NO MORE TRIBAL TECH

[Shadow]

From Scott Henderson:

Willis and I have decided not to continue with Tribal Tech. There are many reasons, but here are a few of mine.

I find it difficult to work on music when band members live in other countries. It’s a lot of work sending files back and forth, and there’s an unbelievable amount of post-production needed after the basic tracks are done. The recording budgets are low enough with a trio - I can no longer justify spending that amount of time for the same budget with a quartet.

It’s a similar situation with touring. I have a family to support and thankfully I’m making good money with my trio and HBC. Nothing against keyboard players, but I’m having a great time writing instrumental music for guitar and I want to put all my attention on that path because it’s more challenging as a guitarist and composer. I still hope to play with Deron Johnson in LA, and also with Steve Taviglione, two of my favorite musicians.

Thanks to all the fans who supported Tribal Tech!

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

bummer

I'm no longer enamored with Power Trios as I was in the 90s

[Shadow]

bummer

I'm no longer enamored with Power Trios as I was in the 90s

Seems like the ones that hold my interest are the Japanese ones.

[Hobo Chang Ba]

Yeah, shame to see them go.

From what I read, their earlier stuff (which is OOP) is more inline with my tastes, as such I'm not the biggest fan of their mid/later material. Good stuff no doubt, but not really for me. Still...shame they had to hang it up, but at least the primary musicians are still working on things.

[jkelman]

Another dose of reality. No, we're not talking illegal downloads or streaming...just the everyday challenges facing musicians and , in this case, one guy's attempt to mitigate them.

[BobM]

Well, it frees them all up to work with other people, which is never a bad thing. I would absolutely check out anything one of those guys were playing on.

[No Pride]

I got used to them being gone when over a decade of no recordings or touring went by (and I knew that Gary Willis had moved to Spain). Then I was pleasantly surprised when they got back together and made their latest album "X," but I had no high hopes of it sticking. So I'm disappointed that there won't be another reunion, but hardly shocked.

From what I read, their earlier stuff (which is OOP) is more inline with my tastes, as such I'm not the biggest fan of their mid/later material. Good stuff no doubt, but not really for me. Still...shame they had to hang it up, but at least the primary musicians are still working on things.

Wait, you've only read about their early years but haven't heard any of it? Those first two albums (when they were a 6 piece band), "Spears" and "Dr. Hee" are great! Not necessarily better, just different. The music was more composition intensive and I suppose a bit more on the jazz side of fusion. But I like all of their stuff! I was kind of surprised when "Thick" came out and it was much more about spontaneous "composition" than anything they'd previously done, but they're such great players and they have such an intuitive chemistry as a band that it worked and I thought it was a really good album. When they continued in that vein with "Rocket Science," I'll admit that I was disappointed. Sure, they were great at interactive improvisation, but Scott and Gary are also great composers and I missed that aspect of their music. "X" was somewhat of a return to form. Not their best, but still quite good... and now I'll guess we'll have to accept it as their swan song.

I liked HBC, but not quite as much as Scott's trio records. As long as those Tribal Techies keep putting out their own individual recordings (and do some touring), I won't be too bummed.

[Reid]

The title track to Spears was the first TT tune I heard back in '86. I liked it immediately because it has a big band swing feel with a very catchy hook, but it's electric and powerful. A very impressive composition, arrangement and performance. But I only had this one tune on a cassette from a magazine. It took about 2-3 years to get hold of the CD. Their fourth, self-titled CD is the only early one still in print. It's a quartet, and the arrangements aren't as ambitious, but it features some great material.

[No Pride]

^
Nice picks, Reid! "Dense Dance" was on my list in the "Top 10 Favorite Guitar Solos" thread.

At the risk of the dreaded "what is prog?" response, I think this is pretty close:


And the closest they got to prog-metal:

[Dean Watson]

It's a shame, really liked everything they did, but time moves on, bands come and go, heck I was devastated when UZEB finished up. I'm over that now ....

[Reid]

Ernie, that Stella... title cracks me up!

[No Pride]

Ernie, that Stella... title cracks me up!

Yeah, pretty typical of Scott's sense of humor! If you have that album, you know that it follows a short duet version of the standard, "Stella By Starlight."

[Reid]

^^^
Yeah! Forgot about the standard intro. I would mind hearing an album of TT's twisted versions of standard tunes.

[profusion]

That's a shame, but it's certainly understandable.

[Hobo Chang Ba]

Wait, you've only read about their early years but haven't heard any of it? Those first two albums (when they were a 6 piece band), "Spears" and "Dr. Hee" are great! Not necessarily better, just different. The music was more composition intensive and I suppose a bit more on the jazz side of fusion. But I like all of their stuff! I was kind of surprised when "Thick" came out and it was much more about spontaneous "composition" than anything they'd previously done, but they're such great players and they have such an intuitive chemistry as a band that it worked and I thought it was a really good album. When they continued in that vein with "Rocket Science," I'll admit that I was disappointed. Sure, they were great at interactive improvisation, but Scott and Gary are also great composers and I missed that aspect of their music. "X" was somewhat of a return to form. Not their best, but still quite good... and now I'll guess we'll have to accept it as their swan song.

I liked HBC, but not quite as much as Scott's trio records. As long as those Tribal Techies keep putting out their own individual recordings (and do some touring), I won't be too bummed.

Sadly not much. I heard a few tracks on youtube (which I will have to get back to it to see if anymore of the earlier stuff made it on). But I don't want to judge full "eras" on a song or two. But basically you've described why I like that earlier stuff better. X certainly wasn't bad, and my favorite of the three? albums of theirs I have/heard, but still...it didn't paint my cardigan aquamarine, if you know what I mean...

[sergio]

my fav song is "oh yeah, OK", because it's got lyrics in it: "oh yeah, ok".

[chalkpie]

Best liner notes I have ever seen on any CD or LP are the ones on 'Rocket Science'. If you have this you know what I mean.....

[chalkpie]

PS - not sure I buy this. There was 12 years between Rocket Science and X, so its possible we could see another album in 2024. Its possible I'll be in a senior center by then though.

[profusion]

Gary Willis would have to move back to Los Angeles for anymore Tribal Tech to happen, I'm guessing.

[Dave]

Only time I saw Henderson live was with Jean Luc Ponty's band on the Fables tour back in 1985. It was cool to hear his interpretation of the guitar parts that Holdsworth contributed to on previous records like Enigmatic Ocean. He wasn’t trying to be a Holdsworth clone, but just had a great emulation of that tone. One of the funniest things I've heard with TT was Big Wave the first song on Illicit. It starts out like some lame smooth jazz tune before launching into their usual style.

[No Pride]

Wait, you've only read about their early years but haven't heard any of it?

Sadly not much. I heard a few tracks on youtube (which I will have to get back to it to see if anymore of the earlier stuff made it on).

All of the first album (Spears) and about half of the second (Dr. Hee) is up on YouTube. It's a cryin' shame that they're out of print now (and I hope that gets rectified at some point), but at least you can hear that stuff there.

[nosebone]

They had a great run.

They certainly filled the fusion gap in the late 80s -00s that was overloaded with talent back in the 70s.

I have all of their albums loaded in my giant ipod, and always dig the random tune that pops out.

I saw Henderson twice with the Chick Coreas Elektric Band.

He was great, but his playing on X and HBC is better than it ever was imo.

[No Pride]

I saw Henderson twice with the Chick Coreas Elektric Band.

He was great, but his playing on X and HBC is better than it ever was imo.

Scott's live trio album from 2004, "Scott Henderson - Live!" is about the most exciting live guitar trio album since Band Of Gypsys! IMHO, of course.

I've seen TT live three times and Scott's trio live three times. Every time I see him, I can't decide whether I should start practicing 8 hours a day or just quit.

[rapidfirerob]

Happily saw them once. Wish they would tour one more time, at least. Saw Henderson with Kinsey, Covington, Philpot a few years ago. Too bad.
Not into the Kinsey Zawinul pseudo clone thing though.