I don't particularly like or dislike Kevin Bacon's acting. But there's nothing I can do, he is more connected than I could ever imagine to two of my greatest music heroes. And the truth is, Bacon is closer to many more than we would think, or like... In a recent documentary aired by the Australian Broadcast Company (ABC), the new field of "network science" is examined, in its attempts to explain mathematically how the idea of six degrees of separation between people may, after all, be more than an urban myth.
The documentary, entitled "How Kevin Bacon cured cancer", argues that one of the first proofs of the networks concept came through a simple experiment showing that most Hollywood actors where connected to Kevin Bacon by at least or less than a handfull of other actors. That's where Kevin Bacon comes in. But what about him and Herbie Hancock and Jeff Beck??
It all has to do with the reason why this post is so connected to the previous one, about the Five Peace Band gig in Perth, and to what motivated me to start this blog in the first place: how people and events are so more connected to each other than we usually think. In last week's post, I said that the main reason for going to the Five Peace Band gig at King's Park was to see the drummer, Brian Blade. I also said that the gig was the second moment of musical bliss in Perth in less than a month, and that the first one had been seeing Jeff Beck's at the Perth Concert Hall (sure, a third one would have been seeing Neil Young at the Big Day Out, but I had to give that one a miss).
Well, Brian Blade would not be the drummer for Chick Corea and John McLaughlin's Five Peace Band if it had not been for Jeff Beck's concerts in Australia! Before Brian Blade came into the picture, drummer Vinnie Colaiuta was invited by John McLaughlin to record his new album, Industrial Zen, in 2006. When John and Chick created the Five Peace Band, around mid-2008, Vinnie was the natural choice, and became the band's first drummer. However, he had also accepted Jeff Beck's invitation for his tour of Australasia, in late 2008, and early 2009. When the Five Peace Band scheduled its tour of Australasia, Vinnie was no longer available, so that Brian Blade was invited to sub.
I was there, on 21 January, to watch Vinnie Colaiuta playing his firm, powerhouse style drums in Jeff Beck's Perth Concert Hall gig. Being there realized the dream I had since I was a kid of seeing Beck live. And a great surprise was to find out that he, at the age of 64, was still able to deliver as much punch from his guitar as he did in my perception of his music some 20+ years ago. I didn't yet know, but Beck's concert in Perth also allowed me the opportunity of seeing Brian Blade performing with the Five Peace Band, and all that right here in our backyard.
Now, Herbie Hancock connects in via six-degrees, or, if you prefer, the Kevin-Bacon paradigm (sorry, but there's more, actually connecting Kevin and Herbie below!). One of the main attractions of Jeff Beck's recent world tour is the unbelievably young and talented bass player Tal Wilkenfeld (who is actually Aussie, from Sydney). Tal is in her early 20's, and has such subtle charisma and amazing technique that, after Beck's gig, I was swept, and back home I searched the Internet for more on her playing.
Within the lots in the net about this young musician, I found a video of her recording with Herbie Hancock for BBC's Live in Abbey Road sessions. In that video, Herbie leads a band that also includes the great saxophonist Wayne Shorter, drummer Vinnie Colaiuta (again!) and singer Corinne Bailey Ray. It is one of the most beautiful interpretations of Joni Mitchell's song "River" that I have ever seen in my life.
That's a good place to stop writing on my awe about connectedness, so that I won't go on to the whos, hows and whats come out of connecting, back from Joni Mitchell, Brian Blade to Daniel Lanois, to Bob Dylan, to Willie Nelson, to Brian Eno and U2, Terry Bozzio, Tony Levin and Peter Gabriel, and then to the reasons why I started playing the bass during my teens...
PS1: Believe it or not, Herbie Hancock has a Kevin-Bacon-number of 2 (ie, he has two degrees of separation to the actor): Hancock played himself in the film Indecent Proposal alongside Oliver Platt, who was in the film Frost/Nixon with Kevin Bacon.
PS2: And... Jeff Beck also has a Kevin-Bacon-number = 2: Beck played a lead guitarrist of a band in the film Twins alongside cute Kelly Preston, who, in the film Death Sentence, is Helen, the sister of main character Nick, played by Kevin Bacon! (More KB numbers here,if you dare...)
No comments:
Post a Comment