This month’s drumming sung-unsung hero is Israeli-born Tal Bergman.
Read moreSung and UnSung Heroes: Tal Bergman
Jazz Legend Jimmy Cobb, Drummer For Miles Davis, Passes Away At 91
“One of the most influential drummers of all time has passed. Jimmy Cobb, I have listened to you on ‘Kind Of Blue’ so many times when my head needed calming down and straightening out and uplifting”.
– George Lawrence
Read moreTranscription of Jimmy Cobb's performance with Miles on Ah-Leu-Cha
With the passing of Jimmy Cobb this past month it is important to remember not only his most popular performance on Kind Of Blue, which defined “Cool Jazz”, but also his innovation and contributions in straight ahead be bop.
Read moreLast Flight Home - Todd Sucherman's Debut Solo Album
The album is not a flurry of prog rock drum tracks as one might expect but passionate and varied pieces composed by Todd and his creative partner, J.K. Harrison, with Todd on lead vocals. There are 10 great tunes, carefully sculpted and crafted to tease our emotions and draw us in. This phenomenal debut album is available on CDs, high-definition audio (.WAV), and signed and numbered 180-gram vinyl LP’s
Read moreMike Clark: Remembering Tony Williams
Not So Modern Drummer celebrates the life and music of Legendary Drummer Tony Williams in our new ongoing series. Chapter Two features Mike Clark’s personal recollections and commentary.
Read moreInfluential Alex Van Halen
I also consider Alex to be somewhat of a teacher as he had the ability to lay down straight ahead rock along with the occasional shuffle and a song using brushes. My teacher was a great swing brush player but somehow hearing my idol play brushes (Big Bad Bill from Diver Down) made it seem all that much cooler.
Read moreCelebrity set - Madelaine Manney's '55 Gretsch Broadkaster Cocktail Drum Set
Miss Madeleine Manney was a very unique and strong woman, especially when you consider the time period in which she led her own band - quite extraordinary. I wish I had had the opportunity to not only meet and talk with her, but to witness one of her many live performances as she toured extensively in the Tri-State PA., N.J. and N.Y. area over many years. She was a celebrity in that region. I imagine she was an exceptional lady. I will keep her memory alive with the drum.
Read moreSung and Unsung Heroes - Ian Thomas
This month’s unsung hero is Ian Thomas, a session drummer from London, UK. He has played with Paul McCartney, Sting, Eric Clapton, Elton John and many more. Without a doubt, Ian is one of the UK’s most sought after and respected session drummers.
Read moreNick D’Virgilio to Release New Solo Album Invisible Featuring Members of Dream Theater, King Crimson, Supertramp, Cheap Trick, The Flower Kings & Others!
With the recording process split between the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London (including full string and brass sections) and the world class Sweetwater Studios in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Invisible boasts star turns from luminaries such as guitarists Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big), Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick) and Carl Verheyen (Supertramp), bassists Tony Levin (King Crimson, Peter Gabriel) and Jonas Reingold (The Flower Kings, Steve Hackett), plus keyboard players Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater) and Jem Godfrey (Frost*).
Read moreUnsung Heroes - Angus Burchall
This month’s drumming unsung hero is from the land down under…Australia. His name is Angus Burchall and, for more than 30 years, he has been the drummer for Australian singing legend John Farnham.
Read moreTodd Sucherman - Remembering Tony Williams - Chapter 1
But, Tony… Hearing him in that room. He would always start out with a solo piece and it felt like it was fight or flight— the hair would rise up on your arms. Primal. Scary. Loud. Resonant. Uniquely him, so much of his authentic self in every note… The coolest and the deepest 24” inch bass drum with three floor toms in THAT room. The softest whisper to the loudest roar… Grooving, swinging with explosive punctuations. The sound is seared into my memory for the rest of my life.
Read moreUnsung Heroes - Ash Soan
Our unsung hero this month is a U.K. born drummer whose rhythmic stylings can be heard on over one hundred recordings, including 56 top ten albums…
Read moreBiff Adam, Drummer in Merle Haggard's Strangers, Dead at 83
Drummer Biff Adam, who was an integral member of Merle Haggard’s legendary backing band for four decades, and also served as the singer’s publicist and bus driver for several years, died Saturday, March 7th, after battling congestive heart failure.
Read moreUnsung Heroes - Kate Schellenbach
This month’s drumming unsung hero is Kate Schellenbach. Kate is a 54-year-old musician and television producer. Since 1992, she has been the drummer for “Luscious Jackson” and was also the drummer in an early incarnation of “The Beastie Boys”.
Read moreBill Zickos, inventor of clear drums, dies at age 90
…a highly beloved drum teacher and father figure to many, drum shop owner and music publisher. In the mid to late 1960s he composed music performed by the combined Shawnee Mission high school bands and percussion ensembles at the Kansas City Chiefs halftime shows. Later he founded Zickos Drum Company which made clear drums (which he had invented) and were used by many of the world's leading rock bands. And throughout it all he would play at night clubs with some of the city's great musicians.
Read moreJon Christensen, famed ECM drummer, died at age 76.
Christensen was voted Drummer of the Year by the European Jazz Federation in 1975, the year that he appeared on ECM albums by German bassist Eberhard Weber and Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava. His flexible articulation of time, and the dry ping of his 22-inch Istanbul K ride cymbal, became hallmarks of the ECM sound.
Read moreBob Gullotti, Drummer and Teacher Known For a Legendary Tenure with The Fringe, Dies at 70
Bob Gullotti, an endlessly creative jazz drummer hailed as a guru by several generations of musicians, both for his instruction at the Berklee College of Music and his work in an experimental trio called The Fringe, died on Saturday at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
Read moreJoe Yuele, A Drummers's Journey: 25 years with John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers
Liverpool's King's Dock on July 19 2003 was the venue for a long awaited and much anticipated reunion between Eric Clapton and John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. The occasion was both a celebration of John Mayall's 70th year and a fundraiser for Unicef. Joe Yuele on drums driving the band hard with the most perfect double shuffle.
For 25 years Joe Yuele was the driving force behind The Father of British Blues, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. But with a 50 year career span that also includes other notable artist such as Buddy Guy, Albert Collins, Dobie Gray, Coco Montoya, and Rick Vito, (to name just a few), there is so much more to Joe's story.
Read moreRemembering Neil Peart by Todd Sucherman
There was the hockey kit, the actual Stanley Cup, a full big band and an entire film crew. We shook hands and chatted, I congratulated him on his new young daughter, and as I remember— he was the one that was asking me all the questions.
Read morePaul Wertico: The Sound Painter
In the international press, Paul has been called “an inspired madman,” and “a restless innovator.” The same could be said of painter Jackson Pollock. There is a direct rhythmic connection between what Paul composes on the drums and what Pollock visually composed on canvas. Each deliberately using an organized rhythmic pattern while communicating their inconsistencies, anomalies and imperfections. Both speaking different languages of which only they can understand and interpret. Critics may never be able to fully describe the true motivations and complete originality of Paul Wertico and Jackson Pollock since both were creating in the moment.
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