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We revere Tony Williams. Drum royalty. One of the true greats of jazz drums, nay drums writ large. Real ones know. Everybody from Vinnie Colauita to Mike Mitchell credits Tony for quantum-leaping the genre. His performance are masterclasses in raw emotion balanced with control.
And that’s exactly why this controversial hot take from a clinic in 1985 might rub you the wrong way. Because it’s about the control side of “emotion balanced with control”.
First off, I love all my commenters. And you know what comes with a “but”, and the “but” is that there’s a sizable contingent I like to call the “just feelers”. Who are probably directionally right if they’re giving advice to overly-cerebral drummers. “This is supposed to feel good. It’s supposed to happen in your guts; not your brain.”
But that last clause needs another word. “Not just your brain.”
Because at least Tony Williams thought control was important. That raw emotion was mostly interesting in relationship to control. That he didn’t want to be “reeeeally hoping something worked”. He wanted to know for sure. And that’s not going to sit well with everybody.
Because it’s one thing if I say “practice, you guys. Control is important.”
You can dismiss me as “too up in his head”/”too cerebral”. But Tony?
But for anyone tempted to dismiss the “just feelers” entirely, they have at least half the equation too.
This stuff is usually much easier to see when we take it out of the realm of music. Do we hope pilots and astronauts have a good “seat of the pants”/”stick and rudder” sense of what to do, and good aviating instincts? Of course!
Do we think those develop without years of study and training?
How about doctors?
My favorite type of hot take is one that’s not really that controversial once you look into, but which still gets people up in arms. It’s like an underpriced stock. Anyway, my hot take on this hot Wednesday afternoon is that you need both the cerebral - the control - and the rawness - the emotion.
And “stick around” for when I reveal why that’s like golf.
At any rate, hope you enjoy!