Thursday, December 15, 2011

Chick Webb, Gene Krupa, & Jo Jones: Superstar Drummers of the 1930s

The American 1930s is a decade of incomparable contradiction and complexity. Though much of this period remains defined by a climb out of the Great Depression, there was much progress and growth in a positive light. Architecture developed with the completed construction of New York City’s Empire State Building and San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. Films with synchronized sound, or “talkies,” pushed the film industry out of silence and to new possibilities. Though radio was still the primary form of mass media, the television was newly available to the American public. Baseball had become the country’s “national pastime” as the New York Yankees of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig dominated with eight World Series titles by 1939 (though the St. Louis Cardinals of Rogers Hornsby and Dizzy Dean were hot on their heels). Ruth Graves Wakefield unintentionally developed the chocolate chip cookie when she ran out of baker’s chocolate and had to use broken pieces of semi-sweet chocolate that didn’t melt in the dough (http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade30.html). In the world of music, swing and jazz were taking over, and three distinct and dynamic drummers were keeping the bands swinging and the people dancing. Chick Webb, Gene Krupa, and Jo Jones remain three of the most influential and inventive percussionists in any style of music. These three paved a new musical path with thunder and finesse.




In Burt Korall’s shining account of early jazz drummers called Drummin’ Men, Buddy Rich gives high praise to Chick Webb: “He represented true hipness. His playing was original, different, completely his own” (7). William Henry Webb had been tragically injured not long after his birth in 1907 (or 1905 or 1909, depending on the source) when he was dropped, damaging several vertebrae and preventing him from growing properly and putting him in extreme pain for the rest of his life (Korall, 11). Age brought him nothing but more frailty as his physical health was never good and his spine was never repaired. In 1939, after a major operation in Baltimore’s John Hopkins Hospital, he uttered “I’m sorry, I’ve got to go” and left this world (Chick Webb – drummerworld.com). But his long, healthy legacy out-dueled his short, sickly life. Reportedly, the appropriately nicknamed “Chick” Webb took up the drums out of interest but also as “…a means to build up his body” (Korall, 11). Born and raised in Baltimore, he proved his strong character and drive by working hard as a newspaper boy to save up $103 to purchase a used set of drums. The charismatic Webb started out by performing for passersby on street corners and soon graduated to playing with jazz groups on pleasure boats (Chick Webb – drummerworld.com). By 1924, he moved to New York and sat in on sessions with huge names like Johnny Hodges, Benny Carter, and the one and only Duke Ellington. Webb formed his first band in 1926 – dubbed The Harlem Stompers – and performed at various clubs in the Big Apple, including Black Bottom, Roseland, the Cotton Club, and the Strand Room. By the end of the 1920s, The Harlem Stompers grew into an eleven piece big band and landed the house band job at the Savoy Ballroom. Now known as The Chick Webb Orchestra, the band took off on a historic four year stint at the renowned Harlem hotspot and taught the world what it meant to really swing. “Fellow big band leaders, including swing royals Benny Goodman (with Gene Krupa on drums) and Count Basie (with Jo Jones on drums), also brought their bands into the Savoy for friendly ‘Battle of the Bands’ competitions. But the power of The Chick Webb Orchestra could not be defeated, leaving the drummer to be forever acknowledged as ‘King of the Savoy’” (Modern Drummer: Drum Gods 2, 4). Dave Dexter writes in The Jazz Story, “Webb played a lot of commercial, non-jazz stuff in the early evening…but when the lights went down after midnight and another band set up on the opposite stand, the mighty little percussionist could kick his troupe into a frenzy and chase the competition out in Lenox Avenue” (107). Gene Krupa is quoted as saying of Webb, “The man could reach amazing heights. When he felt like it, he could cut down any of us” (Modern Drummer: Drum Gods 2, 5). Aside from his own legacy, Webb mentored a young orphan singer and took her into his band when instrumental jazz was gaining popularity. Many critiqued his choice to put a singer in his band, claiming it didn’t fit his style. Webb was undeterred in his plans, and chose to develop and incorporate Ella Fitzgerald into his orchestra.



Stylistically, Webb was truly one of a kind. Then and now, drummers often size one another up by their selection and arrangement of their set. The basic pieces of Webb’s set included a 28" bass drum, 6.5 x 14" snare drum, 9 x 13" tom, 16" floor tom, 12" hi hats, 12" crash, 13" crash, and a 15" Chinese cymbal. Additionally, he frequently used a woodblock, a cowbell, and four tuned temple blocks which sat over the bass drum. All of his drums and cymbals were attached to the Gretsch Wheeled Console, which Webb himself helped design. The cymbals were suspended on bent, "goose neck" style stands as opposed to being mounted atop straight cymbal stands. For the foot pedals, a special extension was built so he could reach them (Chick Webb – drummerworld.com). His diminished size did not diminish his playing, and his body had apparently become strong enough over the years to allow him to play quite well. Drummer Allen Paley recalls, “He had strong wrists, long arms, huge hands, long fingers and legs. Only his torso was short and relatively underdeveloped. Sitting up high, he’d lean over the set and hit…the drums, cymbals, and other accessories almost without moving. Sometimes he’d stand up and play….He was the best natural player I ever came across. Fast, clean, flawless, he played like a machine gun…but with enormous feeling and understanding of what the band was trying to do” (Korall, 15-16). Webb could obviously really move across and around his set, His inability to read music didn’t hinder his playing anymore than his physical shortcomings did. Webb had a remarkable awareness and discernment in his playing. He was very conscious of the sound of his drums and took great care to tune them to fit the music. While other drummers spent a lot of time of the toms, Webb used his cymbals, cowbells, and temple blocks to color the melody (Korall, 16-17). Gene Krupa recalls “He worked those cymbals with great facility and freedom and taste. The sound he got from his drums was marvelous. His playing, so clean and fast and technical, had the kind of drive that is impossible to describe if you weren’t there. The records don’t do him justice. Chick was the guy who made big band playing an art, a great craft” (Korall, 59). His rhythmic concepts were mind boggling, but he also played very melodically, blazing a trail for the likes of Max Roach and Roy Haynes.


Born just two years after Webb and in the Midwestern city of Chicago, Eugene Bertram Krupa emerged as one of the most popular and well-known drummers of all time. Before he and his drums became national celebrities on Benny Goodman’s “Sing, Sing, Sing,” young Gene was learning what it meant to have a strong work ethic. The youngest of nine and being pushed towards a life in the Priesthood, Gene was very drawn to music and wanted to play, so he bought a set of drums from his earnings working at a music store simply because they were the cheapest instrument in the store’s catalog (Gene Krupa – drummerworld.com). “Upon entering high school in 1923, Gene became buddies with the ‘Austin High Gang’, which included many musicians which would be on Gene's first recording session; Jimmy McPartland, Jimmy Lannigan, Bud Freeman and Frank Teschemacher. In 1925, Gene began his percussion studies with Roy Knapp, Al Silverman & Ed Straight” (Gene Krupa – drummerworld.com). He headed to New York in 1929 to record with Eddie Condon, Red McKenzie, and Bix Beiderbecke and is widely regarded as the first drummer to record with a full drumset, despite the initial hesitation of the engineer (Gene Krupa – drummerworld.com). By 1933, Krupa had worked with a fair share of bands in both Chicago and New York and landed the gig that would soon place him firmly in the limelight. Clarinetist and bandleader Benny Goodman assembled the first integrated jazz ensemble which would become the first integrated big band, and Gene Krupa became an icon in The Benny Goodman Orchestra. Throughout the rest of his prolific career, Krupa lead his own big bands and small orchestra. “In 1951 he became a star member of Norman Granz’s famed Jazz at The Philharmonic touring shows...In 1954, he partnered with Cozy Cole to open a drum school in New York City” (Modern Drummer: Drum Gods 1, 10). After his health began to decline in 1960, Krupa mainly focused on his own small ensembles before retiring in 1967. He made a brief return to the stage in the 70s, and participated in a memorable reunion concert with Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson, and Lionel Hampton at Carnegie Hall in 1973. In October of that same year, he died of leukemia. “Gene Krupa was unquestionably the first drummer in history to attain a position of global renown. As such, he is still revered and respected by drummers the world over” (Modern Drummer: Drum Gods 1, 10).


Krupa did not achieve his iconic status simply by luck or good looks; he brought many firsts and innovations to the drumming world. “If anyone can be considered the founding father of modern drumset playing, it’s Gene Krupa. Krupa legitimized a collection of instruments known as the ‘traps’ at a time when both the instrument and its players were barely tolerated…He was the first drummer to record with a bass drum. He was the first to popularize the extended drum solo (Modern Drummer: Drum Gods 1, 10). Scott Yanow explains in Swing that prior to 1927, it was feared that bass drums would be too loud in a recording session and earlier drummers like Baby Dodds were usually only permitted to use a snare drum, a cymbal, and maybe a woodblock and some small accessories (243). Krupa himself credits those drummers that preceded him as being hugely influential on his way of playing – Baby Dodds and Zutty Singleton. But he also had much respect for Chick Webb. He discusses Webb’s influence on him in Drummin’ Men: “When I heard Chick for the first time at the Dunbar Palace uptown he gave me an entirely different picture of jazz drums. I had admired Baby and Zutty…but Chick taught me more than anyone. I learned practically everything from him” (Korall, 58). One of the marks of a truly great drummer is versatility. Buddy Rich praised Krupa’s versatility in Drummin’ Men: “Versatility is the key. One of the reasons Gene was so great was that he could do it all…He knew that if you played with three or four guys, you kept things down and used brushes. You didn’t step on the pedal; you played the pedal. You were subtle behind what was going on. Then after exercising great control, bringing into play restraint and delicacy, he could turn around and perform like a monster on ‘Sing, Sing, Sing.’ That’s a drummer!” (Korall, 65). Aside from his playing, Krupa brought much clarity and definition to the drumset as a real instrument. He worked closely with the Slingerland Drum Company and Zildjian cymbals to innovate new instruments for drummers. Tunable tom-toms were his greatest contribution, and his Slingerland “Radio Kings” drumset in white marine pearl finish featured a 9 x 13” tom and a 16 x 16” floor tom that could be tuned using a simple T shaped screw. Krupa’s famous drumset also had a 14 x 26” bass drum, a 6.5 x 14” singly ply mahogany snare drum, plus an assortment of cymbals which he helped Zildjian find names for – 11” hi hats, 13” crash, 8” splash, 14” crash, and a 16” crash (Gene Krupa – drummerworld.com). The snare drum on his set was innovative in its one ply construction as well as in the way Krupa tuned it and played it, primarily by pioneering the use of the rim shot. “Krupa’s snare drum sound was central to the character of his work. Crisp, clean, with a suggestion of echo, it enhanced the excitement of his performances. He would strike the drum head and rim in such a way that the stick carried the impact from the rim down to the tip of the stick and transmitted it to the head, which then acted like an amplifier” (Korall, 72). What Krupa could do with the toms is chronicled forever on “Sing, Sing, Sing,” as he became popularized the extended drum solo. Perhaps Krupa should also be credited with the stereotypes and making drummers an easy target for the jokes nowadays. Regardless, Gene Krupa defined modern drumming way back in the 1930s.

“If Max Roach and Kenny Clarke are considered the fathers of modern drumming, then Jonathan ‘Jo’ Jones has to be the godfather” (Papa Jo Jones, drummerworld.com). Born just a couple years after Mr. Krupa in the same city was Jonathan David Samuel Jones, better known as Papa Jo Jones. He moved south to Alabama and worked with regional bands where he learned to play several instruments, including saxophone, piano, and drums. Considering his childhood Jones’ seemingly mature approach to music and drumming was no surprise. “His father was killed before he reached his eleventh birthday. Before that…Jones seriously burned himself playing with fire. The accident shut him away from the outside world for a period of time. Living in a world of adults, he put aside childish interested. He read a great deal and became unusually thoughtful and philosophical for a youngster” (Korall, 127). This caused him to become greatly infatuated with drums. He recalls in Drummin’ Men, “I didn’t think I was going to end up a drummer. I was trying all these instruments. But somehow I played drums on all of them” (Korall 128). He worked as a drummer and tap-dancer at carnival shows until joining the Walter Page led Blue Devils in Oklahoma City in the late 20s. He recorded with trumpeter Lloyd Hunter in1931, and then headed to Kansas City to joined pianist Count Basie's band in 1933. Jones, Basie, guitarist Freddie Green and bassist Walter Page were sometimes billed as an 'all-American Rhythm section'. Jones took a brief break for two years when he was in the military, but he remained with Basie until 1948. In later years, he gigged regularly at the West End jazz club at 116th and Broadway in New York City where drummers such as Max Roach and Roy Haynes were able to get a glimpse of him (Papa Jo Jones, drummerworld.com). “In addition to his historic achievements with the Basie band, Papa Jo Jones worked with Jazz at The Philharmonic, Illinois Jacquet, Lester Young, Billie Holiday, Teddy Wilson, Lionel Hampton, Benny Goodman, Ray Bryant, Milt Buckner, Coleman Hawkins, and his own trio and sextet. In August of 1985, he was inducted into the International Jazz Hall of Fame in Kansas City, Missouri. He died two weeks later on September 3” (Modern Drummer: Drum Gods 1, 4).


Jones was the first drummer to move the timekeeping from the heavy bass drum to the versatile cymbals. “Prior to Jo Jones, most drummers used the bass drum at least part of the time to keep the rhythm steady. However, Jones, as part of the innovative Count Basie rhythm section, had a much lighter touch, utilizing the hi-hat cymbal to keep time the bass drum just for occasional accents. The result was that there was much more space for the string bass to be heard. His playing would have a strong influence on bebop drummers and beyond, quietly revolutionizing the way the drums are played” (Yanow, 247). “He was one of the first drummers to promote the use of brushes on drums and shifting the role of timekeeping from the bass drum to the hi-hat cymbal. Jones had a major influence on later drummers such as Buddy Rich, Kenny Clarke, Roy Haynes, Max Roach, and Louie Bellson” (Papa Jo Jones, drummerworld.com). He also invented an interesting bass drum technique that many drummers still use today. Jones would tap the heel of his right foot on the back of the bass drum pedal, as opposed to stomping down on the pedal. The result was a light, feathered bass drum sound and simply emphasized the string bass (Korall 414). Other than using slightly larger cymbals and usual and an extra floor tom on his left side, there wasn’t anything else particularly impressive about Jones’ drumset (except possibly for the fact that he would mix and match drums from different manufacturers). “They were far from anything special – a twenty-eight inch Leedy bass drum, a snare drum made by Ludwig, Gretsch-Gladstone tom-toms, large hi hats, and a few cymbals. It was what he did on the rag-tag set…the sounds he created” (Korall, 125). Much more than any other drummer of his time, Jones pushed the development of the hi-hat to new rhythmic and tonal heights. “His hi-hat style has been characterized as swinging and driving, but never obtrusive. Early recordings with the Base band clearly reveal a smooth, uplifting hi-hat that emphasized a longer, more open sound. The result was a feeling of great forward momentum that lent itself perfectly to the band’s character and rhythmic flow” (Modern Drummer: Drum Gods 1, 4). Like Webb and Krupa, Jones brought a musical way of approaching the drumset that earlier drummers had not had the freedom to opportunity to pioneer. His contributions in pointing drummers toward a more musically intellectual way of thinking about the instrument garner him much respect from drummers of every style and genre.


Papa Jo said “First of all you are a human being. Then you try to become a man. And then you work on becoming a drummer (Modern Drummer: Drum Gods 1, 5). This is the kind of humility and understanding that contributed to the exceptional output and lasting legacies of Little Chick, Gene, and Papa Jo. Though swing and jazz don’t have the influence and popularity today that they had in the 1930s, the influence of these three grandfathers of drumming lives on.










"American Cultural History - 1930-1939." LSC-Kingwood Library. Web. 05 Dec. 2011. .

"Chick Webb: The Original King of Swing." Modern Drummer: Drum Gods 2. 2008: 4-8. Print.

Dexter, Dave. The Jazz Story: from the '90s to the '60s. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1964. Print.

“DrummerWorld - The World of Drummers and Drums.” Web. 05 Dec. 2011. .

Korall, Burt. Drummin' Men: the Heartbeat of Jazz, the Swing Years. New York: Schirmer, 1990. Print.

“Gene Krupa: The Man Who Made It All Happen.” Modern Drummer: Drum Gods 1. 2007:
10-14. Print.

“Papa Jo Jones: Drumming’s Fearsome Father Figure.” Modern Drummer: Drum Gods 1. 2007:
4-7. Print.

Yanow, Scott. Swing. San Francisco: Miller Freeman, 2000. Print.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

The Development of the Drumset (up to about 1935)

One of the greatest and most dangerous drummers right now is also one of the most unknown. He’s a Houston native named Chris Dave and he masterfully plays everything from jazz to fusion to soul to hip-hop. He has performed and recorded with Kenny Garrett, Pat Metheny, Ron Blake, Robert Glasper, Erykah Badu, Mos Def, Mary J. Blige, Adele, and many more huge names. He plays the drumset with a prowess and a confidence, similar to the way Albert Pujols plays baseball or the way one would imagine a World War II sniper would track his target. His wisdom on how drummers should approach the instrument is all about respect and humility, particularly for the history of the drumset: “Do you have enough respect for the instrument to really learn it? How much time do you put into learning the history of drums and how drumming got where it is now? All of that matters” (Styles, 56).

The history of the drumset is a very American development in that it is a melting pot of cultures and contributions. World-wide, it is easily one of the oldest ways to express musical thought. James Blade and Johnny Dean discuss this in their instructional book for beginners entitled How to Play Drums: “The invention of the first drum was one of the greatest steps forward in the history of music and the making of musical sounds. It was found that a resonant sound came from a hollow tree trunk when it was hit with a stick, and that an even better sound came if the open ends of the tree trunk were covered with animal skin. And that is how real drumming began” (6). The birth of drumming as a musical expression is a crude and primitive emergence – it involved hitting a tree with a stick. Interestingly enough, that’s still exactly what drummers are doing today. Most drums are simply a cylindrical piece of hollowed out wood with a membrane on at least one end that is struck with an implement. So how far have we really come? How much has drumming truly evolved?

The concept of a drum is as old as history itself. A drum is classified as a membranophone, or an instrument that produces sound by striking a stretched membrane. It’s easy to think that the drum itself is what produces the sound, but it is in fact actually the tight membrane and its vibration that produces the audible sound when it is struck with an implement (http://penz4.tripod.com/historyofdrums.html). “Drums first appeared as far back as 6000 BC. Mesopotamian excavations unearthed small cylindrical drums dated 3000 BC. Several wall markings found in caves in Peru show drums used in various aspects of societal life. The American Indians used gourd and wooden constructed drums for their rituals and ceremonies. Drums have always been used for more than merely creating music. Civil uses, messaging, and religious uses are but a few” (http://penz4.tripod.com/historyofdrums.html). It is also widely accepted (though mostly unproven) that cymbals were originally invented in China out of gongs and tam tams, while drums and other percussion “accessories” are from all over the globe (http://penz4.tripod.com/historyofdrums.html). However, there are several passages in the Holy Bible that discuss people using cymbals, which suggests that cymbals were present in Middle Eastern area at least around 1000 BC. “Praise him with a clash of cymbals; praise him with loud clanging cymbals” (Psalm 150:5 New Living Translation).

“Brass bands were the most common type of instrumental ensemble in the United States in the latter half of the 19th century” (Fidyk, 1). Within these brass bands was a percussion section that generally consisted of at least two players. One would play a snare drum, the other would play a bass drum, and sometimes there would be a third member that played cymbals (Fidyk, 1). Though the cymbals were not too dissimilar from the cymbals we see and hear today, the drums were larger and had a slightly different system of tuning. The snare drum (originally called the side drum as it was carried off to the side) is the most important drum in a modern drum set up (Blades, 12). “Old-fashioned drums were larger in diameter and depth than today’s instruments. The shells and hoops were made of wood and the drum heads from animal skin (mostly calf) braced with rope…The snares consisted of gut strings which rest of the lower head…These old-time drums were used mainly in the open air where the drummers had tonal problems as the heads slackened in bad weather conditions (Blades, 12). This problem has obviously been solved by the invention of plastic and synthetic drum heads. The snare drum was played by one drummer who would carry the drum on a strap slung over his shoulder and off to his left side. Bass drums were constructed the same as snare drums, though obviously with no snares on the bottom head, and was strapped sideways to the drummer’s chest.

In his advanced instructional drumming book called The Art of Bop Drumming, author and drummer John Riley talks about the development of synthetic drum heads: “Plastic drum heads didn’t exist in the 1930s and 1940s, and were not in widespread use until the mid-1960s. The sound of Kenny Clarke, Max Roach, Roy Haynes, Art Blakey, and all the great players of the bop era, is the sound of drums with calfskin heads. Calfskin heads have a rich, pure tone with less overtone ring than plastic heads. You can feel the stick sink into a calfskin head and rebound with a nice, soft spring on the upstroke” (10). So not only were synthetic drum heads not available in this time period, but the calfskin head actually played an important role in the sound of this style of drumming. Interestingly enough, today Remo makes drum heads that try to reproduce the sound and feel of the drum heads in this time period with their Vintage and Fiberskyn lines.

Numerous problems arose when groups with this percussion make up would perform indoors. “When these groups moved inside, the standard instrumentation was cut down somewhat for practical reasons. Because of this, the need for two or more drummers decreased and resourceful inventions began to flourish (Fidyk, 1). Other than a volume issue, there was always the issue of space on the bandstand, as well as money. Less space meant you could have fewer musicians, and fewer musicians to play meant fewer musicians to pay! Drummers were forced to figure out how to not only develop a method of limb interdependence, but also a way to arrange the various drums and cymbals so that they could play all of them. “The concept of one drummer playing two or more rhythms was made possible through the creation of the snare drum stand and bass drum pedal. Before the snare stand, drummers would hang the drum from their shoulder with a strap or sling, or position the drum on a chair” (Fidyk, 1).

Snare drums stands made the life of an early 20th Century drummer considerably easier, but didn’t do anything to change the style or method of drumming. The marching snare drummer could do almost exactly what the seated snare drummer could do. What revolutionized a drummer’s capabilities was the innovation of pedals, allowing drummers to play percussion instruments with their feet. “William F. Ludwig Sr., percussionist and founder of the Ludwig Drum Company developed and marketed the first bass drum pedal in 1909. Once these two practical inventions were available, a single drummer could do the work of two or more players. As a result, the drum set, or trap set (as it was known in the early part of the 20th century) was born!” (Fidyk, 1).

Straight cymbal stands were a no-brainer as far as mounting cymbals. Drummers could produce syncopated rhythms and effects by playing the cymbal with one hand and choking off the sound with the other hand. But the crashing together of two cymbals that was so common and well-known with marching percussionists was still not able to be replicated by the seated drummer. Thus came the rise (literally) of what is known today as the hi-hat cymbal and hi-hat stand. Initial versions of the hi-hat in the very early 1900s were known as “clangers,” which were small cymbals mounted on the top of bass drum. Then a contraption simply named “shoes” came along, which were two hinged boards with cymbals on the ends that were crashed together (Blades, 23). Mr. Ludwig had to get involved shortly after his development of the first bass drum pedal in 1909 to make the hi-hat a more versatile instrument.

In a magazine printed in the early to mid 20th Century, pioneer New Orleans drummer Baby Dodds discusses his role in the invention of the hi hat cymbals and stand: “I was in St. Louis working on the steamboat and William Ludwig, the drum manufacturer, came on the boat for a ride. He was very interested in my drumming. I used to stomp my left foot, long before other drummers did, and Ludwig asked me if I could stomp my toe instead of my heel. I told him “I think so.” For a fact, I thought nothing of it. So he measured my foot on a piece of paper and the space where I would have it and where it would sit and he made a sock cymbal. Two cymbals were set up and foot pedal with them. One day he brought one along for me to try. It wasn’t any good, so he brought another raised up about nine inches higher” (Gara, 25). It was this innovation that helped create the four way interdependence that drummers are required to use today.

The early version of the hi hat stand described by Baby Dodds was known as the low boy. It stood about twelve inches high and was played with the left foot. When pressed down, the low boy would close and bring two cymbals together so drummers could accent certain parts of the beat (generally beats 2 and 4). This completely freed up the drummer’s hands up since the right foot was taking care of the bass drum duties and now the left foot was playing cymbals (Fidyk, 2). The low boy continued to develop and was eventually raised from its original twelve inches to approximately twenty inches. Hi-hats stands that were up high above the snare drum and could be played by hand as well as foot may have been developed around 1926 by Barney Walberg of the drum company Walberg and Auge (Blades, 23).

“Also in this decade, New Orleans drummers began experimenting with “fly swatters”
which later became the wire brush creating connected, legato dance beats on the snare drum. The effect was produced by rotating the brush fan over the top of a calf skin drum head” (Fidyk, 5). Drummers also began using cotton and felt mallets in addition to their brushes and sticks and still commonly use them today.

A major contributor in the continued development and evolution of the drum set was the swing drummer Gene Krupa. “His energized playing with the Benny Goodman Orchestra helped to make him a drumming icon. Gene joined Goodman in 1934 and his influence affected all who followed, to include the type of equipment and drum sizes players used” (Fidyk, 6). Krupa standardized the dimensions and set up of the drums that many drummers still use today. Krupa used a twenty-four inch bass drum, a fourteen inch snare drum, a nine by thirteen inch tom, and sixteen by sixteen inch floor tom. Even more importantly, he helped develop tom mounting and the drum key, which allows drummers to quickly tune their drums by tightening metal tension rods around the drums (Fidyk, 6).

The drumset has continued to evolve beyond 1935. New drums have been invented, different types of cymbals have been constructed, and these innovations have influenced new styles of playing. No matter what style of drumming one wants to learn or what instrument for that matter, knowing the history of the instrument only strengthens the student’s relationship with it. The great Tony Williams is quoted in John Riley’s second book Beyond Bop Drumming as saying “If you have a drum set in the room and the postman walks in, he’ll sit down and go ‘dat, dat, dat, do, do do, buzz, buzz, buzz, bam, boom, boom.’ Anybody can do that and keep a beat. If you’re really serious about drumming, don’t you think that there’s more to it than that? There’s a technique that really takes concentration, work, dedication, discipline, and time…I’ve always been a student; I’ve always been studying, constantly. Learning has always been exciting for me. I’m always learning something” (5). Just as Tony Williams and Chris Dave have expressed, a true master is one who never loses respect for his craft and instrument, and always has respect for it. Knowing the development and evolution of the drumset is a large part of having a good bond with the instrument, which is necessary for being able to play it better than a postman.




Blades, James, and Johnny Dean. How to Play Drums. London: Hamilton, 1985. Print.

Fidyk, Steve. "History of the Drum Set." National Jazz Workshop - A Summer Jazz Camp at Shenandoah University. Web. 11 Oct. 2011. . Web.

“History of Drums." Index.html. Web. 11 Oct. 2011. . Web.

Gara, Larry. "Baby Dodds." Evergreen Review Reader. New York: Grove, 1979. 12-27. Print.

Riley, John. Beyond Bop Drumming. Alfred Publishing. 1997. Print.

Riley, John. The Art of Bop Drumming. Manhattan Music, Inc. 1994. Print.

Styles, Stephen. "Chris "Daddy" Dave." Modern Drummer Feb. 2010: 46-57. Print.

The Holy Bible, New Living Translation. Wheaton, IL. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. 2004

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Tony Williams

Tony Williams wasn't famous when he was recruited to join one of the most inventive and accomplished ensembles in music history. He was seventeen years old. And that ensemble was led by Miles Davis.
Nothing else even needs to be said to explain who Tony Williams was and what his role in the music world meant. But I'll say more anyway. I owe Tony Williams a LOT.
From 1961 up to his far too early death in 1997, Tony Williams performed and recorded with Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Dexter Gordon, John McLaughlin, Jaco Pastorius, Hank Jones, McCoy Tyner, Wayne Shorter, Stanley Clarke, Chet Baker, Stan Getz, Eric Dolphy, Gil Evans, Kenny Dorham, Marcus Miller, Sam Rivers, Dizzy Gillespie, Freddie Hubbard, Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Joe Henderson, Mulgrew Miller, Andrew Hill, and Weather Report, and led his own bands, most notably The Tony Williams Lifetime.
His father was a professional saxophonist, which of course played an important part in influencing and bringing up young Tony. After seeing prodigious talent in his eight year old son, Tony's father took him to jazz clubs where he was allowed to sit in. By age eleven, he was enrolled in private lessons at Berklee with the legendary Alan Dawson. By thirteen, he was playing with renowned saxophonist Sam Rivers. At sixteen, he was playing professionally with Jackie McLean. That obviously made an impression on Miles Davis, because only a year later, he was invited to join Miles' second great quintet and make history. That group rewrote jazz history on a daily basis and proved to be one of the most resilient bands in the genre. With Miles Davis, Tony Williams recorded around seventeen albums and reshaped and reconfigured the direction of music in the process.
Tony Williams was the first jazz drummer I got into. I bought Miles Davis' album Seven Steps to Heaven at a Streetside Records that used to exist a few miles from my house. I was just getting into jazz, and already had Kind of Blue and A Love Supreme, but I wanted something a little more modern sounding. I remember buying that album when I was twelve years old while my mom was next door at Wal Mart. I took it up to the counter, paid for it, then took it to one of the listening stations so I could check it out and read the liner notes. I read liner notes religiously. Tony Williams' playing on Joshua and the title track floored me. Blew me away. He could seamlessly changed time signatures in the middle of a tune. He could play a blazing fast tempo with tons of comping and never let the time or the energy start to slip. The dark sound of his ride cymbal was like a wash of music coming at you. I told my drum instructor Rich Hensley that I had I bought that album and said "I want to play like Tony Williams." He laughed and said "So do I." He told me that I would love the album Miles Smiles.
I bought that and heard Footprints. Now, no disrespect to the rest of the quintet on that recording, but you could strip away everything except the drums and be knocked out by that song. You could even strip away everything except the ride cymbal and it's still powerful and impressive. One word: polyrhythms. Learn it.
So I heard Footprints. And Tony Williams' playing had completely changed me. Completely. I was twelve years old and I wanted to be a jazz drummer. It really shaped the way I play. Having no real good knowledge of exactly what he was doing, I learned all of Tony's fills that I could and incorporated them into my playing. I believe that getting into Tony Williams at such a young age is what gave me an energetic and assertive style of playing. When I was in my first semester at Webster University, Paul DeMarinis told me that my playing always had attitude, and I have to credit Tony Williams for that.

On your CD:

1. Maiden Voyage – Herbie Hancock
2. Seven Steps to Heaven – Miles Davis
3. Joshua – Miles Davis
4. Footprints – Miles Davis
5. Freedom Jazz Dance – Miles Davis
6. Black Comedy – Miles Davis
7. Frelon Brun – Miles Davis
8. Agitation – Miles Davis
9. Pee Wee – Miles Davis
10. Marney – Jackie McLean
11. Para Oriente – Trio of Doom

Discography with Miles Davis:

Seven Steps to Heave (1963)
Miles Davis in Europe (1963)
Four & More (1964)
My Funny Valentine (1964)
Miles in Tokyo (1964)
Miles in Berlin (1964)
E.S.P. (1965)
The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel (1965)
Miles Smiles (1966)
Directions (1967, 1968)
Sorcerer (1967)
Nefertiti (1967)
Water Babies (1967, 1968)
Circle in the Round (1967, 1968)
Miles in the Sky (1968)
The Complete Miles Davis–Gil Evans Studio Recordings – four takes of 'Falling Water' (1968)
Filles de Kilimanjaro (1968)
In a Silent Way (1969)

VIDEOS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTfBpKzu6XA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o40smfOyIso&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzkZ8Ikr9L4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3FpC6mcb-w&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDu6w66F5dU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NLNaGMyTjI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7FNeMzIm80&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVf9McCjT3s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KMT--JWQwk&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxyiNopn08w



LINKS:
http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Tony_Williams.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Williams

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p7832

http://www.jazzhouse.org/gone/lastpost2.php3?edit=920671037

http://www.drum-videos.com/drummers/tony-williams

http://www.cs.cf.ac.uk/Dave/mclaughlin/art/final.html

http://www.freedrumlessons.com/drummers/tony-williams.php



Solo & Transcription from "Moose the Mooche" by Great Jazz Trio
http://www.cymbalholic.com/forums/showthread.php?32100-Tony-Williams-transcription

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Chris "Daddy" Dave

Chris Dave is dangerous, plain and simple. When he was finally on the cover of Modern Drummer magazine in February 2010, I braved the seven inches of snow St. Louis got that given day and made it to Drum Headquarters to buy it. I put it on the counter and told the dude working that I'm glad Chris Dave is finally getting some of the credit he deserves. He replied that he'd never heard of him and asked who he's played with. I flipped open the magazine to page 46 and showed him.
"Robert Glasper, Kenny Garrett, Mint Condition, Mary J. Blige, Pat Metheny, Toni Braxton, Me'Shell Ndegeocello, Erykah Badu, Kim Burrell, Ron Blake, A Tribe Called Quest, Mos Def...he just recorded with Maxwell and is currently on tour with him."
Chris Dave's resume speaks for itself. Then you actually hear him play. That's when the word "dangerous" will come to mind.
I first heard of Chris Dave after seeing him perform with Mos Def on Letterman in 2009. The way he played completely blew me away, and I spent the next three days scouring the internet for information about him. At that time, he didn't even have a page on DrummerWorld.com, but he did have tons of videos on YouTube. I found every single one and then hit the practice room for the next three days after that.
Chris Dave grew up in Texas. Like many other great drummers, he got his start playing in church when he was only six years old. However, he personally describes his discovery of jazz as the beginning of his education. His music loving father played Miles and Coltrane albums constantly. When it was his mother's turn to choose what was played, it was gospel music. His brother was into funk. With all that music in the house, Chris Dave gained an appreciation and ear for all types of music, and most importantly, learned what it meant for music to groove. The recording that was most influential on him in those early days was Miles Davis' landmark "Footprints." The legendary drummer on that was of course none other than The Tony Williams. After that, Chris spent hours and hours every day simply listening to jazz recordings and digesting what it was that Tony Williams, Elvin Jones, and Philly Joe Jones were doing on the drums.
He studied with Craig Green and Sebastian Whittaker. He mastered every exercise and pattern in the book "4-Way Coordination." He got into J Dilla beats and learned those (as impossible as that may sound. And if that means nothing to you and you're a drummer, set aside some time and look that dude up. J Dilla is one of the greatest and most innovative hip-hop producers that ever lived). He became an expert sight reader. He studied at Howard University. Then he landed the gig with Mint Condition.
Since then, Chris Dave has been around the world and back again, impressing and blessing jazz lovers, hip-hop heads, and soul aficionados with his innovative playing. He has the innate and unmatchable ability to drop ridiculous polyrhythms into any beat. He can be playing in 5, switch to 7 for a few bars, and come right back in on the down beat like it's nobody's business. He can metrically modulate anything and never lose it. He has crazy fast chops and seems like he gets faster every time I hear something new from him. Most recently, he recorded on Maxwell's 2009 platinum selling album "BLACKsummers'night," which won two Grammy Awards including Best R&B album. I haven't even mentioned his set up (currently, it's five snares, a bass drum, 18 inch hi hats, and an assortment of cymbals that changes by the minute). Whether you're a drummer or not, whether you're a musician or not...when Chris Dave plays, you'll listen. It doesn't matter what he's doing. He could be playing the simplest 6/8 ballad groove or soloing over a jazz tune. His playing will make you listen. You might not get it, but he will hold your attention and never let it go. He is dangerously pushing the envelope and changing drumming on a daily basis.


"Humility isn’t just shown in your attitude. It’s also shown in the way you approach the kit. Do you have enough respect for the instrument to really learn it? How much time do you put into learning the history of the drums and how drumming got where it is now? All of that matters."
- Chris Dave

That's absolutely true. You've got to learn the rules if you want to break the rules. And if you ever want to come close to Chris Dave, you've got to master the rules. Now go practice.




On your disc:
1. Quiet Dog – Mos Def
2. Bad Habits – Maxwell
3. Cold – Maxwell
4. Pretty Wings
5. Help Somebody – Maxwell
6. Stop the World – Maxwell
7. No Worries – Robert Glasper
8. Yes I’m Country (And That’s OK) – Robert Glasper
9. Think of One – Robert Glasper
10. Delta Bali Blues – Kenny Garrett
11. Happy People – Kenny Garrett
12. Fellowship – Me’Shell Ndegeocello
13. Good Intentions – Me’Shell Ndegeocello
14. Sometimes – Mint Condition
15. Raise Up – Mint Condition

Selected Discography:
BLACKsummers'night - Maxwell
Double Booked - Robert Glasper
Happy People - Kenny Garrett
Simply Said - Kenny Garrett
Standard of Language - Kenny Garrett
Definition of a Band - Mint Condition
Life's Aquarium - Mint Condition
Livin' The Luxury Brown - Mint Condition
From the Mint Factory - Mint Condition
Comfort Woman - Me'Shell Ndegeocello
The Spirit Music Jamia - Me'Shell Ndegeocello
Ali Shaheed Muhammad- Shaheedullah and Stereotypes
Mary - Mary J. Blige
Sonic Tonic - Ron Blake
Try Me Again - Kim Burrell