[BruteCircuit]

There is a you tube video taken from what looks like a video phone. Its titled

James Carter at Rick's Boatyard Omaha NE

Its only 1:10 long but at one point (exactly :31s) he does this thing that i can describe. Maybe throat tones. I have heard John Zorn do this as well on alto though. Does anyone know how to make that noise really? Its just sooo balllllsy i want that sound!

Please if anyone knows and can tell me succinctly what is precisely going on. I would REALLY REALLY appreciate it. Its been bothering me for almost a year when i saw Zorn in NYC @ Tonic.

Thanks

Marcus

 

[Il Padrino]

Can't help, but would also love to know. I've heard him do it before, his solo on the Phil Collins Big Band Live at Montreux (he guests on Pick Up The Pieces) and blows an incredible solo.

Thanks for the link/tip though, have just checked You Tube, and have never heard Cherokee played at such high altissimo notes, staccato at that!

 

[BruteCircuit]

I know

His Altissimo is absurd! I know- I think it might be his set-up but it's not stopping me from attempting it.

 

[Mike Cesati]

My Man, it's not the set up . It's the guy blowing it.

 

[BruteCircuit]

My Man, it's not the set up . It's the guy blowing it.

Of course it is the guy blowing it. But that one sound that he makes!??!! I just dont get it. I can tongue altissimo for hours but that splitting sound that he does. at 31s It's like he is dropping a baby in boiling acid. Crazy. I have only tried his Geoff Lawton once and there were some wierd sounds you can get out of it. Try one you will know what i mean.

I need an actual instruction

 

[jazzbluescat]

I'd like to hear it, if you'd be so kind as to post a link. Or, is there a link hidden somewhere that I'm missing.

 

[Dave Collins]

 

[EZ]

Dave -

Please email me.

[email protected]

 

[JCBigler]

I know what that is.

You know how you practice overtones when you first start out working on altissimo? Well, that's just him overblowing, like a fifteenth on whatever he's playing. Usually, as you go up the horn (i.e. shorten the tube) it gets harder to get those over tones. All he's doing is playing some line, and over blowing to get the higher harmonics, and what ends up happening is he's getting a multiphonic sound. It's really like three different things going on:

1) the basic line that he' playing
2) the multiphonic/overtone of the line
3) and some trills, lip slurs, shakes, etc...

There might be some growling, too, but it's hard to distinguish what's what. FWIW, I don't think it really matters what key you're playing in, or that you are in the same harmonic set up as the rest of the band at this point. The idea is that you are distoring the sound and pushing the solo to it's limit.

 

[area51recording]

I dig it at the end where he turns around and you hear it bouncing off the wall....that whole thing is sick!

 

[dpmusic]

i just can't get into him. his playing is so gimmicky....he's definitely hella practiced his altissimo though. props to him for that. but i don't want to hear it..cause i hate his tone!

 

[JCBigler]

i just can't get into him. his playing is so gimmicky....he's definitely hella practiced his altissimo though. props to him for that. but i don't want to hear it..cause i hate his tone!

dude. dOOd.... I just don't know what to say...

 

[pc1234]

dude. dOOd.... I just don't know what to say...

Actually, I get where dpmusic is coming from. There seems to come a point in every James Carter solo where I feel like I've stopped watching a musician and have started watching a circus act. It's harsh, but I just can't help my reaction. His natural talent is obviously huge - I'm just not a fan of what he does with it, and have never sought out his recorded music as a result.

 

[renaissance_man]

I agree with both JCBigler and pc1234. Carter is obviously a very complex and soulful brother who is not afraid to take chances, but as a result, tastefulness is sometimes compromised. However, there is one clip of him on the trusty 'Tube that's absolutely genius. He is smokin'. I would recommend it especially to those that feel that he can't play a solo without becoming more entertainer than musician.

(I hope that I haven't hijacked, since the question that opened this thread has been answered.)

 

[dpmusic]

that clip is ever slightly more bearable, but i still hate the way he sounds. it sounds like some kind of grinder, and it's grinding my ears. it's like a perpetual growl. i can understand sounding like that in certain spots...using it, oh i don't know, artistically...but his sound never changes. and i hate that sound! technically he's just ridiculously good...
but if i don't like your tone, i can't listen to you!..so it doesn't matter if you have the best technique in the history of music. if i hate your tone, then I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOU.

 

[pc1234]

Renaissance_man - Thanks very much for that clip. That's one of the rare ones I've seen where I really felt like he was making music. Probably it has something to do with the fact that he's doing a duet with an acoustic bass - where pyrotechnics don't really have a place. Just proves that he can do it when he wants -- and there's no doubting his technical prowess.

 

[Kelly Bucheger]

that clip is ever slightly more bearable, but i still hate the way he sounds.

Regarding James's sound, I don't think he's well-served by recordings, and that YouTube clip (which I enjoy a lot) does him absolutely no justice in that regard.

In person, his sound is HUGE and, I don't know, extravagant, to the point of being ridiculous, but also lush and beautiful and complex. It fills a room and needs no mic.

The recordings I've heard capture some of that bigness but lose the subtleties and the nuance and the good stuff.

 

[JuliusTole]

He uses his powers for the Dark Side. but I respect him like I respect the power of Darth Vader.

 

[JCBigler]

to those that feel that he can't play a solo without becoming more entertainer than musician.

And we come to the whole argument over the intrinsic/extrinsic nature of music. Is it art for art's sake, or art for something else's sake? Is is art by itself removed from any human person, or is it art because it's expressing the soul of the musician, or is it art because it's speaking to the listener?

How about this duet with Joshua Redman at Carnegie Hall?

I don't think that ANY musician should be judged by the quality of sound on YouTube. YouTube highly compresses the audio quality, and they are usually recorded on cell phones, or crappy handy cams.

 

[pc1234]

And we come to the whole argument over the intrinsic/extrinsic nature of music. Is it art for art's sake, or art for something else's sake? Is is art by itself removed from any human person, or is it art because it's expressing the soul of the musician, or is it art because it's speaking to the listener?

How about this duet with Joshua Redman at Carnegie Hall?

I don't think that ANY musician should be judged by the quality of sound on YouTube. YouTube highly compresses the audio quality, and they are usually recorded on cell phones, or crappy handy cams.

I've seen the Redman/Carter duet clip before. I enjoyed the Redman stuff at first. Then it devolved into a screeching match between the two of them (guess who started it?).

I'm not trying to make a high falutin' argument about "art." I'm just saying that James Carter's playing doesn't do it for me. I think he tends to grandstand, and that to me is not "risk taking." It's the opposite.