OFF: Progressive really progressive?

[Chris Bates]

Alex Garcia writes:

> Ooohh... I don't agree. Yes has been known to improvise a lot. In fact,
> "Tales from topographic oceans" sounds a lot like an improvised album to me.
> Although it probably isn't. And I know other prog bands are pretty good at
> improvising too. I mean, hey, when a band is so good at structuring their
> music they can't be bad at improvising. You attain a certain skill level
> where you can hardly go wrong. I can't imagine Steve Howe or Kerry Livgren
> (for instance) not being able to improvise. C'mon, let's be serious for a
> minute ! ;-)

Well... there is a difference between improvising and jamming isn't
there? Most people jam around a composed theme, very few truly improvise
their music. The exceptions would, for example, include Ornette Colman
and from rock Can. True improv. leads to truly radical music which somehow
doesn't quite describe Yes :-)


Chris Bates