Ooh, I LOVE these YouTube Videos! - found them via @innerviews (AKA Anil Prasad) on Twitter ( Innerviews.org is one of the best musician interview sites on the entire interwebz)
This four musicians are connected in a lot of ways, but I don't think they've all played together before this gig at a Sabian party at NAMM this year:
Terry and David were in Polytown together (and played in a trio with Doug Lunn on bass for a long time)
Terry and Tony are in a trio with Steve Stevens
David and Tony played together on David's solo album 'Cloud About Mercury', and again in the band B*L*U*E (Bruford Levin Upper Extremities)
Tony and Pat played together in King Crimson.
I'm sure there are other connections - please post them below.
Anyway, I LOVE that Terry Bozzio does things like this at NAMM gigs - last time I saw him play a Sabian party, it was straight after Dave Weckl's band, playing what sounded remarkably like exquisitely executed long form game-show theme tunes. Classic NAMM stuff - fusion, chops, odd time, sounding a lot like the 80s (no bad thing if you like that, but it's a bit of a classic NAMM show after party archetype. Not really my bag.)
Then Terry comes on with a trio with Doug Lunn on bass and Alex Machacek on guitar, playing Alex's Zappa-meets-Bartok REALLY difficult compositions. Awesome. Intense, heavy, deep, beautifully played (Doug Lunn really doesn't get the props he deserves as a bassist - outstanding all round musician).
And this time, it's free improv madness with 2 drummers, Torn on guitar and Tony Levin in Stick and Elec. Upright.
It gets pretty mad. It STARTS pretty mad, and gets madder. If you've clicked through to this with Coldplay playing in the background on Spotify, I'm guessing it's not going to float your boat. But I loves it. Particularly David Torn's playing. He's one of my favourite musicians in the world. I love what he plays, why he plays it, and how he talks about what he plays. He's a delightful human, and a huge inspiration with or without a guitar in his hands.
So, in 2 parts, here's that quartet, getting freaky at a NAMM show schmooze gig, and giving the mullet-fusion cats a kick in the arse :) It reminds me of the madder moments from The Recycle Collective, particularly the gigs with Leo Abrahams...