Guilty on all counts, Buddy was a taskmaster who didn’t truck any semblance of imperfection.
To be fair, though, he clearly spelled this out to all musicians he hired. He had uncompromising ground rules, and each musician had to ante up excellence in order to get into his band.
He demanded godlike precision and execution of all, but most primarily of himself. The guy was absolutely no saint, but he was definitely a stone cold killer musician who truly believed an audience deserves nothing less than perfection.
I kinda get that… but I don’t subscribe to that anymore (personally). Sure, big pop stadium acts (or musicals etc) should be done as flawless as possible. But, smaller live music almost needs tiny miscues, imperfections, or hiccups in order to make the music human and authentic. It’s still professional (not least because most people hardly notice), but it makes it “real” for me.
Hearing and appreciating the “humanness” of a performer is real and, to many lsteners, endearing.
On the other hand, what Buddy demanded (of himself and, by extension, his band) was what many of the most famous artists have historically expected: perfection.
Right or wrong, agree or disagree, to not dig a musician’s relative adherence to perfection is akin to railing at the weather, or any other natural force outside of our control. In the final analysis, the only lasting importance of music is how it affects the listener. The precise way that effect is created, delivered, and the degree of adherence to playing perfectly is demanded of musicians to perform it for an audience is entirely up to the musician.
It was something that I had noticed after many listens; that is the drums wandering into a nonsensical on the studio cut, but yes, I have heard drum solos and jazz renditions in the past.
It’s a bit of a rite of passage for a drummer to solo over an odd meter vamp.
Take 5 is in 5/4 and the drummer is supposed to improvise without losing the underlying groove and time, i.e., they are improvising within a rigid rhythmical framework. Keeping 4/4 going in your head is commonplace for a drummer/musician, but to keep 5/4 going is much harder. The underlying vamp by the rest of the band is actually helpful in this context.
Yeah, it would seem that way… I guess it is because his ideas in this instance weren’t overly exciting!? After many a concert, he surely had come upon more “exciting” stuff to play. Still, he is not wandering - just not playing the main riff, but hitting off beats and playing against the riff etc. However, you can often hear him hit a kick or other drum right on the beat also. It’s all in time, just perhaps not overly adventurous… (then, again, this is a very chill, cool tune).
I was listening to this the other day. Thinking about how Jarrett’s right hand is the only part of this trio that still remains following Jack DeJohnette’s death last month. Jarrett had a stroke back in 2018 and his left hand is paralyzed.
(then, again, this is a very chill, cool tune).