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Pino on SNL W/D'Angelo

#41
pnchad said:
Pedestrian drummer (so so band) - can you explain why he has a percussionist for example?
Click to expand...
If you're well-aware of Questlove, who's worked with D'Angelo for 15+ years, you should know that he didn't just "start listening to MUSIC" and suddenly decided on an analog path or something.

Haha! Right, a so-so band. I've seen them live, one of the best bands I've seen in 35 years of seeing live music.

The percussionist is doing a broad range of other stuff, and he's not playing on a kit. Not sure how having that type of person in a band has ever meant the drummer was somehow a lesser musician.
 
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#42
The 'percussionist' duplicates the same simplistic fills and patterns as QL

If you love them great - I'm just putting it into perspective

This generation, no matter how earnest or sincere grew up with DJs & sequenced influences, not by choice but purely circumstances - I know QL is a big musicologist but...

He wouldn't have beat out the other drummers for a Holiday Inn lounge band 35 yrs ago - it's called a generational loss of institutional memory - the mentor/apprentice continuity was lost along with the dedication to practice

You don't practice if you can punch a drum machine or loop a guitar part

Enjoy but differentiate - someone above said 'great musician' - a great musician is Yoyo Ma or Miles Davis or Edgar Meyer or...

And, great music is compositions that stand the test of time

Not sure QL could sit on the Who drum thrown but Pino is a great musician
 
#44
My point won't be understood - be careful with accolades they're just like volume/dynamics - once you're on 11 there's nowhere to go

watch Brian Blade - anything he does - now he's a great drummer who I'd love to play with

To each his own
 
#47
pnchad said:
The 'percussionist' duplicates the same simplistic fills and patterns as QL

If you love them great - I'm just putting it into perspective

This generation, no matter how earnest or sincere grew up with DJs & sequenced influences, not by choice but purely circumstances - I know QL is a big musicologist but...

He wouldn't have beat out the other drummers for a Holiday Inn lounge band 35 yrs ago - it's called a generational loss of institutional memory - the mentor/apprentice continuity was lost along with the dedication to practice

You don't practice if you can punch a drum machine or loop a guitar part

Enjoy but differentiate - someone above said 'great musician' - a great musician is Yoyo Ma or Miles Davis or Edgar Meyer or...

And, great music is compositions that stand the test of time

Not sure QL could sit on the Who drum thrown but Pino is a great musician
Click to expand...

FWIW and at the risk of feeding a troll, Questlove was accepted to Julliard.

Everyone probably has different definitions of musical greatness. In addition to instrumental prowess, Yo Yo Ma, Miles Davis, Edgar Meyer, Brian Blade all have/had big ears and open minds.
 
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#50
pnchad said:
The 'percussionist' duplicates the same simplistic fills and patterns as QL

If you love them great - I'm just putting it into perspective

This generation, no matter how earnest or sincere grew up with DJs & sequenced influences, not by choice but purely circumstances - I know QL is a big musicologist but...

He wouldn't have beat out the other drummers for a Holiday Inn lounge band 35 yrs ago - it's called a generational loss of institutional memory - the mentor/apprentice continuity was lost along with the dedication to practice

You don't practice if you can punch a drum machine or loop a guitar part

Enjoy but differentiate - someone above said 'great musician' - a great musician is Yoyo Ma or Miles Davis or Edgar Meyer or...

And, great music is compositions that stand the test of time

Not sure QL could sit on the Who drum thrown but Pino is a great musician
Click to expand...
No, the percussionist is not generally doubling Questlove's fills. At any rate, Questlove's done a lot of live and studio work without that percussionist.

Saying the drummer for a band that plays live 5 nights a week on national TV, playing a wide variety of genres, couldn't earn the spot in a lounge band 35 years ago is ludicrous. Your profile says you're only 8 years older than me, but honestly it sounds like your musical tastes calcified 35 years ago.

Oh well, here's a couple videos of Questlove live that I dig. You'll probably dismiss them, but whatever. I'm posting them for anyone reading this thread.



 
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#51
SethD said:
FWIW and at the risk of feeding a troll, Questlove was accepted to Julliard.

Everyone probably has different definitions of musical greatness. In addition to instrumental prowess, Yo Yo Ma, Miles Davis, Edgar Meyer, Brian Blade all have/had big ears and open minds.
Click to expand...

They have big ears, open minds and high standards
 
#54
pnchad said:
The 'percussionist' duplicates the same simplistic fills and patterns as QL

If you love them great - I'm just putting it into perspective

This generation, no matter how earnest or sincere grew up with DJs & sequenced influences, not by choice but purely circumstances - I know QL is a big musicologist but...

He wouldn't have beat out the other drummers for a Holiday Inn lounge band 35 yrs ago - it's called a generational loss of institutional memory - the mentor/apprentice continuity was lost along with the dedication to practice

You don't practice if you can punch a drum machine or loop a guitar part

Enjoy but differentiate - someone above said 'great musician' - a great musician is Yoyo Ma or Miles Davis or Edgar Meyer or...

And, great music is compositions that stand the test of time

Not sure QL could sit on the Who drum thrown but Pino is a great musician
Click to expand...

You proved that you don't know what you are talking about with this post. D'Angelo has been playing music and releasing albums with live music for twenty plus years. The man helped create Neosoul. Conceptually, this new album was influenced a lot by later Sly and the Family Stone, especially There's a Riot Going On (1971.) That would explain some of the drum machine feel of the album since Sly was pioneering drum machine use on that album.

You can do a YouTube search and see that the man is a gifted player on keyboard and guitar. It seems that with R&B threads there is always someone who knows just enough to not realize his ignorance and arrogance. Having some sort of idea of what you don't know, or respecting a genre enough not to make baseless blanket statements is gift everyone does not have.

Pino has done interviews where he talked about what he learned playing with D'Angelo, Raphael Saddiq, and other Neosoul players. It so happens that Pino is so gifted that he quickly grasped their approach to rhythm, but Pino grasps everything quickly!
 
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#56
Dr. Cheese said:
Pino has done interviews where he talked about what he learned playing with D'Angelo, Raphael Saddiq, and other Neosoul players. It so happens that Pino is so gifted that he quickly grasped their approach to rhythm, but Pino grasps everything quickly!
Click to expand...

It's insane how he sounds like a different person entirely in the neosoul context. When playing pop music, I often try to emulate Pino's phrasing or write lines like I think he would. If a neosoul musician asked me to play like pino, it'd take me a million tries to still get it wrong. The guy is a chameleon.
 
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#58
dtsamples said:
It's insane how he sounds like a different person entirely in the neosoul context. When playing pop music, I often try to emulate Pino's phrasing or write lines like I think he would. If a neosoul musician asked me to play like pino, it'd take me a million tries to still get it wrong. The guy is a chameleon.
Click to expand...

That is what people who call this music poor don't get. The feel is quite tricky even if the actual notes played don't seem challenging.
 
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#59
I listened to "The Charade" all day yesterday. Things I noticed about the live performance:

D'Angelo has that cocky drummer I saw somewhere years ago. He stands up at the end of the song sometimes pretty much commanding everyone to kneel. He's awesome. Always wondered what became of that guy. I'm sure he's been all over the place and I just haven't seen him.

Everything about D'Angelo is unique. I can only imagine how many times a band had to rehearse that tune. I haven't heard music that sophisticated since Bebop. He uses music theory to get his point across.

Pino can't read music and he still got the gig.
 
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#60
The drummer is John Blackwell. He played with Prince for many years! Not only a master drummer, he's an excellent showman hence the 'look at me' antics. On another note, I wish this forum had members with a wider taste in music. Many times certain genres get put down due mainly to ignorance or other reasons, some clear some not so clear. You can't speak knowledge on a subject you have no experience with but it happens quite a lot here. Pino is a great player because he is accepting of ALL musics and has a strong understanding of how they work! Bass playing for D'Angelo is challenging because he basically created that style! I thought it was odd until I started listening intently to it. I get it. As for percussionists mirroring drummers in a band......really? Go listen to Latin, Cuban, African and other World music and get back to me!
 
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