunting is like putting Leonardo's smock next to the Mona Lisa. But in reality it's just me that's the smock.
And would sell mine anyday to own his..

So don't worry about being a smock
We all are


Oh yeah and about ME:

Mini ME
Do re ME
me me ME
Win-dows ME

[Ed Fuqua]

These smocks are made for walking....

Over and above the SATs, it's also what happens when I'm sitting at a desk and not standing with a bass...

[Tbeers]

Well, it wouldn't be possible for Ed's verbal SAT to be higher than what I got. But I do acknowledge, he commands an impressive vocabulary. So I guess being flamed a bit by him isn't as bad as on other forums, where usually the person in question can't spell a single word.

[Aaron Saunders]

"Rough around the edges?"

Sharp as an axe! They sure got sensitive about it on the AAJ forums a little while ago.

[Jeremy Allen]

Originally Posted by Tbeers

Well, it wouldn't be possible for Ed's verbal SAT to be higher than what I got.

How deliciously adolescent! Like the slaves said to the victorious returning generals parading through Rome, "Remember, thou art mortal." And "semper ubi sub ubi" (*snicker*).

But seriously folks, Todd Coolman is the greatest bass player I've never heard outside of a Jamey Aebersold play-along. I respect his work based upon just that limited exposure, and his book "The Bass Tradition" is a must-have, but does anyone want to chime in with some favorite recording recommendations? I know his discography is quite extensive, and there must be some good ones in there...where to start?

[Aaron Saunders]

I'm sorry, but don't most people outside the US -- and INSIDE the US -- consider the SATs to be a load of garbage?

Just curious.


EDIT: That is, unless they score really well.

[Marcus Johnson]

Literussy ain't everthang.

[Tbeers]

I actually just graduated high school. I don't think you understood, Johono5. By not possible, I meant... empirically not possible. Not that it will ever matter, I was just making conversation.

[Don Higdon]

Originally Posted by Ed Fuqua

I probably should be referred to as deflater mouse....

Die, Fledermaus.