Johnny Vidacovich

Some great clips today of New Orleans drummer Johnny Vidacovich. Specifically, some footage of Johnny explaining the rhythmic roots of modern American music and its intrinsic relationship to the drumming and musical heritage of New Orleans. Most people don't realize that New Orleans was not only the birthplace of Jazz music but that the musicians of the Crescent City have also influenced and shaped other styles of American music as well. And Johnny Vidacovich is a master drummer who truly understands this musical heritage.

Some of Vidacovichs esteemed former students include drummers Brian Blade and Stanton Moore. Montreal jazz drummer John Fraboni also lived in New Orleans a number of years ago and studied with Vidacovich. Fraboni talked about his experience in New Orleans at Peter Hum's jazz blog at the Ottawa Citizen. Here's a link to that article:

http://communities.canada.com/ottawacitizen/blogs/jazzblog/archive/2009/06/07/giving-new-orleans-drummers-some-ii-john-fraboni-and-johnny-vidacovitch.aspx

Fortunately there is quite a bit of material over at youtube with examples of Vidacovich demonstrating his mastery of New Orleans drumming and how it relates to not only Jazz, but other styles of music as well - especially Funk.

Here's a couple of clips of Johnny Vidacovich in a master class at New York's Drummer's Collective where he discusses some phrasing concepts on the drums:





And another clip of Johnny V further demonstrating his knowledge of New Orleans "Second Line" drumming:



Vidacovich frequently performs with his longtime modern New Orleans Jazz group, the "Astral Project", and here is a clip of Johnny doing his thing with this great band:



The following clips are quite lengthy but there is lots of great information here.

Check it out !













To learn more about Johnny Vidacovich and his music, stop by his website at:

www.johnnyvidacovich.com