“I don’t use loops; I play loops. In Can I always tried to make my own loop and repeat that pattern with subtle variations.”
That’s why the playing of Jaki Leibezeit was unique and different.
He played tight and tidy – like the best of funk or rock drummers – but he added touches, colour and flourishes to keep tracks evolving like the jazz player he was at heart.
A Liebezeit groove was hypnotic, pulsating and involving. Consider the amazing "Sing Swan Song" from Ege BamYasi...
...which might give you some clues about Radiohead.
Or the compelling Vitamin C which manages to be both rock solid funky and loose at once.
And if you have 18 minutes to spare, the magical Tago Mago track "Halleluwah"...
...is a lesson in how one man can be a drum choir. Hypnotic.
That’s why he was sampled by everyone from Tribe called Quest to Kanye. Time after Time.
A different and truly unique groove.
An imagination revealed in pulsating beats.
Our German is poor but we think Leibezeit roughly translates “Love Time”.
Which seems the perfect epitaph for a drummer, doesn’t it?
- TH
