From an Email Written to a musician Friend in St. Louis

Bob;

I played my Mandolin on the 16^th Street Mall in Denver yesterday evening and it was fulfilling.

The Five String Banjo Player and Myself played just east of the Clock Tower on the 16 Street Mall.

The Young Man who plays a Five String Banjo showed up and I played with him. That is the first time I have ever played with anyone else, other than with my own accompaniment using multi track recording.

I did well playing the Mandolin with him. I was a little surprised at how well I did. I found music I had never played before while playing the Mandolin.

It’s wild that the way the Mandolin is tuned, in 5ths and the timbre or tone of the instrument is such that I automatically find music on it. I’m not really a Bluegrass player. Even though I get into listening to Bluegrass, the rhythm patterns and the feel of the music is just not my natural music to play. However, the Banjo player does not in reality play Bluegrass, not real Bluegrass, not the Bill Monroe Bluegrass. He is so much an individualist that he does have his own style when he plays music and I think this is great for it is the only way a person can be truly artistic when playing music.

I can fit in with his music, at least to some degree, enough that it sounds good and he can adapt to my style, at least somewhat. I think it is only a matter of us playing together enough to adapt to each other’s music and we will come up with music that is most enjoyable to play. It does take some time to adapt to each other.

Since he has been playing alone for all the time he has played the Banjo he has developed some habits that a person develops who plays alone. Playing alone and with no drum machine, he can and does phrase in such a way that is not always completely in meter. But it is close to being in meter. He does have a good sense of time so he can play in meter. It’s just a matter of habit, of being able to use getting slightly out of meter to express something musically. This happens to all Solo Players who never play with a Metronome or a Drum Machine.

John Lee Hooker played Solo for so many years it was close to impossible for him to play completely in meter. Music experts and the guys he played with noticed that. I talked to someone who toured with John Lee Hooker. He said John Lee Hooker would often say, "You guys just lay back and do not play on this song. You can play on the next song." I think for many songs John Lee Hooker preferred to play alone so he could do his out of meter phrasing to the utmost so it would express what he wanted to express musically.

All the old time Solo Street Players played a little out of meter. When Lightin Hopkins played solo he too phrased slightly out of meter. One music critic wrote that this was when Lightin Hopkins did his most artistic music and that was probably true. However, Lightin Hopkins played with other musicians enough that he would automatically play in meter when he played with a band.

Playing highly artistic music where phrasing is done slightly out of meter is done by only the most Artistic Solo Players and I think to some degree it is done by symphony orchestras under the direction of a gifted conductor for the symphony orchestra becomes one instrument played by the Conductor and therefore the Conductor can phrase slightly out of meter whenever they want to do that and some of them choose to do that as part of their artistry in music.

To do the very highly refined playing that is done by the best Jazz Players, one must play with other musicians that do play in meter, completely. A musician can get the highly refined and super smooth playing by playing with the best drum machines with rhythm patterns that do not sound mechanical or robotic. And there are drum machines like that. The Midi Rhythm patterns in the Voyetra recording program do not sound Robotic. I’m not sure how they achieve this but they do not sound Robotic. Of course they do not sound as good as the drums of a gifted drummer.

Bob Wills, the man who actually Founded Western Swing Music often changed tempo and he played out of meter at times. He conducted his band to play out of meter to express what he wanted to express musically on some songs. The now famous Jazz Guitarist that played with Bob Wills has told that one song the band recorded was played out of meter and that if he played with a band that played it in meter, he could barely play the song. The Guitar Player had been conditioned by Bob Wills to play the song out of meter and that is the way his inner artistic mind wanted to play that particular song. I think that Bob Wills greatest musical genius was not as a Fiddle player but instead was in his composing, conducting, and arranging.

Well getting back to the Five String Banjo Player and myself playing together.

As I was walking home after playing with the Banjo Player I heard some really neat music parts for my Mandolin. I’m sure the parts I heard came because of the parts I heard the Banjo player play. The music I heard in my mind were not copies of the Banjo Players licks, they were complimentary licks to what he was playing. I have to believe that if we play together enough I will be able to incorporate the Mandolin Licks I hear in my mind into the music I play with him. That will be neat and I’ll love it.

The Banjo player has the street music down pat. He has developed this way of making the people who hear him like him personally as well as his music. This is money in the bank for a street musician. The street musician I knew in St. Louis had this ability. I think the street players who can actually earn a living intuitively learn how to make the audience love them personally, as well as their music. They actually make many friends in the course of playing music on the street.

I expect that when I go down to the 16^th Street Mall I will run into the Banjo player, I’m hoping this will happen on a regular basis. However, the Banjo Player is as erratic as many of the best musicians are so it is not completely predictable of how often I will see him and be able to play with him on the 16^th Street Mall. I’m hoping we get together often for I feel that together we can have an act that might well become popular in the Denver/Boulder area.

That is the News from Denver.

Lee

The Mandolin Man