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Zwee Dot! with Kelly Sill
Zwee Dot! with Kelly Sill
Date Posted: November 06 2010
Written By: kelly sill
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Hand Jive (Blue Note 1994)
“I’ll Take Les”
John Scofield – Guitar
Bill Stewart – Drums
Don Alias – Percussion
Dennis Irwin – Bass
Eddie Harris – Tenor sax
Larry Goldings – Organ, piano
0:02 Here they go.
0:04 It’s a nice feel.
0:08 Even eighth-notes; I think this is my first duple-feel column.
0:19 Sounds like a Les McCann thing for a second. That wouldn’t have been Eddie’s idea.
0:32 Scofield wrote the head; it sounds just like Eddie blowing!
0:38 It’s sparse, and nicely construced.
0:43 They’re also phrasing just the same way.
0:48 Mostly.
0:55 Key change.
1:04 Quite a mood change. Up to now it’s been in Eddie’s personalty–– now it’s Schofield’s personality.
1:10 Now we are back to Eddie.
1:17 Nice.
1:22 Good sendoff.
1:28 Very subtle start for Scofield, just like Eddie would do.
1:38 Beautiful spaces between the phrases.
1:46 He’s getting a lot of different tones out for a very nuanced enunciation.
1:54 Great––he’s using a lot of Eddie’s phrasing devices.
2:06 Larry understands how to comp behind Scofield; and Bill is gorgeous.
2:19 Dennis is creating such a beautiful foundation that you barely notice he’s there–– great way to play the
bass!
2:25 A lot of different tones.
2:42 Now he’s sounding less like Eddie and more like himself.
2:49 Really nice groove from the four rhythm section players––yeah!
3:09 Now it sounds like Eddie with his “three oscillators” device!
3:13 Yeow! That almost sounded like they skipped to another tune.
3:18 New feel, new texture, new key. Wow!
3:24 Same bass line, though.
3:29 And back to the head.
3:39 Bam!
3:45 Eddie––subtle.
3:59 Beautiful construction.
4:15 He draws you right in.
4:24 Themes and numerous variations––I love it.
4:27 Able to leap octaves in a single bound.
4:38 Eddie is also able to develop long, beautiful phrases.
4:55 Scofield is playing exactly the right thing. The whole rhythm section is kick-butt. 5:00 Man, that’s high.
5:09 Eddie loved to accompany hiself.
5:21 Man, beautiful variations––how does he do that?
5:31 It sounds like he could go on for hours.
5:36 I wonder if it is a splice––it sure changes abruptly.
5:45 Eddie sounds like he’s in a different place––I wonder.
5:59 Spooky.
6:05 Oh, oh––hinting the head.
6:11 And there it is.
6:23 Looping just the first part––like a mantra.
6:37 Fading out.
6:50 Beautiful!
7:00 And they’re out.
7:02 Another beautiful cut!
I worked with Eddie Harris for a number of years. His influence on my accompaniment and soloing concepts was crucial. He was a great person and a great musician. This cut exemplifies for me what Eddie was about. I miss Eddie.
nCJM
Bassist Kelly Sill once gave an explanation of what he calls the “god-essence” moments in jazz—those moments that transcend the music itself and form a spiritual connection between the artist and the listener. As a particular example of this, Sill notes that on a live recording of “Stella By Starlight” an audience member squeals with joy when Miles Davis plays two simple notes—zwee dot!—on his trumpet. The name “Zwee dot!” stuck, and is now the name of his column. Sill uses classic jazz cuts to share his “listening” with us.
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