Vinnie Colaiuta - Master of the Polyrhythm

When people write about music with complex or unusual rhythms, they will often use the word 'polyrhythmic', without really understanding what it means.

A polyrhythm is not just playing in one rhythm or time signature, however complicated it might be.

A polyrhythm occurs where a soloist is playing over the main pulse of the music in a time that does not conform to that underlying pulse.

In compositional terms, the more the rhythm of a line rubs against the implied basic time (which in rock music is typically 4/4) the more 'statistical tension' is created. This requires the rhythm section to be able to respond to the soloist's rhythmic shifts - and still come back on the 1.

Most drummers can't do this. Frank Zappa put it this way: "Either a drummer will play steady time, in which case my guitar line will wander all over his time, or he will hear the polyrhythms and play inside them, implying the basic pulse for most rock drummers, accustomed as they are to life in the petrified forest of boom-boom-BAP!"

"The chances of finding a drummer, a bass player and a keyboard player who can conceive of those polyrhythms - let alone identify them fast enough to play a complementary figure on the moment - are not good."

Lucky for Zappa, he found such a drummer - the inimitable Vinnie Colaiuta. Of all the talented drummers operating in rock and jazz, Vinnie is considered the master of the polyrhythm. He played with Zappa in 1978 and '79, appearing most notably on the album Joe's Garage and, on video, in the Circus Krone concert filmed in Germany in 1978.

Vinnie playing with Frank Zappa, late '70s

He has recorded with a wide range of artists including several tracks that remain benchmarks for complexity. These include the Sting song 'Seven Days', Joni Mitchell's cover of 'You're So Square' and the Zappa tune 'Keep It Greasy'. I have listed some more of his recorded highlights at the foot of this piece.

Of the experience in FZ's band, he said, "Frank liked that I understood polyrhythms - bizarre groupings of rhythm that I was able to sort of play with him because he loved all that stuff.

"And for me, I think that one of the things he liked about the way I played was that he played guitar solos and I'm improvising with him, kind of having this dialogue with him."

The best musicians invariably wound up being hired by Zappa, if they could hack it. He was famously demanding of his hired players and, because Zappa was a master of compositional complexity, the musicians themselves had to be able to handle whatever Frank would throw at them.

Even someone as accomplished as Vinnie Colaiuta was initially intimidated by the prospect of trying out for Zappa's band. Here, Vinnie describes his audition.

On tour with Joni Mitchell, 1983

Vinnie became immensely popular as a drummer for hire and by 1980 he was able to quit Zappa's band and rely solely on being a session drummer. 

Some of the best sessions and albums he appeared on in the 1980s, include Gino Vannelli's 'Nightwalker', the amazing City Nights from the 'Secrets' album by Allan Holdsworth and The Three Graces by Jeff Beal - Vinnie plays on one half of the record and Dave Weckl is on the other half.

In 1982, he became part of Joni Mitchell's band for the 'Wild Things Run Fast' album and the subsequent tour of North America and Europe.

Wild Things was Joni's rockiest album, at least in parts and Vinnie plays some dazzling stuff, particularly on the title track, the song 'You Dream Flat Tires' and the cover of 'You're So Square'. The latter has a drum break that includes a polyrhythmic pattern that Vinnie nails by coming back in - magically - on the one.

In 1994, Vinnie released a solo album, showcasing, as he said, his many influences in jazz and rock music. And once again, within many of the tunes he demonstrates his unique ability to throw bizarre and, to ordinary mortals, unfathomable drum patterns into conventional rhythms. 

Another of his most astonishing displays was the jam band session at the legendary (but tiny!) Baked Potato live music bar in Hollywood.

It's just phenomenal. I have a DVD of this and I never tire of watching it. It's a fixed camera angle side-stage with an odd sound mix (that is, no mix) but you're right in there with Vinnie, to witness his groove, his swing, his outrageous flights of fancy and mastery of rhythm.

I have followed Vinnie's career from those early days with Zappa and I've been lucky enough to see him play live several times over five decades and in many different situations:

- with Frank Zappa at Knebworth in 1978 - my first time seeing Vinnie - a fun day at this open air festival in the UK. Zappa played the hits and there was a good spirit about the concert.

 - Joni Mitchell at Wembley in 1983 - Joni's partner and bassist Larry Klein, put a band together including Mike Landau on guitar and Russell Ferrante on keyboards. It was a real treat to see Joni playing with a rocking band, who were also able to bring out the sophistication in her songs, especially those more jazzy tunes from the late 70s. Vinnie was especially good at laying back on the beat here. Also this was the best sounding arena show I ever saw.

- with Chick Corea in 1992 - my wife and I were in New York at Christmas time and this particular evening, after dinner at a midtown restaurant, we headed down to Greenwich Village and the Blue Note jazz club. The Blue Note is not a big venue and Vinnie's drumkit was set up at the front of the stage, so there was going to be no getting way from him on this night. I credit my wife for not being overwhelmed by it, because this was an amazing display by the whole band - John Pattitucci on bass, Wallace Roney on trumpet, Bob Berg on sax and, of course, Chick Corea on keyboards. The clip linked to above is the trio recorded in Tokyo around the same time. 

- with Jeff Beck at the Royal Albert Hall in 2007 - My brother and I went to this show. David Gilmour came on for the encore.  

- with Herbie Hancock, 2006 - my wife's second experience of live Vinnie, in a bigger venue this time, Auckland's ASB theatre.  

Here's a collection of some of his best playing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7KbQtAeFlc

and here's some more:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnqNbKNGPXU

Here, he talks about his influences and how Tony Williams turned his head around.  

On being a session drummer

He's a monster drummer, that's all there is to it. 

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ALSO ON THIS BLOG:
What Mike Shrieve did after Santana

A Farewell To The Professor - Rush's Neil Peart

2-Tone and possibly my best gig ever

Queen's 1976 Free Concert in Hyde Park

Memories of the Reading Festival, 1975

Five Days of High Drama at the Isle of Wight, 1970

From Pinner to LA - Elton's Big Breakthrough, 1970

My Woodstock 50th Anniversary Diary

A Wizard, A True Star - my all-time favourite album

Blonde On Blonde - Bob Dylan's Artistic Peak in the 1960s

 Joni Mitchell - The Hissing of Summer Lawns

Jazz, blues and folk - More adventures in New York

I've written a couple of blogs recently on how New York is my favourite city for live music. The best musicians on the planet - the guys and gals playing on all your records - are either in NY or LA. Any night of the week, except probably Monday, you can see them playing in small clubs. 

Most recently, in the late summer of 2019, before we knew anything about lockdowns, I saw jazz guitarist Bill Frisell at the Village Vanguard, ahead of my epic trip upstate for the 50th anniversary of Woodstock.

This little jazz club in Greenwich Village is where John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Keith Jarrett (Nude Ants) and other legends have recorded live albums. The traditions of excellent musicianship have endured through the decades and Frisell has been a regular here for years, sometimes confounding his local followers with yet another change of direction. 

The guy I sat next to had been coming here for several years from his home in New Jersey and told how Frisell had experimented with different guitar sounds (he uses a lot of effects pedals) and styles (surf music, 50s rock) in a hit-and-miss fashion over recent years. 

Thankfully, tonight he was back to playing little in the way of 'experimental' sounds. His three-piece jazz band improvised around half a dozen tunes for 90 minutes straight - no between song breaks - just one tune merging into the next, seamlessly. That's impressive.

No video from that night, but here's a clip that's right up to date. Bill's trio playing a lockdown concert (masks and all) outside his home in Brooklyn. 

And what follows is a selection of the choicest NY gigs I've attended in the last several years.

Chick Corea at The Blue Note

Back in December 1992, just before we were married, my wife and I flew to New York to visit her brother and sister in law in Connecticut. Out in the suburbs it was freezing and the snow was piled high. There wasn't much to do out there and we were going a bit stir crazy. So one weekend we ventured into New York and booked a hotel in midtown Manhattan, opposite Carnegie Hall on 57th Street. 

On the Saturday night, after an expensive restaurant meal, we had tickets to see Chick Corea and his band at The Blue Note in Greenwich Village. 

And what a band that was - as always Chick had the cream of the jazz players working with him. On this occasion it was Vinnie Colaiuta on drums, John Pattitucci on bass, Bob Berg on sax, Wallace Roney on trumpet. 

The Blue Note is probably best described as intimate. It's fairly narrow and we had a table facing the stage. Vinnie's drums were set up at the front, so he was going to be prominent whatever happened. And boy was he prominent! The guy's a monster drummer to this day but back then he was out of this world. The master of the polyrhythm.

Here's a clip of Corea, Pattitucci and Colaiuta at the Blue Note in Tokyo that same year, 1992.

Kevin Eubanks at The Blue Note
Once again, this was a show I had booked in advance. Kevin Eubanks was based in Los Angeles at the time (2009) working as the musical director of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, so this was a rare live appearance on the east coast. 

With Kevin Eubanks at the Blue Note

I sat in the front row, right in front of Kevin. The policy at the Blue Note is no filming but Kevin made a point of saying he didn't mind, so I filmed it - quite a lot of it. See for yourself how close I was!

His band included brother Robin on trombone and the whirlwind Marvin 'Smitty' Smith on drums. The intensity of the playing at times was just astonishing, sitting right up in front of them. 

After the show, I got talking to Kevin about what he was up to now. He had recently finished on the Tonight Show and was planning to record some new music with the 'Spirit Talk' band that included Smitty Smith and brother Robin. Kevin was charming and happy to chat. What a privilege to be this close to musical genius. There's more of these clips on Youtube. Three in all.


Robben Ford at BB King's 
On the same trip, I went to see ace guitarist Robben Ford playing at BB King's blues club on 42nd Street - don't look for it, it's not there anymore. 

I'd seen Robben on previous occasions and he would play all styles of blues, but by this stage he'd evolved an amazing ability to take the music off into new soundscapes. I'd describe it as psychedelic blues. 

Robben played some of the most inventive guitar I've ever heard. Seriously, the Electric Ladyland era Jimi Hendrix would have been proud. 

One of the greats, and what a musical pedigree he has too - Miles Davis and Joni Mitchell to name but two.

In this clip he is playing the song Supernatural on his 1957 Les Paul. Les had died the previous week and Robben made special mention of nights he'd spent at the Iridium club, where Les would play on Tuesday nights. 

Filming was frowned upon at BB King's. I was told off by a waitress earlier in the set, so I had to be discreet, hence the slightly eccentric filming at some points. But stick with it, because he goes off into some wonderful improvisation.

After Robben's show, I hopped on the subway downtown to catch another of Kevin Eubanks' sessions at the Blue Note. He played a completely different set and I was sat at the back this time. Not quite as intense but still a lot of fun. 

The Fab Faux celebrate John Lennon's 70th Birthday - Radio City Music Hall
It was 2010 and coming up for 30 years since Lennon had been shot just a few blocks away. I had seen this show advertised on the web, a complete presentation of John Lennon tunes played by the foremost creators of Beatle music, the Fab Faux.

The interior of Radio City Music Hall

For the Lennon show, the added attraction was the venue, Radio City Music Hall, this marvellous Art Deco theatre in midtown Manhattan.

The show started boldly with Tomorrow Never Knows, the band successfully recreating the tape effects and vocal distortions (using a megaphone) of the original. 

The Fab Faux's attention to detail is legendary; the resonating guitar intro to 'I Feel Fine' was perfectly executed; flutes were present and correct at the end of 'You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away'.

Augmented by a horn and string section, the Fabs got the measure of the psychedelic (trippy strings on 'I Am The Walrus') and the abstract (Happiness Is A Warm Gun). The choir added gorgeous backing to 'Across The Universe' and an immaculate 'Instant Karma'. The show reached a final crescendo with 'Revolution' followed by A 'Day In The Life'. It was a fantastic show, covering Lennon's entire career and recruited flawlessly. 

Chick Corea and John McLaughlin - Blue Note
There have been nights when I haven't been able to choose between two gigs in NYC, but by going to an early evening show I have been able to get across town to see the other one too. Robben Ford and Kevin Eubanks was one example, another was this night in October 2011,  when I was torn between two must-see shows. 

The first was one of the shows in the month-long season at the Blue Note jazz club in honour of Chick Corea's birthday. This one featured John McLaughlin. The early show was capped by an appearance by Gail Moran, Chick's wife, who had been a member of the Mahavishnu Orchestra in the 1970s. They played Smile of the Beyond, from the MO album 'Apocalypse' with Gail singing and the drummer Brian Blade whipping up a storm in the concluding passage of the tune.

I don't have video of that. Someone did post it on youtube but it seems to have been removed. Here is a short clip of the band I took from my seat at the Blue Note.

and here, up close, you get to appreciate just how out there these guys can get. Brian Blade propels them forward and Kenny Garrett shows why comparisons with Coltrane are justified.

Shawn Colvin - City Winery
I had booked tickets for Chick and John before I left on my trip, but when I got to my hotel and checked the local Time Out guide, I saw that Shawn Colvin was also playing that night at the City Winery. I love Shawn's voice and have been a fan ever since her first album Steady On in 1990. 

As luck would have it, I had booked for the early show at Blue Note - they do two shows a night - so if I was smart I could probably get to both shows. 

I slipped away promptly at the end of the Blue Note show and took a short taxi ride to see the lovely Shawn, one of my favourite singers, at the City Winery. I was glad I did; Shawn's records, right through her career, have been some of my lasting favourites. 

It was just her on stage, so a marked contrast from the way-out jazz I had just seen, which made it all the more special. 

Tedeschi Trucks Band - Beacon Theatre
Three years ago I was lucky to catch Tedeschi Trucks Band during their annual season of shows at the Beacon Theatre. 

They are a tremendous band, very much in the spirit of the big bands of the 70s like the Allman Brothers (this is their take on Whipping Post) and Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen (and here's their version of The Letter)

TTB cover a wide range of styles in their set - blues, funk, jazz - and they keep up the intensity with some remarkable soloing. Derek Trucks is a unique guitar player and his solos build to such a crescendo. Just when you think he's peaked, he goes one more. Thrilling to watch. Susan Tedeschi is no slouch either, and gives the band a soulful base with her vocals and guitar. 

Each night they had a different guest star and on the night I was there they had Dave Mason. He needed his set up a version of All Along The Watchtower. Mason played the 12-string intro to Jimi Hendrix's version of the song back in 1968. For their encore TTB brought Dave back on to sing 'Feelin Alright'.

As New Yorkers say: "What's not to like?"

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My first big gig in New York was in the 1970s - Bob Marley & The Wailers at Madison Square Garden. 

My most-viewed Youtube clips 3: Jeff Beck and David Gilmour - Hi Ho Silver Lining

Two for the price of one on this thread. It's actually not so rare now, but back in 2009 when I filmed this at the Royal Albert Hall, I don't think Jeff had ever played 'Hi Ho Silver Lining' live, and certainly he hadn't sung it.

As you are probably aware, the song was a hit for him in 1968, but it was so untypical of his style of music that he refused to play it live. But obviously over the years, he softened his stance.

This all happened during the encore, which began with David Gilmour joining the band on stage. Beck and Gilmour traded licks during a long instrumental passage that concluded with the melody from Jerusalem.

That's the first clip you can view here. This was a real treat, to see Gilmour, who is usually so measured in his playing, batting lines back and forth with JB. And clearly there's much respect between them. Jeff at one point feigns shock at one of Gilmour's trademark licks.

The other musicians, Jason Rebello (keyboards), Tal Wilkenfeld (bass) and Vinnie Colaiuta (drums) take a restrained approach to the track, in view of the fairly unrehearsed nature of it. And the comments on youtube show how rare and how much of treat it was for us in the audience.

What could follow that? The last thing any of us expected was for them to start into Jeff's big pop hit! It wasn't immediately obvious that was what they were playing until Gilmour started singing the first verse, "You're everywhere and nowhere baby..." at which point the audience raised the noise levels a notch or two. And then, when Jeff took the second verse, they really did go wild.

Both clips have about 30,000 views at the time of writing, helped by being featured on other sites, I believe.

Enjoy.

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