The Importance of Drum Heroes

Read if u dare!! 5/8 suggested i post this.

YEAH!.Drum heros.Nice subject.When i first started,and w. the influence of my first predominant teacher,my tastes in music widened in a big way.My household was always full of music.My dad had a sweeping range of tastes in music.

I listened to alot of different drummers at the time.Because of my youthful enthusiasm and lack of knowledge in history,i never really had one major hero at the time.I did have many drummers that i listened to alot(like a rotation).In fact i can tell u who they were:Stewart Copeland,Manu Katche,Gadd(but only certain recordings),all the Bowie sidemen,John Wright(NomensNo),Ted Simms/Jon Card(Canadian punk rock innovaters),Vinnie w. Zappa,Earl Hudson(Bad Brains),Billy Cobham(Manivishnu era),Fish(Fishbone),The James Brown Drummers,certain configurations of Parliament,Mark Brezicki,Phil Gould,Phil Collins,Simon Phillips,and a slew of punk/thrash drummers, and Hip-Hop.At the same time my teacher made me a jazz drummer sampler,which was very incomplete but featured:Tony(80's solo albums),Jack(SomeK.Jarret stuff),Philly Jo,Max,Art Blakey,Elvin,Buddy(who i was already familiar with),Joe Morello,and Jeff Watts.At the time i was involved in high school big band,so i lifted(and learned) stuff from all of them,even though most of the afformentioned were not big band drummers,it gave me some ideas to go by.At night,i played punk rock shows.I had zero reverence for the history,or even why i was playing the things that i did.

As it happened i was in a long term band for most of my 20's.Very busy with touring and carving out a name for my self.At the time my resoursces for practicing(like i obsessively did when i was a teen) was limited by difficult access to my space,and at the time was living in a smaller city,not enuff good teachers.I still read my MD,worked out of "The New Breed" book,but never really understood or was cognizant of what it means to be a complete drummer.On one of the last tours i did with said band,we did a show in Edmonton,Alberta.A good drummer friend of mine,Marek, was the house engineer.It so happened that i played drums well that night(one of the few times i recall actually being happy with a live show).After the show Marek and i talked drums.He told me i sounded like if Tony Williams was playing in the Police on speed.I was flattered,but i didnt know exactly why he mentioned Tony,all i knew of Tone at the time was a few solo songs,and that he was a legend,but had absoloutely NO IDEA how important he was.

A few years later i moved to Vancouver.Got a lesson in how far i had to go when the band i joined out here played a show that featured one of(in my opinion) Canada's best drummers Ray Garroway.He works alot out here,and i kind of followed his carreer a bit.At the time he was playing in a Emo-alternarock band signed to Warner Bros.The thing that impressed me about him was that he exclusively used Traditional grip in his technique,and just plays beautifully.We talked and he said some very kind things about my playing,and of course i couldnt stop raving about his.I had fooled around with trad. grip. over the years,but could never get the hang of it,but i liked how i played differently when i would attempt to use it.He gave me his number to call him for anything.

I met my future wife around this time.She gave me a tape she made at a friends place of Trane's'A Love Supreme'.And a Blue Note box set that featured all the greats(selections featuring Tone,Roy,Elvin,Motian,and many more).Around the same time my band did a demo at this studio with an engineer who i disliked.He said i was a weak link in the band.Now by this time i was very able to accept criticism from anyone-it can only help you.But he really pushed a button,because i want to be liked,a part of my drummer ego that hadnt been appealed to,was greatly affected by his insensitivity.After a few days of thinking about my instrument and a 8 hr pratice session,in which i smoked a bit of the herb,and listened to "A Love Supreme" and the box set in its entirety,i had one of many rapid moments of clarity.I needed lessons.And the first lesson i learned on my own was that i needed to research the drummers that came b4 me.Listening to Elvin freaked me out,i hadnt really ever been exposed to that way of playing jazz.I dismissed jazz previous to all this because i didnt(and still dont) care for the jazz police vibe that is attached to the music.And i felt that no great strides had been taken presently with the genre(i still feel that way,except for the exsisting masters and FEW bands that take shit to a new level).But as i listened to the Blue Note recordings and read the liner notes,the history of what i was doing most of my life was unfolding right b4 me.I decided(another moment of clarity!) that i wanted to revamp my technique based on seeing Ray,Vinnie Colaiuta,and Weckl use Trad. grip with excellant resultsTony passed around this time and my buddy Shane gave me the MD T.W. tribute issue.Oddly enuff i ran into Ray moments later.He was distressed about the loss of Tony .He spied my MD and he flipped thru it.I let him know that i had been thinking of taking lessons,and i felt that he could really help me.We hooked up at my space the next day.I hadnt even had a chance to begin reading the MD because of obligations that day.Also my wife bought a brand new computer.I was playing an intense game of drumset history with the internet,i went nuts listening to all the greats,and realizing how much i owed to myself to understand the history.

Ray showed up.He brought some video of Vinnie and ALL of the 2nd great Miles Quintet recordings.I had originally thought(bear in mind these events all happened in a 2 day span,so at that moment i was to be everchanged) that Elvin and Roy Haynes,and moments of Max were the cornerstones of Jazz Drumming.I had no idea about how Tony came up in his carreer,and his contribution to the music and the instrument.Ray and i smoked a joint,and we talked,for a very long time about what i wanted to do,his back ground(Ray is a Berkely graduate and studied under Efrain Toro,it was Efrain that introduced Ray to Tony!)and he vented his grief over HIS drum hero Tony Williams.He really built up much excitement about talking about Tony,and how Ray was forever changed by listening to him.Now i do realize that doing research doesnt begin or end with just focusing on Tony or Elvin,or even Buddy,but because of my punk rock background,i was always lookin for something different in my drummers.When i understood the context in the time period of these Miles recordings,it appealed to the punk rock side.Those artists in the 60's were the antithesis of punk rock against the near redundent forms of swing and bop.

Ray set up my transformation by prefacing Tony's age at the time of the recording he was about to play me.Ray said,"Tony was 17 at the time man!!Remember that as u listen to this one track.This will change you man!!!!".

Ray put on Mile's"Gingerbread Boy".

I dont know really how to put into words how hearing Tony this way,in that point in jazz history,how much it hit me.

I felt like i was punched.I never ever had heard drums played that way.Had never heard a jazz ride played that way.

I was moved in so many ways in a span of 7 minutes.I never have been so blown away about a drummer before.I actually felt so much:joy, reverence,understanding,discovery,happiness,and a bit of sadness as i FULLY understood what Tony had done for us.He changed drums forever.I absolutely could not believe he was 17 at the time.And much to my regret, i lambasted my self for not discovering him earlier on in my life.

After the track was finished,Ray and i just laughed.We laughed in total joy over that performance.Ray was laughing at me,"Dude,u hafta see your face!!!".I honestly sat for a good 10 minutes trying to take it all in.Ray said he did the same when Efrain unleashed Tony to his ears,and i think Ray really enjoyed the moment of passing along Tony's magic into the fabric of my physche.

After some more chatting he schooled my hands.Showed me how to use trad. grip properly.What was to be a 1 hour lesson,ended up being nearly 9 hours.That particular day ,everything about my drumming changed.That was my turning point a a drummer.I cant ever possibly express the gratitude to Ray for ushering in a revolution in how i approached drums,and as i found out later as i got home,there was more Tony revelations to be had.Ray lent me his Miles recordings to study.

I went home and blabbed incessantly to my wife about my experience.She listened patiently,and suprised me with a gift.She gave me Tony's first Blue Note recording as a leader-the very first version of Lifetime,titled Lifetime.Then she gave me"The Tony Williams Lifetime-Spectrum:the Anthology.3 eras in Tonys playing all given to me in one day.That same night,i stayed up with my unread T.W. MD and the Tony recordings.

After a first thourough read of the issue i finally settled down.Daryl,it was so amazing to have it all soaked in.The MD was so vital to bookend my incredible day.I reread it again and followed John Riley's Style and analysis about Tony.And followed the 'Nefertiti' transcript.I refer to that issue still to this day.Such a good read.And my search for expression on the drumset was quantified by Tony.

I had found my hero....................Tony if u can see me typing this...Thank You for your gift.........I love everything you were............and am indebted to you.

Im still building my Tony collection.

There u have it.I seriously could write more,but i think u have a clear understanding of how much i love the man!!

"We can be heroes,just for one day.."-Bowie

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ May 01, 2003 03:37 PM: Message edited by: beats ]</font>