Question and Answer

Pat,

The drum mix , particularly Paul's kick drum is noticably subdued on most tunes. Is that intentional?

hi mike,

i do hear this from time to time. it is worth noting, that paul has decided on a bunch of the tunes not to play the bass drum that much. i remember when we finished making still life talking noticing that on many of the track he didn't play the bass drum at all on some of the songs - and i always respected his decision that that was what was best for that music. i have played with other drummers that hit it harder on the bottom (roy haynes, jack dejohnette) and some who are even lighter than paul (billy higgins, probably gottlieb) and i love playing with all of them. i would also say that most of our music does not warrant the kind of heavy bass drum playing that you might find in a lot of other bands, that paul could certainly play in just fine. he is someone who finds the right thing for the right moment in each band he plays with. (he can play a lot of different ways) in the end, i guess i would say it's not a mix thing, it's a music thing.