But do you think they are taking big risks? The kind of risks that have huge payoffs a lot of the time but can also result in big mistakes/train wrecks?
Yes? No? Maybe? Sometimes? If opportunity presents itself? Size of reward not always related to size of risk? Surviving is the biggest risk of all?
Exactly Jim.....
I think you described it well before I even tried to respond....
If any of the individual players are making choices that just fuck everything up, we are certainly not hearing it overtly in that way.....
My initial impression of the group was they all waited with baited breath to react to what Wayne did as opposed to say what Herbie Hancock did which was to create a mood for Wayne to play over. This created a stasis of sorts as no one really seemed to take charge or really even direct things but there would be these short peaks that would create some genuine excitement and then would quickly go back to where they started. They have made this their language though and over 12 years have refined it into more of a group improvisation thing that certainly has it's moments and is certainly more then that to those who find this sort of thing deep and enjoyable (to each his own of course). It's been 12 years and they have certainly evolved and taken the music somewhere. Since I guess we have all been listening to the 1969 Miles stuff though and I assume most here have heard most of that stuff from the beginning of the band until the end, for comparison sake (though not fair I guess), see how far that band went in 7 months time, how they morphed into an almost completely different sound in that short period of time in the course of finding their true group sound.
I don't think that it is a fair comparison (Shorter's 2000s quartet to Miles' 60's groups, in whatever configuration). Different leader, different personalities, different stages in lives, etc.