Re: Bill Frisell

In article <37mdnfc3srSg-azbnZ2dnUVZ_vCknZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxx>,
"volkfolk" <volkfolk@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:



I was at Berklee in 83 and 84. I didn't live in the dorms though. Jane and I
lived at 28 Heminway St. I didn't have a great experience there, with the
exception of being able to study with John Neves. I wanted to get into the
engineering/production end of things and they were so strict at the time
about getting your reading together before you could get into the studio
that I never got to see the inside of the control room.

so we were there at the same time! I also studied with John and he was a
great human being and an excellent teacher. He got me to start singing
what I wanted to play.

I did do the MP&E program. I don't think you missed a whole lot. I
started in the summer of '82, so when I did my initial audition (with
John Repucci), they gave me 5s so they could fill some ensembles. I
don't think I deserved it and it didn't serve me well because it meant
that I bypassed all the workshops that would have prepared me better. I
did play in project bands and audition bands, though, so I got a lot of
time to think on my feet (and it never meant I had to do a ratings
audition, since the judges would rate me according to the how did while
they were rating everyone else. Again, it was a mixed blessing, as it
made life very easy at the time, but I never had to go through the
stress of the auditions.).



The next year, I was living back home in CT and studying with Jorma at the
New School in Greenwich Village. That was a much more satisfying experience
for me, both musically and personally. It was a real confidence boost,
because they only accepted a limited number of students per class, and you
had to audition for the class.

What a great opportunity!


I also had the opportunity to play with Ronnie Earl for a couple of months
about eight or ten years ago. I was working in a day program for mentally
retarded and autistic adults, teaching music, art and life skills classes.
My supervisor told me that "some guitar player named Ronnie Earl" wanted to
come in a couple of times a month and run a music group and "was I
interested in working with him?" After I picked my jaw up off the floor I
said "Absolutely!!"

Ronnie is an extremely generous guy, and we played together for three or
four groups per day, three or four times a month. It was way fun and a great
learning experience

but I didn't take any classes from him. It was a weird time to be there,
as
the influence of Stern, Sco, Jaco, Pat, etc was still there, but the
school was heading into a serious spandex phase.

Yeah it was really strange to watch the metamorphosis. What was even odder
was to be a hardcore Deadhead in that environment. NOBODY accepted the Dead
during that period. The jazz guys thought that they were hacks, and the
metal guys thought that the Dead just plain sucked


There were a few of us! I had a core group of friends who were
definitely on the bus. In fact, we got to do some great experimental
music at Berklee, including the recital that made the administration
decide they better have rules about recitals. On leap year day of the
year of Orwell, we did a multimedia recital in 1W that featured some
very radical political street performers addressing nuclear war, the
corruption of agribusiness and other aspects of life under Reagan. That
kind of thing is the thing I miss the most about my time there.

I took ear training for a while with Peter Bell (who was known for his
stints with Bonnie Raitt and James Montgomery) and for one of the
assignments I transcribed Jerry's solo from Looks Like Rain from a 70s
Providence show. Peter was a suprised by it as I don't think he had ever
really listened to Jerry before and seemed to like how it went through
the changes while being so melodic. Of course, I was immediately blown
out of the water as the next guy, Mordy Ferber, who had been an ace
session dude in Israel showed everyone his transcription of a John
Abercrombie/Mick Goodrick duet, which was not only note perfect, but he
could play both parts. Mordy had no business being in the class, but
they made him start from the beginning.

When the Dead came around, there would be a caravan of 20 or 30 of us
that would all go. It was a pretty cool scene. It's too bad we didn't
get to hang out then!

Edwin
--
".....most propaganda is not designed to fool the critical thinker but
only to give moral cowards an excuse not to think at all."
-- Michael Rivero
.

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