What's not to love about Stewart Copeland. His Opera on Mark Twain is opening in Long Beach next week, going to be unreal!

http://www.youtube.com/stewartcopelandnet

Check out what he's got going on here. A studio with all the hook ups for video and an abundance of instruments laying around, all of which he makes good use. All of this is spontaneous - amazing!

Almost kinda surreal. That's neat!

Inspirational indeed. I was never a Police fan, but boy do I like Stewart's music. Even reaching as far back as Klark Kent...

Mmmmh. The caption by the video reads:

"Spontaneous Recordings at the Sacred Grove. These sessions begin with nothing. The players arrive without a shred of material and we just play the first thing that comes into our heads."

But I see sheet music in front of the musicians, a conductor, and I really wonder where the advertised spontaneity lies... Probably sleeping

Right, a bit misleading - try this one. Stanley Jordan and Ben Harper - definitely one of the better ones.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxoxmQ6oYx0[/youtube]

Thanks for the link Gene.

But I'm still skeptical about spontaneity, here. Where's the piano player at 3:09? Decidedly too many "spontaneous" overdubs miraculously caught (and of course spontaneously edited) by the video crew.

All this brings us to the whole, nowadays increasingly important, "concept" thing. Every project has to be a "concept". The concept here is "spontaneous recordings by big names".

But what if there were no big names, no video and just music here? Would we pay attention?

All the best from rainy Switzerland

Olivier

Good point Olivier.

I do think it's all relative. The guy is just about to release a symphony with the Long Beach Symphony, so perhaps an afternoon in the studio with the only end game of having something to share with your friends is still pretty impressive. I am not fooled (most of us aren't), I understand there is some serious production time with these clips. I am okay with this, as there is a fine line with me and spontaneity, I much prefer it if it's listenable

On top of which, I am a huge fan of anything Stewart, Andy Summers or Sting does. They were a very influential band in my time. Rumblefish, I advance unmasked (with Fripp), Policeman's other ball, Sting's fantastic live album recorded on 9-11 - they have all contributed greatly to modern music and I am proud to list them among my favorite artists.

Daryle Hall does a pretty good job of doing popular spontaneous music - http://www.livefromdarylshouse.com/. Lots of emphasis on influences, style and personality of his guests.

If music is your bread and butter, one is a little more guarded about releasing something into the wild world that's half-baked or does not fairly represent your image. Music as a business is like no business I know, although, it's still not as hard as acting. That's just masochism.

ya you gotta luv stu......
I think there was booze and weed associated with that first vid.......not that there is anything wrong with that...

cheers,
k