Re: (TV) Richard speaks on FB/Billy's drumming

[Jesse Hochstadt <jesseh58@yahoo.com>]

Billy's a jazz drummer? I must have missed all the jazz records he appeared on, 
playing with jazz musicians. (Sorry for the sarcasm.) He's not a hard-rock 
drummer, but it seems to me he's more a "jazzy" drummer than a jazz drummer, 
much as Tom's fondness for atmospheric, "jazzy" movie-type themes (as on much of 
Warm & Cool) doesn't make him a jazz guitarist. I'm not a huge jazz fan, so this 
isn't coming from defending my "turf." To be fair I'm not a huge fan of hard 
genre lines either.

Mitch Mitchell struck me as much more of a jazz drummer, and he was very open 
about the influence of jazz players like Elvin Jones on his drumming.

Other (primarily) rock musicians who have played "real" jazz include:

- Charlie Watts (his discography at 
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/charlie-watts-p7789/discography actually shows 
more jazz records than I realized).

- Ginger Baker, who started as a jazz drummer and has been back playing it for 
many years, with folks like Bill Frisell and Dave Holland (I've heard next to 
nothing of this work).

- Bill Bruford, who was never a typical rock player in the first place, but who 
sought to play "real" jazz (as opposed to fusion) later in his career. (I use 
the past tense because he's retired, which seems to me a strange thing for a 
physically healthy musician to do.)

There must be many more, but those are the ones who sprang to my mind first.

- Jesse


----- Original Message ----
> From: Graham Urquhart <gurquhart@madasafish.com>
> To: tv@obbard.com
> Cc: postitnote <postitnote@sbcglobal.net>
> Sent: Sun, June 12, 2011 5:40:53 PM
> Subject: Re: (TV) Richard speaks on FB/Billy's drumming
> 
> Doesn't make much sense to me either. Billy has always been a jazz 
> drummer  hasn't he?
> 
> Graham
> 
> On 12/06/2011 14:09, postitnote wrote:
> >  Well, this speaks to what I was asking about earlier...what Richard meant  
>when
> > he stated that he had to defend Billy Ficca for the last 35  yrs.  But this
> > doesn't make alot of sense to me.  Richard says  that Tom didn't care for 
his
> > "jazz-crap" style of playing.  But Tom  has a love for jazz and wasn't Billy
> > playing in a jazz band already when  they urged him to come to NY and join
> > them?  So Tom would have  already been familiar w/ his jazz-style of 
playing,
> > no?   It's hard  to imagine that Tom wanted more of a rock-style drummer 
when
> > Billy's  drumming seems to go so well w/ the music.
> >
> > Anyone else have any  thoughts on this?
> >
> >
> > --- On Sat, 6/11/11, Phil Obbard<pobbard@yahoo.com>   wrote:
> >
> > From: Phil Obbard<pobbard@yahoo.com>
> > Subject: (TV)  Richard speaks on FB
> > To: "Marquee Moon Mailing List"<tv@obbard.com>
> > Date: Saturday, June  11, 2011, 5:45 PM
> >
> > Lots of interesting TV history coming from  Richard in a Facebook thread on 
>his
> > wall ostensibly about Malcolm  McLaren.
> >
> > For example:
> >
> > "It was myself who decided  to tell Terry Ork to speak to Richard Meyers 
>about
> > my
> > interest  in forming a band with him. Hell (Meyers) worked at the movie 
>poster
> >  shop Cinemabilia where Tom would come by to have lunch with Hell. They  
were
> > best
> > friends, and had done the "Neon Boys" three song  single a year before. Tom 
>and
> > Richard came down to visit me at my home,  in the front room of Terry's loft
> > and
> > I pitched it. We passed my  guitar between myself and Tom and then Richard
> > (Hell)
> > and Tom  went near the door and whispered about it. They came back and Tom 
>said
> >  yes. But Hell didn't want to play bass, especially with Tom, because Tom  
>acted
> > like a dictator, and Richard said that he didn't want to go  through THAT
> > again.
> > I talked Hell into trying it, and then Tom  and I talked about drummers and 
>Tom
> > invited Billy Ficca from Boston and  let him stay at Tom's Lower east-side 
>apt.
> > The first week of rehearsals  Tom took me aside and was frustrated at 
Billy's
> > Jazz crap, and he said  that he couldn't understand what happened to Bill
> > because
> > he  used to be such a steady rock drummer, and he wanted to kick him out. I
> >  talked Tom out of it although a couple months later when Billy went to  
>visit
> > his
> > dad in Delaware we auditioned other drummers. I fought  for Bill for 35 
>years.
> > And now since I quit in 2004, and the contract  calls for three members to 
>use
> > the name, he HAS to use Bill and Fred to  continue under the name 
Television,
> > replacing me with his pal Ripp.  Otherwise we would sue. Tom and hell each
> > wrote
> > songs and I was  in the middle and sang 2 gs, "Hot Dog and "What I heard". -
> > Tom
> >  sang 4 and Richard sang 4, and Tom was "musical director", but Hell did  
ALL
> > the
> > Posters, and I kept the whole shebang from falling  apart. And when we 
>started
> > playing CBGB's, Terry and I booked it for 2  and a half years. Chew on THAT.
> > Now
> > that I have officially quit,  I can speak the truth, because when we were 
>still
> > together I didn't want  to contradict Tom for the band's sake. Now we are 
>older
> > and I can speak  freely. Not with regret or remorse, but facts and the truth
> > behind the  scenes."
> >
> > More (including Marty Thau?!)
> > at:  http://www.facebook.com/richard.lloyd1/posts/167633229967890
> >
> >  --Phil
> > --------------
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