“He Kicked My Behind from Genesis to Revelations.” – Russell Malone’s Lessons Learned on the Bandstand

In today’s world of social media, and everybody telling each other “You sound great, man!”, when is it appropriate to offer criticism to a younger player?

Check out what guitarist extraordinaire Russell Malone has to say about getting his butt handed to him by [organist] Jimmy Smith in Atlanta in the eighties.

“He kicked my behind from Genesis to Revelations.”
– Russell Malone

I was fortunate to grow up (musically) among local professional musicians who cared enough to tell me when I sounded weak, or if I ignored some piece of bandstand etiquette. They challenged me by playing things behind me designed to trip me up a little, either harmonically or rhythmically. I learned a ton from that.

I lost the form so many times sitting in, all I can say is thank God there was no “social media” back then.

But these days no one wants to be the one to speak up for fear of being branded an a-hole. If someone did today what Jimmy did to Russell, it would be all over Facebook. No one wants to risk their reputation.

Sadly, this means kids (dear lord, I’m an old man now) are not getting the tradition passed down to them the right way.

I played somewhere recently and a young player sat in. He was good. Had a good sound. But all I could think was how he A) was too loud for the environment (which indicated he wasn’t listening), B) was playing all sorts of angular shit that he didn’t earn (meaning he didn’t get to it as a result of a solo that was climaxing, he merely ‘opened’ with it) and C) he overplayed. You gotta leave some space for the… well, whatever, you gotta leave some space!

I don’t have an answer. Without that person coming to me and asking for criticism, who am I to offer it unsolicited?

I point it out only so you consider it, and hopefully self-analyze a bit more. Cause chances are the players around you are only gonna tell you “You sound great, man!”

Here’s a clip of Russell, Benny Green [piano] and Christian McBride [bass] that will exhaust you (in a good way) just from listening.

What?! Ok. I need to go shed now…