During my PASIC travels two weeks ago in Indianapolis, I was overwhelmed with the amount of new instruments, products, cymbals, drums, books and DVD's that were all being featured in the exhibit area. Too many nice Zildjian K. Constantinople cymbals to choose from !
One book that did catch my eye was New York drummer Jim Payne's latest book entitled "Advanced Funk Drumming".
Some great clips from the book & DVD on a page at www.drummerworld.com devoted to drummer Jim Payne:
http://drummerworld.com/drummers/Jim_Payne.html
A groovy sample from youtube.com:
Honestly, I forgot to pick this one up during PASIC (!) but I will eventually. Jim's got a great method and collection of grooves here and will impress anyone who's interested in the history and method of contemporary funk drumming.
And course you can see from these web clips that he grooves his butt off too !
There is also lots of great information and further lessons on Jim's website at:
Oh yes, today's a big day in RIDER NATION as my beloved Saskatchewan Roughriders take on the Calgary Stampeders in the CFL Western Final (being hosted in Regina, Saskatchewan)
Some thoughtful and inspiring words from the Saxophone Colossus himself, Sonny Rollins from an interview with Jason Crane at www.jazzsession.com via Peter Hum at the Ottawa Citizen (nice find Peter!)
“I think that the relevance of jazz depends on what you think jazz is. For instance, if you think that jazz is a piano trio playing in a small nightclub — they’re good musicians, maybe have a girl singer — and you come in and there are people smoking and sitting at tables … if that is your conception of jazz then of course jazz is not relevant, because that refers to a time and place. Jazz is something which is much bigger. Jazz has to do with freedom of expression. So is jazz still relevant? Of course, because there are always people trying to express themselves in music. I think of jazz as having the big umbrella, so that a lot of styles of music that have merged over the years all fall under the umbrella of jazz. The act of trying to create something musically and spontaneously is something that is a part of life. It’s like the weather — it’s always there. Jazz as something that fits into a narrow little remembrance, no, that kind of jazz is not relevant. But jazz is as relevant today as the yearning for people to be free. That’s how relevant jazz is.”
- Sonny Rollins in conversation with Jason Crane
*Check out Crane's excellent website that features many, many interviews with the Masters.
Some very informative footage of Ian Froman demonstrating his approach to contemporary jazz timekeeping on the drum set courtesy of www.vicfirth.com
Ian, originally from Ottawa, is a very accomplished drummer and teacher who teaches at the Berklee College of Music and has performed with the likes of Dave Liebman, Metalwood, Jake Langley and Mike Murley among many others.
I had the pleasure of seeing Ian play quite a bit during my time in Toronto. Sometimes, it almost seemed like he was living in Toronto as he was around so much !
There is a CBC recording floating around the web of Froman playing drums Mike Murley, Dave Liebman and Jim Vivian at the Rex Hotel & Jazz Club recorded during the 2008 IAJE Conference in Toronto (or was it an IAJE funeral ???).
Last week at the PASIC 2009 conference in Indianapolis, amongst the many, many amazing concerts and master classes that I was fortunate to attend, I was lucky to catch a long-time favorite drummer of mine perform - Yoron Israel.
Yoron is a great jazz drummer and teaches at the Berklee College of Music. I took a few lessons with Yoron while spending some time in Boston performing with the stage production "Barrage" back in 2004.
The first time I heard Yoron play was actually at the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival in 1996 with Joe Lovano's Quartet. He had just released his double album "Quartets" (another keeper that features drummers Billy Hart and Lewis Nash) and was touring and performing music from that album. From the first notes of Lovano's "Fort Worth", Israel's drumming left a significant impression on me as a drummer.
Yoron has produced an excellent and well-articulated DVD entitled "Creative Jazz Improvisation for Drum Set" and features concise and practical approaches to being creative and playing musical drum solos.
A few sample clips can be found on-line:
And here's a great Second-Line version of Thelonious Monk's "Bright Mississippi" with Dr. Lonnie Smith:
Good god I'm almost to the point of exhaustion here but today was another tour-de-force at PASIC 2009. I'm sad that it has come to an end and I had a great time but I'm not sure my body can take much more of this !
Today was another action packed day featuring many of the world's top percussionists.
Here's the roll call of the highlights of my day:
- Legendary big band drummer Ed Shaughnessy gave a morning session on basic timekeeping and ride cymbal techniques. Ed also related some personal anecdotes about his early days playing on 52nd street during the late 40s and his relationship with Buddy Rich. Ed is truly one of the last from a quickly disappearing generation of jazz drummers. One of the "Last of the Mohicans", so-to-speak, so I'm glad to hear him play and talk.
- Victor Rendon, Memo Acevedo and friends gave a high-energy and super groovy performance/masterclass regarding some specific Afro-Latin grooves including the mozambique, cumbia and bembe rhythms. I really appreciated the contextualization and explanations given about these rhythms. These guys obviously know their stuff. I've known Memo since my trip to Cuba to 2006 and he is a great soul. Memo is the man !
Thanks also to Marco at Vic Firth for the free LP egg shakers that were distributed before the show. Man, with a room full of drummers that could have been a recipe for trouble... : )
- Skip Hadden, Berklee professor and author of one of my favorite drum instructional books, "Broken Straight-Eighth Playing", gave an insightful clinic about the history and development of the jazz fusion movement of the late 60s and 70s.
- James Campbell presented an incredibly organized and articulate session about basic fundamental snare drum technique and stressed that we should be teaching young drummers to think more about the motion and sounds we are making just as much as the sticking and rhythmic patterns we play. He is a very good teacher !
- Wandering through the exhibit hall my friend, Jonathan Eng, and I stopped by the General Washington snare drum booth. We spent time talking and getting an in-depth history lesson with rudimental snare drum expert George P. Carroll. WOW !!! This guy knows everything there is to know about civil war/american revolutionary war rudimental rope tension snare drumming. We even played a bit on some of his beautiful drums (that he makes). Boy those things were loud....although I can see why (makes sense if you were competing with artillery on a battlefield!). I further read George's bio on a pamphlet I took away - I was shocked at his lifetime of achievements in this field of rudimental drumming. Among other things, this guy wrote the "Death March" and played the drums during the procession for JFK's funeral !
- I spent some time at the Sabian cymbal booth and tried out the new Jack DeJohnette "Three point" ride cymbals that they had on display. Nice cymbals and an interesting concept. Quite a departure from Jack's previous lines of cymbals he had developed with Sabian in the last 20 years. But I actually dig these sounds more than the previous ones and I think they are more similar in concept to his cymbal sound of the 70s when he played Paiste cymbals (not nearly as dry?) Of course Jack could play a tin can and an ashtray and make them sound good !!!
- Cynthia Yeh, the new principal percussionist with the Chicago Symphony, gave a great session on making the most music out of orchestral excerpts and really putting a thoughtful and personal touch to phrasing those passages. An incredibly gifted and musical person. Quite a departure from my field of study - but I learned something. Each note counts and you can pack alot into one stroke !
- I attended a drum set panel discussion entitled "Using Technology in the Teaching Studio". Artists including Dom Famularo, Tommy Igoe, Benny Greb and Kim Plainfield (among others) offered an insightful discussion about using DVD's and recording technology to assist in motivating and informing students. The future is now !
- Tommy Igoe and the Birdland Big Band "Live from New York" were featured on Saturday's closing concert with percussionist Rolando Morales-Matos. This was a no-holds-barred set and the band put it into fifth-gear from the first note. It was REALLY loud ! Rolando was outstanding on congas, timbales, some alien looking steel pan type of drum (from Switzerland apparently?) and, despite the fact that his instrument was literally self-destructing on stage while he played, his vibraphone features were very creative, full of high energy and sounded great. I would love to hear this cat when his vibes aren't falling apart ! This guy smokes !!!
And now the final installment of....
THE FOUR OF THE FLOOR PASIC 2009 MVP AWARDS
Saturday, November 14th - 2009
Well, today's FOUR ON THE FLOOR MVP AWARD is a bit of a no-brainer and goes to one of my all-time favorite jazz drummers - Jack DeJohnette !
Jack performed a non-stop improvised drum "concerto" for about 45 minutes in front of a capacity crowd this afternoon. I was lucky to be stage centre in about the 5th row. He didn't say much before he started, just a few thank you's and that he would "open himself up to the cosmic continuum" for inspiration.
Here's a short clip of Jack doing his thing:
His solo began with a series of mallet crashes on his hi-hats and used the microphone he had been speaking on to amplify the overtones of his cymbals while they resonated. And they sang !!! I swear he was getting chords out of his cymbals....Continuing to the drums, Jack explored the melodic elements of his sizeable drum set, eventually settling into a motif that recalled John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme". Eventually, after continuing for several minutes he paused and stated that he was going to play his tribute to the great drummers of Motown. And Jack proceed to groove in the most beautiful groovy back beat way that Jack does. He explored various tempos and textures on the drums during his statement - fast broken swing, loose funky grooves and melodic passages on the tomtoms. His sense of phrasing and rhythmic architecture was amazing. The way he connects sections and flows from one idea to the next was very moving. His new Sabian cymbals sounded fantastic.
Well today was yet another marathon of great drums, percussion and music at PASIC 2009 here in Indianapolis, Indiana.
It's getting very difficult to choose what to see. There is too much good stuff to choose from !!!
(but I guess that's not necessarily a bad thing....)
Here are my latest dispatches from the front lines:
- Steve Fidyk, drummer with the U.S. Army Jazz Band, gave a great clinic on the benefits and process of transcribing and learning beats and vocabulary from the Masters - something every drummer should engage themselves in. By demonstrating the transcription process in real time with help from the audience, Steve had everyone listen and learn from such drummers as Tony Williams, Art Blakey, Joe Morello, Ringo Starr and Harvey Mason.
- Diane Downs and the Louisville Leopards Percussionists were an absolute ball to listen to. The ensemble consists of 40 or so students all between the ages of 7 and 12 !!! The results were outstanding and an inspiring concert of little people playing their hearts out. I really dug the tambourine second-line in the back row of the stage during the ensembles rendition of the Jackson Five's hit tune "ABC".
Here's a video clip of the Leopards performing at an IAJE concert from a few years ago to give you an idea of what they do:
- New York drum set artist Tobias Ralph demonstrated a contemporary and advanced approach to modern drum set groove playing. Lots of chops and an interesting approach to over-the-barline figures.
- Jazz Vibraphonist Jay Hoggard performed in a duet with Berklee professor and drummer Yoron Israel. Lots of great playing here from both Jay and Yoron. Hoggard is clearly steeped in the tradition, offered beautiful original compositions and I really enjoyed the seldom heard instrumental texture and combination of just the drums & vibraphone duet (reminds of the Karl Berger/Ed Blackwell duet recording I have)
- John Wooton offered a great concert on steel drums. This is an instrument I'm interested in but have yet to have any exposure to. I always knew of John as a drum corps guy from his days with the Phantom Regiment, so I was impressed to see another side to his musicianship (which was outstanding !)
-Japanese drummer and Yamaha, Remo, Zildjian and Vic Firth artist Akira Jimbo (well, were reminded weren't we ? ;-) was over the top with his ridiculous chops and play-alongs to triggered melodies and grooves.
- Vibraphonist Dick Sisto with his quartet featuring Ed Soph on drums was a great contemporary jazz set featured on the late-night series at the Westin. I had a hard time trying to figure out who to watch more - Ed or Dick - they are both such masters on their instruments, and both instruments that I'm trying to master myself !!!
And now....
THE FOUR ON THE FLOOR PASIC 2009 MVP AWARDS
Thursday, November 14th - 2009
Todays FOUR ON THE FLOOR PASIC 2009 MVP AWARD goes to a session I chanced upon. Neither the session nor the artist were even mentioned in the general program (a late addition perhaps?). However, I did notice his name in the schedule-at-a-glance and decided to check him out.
Well, I'm glad I did !!!
The session featured Abbos Kosimov from Uzbekistan - a master frame drummer from Central Asia. He demonstrated basic strokes and time signature patterns for each of his frame drums and then proceed to bring the house down with his extended solos. His sound and technique was beautiful. This may be the best session I've seen so far this year at PASIC and I'm glad that the audience reacted with such enthusiasm and several standing applauses. This guy is a monster but clearly a down-to-earth and humble individual.
Now I just need to find out what his instruments are called !!!
*Update*
A poster to my blog has kindly informed me that this instrument he plays is called the Doyra and you can find out more about this artist at his website:
Well folks, lots to report after day two at my inaugural PASIC festival here in Indianapolis.
Here are the highlights of my day:
- Maria Martinez gave a great clinic this morning on applying rudimental flam exercises on the drum set and using them in a Latin/Brazilian context. Some little kid got up to work with Maria and he smoked !!! I'm sure he'll be presenting at next years PASIC...
- The Spectrum Trio, a great ensemble of young percussionists from Wisconsin, performed original arrangements inspired from the African diaspora and such other groups as Africa West and Talking Drums.
- Bob Breithaupt and Garwood Whaley offered an informative and business orientated panel discussion on how to pursue a career as a percussionist.
- A back-to-basics clinic on applications of the rudiments on the drum set from Berklee professor Sergio Bellotti. He sure likes those "40 Essential Rudiments" posters that Vic Firth is giving away.... : ) Very entertaining and informative.
- I enjoyed playing and testing out the K Constantinople ride cymbals that Zildjian had on display at their booth in the exhibition hall. In particular, the Kenny Washington prototypes were really nice and I hope to hear more artist collaboration cymbals like this in the future. The KW's had a great sound and were surprisingly bright compared to what I had expected. Quite a noticeable difference and contrast from the other K Con's that I've played/owned/heard. Too many nice cymbals to choose from. I had to restrain myself from buying another one !
- Drum set artists Zoro and Daniel Glass offered a very informative and entertaining clinic about the early roots of rock'n roll and early R&B music. These guys grooved their butts off !!! Certainly a theme of "the past is the future" resonated throughout. I especially enjoyed the drum duet. Daniel Glass sounds like a modern, groovy Gene Krupa and Zoro laid it down and, even as he soloed, still respected the groove and expressed himself with a great sound, deep pocket and musicality. Thank you for this you guys !
- The evening concert featuring the Ju Percussion Group from Taiwan was outstanding. The program featured their Taiwanese/Chinese roots and I was overall very impressed with their musicality, especially on the marimba/mallets pieces. I also enjoyed their repetoire. It was very nice to hear some beautiful melodies played by an entertaining group of musicians who were clearly enjoying themselves. This group also wins the prize for the best printed program of the conference. Great presentation ! Who's your publicist ???
- Some smokin' Salsa and Afro-Cuban grooves at the late night set featuring the Lalo Davila and Friends Salsa Band at the Westin this evening. However, what's up with the $7 dollar beers ???
And now....
THE FOUR ON THE FLOOR PASIC 2009 MVP AWARDS
Thursday, November 12th - 2009
Today's outstanding group (in my humble opinion) was the University of North Texas Gamelan orchestra which hit the gig HARD at 9 am this morning. I was blown away with pretty much everything this group had to offer. The music was outstanding in all facets. I don't really know much about this style of music but this well rehearsed group clearly had their act together. I was blown away and have never seen anything quite like this before. Complex EVERYTHING and not a piece of written music in sight. Thank you ! I think it's time for me to check out some Indonesian Gamelan music....
(or as my colleague Patrick Boyle calls it: "The Home of David Letterman and David Baker" - hmmm...maybe those two should collaborate and come out with a list of the "Top Ten Ways to Learn How to Play Bebop" ? Just a random thought...)
I spent my first day at my first PASIC conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. I've been looking forward to this for many years now.
Today was sort of a prelude to the conference, known as "Focus Day". This year's theme is that of the "Global Economy" (hosted by Greg Beyer) and featured music from around the world presented in a contemporary, symbiotic and collaborative format. Many outstanding performances from percussionists all over the globe spanning various styles and instruments in a very forward thinking and thought provoking manner. So many envelopes were pushed in so many different ways today.
There was an incredible volume of great music presented today (no masterclasses, just concerts) and these are the ones that stood out to me:
- Fernado Rocha's performance of "Duo for Pandeiro and Laptop" (by Fernando Rocha and Joseph Malloch). Some beautiful contemporary pandeiro playing here with an effective use of delays and computer effects.
- Jordan Munson's performance on frame drum on "Those That I Do Not Hate". Great use of getting different sounds and textures out of one drum accompanying a stirring video installation.
- Beverly Johnston (of University of Toronto fame !) was outstanding on her marimba work on "Fertility Rites" by Christos Hatzis (damn - I should have taken his percussion composition class last year....oh well)
- "Mad Cow" written and performed by U of T graduate David Carlisle. Wow - what a great demonstration of how to integrate a quasi-drum set within a contemporary percussion approach. Some ridiculous coordination there !
- Susie Ibarra and Roberto Rodriguez performing music from "Song of The Bird King". A very musical combination of drum set, laptop computer, groovy cajon and some kind of beautiful Indonesian tuned gong bells. Music with a very poignant message.
- The University of Wisconsin/Madison Graduate Percussion Ensemble's performance of "Concerto for Darrabukka and Percussion Quartet". This was very well done and I particularly appreciated the lead soloist (a professor perhaps ?) who demonstrated his proficiency on the darrabukka with the utmost taste and musicality.
And now...
THE FOUR ON THE FLOOR PASIC 2009 MVP AWARDS
Wednesday, November 11th - 2009
Today's FOUR ON THE FLOOR PASIC MVP AWARD goes to Dan Weiss, a New York City contemporary jazz drummer who performed his innovative piece "Tintal Drumset Solo". Basically, Weiss is a studied tabla player as well as a monster jazz drummer and he took an entire traditional classical tabla solo and adapted it, literally, on the drum set (!)
Yikes - his control, phrasing, understanding and application of Indian tabla vocabulary was BRILLIANT !!! I can only imagine how long it must have taken him to get this together. I'm pretty sure that there is no one else doing what he does so well on this planet these days (I could be wrong - Trilok Gurtu perhaps?) Anyways, Dan is clearly a dedicated spirit when it comes to drumming and music. It really showed in his performance this afternoon. In the written concert notes, Weiss had the following to say:
"I strongly believe that I have a duty to be the best musician I can be in order to be the best person I can be. I practice very intensely to transform my being and in turn transform others. That is the best I can hope to be in this lifetime."
Some deep and inspiring thoughts from drummer Dan Weiss that clearly translates into deep music....it was very moving.
Here is some video footage of Dan performing his piece "Tintal Drumset Solo":
