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Re: (TV) Richard speaks on FB/Billy's drumming
I was thinking more of a jazz sensibility rather than a genre bound
description so yeah probably more jazzy than jazz. Particularly in the
way he uses the kit which is arguably closer to someone like Ed
Blackwell or Hamid Drake (fills, rolls, hi-hat) than a lot of
straight-ahead rock tub thumpers. :-) Also that beautiful sense of space
and he can clearly improvise. Anway, I don't recall reading any article
where Billy talks about his influences so I may be way off beam here!
Also this is apparently coming out this year from Jim Tisdall:
/
/In production for 2011:/
Some Time/
Classic free jazz and classic classical from Jim Tisdall with Allan
Gittler and Billy Ficca from circa 1980.
Playing on the amazing Gittler guitar and bass, with Billy Ficca
("Television") on drums.
http://www.jimtisdall.com/
Graham
On 13/06/2011 03:16, Jesse Hochstadt wrote:
> 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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