Last night, I went to the New England Conservatory to hear Rakalam Bob Moses's birthday concert. For him, the highlight was playing with Tisziji Munoz; for me, the highlight was Moses's use of what looked like a tipped over djembe on steroids as a second kick drum. As he built toward a crescendo, Moses would play with polyrhytmic bass hits that seemed almost warped because of the contrasting timbres of the two drums.
Having read Moses's glowing praise for Tisziji, his "ego-less" guru, I was less than impressed with the slight correlation between the man's physical presence and what I'd gleaned of his ideology. He's a virtuoso guitarist and pulls a bright, clean tone out of his semi-hollowbody Gibson that would sound fine on many uptempo fusion (and Joe Satriani) tracks. Maybe the Satriani comparison is a bit unfair. Tisziji did seem closer to Sonny Sharrock's more melodic playing than to the Silver Surfer.
Maybe it says more about me and my prejudices that about Tisziji, but when I read that someone has "no licks, no style," I don't expect a top of the line guitar and amp set-up along with a place over and above every other instrument in the mix. The two bassists, John Lockwood and Don Pate were inaudible for most of the set, and while John Medeski's piano fared better, he was still buried from time to time.
I don't adhere to the idea that acoustic playing is inherently more earnest or "real" than electric playing. Tisziji could have come onstage and banged out his parts with a beat-up, cheap electric guitar, and I would have been more convinced. Also, when I read "no style," I don't want or expect anything smooth. I wanted feedback, distortion, and waves of melody-less sound. Yeah,
that's more about me than him I suppose.
P.S. While I'm elaborating on the disparities between my expectations of a guru and Tisziji, there's one last thing that deserves a mention. I can't do his near-pompadour and mustache combo justice. Let's just say that it was present.
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