I had the opportunity to attend the Drum Daze Festival in Columbus with my son and two of his friends. This was our second year attending the event. Although I did not find it to be a good as last years event, it was a great to see some very diverse drummers.
Rayford Griffin- Opened the event with really spectacular display of chops, time, finese,and technique. He was sponsored by Tama and played a beautiful kit of Bubinga wood drums and used Paiste cymbals. His soloing was a great display of artful playing combined with great chops. He played to a couple of tracks from his solo disc "Rebirth of Cool" which was exceptional as well.
Mike Wengren- Played to several tracks from various "Disturbed" titles which is the group that he plays for. Not much (admittedly) in the technique but if you were into just raw power rock drumming, not bad. I have to admit that after the third track I had heard everything that he had to offer.
Russ Miller- I found him to be extremely informative. He discussed at length playing what is appropriate for the music and reminded all of us that the drums are an instrument and should be treated as a variety of voices utilized for musical expression. I found his technique to be a bit sloppy but his timing was impeccable. He performed on Yamahas that really sounded awful(really bad tuning) very flat and floppy. The new subwoofer that Yamaha has come out with is amazing!!
Luis Conte-Put on a great demonstration of conga and timbale playing that never left anyone bored. His interaction with the audience and getting us all to participate through hand clapping and leg tapping was really fun and refreshing.
Cindy Blackman- Strong performance, very informative and educational. She has really studied the history of drumming although I found her playing style to be somewhat forced and not at all relaxed. Her swing was amazing.
Chad Smith- I was really glad that they saved Chad for last. I really went in with rather low expectations for his performance, boy was I ever wrong!!! This cat played with technique, power, dynamics, speed and pocket that was truly inspiring. He also was just a gas to listen to as he talked. He was a bit raw with his language(not age appropriate) but he was very entertaining and very engaging with the audience. I really did not expect to see that level of performance from this guy. He discussed playing in a band situation and the importance of being a team player and a really good listener as well as player.
Overall, a great day the kids had a great time. As a side note I got to meet Johnny Rabb and talked with him for quite a while about his performance with Marco and Thomas Lang on the Meinl site. The entire performance will be coming out as a DVD this month some time. I told how great this website is and he said that he will definitely check it out. So Johnny if you happen to read this,welcome to HOD!! He will also be starting a new website soon with similar forums to this one with lots of educational discussion groups. Thanks for that Johnny, we all need more places like this to exchange ideas and grow. Remember, "Keep It In The Pocket". PT.