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by Carter
June 29, 2008 in News by Carter
Looks like there’s another Buddy Rich Memorial event in the works. Some of modern drumming’s biggest names are slated to appear. Plus bassist Will Lee! Read the rest of this entry →
by Carter
June 29, 2008 in News, Reviews, Videos by Carter
Drum maker Ronn Dunnett (Dunnett Classic Drums, George Way Drum Company, www.drumsmith.com) is also an accomplished photographer. Check out his pictorials of many drum expos and shows (NAMM, Musik Messe, Chicago Drum Show, Hollywood Drum Show, and many others) here.
The one catch is you have to register. But I highly recommend becoming a part of the site. Good people and good discussions!
by Dave Kropf
June 24, 2008 in Artists, Books/Mags/Web by Dave Kropf
Man, Drum! just loves giving it away! They’ve just offered a free PDF download of the excellent Lenny White article from the Summer 08 issue of Traps.
For fusion fans, the prospect of Return To Forever getting back together again after all these years (the group dis-banded in 1976) is akin to a Beatles reunion, and for the past few decades seemed about as unlikely. Corea was the lone holdout in recent years. While Clarke, Di Meola, and White had been lobbying for an RTF reunion, the three were unable to persuade Corea to take up the cause, until now.
by JABB
June 23, 2008 in Artists, Education, Music/DVDs, Reviews by JABB
Simon Philips: Complete is another case of two older videos being merged and resold as a single DVD. Its two individual parts being Simon Philips and Simon Philips Returns.
The thing about this DVD is that it doesn’t really reveal to you what you are getting into when you buy/rent it. Certainly there’s no hint as to the nature of the content in the title of the DVD. So I’m going to tell you what you’re getting into. Mostly you’re getting performance and breakdown of music Simon Phillips wrote, along with a couple of solos and some sections on general drumming topics. Some of the general drumming topics include double bass drumming and double bass tuning, timekeeping, coordination, snare drum tuning, and snare drum playing.
The advice he gives is pretty good in many of the areas he talks about and not so good in some of the others. Usually when the advice isn’t satisfactory it’s because he didn’t go in-depth enough as opposed to the advise just being bad. Also, as with most older DVDs, lots of the ideas and advice he give have been done again but better in newer DVDs. You can tell this stuff was big news back in the old days but today much of it has been improved on. I’m searching and failing to say something else about this DVD which means it’s time for the break down. Read the rest of this entry →
by Dave Kropf
June 23, 2008 in Artists, Books/Mags/Web, Events, News by Dave Kropf
Wanna follow John Blackwell on his clinic tour? Well, now you can on his clinic tour blog hosted over at Zildjian. Keep in mind that Blackwell moved to Zildian just a couple of months ago. It looks like Z is putting him to good use right away! 
by JABB
June 22, 2008 in Artists, Education, Music/DVDs, Opinion, Reviews by JABB
Steve Smith, shiny headed drummer extraordinaire has done it again! Standing on the Shoulder’s of Giant’s is Steve’s tribute to all the greats that came before him (and he does them justice.) Steve Smith’s Jazz Legacy was originally Buddy’s Buddies, a tribute band to the work of Buddy Rich. As they went on, they started expanding to the work of other jazz drumming greats. Eventually the name was changed to Jazz Legacy because they had left the realm of a Buddy Rich tribute band and became something more.
This video contains the entire 2006 Modern Drummer Festival performance of Steve Smith’s Jazz Legacy and after each song there is a long discussion about it between John Riley and Steve Smith. John Riley’s presence does help make the DVD much better and I’ll explain how. If you remember my review of Steve Smith’s Drum Set Technique & History of the U.S. Beat, my one criticism was that Steve Smith was very stiff when he was talking to the camera. Well, because John Riley is there, Steve has an actual person to talk to. The effect being, Steve is much more personable and easier to watch. But Riley is more then just someone for Steve to bounce conversation off of. He is a Jazz scholar in his own right and adds much insight and a different perspective to Steve when they discuss the performances and the artists to which the performances are tributes. Read the rest of this entry →
by Dave Kropf
June 18, 2008 in Education, Videos by Dave Kropf
Here’s a great video from ESPN talking about the rigors and athletic demands of Drum Corps players.
[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=6WWmM1jpM8I]
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