Carlos "Patato" Valdez 1926 - 2007

Carlos “Patato” Valdéz, the legendary Cuban percussionist and master conga player, passed away at age 81 of respiratory failure in NYC on Tuesday December 4th, 2007. The date is a significant one for Cubans and for Patato in particular, as December 4th is Changó Day, Santa Barbara Day, one of the most powerful and important dieties in the Afro-Cuban religious pantheon of Santeriá. Patato was a son of changó, “hijo de changó”.

Sabian HHX Cymbals - The Modern Dark Sound

Many of today’s greatest drummers lean towards the dark end of the sonic spectrum when it comes to their cymbal sounds. It was the quest for dark, rich, subtle cymbal sounds that led the great jazz drummers into back-alley music shops from Istanbul to Brooklyn in search of the vaunted dark, rich, smoldering tone of handmade vintage Turkish cymbals. But while these older cymbals and the many modern imitations they spawned had the sought-after darkness, they lacked the definition and projection to drive the heavily rhythmic, groove-oriented styles of rock, pop, fusion, and other contemporary music.
While SABIAN’s HH series covers that vintage dark side, their HHX Series lets drummers have it both ways with a modern dark, hot, simmering tonal vocabulary that also delivers the focus and cut to project through harder-edged modern musical settings. To accomplish this, Sabian designed an innovative feature called “Tone Projection”. A unique combination of shaping, lathing, and jumbo-peen hammering, ‘Tone Projection’ enhances the lower, darker end then projects it through the music

Pandora and Last.fm

I trust you're already familiar at least one of these online music services, pandora.com and lastfm.com - if not, you've got a treat in store for you. They're both web music streaming services that offer a superb way to listen to your favorite style of music and discover new artists. Pandora was the first one I got turned onto - you simply enter one of your favorite artists and pandora constructs a "radio station" around your choice, selecting songs by the artist you entered and ones that share the same characteristics. I have 10 or so radio stations on my list, and the database includes a respectable selection of even out-of-the-mainstream world stuff that I like, such as Japanese and Brazilian pop and glitch. I've created a mix called Drum Thunder Radio, "seeded" with my favorite drummers: Williams, Cobham, White, Chambers, etc. There are some gaps, but Pandora seems to be working to fill them, constantly enlarging their database. Lately Pandora has been featured in the Doonesbury cartoon strip, with soldiers in the Iraq war making "battle mixes".
Last.fm is similar, except it takes a more extroverted, social networking approach, and it scans the resident music player on your computer in order to tailor its playlist to styles that you like. I know that at least Pandora has endured legal challenges by the recording industry. I don't really see why—you cannot permanently download songs, and if anything they might stimulate the listener to go out and purchase some of the music that's discovered. Anyway, check 'em out.

clara moreno litoranea

Great Brazilian bossa nova from Clara Morena and Celso Fonseca.

Track of the Week

"Hangin' Tree" by Queens of the Stone Age on Songs for the Deaf, featuring Dave Grohl on drums. Dave kicks along the 5/4 meter with reckless precision. Smokin'!

Roland Rhythm Coach RMP-5

Put me in coach, I'm ready to play!
Back when I was just getting started playing the drums, most afternoons would find me practicing my rudiments and sticking exercises on a steel snare with a pair of marching sticks that seemed as big as billy clubs. That was a long time and a few million beats ago, but the learning process hasn't changed much for young players these days.

My drum volume faded when my dad got home. After working around heavy equipment in the woods all day I’m sure the last thing he wanted to hear was a drum set in full throttle out in the garage. From him seldom was heard a discouraging word, bless his heart. But I got the hint and slapped my Gladstone rubber vacuum pad on the snare, which would muffle the drum, but also made it sound like a cardboard box.

If only I had the Roland Rhythm Coach back then. Now electronic drums make silent practice possible for players who can pay the price, but the Rhythm Coach is a digital drum that's affordable for students. And with the training exercises that come with it, it's like getting an on-call drum teacher for free!

Fresh mesh
The RMP-5’s Mesh Drum Pad is derived from the famous V-Drums. The mesh head has a natural, bouncy feel to it that's very easy on the wrists and effectively mimics the rebound and action of an acoustic snare head. Eight lugs provide precise tensioning to tune up the head. The pad is nearly silent, as the mesh capably dampens the stick sound. The sensitivity is adjustable for the most comfortable feel and response.

One pad, many sounds
The RMP-5’s sound module contains 54 diverse drum and percussion sounds, including kick, snare, cymbals, and percussion instruments.
Having all these sounds under your drumsticks makes learning to play and practice a lot more fun and involving than the dull thump of a rubber pad. I would have loved to hear those sounds during those long solo practice sessions when I was a kid! The headphone option allows you to practice anywhere, anytime, with a world of sounds.

Inspector clave
The metronome in the Rhythm Coach provides five sounds. The list of rhythms includes all the standard note values, plus three different varieties of Afro-Cuban clave rhythms. The RMP-5 is a particularly valuable tool for Latin percussionists as well as drummers who want to work on their groove.

The time-keeping machine in the RMP-5 contains a range of exercises to develop critical skills of timing, speed, and endurance. Time signatures up to 17 beats per measure, using 18 different rhythm types.

Time Check tests accuracy by measuring players' beats against the metronome, and uses visuals to display whether beats are placed before, on, or after the tempo. Quiet Count develops internal timing by playing at a set volume for the first eight measures, then playing the second eight measures at a reduced volume. Speed Check gives you a workout that advances the metronome five beats per minute whenever a rhythm is played for eight measures.

Quiet Count drops out for selected durations while you work on keeping the beat going.

Gradual up/down builds playing endurance by increasing or decreasing the metronome one beat per minute until the maximum/minimum tempo is reached. It's a great way to cultivate speed and precision. Step Up/Down enhances endurance by increasing or decreasing the metronome's tempo five beats per minute every eight measures until the maximum or minimum tempo is achieved.

Rhythmic Notes breaks down rhythms into many different note variations, from half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth notes, all the way down to quintuplets, sextuplets, and even septuplets.

Stroke Balance evaluates how evenly your left and right strokes are.

The timer function plays the metronome for a length that you program, from 1-60 minutes. Tap tempo allows you to march to your own drummer by tapping in the time.

Only connect . . .
Additional inputs on the back of the RMP-5 allow you to connect kick and cymbal pads, in effect giving you a basic electronic drum set. These could be used to attach a bass drum pad for bass/snare exercises. An additional pad could also be used for snare drum duets. Drum teachers will find the Rhythm Coach has a lot of interesting possibilities for giving lessons, with both teacher and student having the ability to play their own pads simultaneously.

An audio input for CD, MP3, or tape player allows you to mix the signal from your player and drum sounds. This lets you practice along with the music. It’s a great way to learn new material as well as refining your sticking skills.

The RMP-5 is ideal for young players and beginners who need to practice without disturbing family and friends, developing players who want to polish their technique and time-keeping skills, and working players who like to warm up before shows and hone their chops on the road. It’s a portable percussion professor and tempo teacher rolled into one very cool drum pad.

More Percussion Discussion

I always wanted to do something else with the drums. I never wanted to imitate anyone. I wanted to take the drums to another level. You know, as a composer I make it my business to listen to all types of music. That gives me a lot of different strategies to work with when I am in front of the drum set. I guess whatever you said about revolutionizing the art of drumming is the consequence of what I have been working out over the years. There is nothing that comes to you and says “this is what you are going to be.” You have to work for it and decide how you want to sound. It’s a conscious choice not to be like anyone else. After all, life is about making choices. For example, do you want to smoke or not? Do you want to have a drink or not? Do you want to go out or not? It’s a matter of making choices and deciding what you want to do.
Dafnis Prieto, from the latinjazznet interview

Percussion Discussion

"Everything will pass but we are the spirit and we are forever." Airto Moreira

Flor de Lis - Ketama

Ketama, the Spanish nuevo flamenco group, with an effervescent samba.

They're not your dad's Simmons drums

I remember the old Simmons drums from the ’80s, and even played a few gigs on those famous hexagons. The electronic percussion market has gone through many permutations since the era of Reaganomics and MTV. Related to the original, British-design Simmons electronic drums by name only, a new generation of Simmons drums are on the scene. I brought a couple of the new Simmons offerings, the SD7K electronic drums and the optional companion DA50 monitor, into my home studio for evaluation.
It’s a pad, pad, pad world
The SD7K is a 5-piece electronic drum pad configuration, plus crash and ride cymbal pads. The pads are round, have resilient gum-rubber-like synthetic surfaces, and are single-trigger with the exception of the dual-trigger snare drum pad, which creates separate rim and head sounds.
The pads’ playing surfaces are bouncy and responsive, with good velocity sensitivity (the relationship of how hard you hit to the volume produced). Velocity response may be customized to your playing style with a choice of 6 velocity “curves”.
The hi-hat pad is controlled via a separate foot pedal, while the bass drum pad accepts the kick pedal of your choice. A lightweight curved rack and mounting hardware and cables are included.
The electronic cymbals have a certain amount of “give” to them like real cymbals. The hi-hat pad/pedal combination feels and sounds very natural, with a smooth transition between open and closed hat sounds and with a useful and convincing half-open hat sound. You can even play foot splashes with your heel like on a regular hi-hat.

Sound check
The SD7K’s drum module, or “brain”, is stocked with 300 sounds divided into 20 preset and 30 user drum sets. When you power up the module, the default drum set that comes up in “Kit” immediately impresses with its deep, ultra-fat sounds. The other acoustic sets are of similar quality, ranging from clean, resonant, country and pop tones to tight funk and house kits as well as large rock concert hall kits.
There is a good hip-hop-oriented kit, vintage drum machine emulations, and patches that pay homage to the original ’80s Simmons electronic drums. Trashy industrial and junkyard sets add myriad metal percussion sounds to the mix, and a DJ effects set provides scratch and turntable sounds. Some patches use velocity cross-switching to trigger a second sound when played harder.
GM (General MIDI) percussion sound sets are included, along with a complete selection of GM instrument sounds. Other drum sets include a full Latin percussion section, an Indian tabla setup, and a cartoon set, as well as several house and fusion variations. An orchestral patch puts you in the symphony, complete with timpani, triangle, and orchestra cymbal explosions. The brush kit is well done, giving you a nice slow brush snare sweep for ballads. There are good, convincing sounds here suitable for playing everything from metal to Mahler. `
Reverb, the effect most often used for sweetening and adding spaciousness to drums both live and in the studio, can be added to any kit with the touch of a button,

Drummer at the controls
Navigating the SD7K’s sound module is simple, with arrow keys to scroll through the kits and individual sounds. A set of buttons corresponds to the various drums, and you can select any drum sound for editing by pressing the button. The individual drum sounds’ volume, tuning, and panning can then be adjusted.
An integrated metronome allows you to check your timing. The metronome can be set for a click sound with a bell accenting the one, or with a voice counting out the beats (“one”, “two”, “three”, “four”), and so on. Five time signatures are supported.
The Song section provides 50 songs to play along with, including a range of styles from rock, funk, and jazz to blues and Latin. The buttons that correspond to the drum sounds light up in time to the voices being played, giving you a miniature light show as well as providing valuable feedback as to how the beat is put together. By dropping the drum track out of the mix with the touch of a button and playing the rhythm track yourself, you can use the song feature to learn the basics of the various beats used in the songs.
USB and MIDI I/Os offer versatile options for interfacing the SD7K’s MIDI output with computers, sequencers, sound modules, and other external digital gear. An aux input lets you play along with your favorite music player while the headphone jack allows you to practice in private.

DA50 Drum Monitor
In order to hear yourself play electronic drums, you need a sound system of some kind, unless you’re going to always use headphones. Fortunately, Simmons has made your choice easy with their DA50 Electronic Drum Set Monitor. This compact wedge-shaped 50-watt combo sits alongside the set and provides plenty of punchy percussion sound so that you and your band mates can stay right on beat.
The DA50 has a well-defined, crisp sound, with soft-touch rubber knobs that let you dial in bass, mid, and treble to tailor the sound to your liking. 1/4” aux and 1/8” MP3 inputs make it easy to run a signal from your CD or MP3 player or mixer into the monitor to play along with. The DA50 also includes a headphone jack.
New breed
Taking advantage of the advances made in recent years in sampling and other technologies, the new Simmons deliver a solid selection of high-quality, up-to-date sounds and pads that feel good to play. It’s to the credit of the “new Simmons” that they have come out with some very playable digital drums that sound great and cost less than most of the competition.

Musician’s Friend carries the Simmons flagship SD7K Electronic Drum Set and the DA50 Electronic Drum Monitor.

Features and Specs:
Simmons SD7K Electronic Drum Set
• 4 single-trigger & one dual-trigger pads
• One hi-hat and 2 cymbal pads
• Curved mounting rack
• Hi-hat foot controller
SD7K Sound Module
• 300 voices
• 50 drum kits (20 preset, 30 user)
• 50 songs
• Metronome with 5 time signatures
• 1/4” left/mono and right output jacks
• MIDI I/O
• USB port
• 1/4” headphone output
• 1/4” aux input

Track of the Week

"Free Latin" on Italuba by Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez. Hernandez, drums. El Negro is one of the brightest of a remarkable galaxy of trap drum stars to emerge from Cuba and emigrate to the U.S. Hernandez has been featured with Santana as well as Michel Camilo, Paquito D' Rivera, and other Latin heavies in New York and on an endless number of world tours. On this cut the first thing you hear is a deep El Negro Son/Timba Funk groove kick in, with Horacio tying the thing together with his deft left foot clave method on woodblock and tasty cowbell/tom accents. Horatio's tightly choreographed arrangement is high-lated by an explosive solo. El Negro's tom fills are "sick", and his polyrhythmic fireworks brilliant. The album starts strong and maintains the energy until the end. This same group of musicians has apparently released a followup disk, Italuba 2, so I'm leaving now to go pick it up. Hasta luego, muchachos.

Percussion Discussion

TORONTO (CP) - The Police reunion tour may be the hottest ticket of the summer, but an early show is getting panned by drummer Stewart Copeland as "unbelievably lame."

Just days into the global comeback tour, Copeland complains on his website of a slew of missed cues, off-key gaffes and a general all-round lack of synchronicity at their sold-out show Wednesday in Vancouver.

He derides frontman Sting as "a petulant pansy instead of the god of rock" when the singer misses a jump cue at the end of "Synchronicity."

He says '80s hits "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" and "Don't Stand So Close To Me" got botched when bassist Sting and guitarist Andy Summers each took different keys, resulting in "avant-garde twelve-tone hodgepodeges of both tunes."

Copeland acknowledges that he, too, floundered at points, noting he made "a complete hash" of his rhythms for "Walking on the Moon/Footsteps."

Despite it all, Copeland says the trio enjoyed the night nonetheless, and end the show by falling into "each other's arms and laughing hysterically."

The Police are scheduled to play Edmonton on Saturday.

from Yahoo Canada

The Vision Thing

Pearl's new Vision Series Drums are essentially a lower-priced version of their top-of-the-line Reference Series. After having tried out both, I believe Pearl is really on to something here. The Reference Series are among Pearl's most elite, high-end drums. and are the result of approaching each drum in the set as an individual musical instrument. Wood type and the number of plies used varies from shell to shell in Reference drums, and they sound pretty incredible, right down to the heavyweight champion 20-ply snare drum.

The Vision Series also uses varying plies for each drum component, using Birch and Basswood exclusively instead of the Reference drums' mix of maple. African mahogany, and birch. Birch's tight structure accelerates rebounding sound waves and provides particular punch in the mid to high frequencies. Basswood has a softer composition, more condusive to mid and low frequency sound response. By careful balancing the birch and basswood plies, the Vision Series come amazingly close in dynamic response and sound quality to Pearl’s pricier Reference Series drums. The Vision sound is killin', with striking fidelity and depth to the toms and a world-class metal snare drum. If you've got the resources, reward yourself with that high-powered Ferrari of drum sets, the Reference Series. But if you're lusting after a pro-sounding set and are operating under tighter budget constraints, you should check out Pearl's Vision Series.

On the Road Again

Indie rock drummer Chris Deaner, on tour with former American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson. Deaner, who is also a respected videographer, also contributed to Clarkson's most recent album, which was reportedly initially rejected by RCA executives who complained it was "too hard-edged." As one observer astutely commented, "What, the record execs didn't like it? It must be good!"

George Bush playing the djembe.

What's next - Dick Cheney on timbales?

Drum Track of the Week

"Biaozinho Carioca" on Brazilian Soul by Azymuth, featuring Ivan "Mamao" Conti on drums. Conti is one of the best samba trap drummers, here cooking up a storm with his bandmates from the outstanding Brazilian fusion group Azymuth. Conti plays creative yet in-the-pocket samba grooves with excellent electric bassist Alex Malheiros that go down as smooth as a caipirinha, the national cocktail of Brazil. The top-notch recorded quality of the drums is another pleasure this record offers.

Percussion Discussion

Jazz bassist Ron Carter: "There's nothing worse than hearing a band slow down." In Downbeat, May 2007.

But can it play the blues?

Ever wonder what the musical instruments of the future will look and sound like? The Tenori-On, an invention of techno artist Toshio Iwai, might provide a glimpse of things to come. Yamaha is reportedly poised to ship a version soon that features MIDI out and sampling.

Drum Track of the Week

"Prince of the Sea" on the 1976 release Venusian Summer (recently reissued on CD), a release back from the days when fusion made a difference. This album-closing cut in 7/4 opens with a pastoral seascape scene, and then slowly builds to fever pitch intensity with incendiary exchanges between 2 burning guitarists, Al Di Meola and Larry Coryell. Lenny White's drumming is muscular, tasty, and elegant throughout, filled with virtuosic flourishes and even humorous touches. The album also features the great bassist Doug Rauch (Santana), whose tragically short career revealed him as a major talent.

Giovanni Hidalgo solo. At home in Kissimmee

Check out one the greatest conga players on the planet, Giovanni Hidalgo, playing a beautiful set of LP congas in his home studio. LP's website congahead has stellar selection of multimedia clips featuring today's premier percussionists, all for your free listening pleasure.

Beyonce's Dynamic Duo: the Latest Wave of Female drummers is Kicking it

Beyonce launched another international tour last month, backed by the same all-female 10-piece band that she assembled for her 2006 tour. Unable to whittle her drum chair down to a single individual, Beyonce settled on a dynamic duo of drummers, plus a percussionist: Kim Thompson and Nikki Glaspie anchor the rhythm section on drums, and Marcella Chapa plays percussion. Kim Thompson has gained acclaim for her yeoman work with musicians including Mike Stern and Kenny Barron. For a glimpse of her drum artistry in action, listen to an MP3 of Kim playing with Mike Stern. Nikki Glaspie, or as she is more often called professionally, Nickki G, is lately out of the Boston/Berklee School of Music scene, and hooked up with Beyonce's band last year.
Is it just me, are there more and better female drummers around than ever before? It seemed like when I was coming up, the only woman drummer I was aware of was Karen Carpenter. Now check it out, they're everywhere, dude, and they're taking no prisoners. You've got Sheila E, Hilary Jones, Gina Schock, Susie Ibarra, Cora Coleman, Cindy Blackman, Terri Lyne Carrington, Debra Dobkin, Kate Schellenbach, Samantha Maloney, Meg White, Georgia Hubley, Vera Figueiredo, Torrance Castellano, and more. Add in percussionists of the female gender and the view gets much larger, with talented players like Sue Hadjopoulos, Evelyn Glennie, Marilyn Mazur, and Valerie Naranjo, to name a few. Interestingly, two of the players I've listed here, Sheila E. and Marilyn Mazur, are putting together tours this year featuring all-female musicians. Is there a trend here? Pretty soon male drummers are going to be the rarity at this rate!
Even in the local Southern Oregon scene, there are a number of excellent female drummers playing professionally, more than I can ever remember. One hopes the day will come when gender is no longer even considered, that we are all just musicians—until then though, lend an ear to what these women are doing on the skins, because they're here now and they're tearing the roof off of the sucker!

Drum Track of the Week: "Good Question" from Who Let the Cats Out by Mike Stern, featuring Kim Thompson on drums. Thompson is a rollicking fun-house of energy on this electric post-bop romp featuring a joyful turn on scat vocals from bassist Richard Bona. Near the tunes close she trades four bars with Stern a couple of times, turning up the heat with effortless double- and quadruple time bombs and displaced hi-hat riffs. Swingin'!

On the Road Again

Zach Alford is in rehearsal with Gwen Stefani preparing for her "Sweet Escape" Tour that kicks off April 21st in Las Vegas, Nevada. Alford toured with Stefani in 1995, and has also put in tours of duty with the B52's, David Bowie, and Bruce Springsteen. Joining Alford in the rhythm section will be bassist Gail Ann Dorsey, who has played with Bowie for many years. Stefani appeared last night on American Idol, giving advice to the singing contestants on the American TV program, and is scheduled to perform tonight on the mega-hit show.

Percussion Discussion

Steve Gadd on jazz from the Musician's Friend exclusive interview: "There are guys out there that can play it and the guys that are playing it have to have a real passion for it. They've got to go and listen to the guys that have done it before them. And it will go on because there is something about their love for it that they can't explain. They have to search it out now, because when I was growing up, it was what was happening, it was like readily available. A lot of the guys that have played it have passed on, but their passion and love for it will carry the torch for other people."

Pearl Reference Series - Top Shelf Traps

When Gene Okamoto and his cohorts at Pearl set out to create the ultimate drum set, they knew just where to start—with the Masterworks Series. Masterworks drums allow the drummer to create the kit of his or her dreams by choosing the wood type (either alone or blended), thickness, bearing edge, hardware, and color of each drum.
Reference drums are for players who want a perfectly matched set of premium drums without deciding all the details of their construction. Lessons were learned from other series—the sound characteristics of wood from Masters, and how blending wood types affects the sound from Masterworks.
Quest for perfection
It was known from Masters that maple has a very smooth frequency response with essentially equal amounts of lows, mids, and highs and very good projection due to its hardness. African mahogany has very strong lows and rich (think vintage) sound, but because it is relatively soft, projection is reduced. A 100% maple drum has great all-purpose sound. An all birch drum produces a natural EQ sound (boosted lows and highs) that’s great for recording and live applications requiring more cut. An all African mahogany drum produces a warm, rich sound that is ideal for near-field applications.
From Masterworks, the Pearl team discovered that the inner ply influences the sound the most. Adding birch to the inner ply gives the drum more cut and projection while African mahogany adds warmth and depth to the sound. Thicker shells make drums louder but also make the pitch go up. To make a drum that’s loud AND warm (especially useful for bass drums and floor toms), they added African mahogany to the inner plies with sensational results.
What Okamoto and company didn’t know, however, was how much birch and African mahogany was optimum and what was the optimum thickness of each size of drum. To find out, every combination of shell thickness from four to ten plies with two to eight inner plies of birch and African mahogany were made. Each size was carefully tuned and evaluated by Pearl’s staff of pro drummers using “control” samples made of 100% maple as a reference. It was soon discovered that the 12” all maple tom sounded the best and was the ideal “pivot” point for smaller toms with birch inner plies and larger toms with African mahogany inner plies.
As time went on, “winners” emerged in each size, which were assembled into a kit. The results were incredible! For the first time, a drum set was designed with each drum optimized for sound rather than made with one wood and thickness cookie-cutter-style.
Next came the hardware. Optimount tom holders were used for absolute tom stability with minimal damping. The floor toms use LB-200 bridge leg brackets with rubber gaskets for minimal shell contact. For bass drums, BRL-300 swivel lugs with stainless steel tension rods and CW-300 claws provide consistent tuning and perfect head seating. Snares feature die-cast hoops, stainless steel tension rods, and BK-55 swivel lugs for ideal head seating and tuning.
A clear edge
The next step was to perfect the bearing edges (where the shell contacts the drumhead). Pearl’s normal bearing edge is 45° from the inside out with a 45° backcut with the peak over the second ply from the outside. This edge gives a good balance of attack and fullness, but to see if there was something better, bearing edges of all angles were tried.
Gene Okamoto describes one of the “Eureka moments” during the process of listening to drums with various bearing edges as follows: “We were trying to come up with the perfect bearing edges for the low toms and bass drum, and nothing was quite working. I had to take a break and walked out into the hallway. It was then that I heard amazing low–frequency drum sounds coming from the testing room. I rushed back in and found that the research team was trying out round bearing edges. Everyone agreed that we had found the sound we were looking for.”
Accordingly, rounded bearing edges are used for the rack toms 14” and larger, floor toms, and bass. Toms measuring 13” and smaller are cut with 45° bearing edges to achieve maximum punch.
Sound check
The sound of the Five-piece Reference fusion configuration that Pearl sent me for testing was simply stunning. The higher toms had intense focus and cut, while the lower toms had astounding depth and resonant low-end power. The bass drum was among the very best I’ve ever played, with the kind of huge, enveloping warm presence that was felt as well as heard.
With 20 plies (6 inner plies of birch are surrounded by 14 plies of maple) the snare had tone that exploded like a cannon when hit hard, yet could express the quietest press rolls and grace notes. Its radical thick-shelled design ensures that all the snare’s sonic energy goes into moving air and creating sound, not excess vibration.
Star power
Reference drums attracted top players from the outset. Chad Smith used the first complete Reference set to record the Red Hot Chili Pepper’s Grammy-winning Stadium Arcadium album, as well as on subsequent releases by the Dixie Chicks. Since then, the Reference Series has won many fans among the world's greatest drummers, including Dennis Chambers and Omar Hakim. There is a bunch of great stuff on Reference drums on Pearl's site, including entertaining video footage of Chambers and Hakim putting a Reference kit to the test, with some additional commentary by Morgan Rose of Sevendust.

Samurai Spirit: Yamaha's Musashi Snare

Specialty and custom snare drums are huge these days - especially considering that most of them are smaller-than-average drums. Consider the Musashi snare from Yamaha. Named after a legendary 17th century Japanese samurai warrior regarded by many as the greatest swordsman in history, it's a beautifully-crafted little drum that speaks loud. I had the opportunity to try out the 6-1/2" x 13" version of the Musashi (it also comes in a 6" x 12" size). This instrument, with its dark-stained 7-ply oak shell, had lots of personality both visually and sonically. Oak produces plenty of volume, and this snare was no exception. The tone was bright and aggressive as you might expect, though with a nice warmth and woody quality, no doubt in part to its 6-1/2" depth. The drum had a full-sounding sweet spot, and was capable of producing resonant, lightning-like rim shots. The Musashi would be a natural for reggae and Latin styles (the 12" version also thoughtfully includes a "side-stick wedge" for playing side-stick patterns). With its smaller footprint it would also make a killer jazz snare, though it also proved capable of the volume demanded by rockers. The Musashi cuts like the sword of the warrior whose name it bears.

Drum Track of the Week

"Mojo Cubano" from the year 2000 release Best Kept Secret by Ralph Irizarry & Timbalaye. Timbalaye, along with Son Cafe, is one of the bands lead by Timbale maestro Ralph Irizarry. From Puerto Rico, Izirarry spent 13 years in Ruben Blade's band, also working with artists including Paul Simon, Cachao, and Harry Belefonte, among others . On this cut, Irizarry unleashes a hurricane-like timbale solo over a repeating montuno piano riff. Guest artist Giovanni Hidalgo responds with one his trademark unbelievable conga solos. They then kick the riff into double-time with horn kicks pushing the stakes higher. Absolutely smokin' Latin jazz.

Percussion Discussion

Carlos Santana on Michael Shrieve: "I owe Michael a lot; He's the one who turned me onto John Coltrane and Miles Davis. I just wanted to play blues until Michael came. He opened my eyes and my ears and my heart to a lot of things. Some drummers only have chops, but Michael Shrieve has vision. Michael is like a box of crayons; he has all the colors."

TRAP - The Rhythmic Arts Project

The grooves that make you move can also help to heal you—drummer Eddie Tuduri is living proof. Eddie had a burgeoning music career working with major rock artists when his life was instantly changed in a body-surfing accident in 1997. Totally paralyzed for a time, as soon as sensation began returning to his hands he did what any serious drummer would do—he asked for a pair of drumsticks.
While hospitalized, Eddie found that making rhythms was very healing and, with characteristic generosity of spirit, shared his discovery with other patients in the ward. Soon he had an entire “band” of accident victims and people with chronic diseases and disabilities playing enthusiastically along with him. It was evident to both the staff and patients that these impromptu rhythm sessions seemed to improve skills like patience, coordination, and short-term memory skills.
By the time Tuduri left the hospital—walking out on his own after six weeks—he was the head of a bona-fide program that was helping people with a wide range of mobility, speech, and developmental disabilities. Since then TRAP has mushroomed to include nearly 40 facilities in eight states, and countless in-home applications using the Parent TRAP which is designed to enhance home schooling and therapies for kids.
TRAP uses percussion instruments to aid in leaning concepts like counting, learning left from right, colors, shapes and so much more, plus it is FUN! A step-by-step exercise book is included with each package to explain how to implement the program.
Pearl Drums has enjoyed a two year alliance with TRAP committing their considerable manufacturing and marketing powers to the project. The various Pearl TRAP percussion packages are ideal for organizing ongoing therapeutic drumming sessions in clinical, institutional, or home settings. Learn more by visiting www.traponline.com.

My top 3 drum performances of 2006

1. Billy Kilson with Chris Botti at the Britt Music Festival in Jacksonville, Oregon. I had heard of Kilson, but this was the first time I'd heard him play. Freakin' awesome. A ten-handed powerhouse. The rest of trumpeter Botti's band were also stars in their own right - Billy Childs on keyboards, New York studio ace bassist James Genus, and guitarist extraordinaire Mark Whitfield.
   
2. George Recile with Bob Dylan at the Long Beach Arena, Los Angeles. Recile has been in Dylan's touring band since 2002, and with understated elegance provided the perfect anchor to the band's rhythm section. Out of Hammond, LA, Recile has worked with many pivotal musicians in the New Orleans music scene. He obviously had a lot of chops, but kept most of them on the shelf, flawlessly navigating the deep-pocket blues shuffles and laid-back rock riffs that Dylan's music calls for.
3. Manas Itene with Michael Franti & Spearhead, at the Britt Music Fest in Jacksonville Or. Itene hails from Nigeria, West Africa, where he played with the Mandators, Nigeria's top reggae band, as well as other famous Nigerian acts like Sonny Okusons and Majek Fashek. Another groove merchant, Itene kept the band rocking with heavy roots-reggae and pulsing highlife and rock riffs. He also contributed vocally, covering most of the "toasting" and rap on their hip-hop and dancehall material. A high-energy individual.
   

Ritmos Cubanos

Osvaldo Carvajal, percussionist with the Bay Area AfroCuban band Pellejo Seco stopped in Ashland, Oregon for a workshop covering various aspects of Cuban percussion and dance styles. Demonstrating the building blocks of traditional and newer Cuban music styles on cowbell, bongo, claves, and timbales, Carvajal presented the rhythms in a casual yet engaging style.

The Sounds In My Head

The Sounds in My Head? One of my favorite podcasts, a "biweekly music podcast featuring songs and bands you might have missed." But it's not the subject of this post. The head sounds I mean is tinnitus. Ringing of the ears. I've got it bad, and that ain't good. Too many years playing the drums in too many loud bands.
Though it's incurable, though there are things one can do that help, (See the American Tinnitus Association site for possible therapeutic strategies), or at least keep it manageable. Lately there's been news about possible treatments on the horizon for hearing loss using stem-cell technology , as mentioned recently in the blog Musical-machines. Apparently listening to your iPod headphones/earbuds is another tinnitus/deafness culprit. So keep that volume down. Once you have it, you may never know true silence again.
Certain environmental sounds (crickets, seashore, road noise) effectively mask the noise, though.
To some extent your brain adjusts and attenuates the ringing. Getting enough sleep and avoiding stress helps. Some people find caffeine and aspirin aggravates tinnitus. When in loud environments, by all means use ear protection, and take a break from the noise by finding a quiet place to let your ears recover.

Percussion Discussion: Steve Smith, on Buddy Rich, from the Musician's Friend Interview: "He was one of the greatest drummers that ever lived, and if you were lucky enough to see him, it was a mind-blowing experience, each and every time."

Tokyo Drum Museum

During a trip to Japan last summer I stopped in at the Tokyo Drum Museum in the old Tokyo district of Taito-Ku. They have an awesome display of drums from Japan and around the world, and what's really cool is that you can play them! (Well, most of them . . . drums that are too rare or old to take a beating are marked with red dot that means hands off). They also have some drums for sale, and I picked up a couple of beautiful little drums traditionally used in Japan's noh, gagaku, and kabuki ensembles. I also scored a couple of CDs of Taiko (Japanese for drum) drumming, the relatively recent art form of ensemble drumming that has quickly grown in popularity and has spread far beyond Japan. Taiko drums range in size from small tom-sized to massive (6' and up in diameter.)
One of the more famous Taiko drumming ensembles is called Kodo, from Sado island, located between Japan and Korea. The Kodo community on Sado is dedicated to exploring and extending the traditional Japanese drumming arts.