Tony clichés

This is an interesting recording, with a strange performance by a great drummer, Marvin 'Smitty' Smith— it consists almost entirely of Tony Williams clichés. When I heard this in a record store I realized I knew a lot of Tony things I didn't know that I knew. I guess Smith is making a kind of tribute by playing this way, or maybe it's some kind of post-Young Lions neo-classicist idea that the correct way to play Nefertiti is to play Tony stuff.





Here, give a listen to the original, in case you don't have it memorized:





I should clarify what jazz musicians mean by clichés, since drummers don't use the word as often as horn players. It just means stock licks or ideas; it doesn't necessarily carry the negative connotation it does in normal speech.