Opinions on Seamus Blake's use of effects.

[Pharaohrock]

Don't state a opinion if you haven't heard what's he's doing, but I'd be interested to know what anyone out there who's heard his different effects on records thought of it all.......do you think it's hip, corny, what? Whenever I hear it, I keep wondering what Coltrane would have done with this kind of technology. You know that he would have been interested by it.....it opens up a completely new layer of possibilities for using overtones, and multiphonics.



Records where you can hear him playing with effects:

KEVIN HAYS- The Go Round (a classic record anyhow.)
VICTOR LEWIS- Private Conversations, and Eeeeyess!
BLAKE- Echonomics...

[Hardbop]

I find the wah wah peddle or whatever it is that Seamus used/still uses for all I know to be very annoying and distracting. He is a helluva tenor player, but I wish he would shit-can the effects. It takes away from his playing.

[Muskrat Ramble]

I admit I haven't heard him, but tweaking instrument tones through natural means (aka, getting a "dirty" tone) has been an honored jazz tradition since the beginning, afaik. In theory, I think it's great for jazz instrumentalists to experiment with technology if it helps them make more interesting and enjoyable music.

I'm a bit biased, perhaps, since I play electric guitar, where electronic effects and special playing techniques have long been powerful and extensively used tools for tonal variations to suit (or invent) different styles. As any guitarist knows, they can also become a crutch or a fetish, though, so they need to be used with good taste and discretion, just like anything in music.