So the drum was given to Levon by Ringo, clearly played and signed by Levon to the son of another tremendously influential drummer, Richie Hayward. Four degrees of separation, perhaps? I was happy to win the auction, securing both drum for its history and the ability to help Seve in my own small way.
Read moreMike Clark: Words of Wisdom, Part 3
"OK… So the snares broke on ‘God Make Me Funky’ and I continued to play it on Tom. The engineer Fred Catero takes a brass wastebasket, puts a mike in it and puts the now fixed snare on top of the basket. He then plays the track to the snare which makes a sound at each backbeat, but leaving out all the ghost notes. I hated that sound, and without the ghost notes the beat sounded pedestrian to my ears…Like anyone could have played it. Now it’s one of the most sampled drum loops ever. They dug it, and some drummers say Hey, Man - I worked hard to get my snare to sound like yours!"
Read moreFather to Son: T.S. Monk ‘Keeps it in the Family’
T.S. Monk, son of virtuoso jazz pianist Thelonious Monk, has carved out his own niche as a respectable and identifiable voice in bop drumming circles. But, he never forgot where he came from.
T.S. had the good fortune of soaking in all the musical vibes surrounding him at home. From receiving his first drumset from Max Roach to listening to his father, Miles Davis, John Coltrane or Art Blakey upstairs in his living room, there was no escaping it – he was presented with the ‘gift’ at an early age.
Read moreVirgil Donati's "In This Life" US Tour
Over a year in the making, the much anticipated solo record by Virgil Donati arrived and has been creating buzz around musicians' circles since it's arrival. The album was produced, written and arranged by Donati, and mixed by Alex Argento, a close collaborator. Virgil’s drumming has arguably been at the leading edge for at least a decade, and as this record displays, his compositional and orchestration skills are also coming to the fore. Says Donati: “After all these years of playing, I still feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface!”
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