The E Street Trio

Dear Jonathan Gould,
Yeah I was wondering if that was it: being a drummer you didn’t want to come on TOO strong with Ringo… that’s okay, it’s subtextual, and I gushed a lot in my book. Every drummer I’ve ever talked to gushes about RIngo, at least the good ones do. I think he’s a better drummer than Harrison is a guitarist myself, but then I’m a piano-playing composer, so any drummer with a shred of restraint floats my boat. Except for Keith Moon, who’s like a keyboardist on the drums (he wants to save the world).
I don’t know the Duke Ellington nearly as well as you do but it brings up an interesting comparison: I’ve always blown hot and cold with Max Weinberg of the E Streeters, always wishing he’d go for more tom-toms and GET WILD once in awhile. But my sense is his Boss is a control freak’s control freak and he plays the way Bruce asks, so Bruce must love that pile-driving snare thing. But on this most recent record Weinberg goes for his tom-toms and it sounds SO GREAT… like I always hoped it would. There’s this essay I’ve long wanted to write about how great Bruce is in so many areas including as a bandleader, only he over-does it (like a lot of things) and needs to let his players have more freedom in some areas. There’s too many people up on stage these days, I’d kill to catch him play a trio gig with just Max and Tallent, he could hold down everything he needs on guitar…
Don’t get me wrong, I dig Weinberg, I’ve just always wanted to hear Bruce play with a looser set…
–TR