Ryan Brown: Pure Genius

Ryan Brown’s gift is in his undying passion for all things Zappa. He has been a fan of the music from his earliest formative years behind the drum set. It is obvious upon hearing him perform that he has dedicated many hours to learning the Zappa repertoire. Dweezil’s band draws from all eras of Zappa, from Freak Out through Roxy and Elsewhere and One Size Fits All, up to Zappa’s later material in the 80’s. They even stop off at some 200 Motels along the way. The repertoire is constantly being expanded with new material for every tour. The exuberance of diving deep into the Zappa vault is seen in Ryan’s face when he performs classic and somewhat obscure numbers such as Holiday in Berlin and Rollo. These are tunes for the hardcore fans, of which he is perhaps the biggest.

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Reflections On Shelly Manne: Chapter 12

Peter Magadini - "You know, I used to hear Shelly play a fair amount in LA. He had a great ride feel (and sound) and a very unique way of playing the ride (different) say from Max Roach and Philly Joe Jones. He had the same style and motion as those guys (my heroes as well) but he had the fingers involved and when it got blistering fast it was only the fingers involved. That part I kept for myself too because it works great and you can keep very fast tempos going for a long time."

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