I’ve loved jazz and fusion for many years but never really had the chance to try and play it until we formed this little trio. And playing this stuff is something I love dearly.

I’m learning to play jazz…. and here’s a jam of Bessy’s Blues.

While hanging out, chatting music while he was working on a cool tat and Chandler was doing some piercings… I was told they had a couple of old drums that they were going to throw out. Some old Westbury drums, a tom and a snare drum. I thought this was pretty cool.

They very graciously gave them to me and now I have a little project. I really like playing around with snare drums. I remember a friend of my fathers found one in a dump once and gave it to me…. I couldn’t find the brand, that one was a red sparkle/glitter finish… fixed it up and gave it to an old bandmate in a jam…. anyways.

I’m really looking forward to playing around with this. I might try a couple of things with this drum.

Here’s a few pics just after getting home with it….

It’s also a great time to find new inspiration on the drums.

I’m a fan of music… many types of music. So, if you happen to ride with me in my car, you’d find that I’ll have some King’s X on…. then maybe some Slayer… over to Hiromi… and then maybe off to the Black Crowes…. or Bill Withers…. or….

This morning I opened a gift from a very good friend of mine who has always been very good to me. I was totally surprised to find a DVD… “Buddy Rich Live in ’78“.

I’ve always enjoyed watching Buddy play, there is a definite fire that you feel watching him play the drums…. he drove the music so intensly sometimes that I find it hard not to move my hands or fidget around.

Watching this video I was also very delighted to see both Andy Fusco and Steve Marcus. I had the pleasure of seeing both of them years back playing along side Steve Smith with Buddy’s Buddies.

I was very very happy to have been able to see Mr Marcus play live before his passing in 2005.

On this DVD, Steve Marcus is on fire. An amazing performance not only by Steve…. Buddy Rich is quite predictably “Buddy Rich”…. displaying a pure mastery on the drum kit and his entire band is in top notch playing shape. They are so tight…. it’s just plain awesome.

I highly recommend this DVD to anyone who loves the drums, loves jazz or really loves music in general. These are masters at the top of their game.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Click here to view the videos from December 17th.

Drums and drumming are one of my life’s passions. I am grateful to have the opportunity to play the instrument. Seriously, I love it.

Here’s Roadhouse Blues from the night:

This was recorded with the Zoom 3QHD, the lighting is pretty dark in this video.

Playing my Gretsch Catalina Maple kit with Sabian Cymbals.

Never really learned this tune but it’s one of those classic radio tunes.

This was recorded with the Zoom 3QHD, the lighting is pretty dark in this video.

Playing my Gretsch Catalina Maple kit with Sabian Cymbals.

Fantastic job dude!

I love it…. enjoy!

First time I saw Jojo was at the Montreal Drum Fest in 1996. He was a relative unknown then in my circles. I just remember that even then the language that came out of his kit was stunning. At one point in his 45 minute drum performance, I remember his snare head broke and a tech brought out a new snare. He didn’t stop playing…. I was amazed.

Jojo also displayed a mastery in dynamics. I remember how he went from quiet brush playing, slowing building the volume and intensity until he switched to sticks and really got intense.

Found this clip of Jojo giving a talk on electronic beats, how that evolved and how he got into the drum & bass, jungle beats. Very good talk. He has certainly master the language in my opinion.

I like how Jojo presents the programming of electronic beats VS the playing of them live. In a live setting a drummer’s decision making happens in fractions of seconds. I’ve sometimes talked about this with some younger guys too. A live performance is much like a conversation. It happens “on the spot”. But unlike a conversation, the pace can be so fast that there is litterally non time for thought. Natural instinct, your feeling…. intuition as Jojo points out takes over.

It’s the zone. A journey.

Enjoy!

I bought a Gretsch Catalina Maple kit back in June and I have fond memories of bringing the boxes home, opening them up and putting them together.

My Gretsch kit has always been good to me. Easy to tune, nice to look at…. just great.

So here’s to the memories…. and I certainly wasn’t was organized sorting out the hoops, shells…etc.. as Mr Palmer is in this video….

But my mission was accomplished!

Enjoy!

This certainly would open up a world of possibilities around the kit. Something I’ll practice a bit myself.

I’ve never practised polyrhythmic patterns like these while counting out loud and recently I  saw another example that kinda got me thinking about approaching practise this way.

I’m a bit inspired after watching this. What do you think??

Enjoy!!

As a drummer I enjoy learning and studying techniques to allow me to express myself on my drums. And many of us do enjoy watching inspiring videos where a great drummer shows us new ways to implement different techniques on time keeping (odd meters for instance) or hand/foot techniques….etc.

But, let’s not forget that our primary purpose as drummers in the context of playing with other musicians is to keep time and support the other musicians in the song. The song’s arrangement and/or the goal of the song’s message should be #1. In that, we have a responsibility to play accordingly.

Liberty does a great job in this talk and then shows us how to deliver the goods.

Don’t clutter and be noisy. Learn different musical styles and work with the other musicians to deliver the song in unison.

If the song demands something crazy or if it demands a strong pocket groove… then that’s your job.

Enjoy!