Dennis Chambers... Best Memory

Dennis Chambers by far has the best memory of any drummer. He can't read music so he has to rely on his memory. I asked him one day when he was recording the 1st Gary Willis CD at Musicians Institute. How in gods name can you remember all of the music? He said it's like remebering the conversation you just had. I got to see him do some pre-production at the school the day before they went in and cut Gary's CD. My god Dennis has huge ears. Elephant ears man. All of the stuff he has recorded in his career is pure memory. He has a remarkable mind to remember all of that music. He is beyond gifted in this department. A lot of cats can read and have a great memory. I rather have a map myself and just follow it. The band has to go out of their way to rehearse with Dennis before he records. He only needs like one run through and it?s in his head!!!!!!!!!! The guy is just sick. I want his memory. Can anyone think of a cat who has this remarkable mind. I know Buddy had a drummer who would come in and play the tune with the band for him and he just picked up on it. That is sick as well. Can anyone think of cats that have the memory of Dennis and Buddy.

I am not sure I consider this whole issue as "remarkable" as you do.

Dennis clearly has no choice other than to train his memory, due to his inability to acquire a BASIC skill I believe drummers should have (theory/reading). It is beyond me how a player that has played for so long and worked with so many artists manages to get by without reading. Anyway, don't get me started. That's just another thing I dislike about Mr. Chambers.

i do think it's quite "remarkable" given the kind of music he plays.
Suspiria:how come you "dislike" that about DC??
I'm not usre i get you on that one.How could not being able to read should be a problem if you have the kind of memory he has??
I bet a lot of musicians he has played with don't remember half the stuff he does.Playing by memory allows you to play more freely as opposed to sometimes,having a chart to read,can really get in the way of interpretating the song.
Just my opinion tho'.I guess nobody in the business has ever complained about Dennis not being a reader.
Look how many records he's played on throughout his amazing career.Think it speaks for itself doesn't it??

Quote:

---

Originally posted by drumaddix:
i do think it's quite "remarkable" given the kind of music he plays.
Suspiria:how come you "dislike" that about DC??
I'm not usre i get you on that one.How could not being able to read should be a problem if you have the kind of memory he has??
I bet a lot of musicians he has played with don't remember half the stuff he does.Playing by memory allows you to play more freely as opposed to sometimes,having a chart to read,can really get in the way of interpretating the song.
Just my opinion tho'.I guess nobody in the business has ever complained about Dennis not being a reader.
Look how many records he's played on throughout his amazing career.Think it speaks for itself doesn't it??

---

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I agree with all the benefits you mentioned that come along with having a great memory. It's a great asset to have - we all agree on that. Whether or not anyone has complained about Dennis not being able to read, I don't know - my gut tells me, somebody must have. Consider the following example:

Did you manage to check out the video of Chick Corea, showing him in the studio with several musicians, among them Gadd and Vinnie? There's scenes where the drummers have tunes of 5-10 pages laid out in front of them. Now imagine Chick trying to go through and explain certain parts of the tune with a drummer that can't read. He'd have to whip out his piano/keyboard and play the section, or playback a pre-recorded version.

Sure, you can get by without reading and developing a great memory, but what I'm trying to say is, to me it's one of many tools that a well-rounded musician (not just drummer) should have. I guess I'm expanding too much on the topic at hand, but I hope you see my point.

Hendrix couldn't read music either.

Comparing Chambers to Hendrix is not a fair comparison. Hendrix was an artist and composer, not a session musician. For a session musician to get any work with ZERO reading ability is pretty amazing.

I think what Susperia is alluding to is the fact that Chambers' inability to read requires that anyone who hires him has a demo of the material or is willing to arrange for a rehearsal (even if it IS only one run through). This may not seem like much, but not everyone will able to provide that. This means that Dennis is probably limiting his work. If he could read, he would be on even MORE sessions.

Nobody is denying that he's amazing or that his memory is uncanny... It's just strange that he never took the two hours that it would take to understand music notation, that's all. It's pretty basic stuff really. Sight-reading is another matter altogether, but just being able to decipher a chart would go a long way.

DSOP's nailed it. That's exactly what I'm saying.

Dennis has been on the scene for a long time but has only recorded something along the lines of 60 albums, maybe reading has something to do with that because players who are able to read such as vinnie and gadd have played on 1000s of albums

that may not be the reason though..just a thought

Why he don't learn to read ? [img]eek.gif[/img]

I sense a bit of sour grapes here. Anyone else a member of the Scalieri fan club?

Guys like Denis, Tony, Jack, Gary Husband and Sean Rickman are simply blessed with much faster CPU's than most of us. They have Cray ears.

Most of us are, ah, differently gifted. I, for one, find cheat sheets helpful...I suspect I'm not alone here.

I think Dennis is a genius. He has a very, very quick mind and a phenomenal memory. A few years ago, I was on some gigs with Tim Murphy, who played keys on a lot of Gary Thomas's CD's. Tim told me how Dennis heard the sequence to Kold Kage, which is a very tricky tune, along the lines of some of Steve Coleman's stuff, in the studio for the first time. He asked for a few minutes to learn it, and went upstairs. He came back about 20 minutes later and killed it.

Reading is fine -- I'm all for it, but just because one can read or write does not mean that one can carry on a substantive conversation, verbally or musically, or think well on their feet. I think we all know folks who read well, but their playing is dry as dust. The real value of reading is allowing one to come to grips with the form quickly. The trap many fall into is heeding the dots more than the music. A common refrain when I've transcribed tunes for a new gig is this: "How long before you can manage with out the charts?" It can take a minute, especially if I'm cold, to make friends with the music.

Fortunately, with time and effort, the disconnect shrinks. While we all know a few folks who nail charts and don't sound like they're reading, that's not most of us.

Ultimately, there is no substitute for knowing the music. Dennis excels at assimilating it quickly. Folks hire him for his ability to own the music quickly, and to light a fire under them like few others do. They hire him for who he is, not for who or what he isn't.

As far as not reading having limited his career, he's booked a few a years out. How many of us are? And who among us would not take pride in most of the gigs he's had?

I don't see where we gain anything by disparaging here. Perhaps if we applied ourselves more to improving own abilities, we would find our phones ringing more frequently. Then some of us can go and snag the reading gigs he's missing out on....

<font color="#a62a2a"><font size="1">[ November 06, 2005 04:44 AM: Message edited by: Riddim ]</font></font>

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 06, 2005 04:46 AM: Message edited by: Riddim ]</font>