Billy Ward Trio Rehearsal Tapes

When I released my first CD, Two Hands Clapping an album of live duets, I wanted to "sell it" on the internet and have people pay what they think it is worth to them. Well, all my friends talked me out of it! But now that Radiohead has paved the way (in more ways than one!) by selling their music and letting the purchaser decide what it is worth to them, I feel excited about this offering (AND check out the video download as well of the band playing the next night in New York City). You can purchase this now and download it. YOU set the price of what it is worth to you. If it turns out that it was worth more than you think it was, I hope you take care of the musicians next time. You won't hear music played well in this world if the musicians cannot afford to play it.

The Billy Ward trio consists of myself, Barry Coates (guitar and composer) and Bill Urmson (bass). I have played with these guys on and off for almost twenty years.

We rehearsed in advance of our '08 Modern Drum Festival at my upstate New York house beginning on the previous Sunday. By Tuesday, we were starting to get bored (and we hardly played anyway & just a couple-a-hours, then we were cooking food and having relaxed fun together). So on Tuesday Barry brought out a few new songs. Three of them can be heard here on the following day, Wednesday. Our noses were in the charts as we were playing these three songs for only the second time. They are songs 2 (Holy Moley), 3 (Low-Life brothers) and 4 (Lower Forty).

This recording was made with two Shure KSM141 mics into a Chandler TG2 stereo mic pre. That's it. We intended this to be only for our own study, but we believe that particular day's music turned out the best of the entire week. So we hope to share it with you!

My drum kit is a 14x18 X-shell DW. Floor tom is 13x13 X-shell DW. Rack tom is 7x10 VLT-shell DW, and finally, the snare is a 5x12 DW Jazz Series snare. The kit is finished in Champagne Glass. This is the kit that I would take to a local gig (discussed here, on the board). Those two mics are a good 6 feet from the drums and there is still low frequencies hitting the mics. Also, the room is all wooden floored with bare walls, save for artwork -- so it is not a room designed to sound good. (I just want to acknowledge that sometimes the music can overtake obstacles)

I apologize for not having any "band arguments" on tape. They are not there because we don't do that. These are mature musicians who I believe to be very good at what they do. I am very proud of this Trio and hope it helps your own playing as yet another follow-up of my latest DVD, Voices In My Head.

The mix places the drums quite a bit out front -- what the heck, I guess the room allowed me to be louder than those guys…but this means you can hear everything I am playing. Feel free to follow through with your questions and comments on my discussion forum contained in this website.

As you know, the proper studio recording of this group is included in my Voices & DVD. The actual charts to many of these songs are also available for free download on this website.

thanks and Enjoy!
-Billy

Here's how this works...

Click the get it now link, and you will be given the choice of how you want to pay for this material, and how much. Or download, then listen to it, love it, and then pay what you think it's worth.