Walter Tore is a friend of mine who does what he calls "Spontobeat." Never plays the same song twice. Makes 'em up as he goes along. Plays guitar, harp and drums, often all three at the same time as a "one man band." Amazing fellow with a great talent. He's got a few hundred of his extemporaneous recordings on Soundclick, here:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pageartist.cfm?bandID=157137
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
Thanks for the link Ric. :D
Tell Walter he now has another fan in Australia.
I have a pathological dislike of doing the same thing over and over and I just can't seem to stop improvising when I should be banging away at carefully repeating things until I can nail them properly. So the basic idea behind "Spontobeat" is deeply appealing. 8)
I've enjoyed the songs I've listened to so far, but unfortunately my talent and skills can't keep up with his. I'm still at the "spontocrud" stage...so I guess I still need to be putting in some conventional practice as well. :wink:
Cheers,
Chris
Walter's been at it a long time. Learned it straight from some of the old time blues men, he came up the hard way on the streets. He's got a real gift. Could've been a big name if he'd done what the producers wanted him to do, "throw out that Spontobeat trash" and play conventional stuff. Got to give him credit for following his muse.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
I'll revive this old thread to point out that Walter has now moved from California to Ohio, is still very actively cranking out "Spontobeat" music, and will be in the upcoming International Blues Competition in Memphis. Keep an ear out for him!
:D
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
