Whoa... mind truly blown!

Funkfingers

monquixote said:

Marco from the Aristocrats:

I would like to have seen them segue into either Tommy The Cat by Primus or Rubber Shirt by Frank Zappa.

I know of Marco better from the Levin, Minnemann, Rudess albums. (On which, he also plays a mean guitar!) 

ICBM

Incredible, but I find it effectively unlistenable. I feel the same about most Coltrane.

It's actually even more impressive that she can play what he played accurately, since I'm not at all convinced he would have been able to, repeatably.

Interestingly, I like a lot of Vai. Including the track she plays on, Bop! on Modern Primitive.

But what do I know... I play bass in a garage-punk band.

spir4L

I discovered her through the Beato interview, she's amazing!

Secret_Sam

ICBM said:

Incredible, but I find it effectively unlistenable. I feel the same about most Coltrane.

It's actually even more impressive that she can play what he played accurately, since I'm not at all convinced he would have been able to, repeatably.

Well, he could.  If you listen to Ascension, it sounds like a complete racket.  Like a fight between soccer hooligans equipped with instruments instead of bricked newspapers. 

Except that there are two takes recorded on different days, and large parts sound identical.

No, I wouldn't listen to it for fun, but it's quite an achievement.  What sounds like chaos to most of us was simply patterns emerging from Coltrane's head faster than we can follow.  Our generation's frame of reference is rock music.  The jump to, say, Giant Steps which has chord changes every two beats and key changes every two bars ... is a very long jump.

Coltrane as a craftsman was ahead of pretty much everyone.  His music grabs you or it doesn't, but please make sure you have heard Blue Train and A Love Supreme before you close the door. 

But I do take your point that a lot of the best players don't play the most compelling repertoire. 

What really excites me about Mohini Dey is not what she has played, which is technically breathtaking but ....

....but what she might achieve with all that musicianship by the time she is forty.  Or fifty, but I probably won't live to hear that. 

CaseOfAce

When I first saw the video I got 15 seconds in and gave up - I just found it impenetrable.

Having listened to it a few times more it's started to take shape - you start to make out the themes and "tune" within... it takes some work though. 48 seconds in and she's playing some great chords and the tapping to bring out the melody was beautiful and not just done for effect. I'm acutely aware I'm stepping into "Nice.... " territory here...

EricTheWeary

YouTube keeps suggesting things with her. Mostly in a sort of Weather Report/ Mahavishnu king of vein I guess. If you like sax lead fusion check out her trio MaMoGi. 

Secret_Sam said:

But I do take your point that a lot of the best players don't play the most compelling repertoire. 

I think there are many examples of this with rock guitar, once you achieve a high level of technicality what do you do with it. In jazz and classical you had composers to challenge players whereas in rock the Vais, Malmsteens, Govans,etc, tend to rely on self compositions which doesn’t always play to their strengths. But then what’s the point of Guthrie Govan existing in the world if all he had to do all day was play Ramones riffs. 

Brad

Secret_Sam said:

ICBM said:

Incredible, but I find it effectively unlistenable. I feel the same about most Coltrane.

It's actually even more impressive that she can play what he played accurately, since I'm not at all convinced he would have been able to, repeatably.

Well, he could.  If you listen to Ascension, it sounds like a complete racket.  Like a fight between soccer hooligans equipped with instruments instead of bricked newspapers. 

Except that there are two takes recorded on different days, and large parts sound identical.

No, I wouldn't listen to it for fun, but it's quite an achievement.  What sounds like chaos to most of us was simply patterns emerging from Coltrane's head faster than we can follow.  Our generation's frame of reference is rock music.  The jump to, say, Giant Steps which has chord changes every two beats and key changes every two bars ... is a very long jump.

Coltrane as a craftsman was ahead of pretty much everyone.  His music grabs you or it doesn't, but please make sure you have heard Blue Train and A Love Supreme before you close the door. 

Yeah, a strange comment that. Coltrane was an improvisor, so wouldn’t have played the exact same solo twice… but as you say, listen to any alternate takes and you can hear things never stray too far from what was the released take. As utterly awesome as Mohini is here, it’s Coltrane notes, imagined and played by Coltrane in real time. Of course he could’ve played it again note for note… if that didn’t defeat the purpose of what he was about

Granted, towards the end of his career it’s understandable the music he was making could
be too much. But even if Giants Steps and Countdown are a bridge too far, the other songs off GS aren’t exactly avant-garde. Mr PC for example, is just a minor blues (albeit a very quick one). 

And like you say, Blue Train is a stunning album and a great entry point. Not to mention it has possibly THE greatest trumpet break from a 19 year old Lee Morgan on Locomotion. I’d seriously ask anyone writing off Coltrane to give his material a chance. 

And regarding the OP, sometimes you just have to marvel at the technical, aural and mental ability of some people.