TALKING ABOUT THE WEATHER
Eric Thielemans & Billy Hart

Teacher and student. Past and present. 2 drummers. 2 men. 2 fathers. Friends. A conversation. 

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“Talking about the Weather” is a series where drummer Eric Thielemans talks, plays and shares with a variety of musicians, philosophers, visual artists, scientists…It is a research into space, artistry and life.

 

In this series Eric Thielemans digs into the oral ways of creating and sharing meaning and/or meaningful information. The project starts from the specificity of a situation (who, where, when, what), by tuning in into theatmosphere(s)/waves that are already present before the conversation starts.

 

Belgian drummer Eric Thielemans is one of the most idiosyncratic figures in Belgian music, someone who not only demonstrates that special musicians always seek out (and find) their own place, but above all that they always remain students of the art of questioning and listening. No musician better illustrates the difference between playing music and playing with music than percussionist Eric Thielemans. He gets to the heart of the matter with an at times extremely minimalist approach, but on the other hand he frequently relies on a range of objects beyond the regular drum kit: a drum placed on its side, a bicycle wheel with a bow, hands and the body.

 

Billy Hart (born 1940 in Washington, D.C.) is a jazz drummer and educator who has performed with some of the most important jazz musicians in history. Early on Hart performed in Washington, D.C. with soul artists such as Otis Redding and Sam and Dave, and then later with Buck Hill and Shirley Horn, and was a sideman with the Montgomery Brothers (1961), Jimmy Smith (1964-1966), and Wes Montgomery (1966-1968). Hart moved to New York in 1968, where he recorded with McCoy Tyner, Wayne Shorter, and Joe Zawinul, and played with Eddie Harris, Pharoah Sanders, and Marian McPartland. Hart was a member of Herbie Hancock's sextet (1969-1973), and played with McCoy Tyner (1973-1974), Stan Getz (1974-1977), and Quest (1980s), in addition to extensive freelance playing (including recording with Miles Davis on 1972's On the Corner).