Playing with a Big Band

[Henry II]

Originally posted by peter c:
Paraflam and Dazz hit it.

In my eyes, Sonny Payne was the
greatest big-band drummer of all
time. With so much less, he gave
so much more.

I do love Duffy Jackson too, though,
I must admit.

[img]wink.gif[/img]

[img]cool.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Duffy is DA MAN!

[Henry II]

Originally posted by Flarobstix:
Nuttin phony here people. Nothing at all. If you feel better thinking there is, fine, so be it.
John, I may have the name of the band wrong, although I'm pretty sure he said Brand X. Is Virgil the drummer? If I'm wrong you have my apologies, but I'm sure I said Brand X to him on the phone today. He's from NYC and moved out there to play with them about one year ago.
I hope I'm not thinking of another band. I'll look him up and let you know.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">What on earth does Virgil have to do with big band drumming?

[Bergermeister]

Hey Rafael,
Check out the audio samples of the CD " a perfect match" from http://www.stevefidyk.com/ I played swing for Steve on my first lesson and he said, "you just got fired!" Sheesh his lessons were tough! Has a new book coming out as well.

Have fun Raf! Lucky dog!

[Groovesmitty]

Speaking of laughter,
Moose, I understand your statement. The fact that you even took the time to say it however, is very odd. You're only adding another post that's not about big band drumming thus, contributing to the disgrace you're complaining about. I'm indeed perplexed by your reasoning.
Also, I don't feel Rob was inpolite whatsoever. A bit brittle maybe. I fully agree with him that his comments are overly polite in comparison to those made by others which went unnoticed. There's plenty of biased activity here. Take a step back and think before you develop a reply. Most of the posts made after Steve Holmes comment are somewhat hypocritical in my opinion.
Why can't a topic expand? If someone happens to mention another drummers name in post, why can't the topic grow into another topic? I remember reading posts on how thread consolidation was encouraged. Yet another perplexity.
In any case, those are my thoughts.

[SeattleDrumKing]

Groove! Call it like it is, that was pretty funny and curious.

Dudes, I have limited big band experience. Just from a logical standpoint, playing by ear is and always has been the constant. Not do-able in certain situations, but as musicians , if we were given a choice to play by ear, or by music only, we know what the musical choice is. So it makes sense to say reading is not a must for anything other than reading. Certainly not for playing music.
Groove I loved your post. You didn't let anything slide.
I was on last nite and noticed Erskine was on for almost one hour.
I was so hoping he was responding to your great questions.
I guess not.
I understand where Joes is coming from as well. Although, I completely disagree with anyone learning how to play drums from paper. The drums are the worlds first instrument. They are earthy, soulful, deep in the ground..more so than any other instrument. They are about motion, emotion, groove and dance. Not notes on a stave. Tell the African drummers about reading music, the brazilian drummers, the taiko drummers, the greek and bulgarian drummers, south indian, cuban, american indian.
Tabla player play the most intricate rhythms in world that American drummers can barely feel. Do you think they read it?
They'll laugh at you.
The best drum teacher I ever had was this guy from Cuba, that literally made me get up and dance, to feel a certain rhythm. We had it on paper, I could read it. But I couldn't play it right, until I felt it. I know this doesn't relate as much to big band, but quite honestly, it's all music.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ May 31, 2005 09:54 AM: Message edited by: SDK ]</font>

[Henry II]

SDK, you've been called to fill in for someone and play a big band gig. How are you going to kick the ensemble figures if you can't read the charts?

[SeattleDrumKing]

Henry, can you read english my man?
Apply it, now.
My post 3rd line down first sentence. come on man.

in answer to your question, ummmm...you get a recording of the arrangements, you learn them. Basic stuff.
I was just making the point that you can play music without reading it. Not always. Jeeeezus. Even above the guys said a million times. Not while subbing, sitting in, or not knowing the music ahead of time.

Go ahead, ask the same question again! hahaha... I feel like Samuel Jackson in Pulp Fiction. " Say What Again Mutha ^&*#@" The same thing over and over and over. It was already addressed up there. I'm new to this post. I read it. Why can't you? I'm saying that to all of you who ask the same thing over and over.

Well, how do you sit in with a Big Band and you don't know the music. Well friends. YOU DON'T! Not sitting in, or not subbing, does not mean you can't play the music of Big Band, just means you won't be getting the last minute sub calls. Big deal.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ May 31, 2005 11:14 AM: Message edited by: SDK ]</font>

[peter c]

Paraflam and Dazz hit it.

In my eyes, Sonny Payne was the
greatest big-band drummer of all
time. With so much less, he gave
so much more.

I do love Duffy Jackson too, though,
I must admit.

[img]wink.gif[/img]

[img]cool.gif[/img]

[JoesMechanic]

Flarob writes.....

"I would love to hear Peter's take on Groovesmitty whom I thought ripped his post to shreds. And validly so. He didn't say much and that can obviously have [an] adverse affect on drummers who are trying to learn music and it's traditions."

Dude.... you are a sad example of what the drumming community at large is about and the commeradery between fellow musicians that HOD stands for.

ps... by the way, you should ask your friend the last time he played with Brand X, because Mick Jones has been the bass player Since around 1992 I think?? He studied with the great Percy Jones who was the original bass player if I'm not mistaken. I'll have to call Mick.

I jammed with Mick and John Goodsall a couple of years ago and wasn't interested in playing retro-fusion. But since Brock Avery (their newest drummer) has been so busy with recording and session dates/touring, they recently called me back in to jam with them.

Over the years, several people have come and go from Brand X, the most famous of them is Phil Collins. And excuse me for my ignorance, but I've never heard of Rufus Philpot. Please clue me in.

I even checked the annotated website of Brand X that has all the discography since 1975.

http://www.pyoing.net/brandx/#unorth

You can visit the new Brand X website at

http://www.brandxmusic.org/English/frames.html

Henry... that book sounds so good I think I'm gonna check it out!! [img]wink.gif[/img]

[Avi_drums]

I will not dislose myself on this board.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Typical troll attributes...inflating their creditials, phony name dropping, pretending not to be spiteful and taking shots at other people, hiding behind an alias. [img]graemlins/thumbs_down.gif[/img]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ May 31, 2005 12:56 AM: Message edited by: Avi_drums ]</font>