Prog Rock Grooves: Jaki Liebezeit & the Nature of Rhythm 09/18

The Goethe-Institut Irland pays tribute to legendary drummer Jaki Liebezeit with a free concert webcast on September 18 (19:00-19:45 UTC+01) as part of CultureNight 2020:

Jaki Liebezeit is best known for his drumming with influential German avant-garde band Can, sculpting their transcendent grooves. He also forged long term creative relationships playing & writing with hundreds of other renowned musicians & composers. During his 60 year journey at the vanguard of contemporary music, he uncovered the basic musical & ergonomic principles underlying rhythm. These are ancient, borderless ideas, whose time has come. This show pays musical homage to one of the great innovators in modern music & the wider German Prog Rock scene of the late 60s & early 70s such as Kraftwerk, Cluster & Neu!

Jah Wobble: the Innerviews interview

photo: John Hollingsworth

Innerviews has an in-depth interview with bass maestro Jah Wobble. On recording the Full Circle album with Can members Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit in 1982:

I remember Holger would say “Play first, talk later.” If Jaki ever said something about the music, it was “Play first, think later.” Jaki was a master musician and an incredible person. He had a certain power and concentration in every beat. Every beat was focused. When I play with drummers now, some of them think they’re better than they really are. They’ll be in time, but there’s a subconscious element to their playing that isn’t good. The whole thing should be an emanation of consciousness—you should be very conscious of what you’re doing. You should be very mindful of every beat. Jaki really had that. He was the engine room. He built things up. He wasn’t afraid to build things up very slowly, like the way an Indian musician would approach an afternoon raga. He had that control. He also had that triplet thing going on in the way African players do. He was a very weird guy and very deep. I used to call him “Rain Man.” He had this perfectionist streak about numbers and beats. He had a theory of beats that held up. It wasn’t some bullshit thing.

» jahwobble.com

Jaki Liebezeit: 1938-2017

Drummer Jaki Liebezeit succumbed to pneumonia. The founding member of Krautrock pioneers Can invented the "Motorik beat", a distinctive style that made him a household new name in post-punk and post-rock circles. He started out as a free jazz player, before he became involved with the nascent German avant-garde underground in the late Sixties, a musical movement that spawned essential bands like Can, Neu! and Kraftwerk.

After Can disbanded, he collaborated with Depeche Mode, Brian Eno, and Jah Wobble. His work with Drums of Chaos should be part of the education of every serious percussionist.