The Funky Blackwell

I hope that some of you got the opportunity to catch Prince on the Leno show last night. It was the Funky Blackwell at his best. This man is so........FONKY!!! Then add in all of the stick twirling this man is a monster. For those of you not familiar with him his dvd is a MUST HAVE!! He was really rippin some groovilicious potion last night. Rhonda the bass player was just kickn! They are going out on the road so if they come to your town you owe it to yourselves to go check this show out, this is Prince at his very best. This also, may be the last opportunity for you to catch him live. He mentioned last night that this might be the last time he goes out live for quite some time. "Keep It In The Pocket". PT.

He's definately fun to watch. I still go to drummerworld.com to check out his clips...probaby should get his dvd. I've been working a lot on his alternating right hand right foot...left hand, left foot lick....interesting once you gain speed and can move around the set

Personally, I don't enjoy the sound he pulls from the instrument. Too muscular. The groove (or lack thereof) leaves much to be desired.

Nikk, what specifically are you saying?

i agree with nikk....while hes fun to watch and can understand why prince hires him, i dont enjoy his playing or sound. on his dvd, he overplays during the MD performance so much and just repeats himself. and hits way too hard ALL the time. all most hard to watch.

I'm with pockettime, just from the clips I've seen of him. In fact, it's the MD festival clip that makes me wanna buy the DVD, and at the end of that clip, the groove sounds great to me. I don't think he's much of a swing player though, just judging from the clip with him and a bass player.

I had the opportunity to grow up watching John Blackwell in my hometown of Columbia, SC. He was playing in a fusion group and I would sit in from time to time. He would talk with me about albums to listen to(George Duke and Billy Cobham live was his favorite). He was a HUGE EGO! I had a gig at the same place he played frequently and he showed up this one time. John HAD to play no matter who the band was or what the band was playing. He asked me if he could sit in and I didn't have a problem. I heard before hand that he dents your drum heads when he twirls and hits very hard. I couldn't say no, at the time he was with Patti Labelle and was about to sign with Prince...I wasn't going to turn him down! So he sat in and he tore my drum heads up. The next time he wanted to sit in, I kept avoiding him b/c I couldn't afford to keep replacing my drums heads and he didn't like that too much. He went off with Prince, and I was teaching at a local music store before I left for Berklee. The owner was a close friend of John's and he introduced me not knowing we hung out a couple of times. John acted like we never met and introduced himself...I watched his DVD and feel the same about his overplaying and repeating himself...he doesn't explain anything on the DVD well. He is a fun player to watch. Most people listen with their eyes.

I do agree that John plays very hard. I used to jam with him on Sunday nights in a little club in Columbia SC where he is from. He is very heavy handed at times. He did some very tasty stuff when he was with Patti LaBelle. Check him out on the "One Night Only" dvd and disc. Some of his ballad work is exceptional. As far as the MD performance in retrospect I do get your point about overplaying. I still find him a great groove man and over all very talented. "Keep It In The Pocket". PT.

Drum6282 was that at "Decisions" by chance? I know the few times I saw him jam there I loaned him a pair of my sticks and he shredded them and never replaced them. I can only imagine what the heads on the kit must have looked like when he got finished. I also saw him at a little club in five points with some local guys and he was playing a four peice Sonor kit and he was so loud I could'nt even sit in the same room, I had to go sit in the adjacent room and then I could'nt hear the rest of the band. I don't think the locals were diggn it after the first set was over. I left because my ears felt like they were going to start bleeding. "Keep It In The Pocket". PT.

Doesn't surprise me that he got the prince gig. I saw Michael Bland with prince, and he was LOUD! Speaking of which, check out this track called 'Thinker' with george benson (2nd sample on track listing). The intro and the fill( wtf does he play there?) leading into the tune that bland plays is really great. Great drumming on the whole album actually, worth getting for any benson lovers, one of his better albums for sure.

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