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Show LETTERS Continued from page 8 zontally, when in fact jazz has nothing whatsoever to do with voice leading in spite of what Bill Evans says. By far the most important player today is Keith jarrett, precisely because he is completely vertical and has thrown away bar lines, something Jim Aikin was struggling with in the Jarrett transcription [see CK, Sept. 79]. The first V bars are simply a C7b5b9, and should really be referred to as the first tonality segment instead of being thought of as so many odd-meter bars. Paul Ellingson fftTT*<W I want to express my appreciation of the excellent job you did in the articles on George Duke [see CK, Oct. '79]. I enjoyed your treatment of the interview with me in that same issue; it's gratifying to read what I said stated more clearly than I said it. But, though you spelled my name right, please note that my instrument is spelled "Clavitar"-with an ;, the same as the RMI instrument mentioned in your NAMM Equipment Preview [see CK, Oct. '79]. I had prior use of the name, however, and have been informed that RMI will not use the word Clavitar for its instruments. Wayne Yentis Hollywood, CA I just thought I'd write and congratulate you on the excellent interview with George Duke. I was impressed by his straight-ahead attitude toward money and music, and he is definitely my favorite funky keyboard player. Randy Piscione Weston, Ontario Thank you very much for the interview in the November 79 issue of CK. In my discussion of pianos it was inadvertently left out that my first choice for concert and recording purposes is the Baldwin piano. I appreciate the high standards of excellence and reliability of that company, together with the care and consideration accorded the artists who use their pianos. It will be noted that most of my recordings have been done on Baldwin pianos. Paul Jacobs New York, NY Heretofore the synthesizer argument has been a "to be or not to be" proposition; people either played them or stuck with conventional keyboards. Now we have Dave Smith, designer of the Prophet [see CK, Nov. 79] breaking those who play synth into three classes: (1) "know-nothings"; (2) those who "know enough to get by"; and (3) the technological wizards. In defense of category 2, must we all possess engineering degrees to be considered competent? I would rather spend my time honing keyboard and general musical technique, with the end-result that Smith's and other products will sound better in the field than in their labs. One further point. If there are in fact too many players who know merely "enough to get by," then it seems the synthesizer manufacturers could do their part by supplying detailed manuals with their instruments. This should eliminate all excuses, save laziness, for not knowing enough to get the fullest out of any given machine. Ron James Anderson, IN [Ed. Note: Mr. Smith replies, "Engineering de- gress are not necessary for competent synth playing. If keyboard technique is more important to you than tone color or expression, that's fine and valid. But to really utilize a synth for its full potential, a deeper understanding of the instrument is required. Granted, most synth manuals are lacking, if existent at all, but there are many informative books, articles, etc., available for use as instructional resources. These, combined with experimenting with a synfh's capabilities, will lead to a better understanding and command of the sound. As a manufacturer, I find it disappointing to see our instruments not being used to their full capacity more often. It's also disappointing fo hear the lack of variation and imagination produced on most recordings; the same set of sounds seems to be used over and over. Hopefully, players will accept this opinion as a challenge rather than a criticism."] Thanks for mentioning a couple of my Guitar Player columns in the Nov. '79 Questions column; I hope they help your readers in creating pedalboard systems. They might also find my "Handbook Of Multiple Effects," a three-part series starting in the Nov. 79 CP, to be a good source of ideas. Additionally, my June 79 GP column gives some pedalboard switching tricks, and the Aug.-Oct. '79 columns describe a switching system for pedalboards. I'd also like to clear up a slight misconception in the Questions column about unity gain buffer amplifiers. They are not intended to keep all signals at a constant level; rather, they isolate devices with high output impedances, such as magnetic pickups, from loading effects caused by subsequent devices in the signal Continued on page 63 |