Archived Updates
January 3rd 3005
February 10th 2005
I just finished the traces of rhythm festival in Holland and I just want to thank all my
friends and fans there for supporting me! I truly appreciate the people of Holland who have such open minds and a love for percussion! Here are some pictures, keepsakes and press clippings form the tour.
The highlights for me were:
The Metro Pole Orchestra concert of my Chamber Works, Zawinul's C R EOLO and the improvised composition. I shared with percussionists Arno van Nieuwenhuize, Eddie Koopman and Murk Jiskoot. The orchestra was so much better this time having done all the hard work last time!
I felt more relaxed and able to make a musical contribution too! Plus, Dick Baker's choice of adding the Zawinul piece to the program was such a wonderful event! I got to play a solo in E min. pentatonic over G maj. and live out my Zawinul lick fantasies!
I decided not to play a solo in the program and instead invite my drum brothers to share in a jam and we made a great composition up on the spot! I can't give enough praise to Eddie, Arno and Murk for supporting me in Metro Pole and smoking on this jam!
The percussion quartet w/ Arno van Nieuwenhuize (drummer w/Metro Pole) Arnold Marinissen (noted Dutch percussion soloist) and Le Quan Ninh (inventive French/Asian percussionist who plays various instruments rubbed on a bass drum).
This was pure magic!
Ninh was creating ambience that was like playing w/David Torn! At times I heard orchestras swelling (with the way he controls the harmonics!) or he could be as rhythmic as the baddest you've ever heard!
Arnold is a complete master of the new complexity but with the adventurous spirit of a child when he plays! He uses his voice, a musical saw, mallet instruments and any and all percussion to express himself. I was a little intimidated by his stature as a musician until we played! Then he exhibited the love and spirit of improvisation that is all inclusive putting me at ease and going places that were totally surprising and inspiring to me!
Another thing is that Arno has been a rock for me to hold on to in Metro Pole. In a way he reminds me of the chemistry that I have with Chad Wackerman. His chops and technique are flawless! He never makes mistakes plus he listens and always makes you sound right. Then he adds his voice and direction to the mix in the most musical and tasteful ways! In essence, a joy to play with always!
The railway project, "De Slag" was Jeroen Van Vliet's composition for a multi-media event w/90 armature percussionists, video tape, audio taped FX. Dancers and choreography staged in a huge industrial setting, (the repair station hall of Tillburg's train system! This place had giant cranes for moving trains sideways!! I was honored by being put in the middle of it all and getting to solo and play along!!
My solo shows in 013, Hedon and Boerderij were fun and inventive for me. I did not want to do my previously done solo drum music, so I improvised new stuff and played with some ambient pre-recorded loop compositions which I did on my computer. I played some Miles/Zawinul covers like 'Directions', R ated x', 'Spanish Key' (from Bitches' Brew) and even Tony Williams' Lifetime 'Emergency.
I finished with a clinic/solo show at Adam's World where I also got a tour of the factory. It's where they make Timpani, Vibes and Marimbas. It was an impressive setup!
Especially the huge presses for stamping and forming the Timpani's copper bowls! (Thanks to Frans and Fon !)
This was an info rmal performance at Paradox jazz club and was made wonderful by arranger Martin Fondse, who got bassist Eric Van De Westen and saxophonist Guido Nijs. We were able to "improvise in a compositional manner"! We were joined by Arnold Marinissen who always "kicked it up a notch" each time he came in with his saw or inventive vocal percussion.
Equally exciting for me was to attend some other performances of new music and rare percussion music like" Acustica" by Mauricio Kagel and "Bows and Bruises", a program from Percussion Group the Hague and dancers.
Much thanks to my tech Michel Weekhout for all his assistance, to my friend Co de Cloet from NPS (we signed the contracts for the Metro Pole Chamber Works CD which will come out in the spring!) Thanks to Jan and Dirk for their assistance and support and to my friends Kees Kaya, Cesar Zuiderwijk (also master chef Henk Savelberg for the wonderful meals!) To all at Metro Pole, my arranged recomposer/pianist friend Martin Fondse, Henny van de Abbeelen at Pustjens Percussion Products.
Thanks to Geurt andTraces- thanks so much for inviting me and putting me in these stimulating performance situations!
Thanks especially to my dear friend Erk Willemsen from Slagwerkkrant, who really is responsible for all my successes in Holland ! He is now busy with his Big Bang Festival with my idol Doudou N'Diaye R ose and my dear friends Chad Wackerman and Luis Conte (joined by the influential Bill Bruford) ...boy, do i wish i was part of that ensemble!!
I just finished mixing the audio for the new terry bozzio/chad wackerman DVD: "D2" (duets 2) w/engineer/producer mark younger-smith @ mixture studios in Austin , TX .
All I can say is "Wow!" This thing is on fire!!! Chad is burning and we are interacting like we were joined at the hip!! Chad and I are more melodic than ever before (he has added tuned piccolo toms and another floor tom which he is tuning so we can compliment each other) I'm in heaven with my new chromatic kit with more bass notes etc, so the compositions are really musical.
Mark is one of the best engineers I've ever worked with! The sound is huge! The imaging is real deep and it should sound great in 5.1 systems!
I worked with mark for the first time a few months earlier on a track that I did for a Magna Carta compilation (which is out now and we're taking orders for it). The track is called "sick jazz surgery" which he made sound incredible! It's got all kinds of ambient samples, flute/vocoder stuff, a glockenspiel solo, piccolo tom solos, and some smoking jazz drumming as well as serious drum solos in a power/progressive mode.
Mark is also a guitarist and songwriter (he played for 7 years w/Billy idol after Steve Stevens left. (small world!) Anyway, I'm so glad I have him here in Austin because this guy can make music sound great!
The D2 DVD will be available soon in music stores everywhere and from www.terrybozzio.com . Additionally we have re-mastered our first duets video to DVD and it is available now.
|
