Nov. 9-12, 2016, Indianapolis Convention Center, Indianapolis, IN. PASIC is the Percussive Arts Society International Convention. If you haven’t been to PASIC, then you should make time to go! It’s a day totally devoted to drums, percussion, the education of percussive arts, and just about anything that can be translated to rhythm. Just imagine – a convention center filled only with drummers! There were many concurrent sessions (making it impossible to see everything) so I elected to attend the drum set clinics primarily, and peruse the exhibitor booths in between. Unfortunately, that meant I missed out on many percussion ensembles, marching exhibitions, electronics, etc… Please check out the 60 pics on the NSMD Facebook site.
With regard to the exhibitors, many well-regarded names showed up with the latest and greatest: Black Swamp, Canopus, Cooperman, DW, Gretsch, Gibraltar, Grover, Sakae, Freer Percussion, Lang Percussion, Ludwig Musser, Mapex, Roland, Sonor, Stone Custom, Tama, Yamaha, Matt Nolan Custom (amazing hand-crafted cymbal work!), Sabian, Zildjian, NFUZD Audio, Evans/D’Addario (stay tuned for my review of the Evans ’56 Calftone heads with Sergio Bonsignore!), Headhunters, Promark, Remo, Vater, and Vic Firth to name a few. The one disadvantage was that, like NAMM, it was unbearably loud by the end of the show. On the plus side, it was also a fantastic opportunity to grab some educational material with books, mags, sheet music, CDs/DVDs, and videos from Alfred Music, C. Alan, Downbeat, Hudson Music, Meredith, Modern Drummer, and DRUM! present. One cool surprise was Kenny Aronoff making a guest appearance to sign copies of his new book, “Sex, Drums, Rock ‘n’ Roll” (Hal Leonard/Backbeat Publishing). Kenny was a blast with endless stories about his career in music. Even with the long line, Kenny spent a lot of time with each person. He was totally cool.
I started my PASIC week with a drumset clinic by Marko Djordjevic focusing on the “Drumset as a solo instrument”. For those of you not familiar with Marko, he’s a Berklee grad, and in addition to his recording and touring, teaches now at Berklee and the Drummer’s Collective. Not unexpectedly, Marko began with an energetic drum solo, dexterously blending technique, dynamics and spontaneity. The main take home message from Marko was that he viewed the drumset as a melodic instrument, always keeping a logical musical thought in mind. His solo was inspired by “what he heard coming back from the drumset as he was playing”. He said it “was like a conversation with the drums”.
Next up was Bryan Carter, a Julliard grad known for his work with Wynton Marsalis, McCoy Tyner, Michael Feinstein, Mulgrew Miller, Kenny Baron and Kurt Elling. Brian is currently a teaching artist at Jazz at Lincoln Center (“Jazz for Young People”) and is the house drummer for the NBC TV show, “Maya and Marty”. At PASIC, Brian served up a master class entitled, “If you can rock…You can swang”. His message was that if you can play rock or gospel or country, you can play jazz; you can swang! Bryan’s focus was all about the time and the groove. He had some brave volunteers get up to play at his kit. After a few minutes of on-stage coaching, he had already improved their feel. So, listen to Bryan, and with practice, you can swang!
Matt Billingslea followed with a lesson “Half man, half machine: Exploring sound design, hybrid kits and samples”. Matt is well recognized for his tours with Lady Antebellum (including co-writing a top-20 single) and Taylor Swift. Matt took a studio version of a song with sampled percussion and demonstrated how he translated that into live performance. Using pads and a kick trigger, along with his acoustic kit, Matt did an amazing job of breaking down the song and help the audience understand the thought process behind playing the track live. There were some terrific insights on sample selection, sticking vs. pad placement, and artfully blending the acoustic with the samples.
The first day’s clinics finished up with veteran Mike Clark and his trio (Rob Dixon, Brandon Meeks) on “Funk, Bebop, and Beyond”. Mike has played with legendary groups like Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters and Brand X, but also played with jazz artists like John Scofield, Wayne Shorter, Tony Bennett, Chet Baker and Joe Henderson. He now tours and records with The Wolff and Clark Expedition (with pianist Michael Wolff). Mike played a number of jazz and funk tunes with his trio, showing off his skill with both brushes and sticks, making relatively complex motions seem almost effortless. His fluidity of motion and musicality were truly admirable.
The next morning began with two of my personal “drum heroes”, Peter Erskine and William “Bill” Platt, supported by Pavel Pohanco-Sadafit (vibes) and Pedro Fernandez (keys). Peter has been on over 600 albums, won two Grammy’s and has an Honorary Doctorate from Berklee. Peter’s resume is like a “who’s who” of music, listing Stan Kenton, Maynard Fergusen, Weather Report, Steely Dan, Steps Ahead, and so many more. He’s been voted best jazz drummer 10 times by Modern Drummer magazine readers. Peter also authored a book which every drummer should have in their collection, “No Beethoven: An autobiography and chronicle of Weather Report” (Alfred Music). Peter is currently Professor of Practice and Director of Drumset Studies at USC. Bill Platt is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and one of the nicest gentlemen you’ll ever meet. He is former member of the U.S. Army Band, and Rochester (NY) and Richmond (VA) Symphony Orchestras. He was the Principle Percussionist for the Cincinnati Symphony & Pops Orchestra until he retired in 2010. Bill has recorded over 100 albums and toured the world (note: the sound quality of the Telarc recordings are superb). Bill is now on the Board of Directors for the Cincinnati Symphony and Symphonic Committee of PAS.
So these two legends took the stage; one drumset with Bill stage left, one drumset with Peter stage right, and Pedro and Pavel in between. Their clinic on the “Drumset in the Symphony Orchestra” was both educational and entertaining. Peter posed as a student auditioning for a part (in dark sunglasses no less), showing both how to succeed and how to fail at an audition (the latter was pretty humorous). On a more serious note, these were some great tips on “how to get the gig”. They went on to play several pieces together. The mastery and love of music was evident. This was a clinic not to miss. Two of the best enjoying their craft, sharing some valuable life lessons, and creating some wonderful music. One of the best clinics overall in my humble opinion. Bill’s dedication was astounding as he performed the entire time assisted by an oxygen tank. Now that’s a man who loves his work despite life’s challenges. Incredibly inspiring.
I then ran over to see Andy Smith and his Batuqué Trio (Natalie Boeyink on bass and Jamaal Baptiste on piano) perform under the theme of the “21st Century samba-jazz drumset”. Batuqué refers to Afro-Brazilian drumming and dance. Over the years, Andy has embraced the Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, and Caribbean jazz rhythms to make them his own. His style was quite refreshing and offered a new approach to jazz that many are often not exposed to in the U.S.A. In addition to his drum kit, Mike also demonstrated his skill with some Brazilian drums from Pearl – the Caixa and Repinique.
The first afternoon clinic featured Claus Hessler, a teacher at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt, Germany. He gave a master class on “The Chapin Heritage: Collapsed rudiments”. Collapsed rudiments were the brainchild of the late Jim Chapin but never made it into publication. Claus has re-introduced this concept of changing the distance between the notes of a traditional rudiment to create a new rudiment or discover an existing one with a different perspective. For example, a single paradiddle can be thought of as a collapsed form of a flam accent, and Pataflaflas are collapsed paradiddle-diddles, and so on. Some examples can be seen on YouTube if you search “collapsed rudiments”. Claus and Dom Famularo also put out an educational poster on these collapsed rudiments. Claus very smoothly played an exercise starting with various rudiments and transitioning to the collapsed rudiment in succession without missing a beat (double stokes -> swiss triplets -> alternating flams -> single strokes -> alternating flams -> swiss triplets -> returning to double stokes) – this was quite impressive! Equally impressive was how Claus translated these collapsed rudiments to the drum kit. Very educational indeed!
Later in the afternoon, I went to a clinic by Tosin Aribisala, the “Drum Monologue”. Tosin has recorded and toured with Taj Mahal, Baba Maal, Femi Kuti, Julie Dexter, Fatoumata Diawara, and Carolyn Malachi. Tosin blends his exposure to African music, having grown up in Nigeria, with modern jazz, funk, reggae and other styles. He started off his PASIC solo dancing around the cymbals very melodically and then proceeded to a cool ostinato around the toms, alternating both tempo and dynamics in a very colorful way. Tosin ended with an impressive flurry but his own very of a fade-out. In his solo, he had told the audience a musical story and it was very well received. Kudos!
The second day for me finished off with Jost Nickel, a technical powerhouse was teaching us how to “Groove with creativity”. Jost currently teaches at the University of Pop in Mannheim, Germany and recently released a book, entitled “Jost Nickel’s Groove Book (Alfred Publishing). Jost said that he wanted to write a book where the grooves were really fun to play (not just boring exercises). He started off his clinic by performing the odd-time tune, “I hate my baby (and my baby hates me)” by BBFC. Despite the unconventional meter, Jost was always on top of the beat, nailing some pretty intense fills. He then demonstrated some ideas to stimulate creativity - taking standard beats, splitting them apart into ghost notes on snare and then transferring to the toms - some really great ideas. If this was a preview, then his book must be really good…!
The following morning at PASIC started off with the 2016 over-18 “Hit-Like-A-Girl” contest winner, Helen De La Rosa. Helen is originally from the Dominican Republic and graduated from the National Conservatory of Music of Santo Domingo. Helen moved on to Berklee, where she earned a degree in Music Performance (minoring in Music Production and Engineering). Helen has performed with a variety of artists including Victor Wooten, Javier Limón, Mohini Dey, Donny McCaslin and others. Helen’s playing during her clinic clearly demonstrated why she was the champion this year – very skilled, versatile, and dedicated to her instrument. Helen has a couple of cool videos on YouTube so I suggest checking these out! (Helen De La Rosa & Yogev Gabay – Popcorn [drum set duo], Lost by Lido, Pope Summer Mix 2015 – Ariza Ft. Elin Sandberg & Helen De La Rosa).
Fidel Morales then gave a Master Class on, “Beyond Afro-Cuban techniques for drumset and percussion.” Fidel was born in Cuba, and is both a highly regarded composer and drummer. He now directs the Fidel Morales Afro-Cuban Jazz Group and has performed with numerous artists including Danilo Pérez, Giovanni Hidalgo, Gary Campbell, Gary Keller, Eddie Gómez, and many others. In addition to his mastery of Afro-Cuban rhythms and incorporation into modern jazz tunes, Fidel impressed the audience with his amazing independence, feel and musicality.
Wes Little followed by presenting a Master Class focusing on the Rhythm Section and featuring Brian Allen on bass. Wes graduated from the Manhattan School of Music with a degree in jazz drumming. However, now he describes himself as a bit of a “musical chameleon”, playing a wide variety of styles including a stint with Chuck D, frontman for the rap group Public Enemy. Wes has toured with Robben Ford and Christopher Cross, while keeping quite busy doing sessions in Nashville. He’s also played with many legendary artists such as Stevie Wonder, Faith Hill, Beyonce, Shakira and Alicia Keys. In his master class, Wes varied the groove and feel (rock, funk, blues, latin…), and how to lock in with the bass player. He said, “It’s your relationship to the time; the feel that you bring to the equation.” Wes showed how playing slightly ahead of the beat or behind dramatically changed the vibe, yet sounded very consistent and “human”.
JoJo Mayer, a native of Switzerland, gave a mind-blowing drumset clinic. Jojo started playing professionally at a young age, touring with Monty Alexander, Dizzy Gillespie, and Nina Simone while only age 18. He later moved to New York City and continued to establish his unique style with artists like The Screaming Headless Torsos (love that name!), DJ Spooky, The Vienna Art Orchestra, John Medesky and many, many more. Jojo now leads his band, NERVE, and was voted one of the 50 greatest drummers of all time by Modern Drummer magazine in 2014. Jojo introduced the clinic by saying that “the idea of limitation is extremely helpful, because limitation always brings challenges…that’s when we really become creative.” Creative is indeed what Jojo is all about. For example, Jojo said he thought about a paradiddle “as a melody and not a sticking pattern.” He then showed how he could establish a “musical narrative” out of just a paradiddle. With dynamics and/or tempo, he showed how could create tension. He also varied timbre and pitch (he put his foot on his snare to apply pressure), phrasing and accents to make a melody “not just a mechanical texture.” He then applied this same concept to a simple triplet around the kit. Jojo appeared to view music as shapes and concepts in his mind, and advocates exploring all the possibilities in a form of musical meditation. He is truly a master. Perhaps his class should be called “Zen and the art of rhythmic meditation”?
The last clinic in my 3-day PASIC experience, “Developing a rhythmic foundation for jazz improvisation”, starred Ed Soph along with Dick Sisto on vibes. Ed Soph’s 5-decade long career has established him as a premier drummer, educator, and author. These incredible years were spent playing along with many of jazz greats, such as Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, Clark Terry and Bill Watrous. Ed is currently a professor in Jazz Studies at the College of Music at the University of North Texas where he has inspired and trained many generations of talented drummers (including Keith Carlock, Rich Redmond, Jason Sutter, Joel Rosenblatt and Dave Weckl). Ed and Dick, along with great standup bass player, treated the audience to a number of great jazz tunes. Ed was always so fluid and musical, and the trio played seamlessly as if they were one. He said that drummers should be thinking music and not drum beats. He thought books and videos were useful but served to solve a problem or acquire a skill, but would not teach you to be a musician or successful professional drummer. He also stated a drummer needs to have a musical mind that can create and solve problems – that’s another aspect of learning how to improvise. The improvisational part is so important. Great advice from a drum Jedi.
I also attended one panel discussion on “The state of intellectual property for drummers” chaired by Joe Bergamini. On the panel were Mike Dawson (Modern Drummer magazine), Claus Hessler (artist, author), Dave Black (Alfred Music Publishing), Rob Wallis (Hudson Music), and Donny Gruendler (Ableton). As drummers, I often wonder if we think about intellectual property enough. Musicians seem to understand that they would like to be compensated for original work. However, I’m always surprised by how much proprietary info is illegally shared on the internet by musicians. This can be music, educational videos, copyrighted photos or articles. I know of one instance where a well-known drummer made a fantastic educational DVD at some expense of time and capital, and later found much of it bootlegged on the WWW. How is that drummer supposed to be motivated to ever make another educational video if other drummers aren’t willing to pay for it? Sorry for the rant but I do think we need to set a good example as drummers and musicians. If we want good educational material, then we need to be sure that we honor their intellectual property. An interesting fact was that most published magazine content was still preferred as print, not digital. While digital sales appeared to be increasing, they still accounted for only a small portion of total sales. It was an informative discussion by some of the key players in the publishing industry - well worth attending!
So overall, I’d say it was a great PASIC experience for me. I learned a lot, saw some impressive talent, bought some books and gear, and got to share it all with my drum friends. There was so much more offered than I had time to experience so I encourage others to share their thoughts on the other sessions. I’m very much looking forward to PASIC 2017.
PASIC 2016 Wrap-up
Nov. 9-12, 2016
Indianapolis Convention Center, Indianapolis, IN
By Bob Campbell
PASIC is the Percussive Arts Society International Convention. If you haven’t been to PASIC, then you should make time to go! It’s a day totally devoted to drums, percussion, the education of percussive arts, and just about anything that can be translated to rhythm. Just imagine – a convention center filled only with drummers! There were many concurrent sessions (making it impossible to see everything) so I elected to attend the drum set clinics primarily, and peruse the exhibitor booths in between. Unfortunately, that meant I missed out on many percussion ensembles, marching exhibitions, electronics, etc… Please check out the pics on the NSMD Facebook site.
With regard to the exhibitors, many well-regarded names showed up with the latest and greatest: Black Swamp, Canopus, Cooperman, DW, Gretsch, Gibraltar, Grover, Sakae, Freer Percussion, Lang Percussion, Ludwig Musser, Mapex, Roland, Sonor, Stone Custom, Tama, Yamaha, Matt Nolan Custom (amazing hand-crafted cymbal work!), Sabian, Zildjian, NFUZD Audio, Evans/D’Addario (stay tuned for my review of the Evans ’56 Calftone heads with Sergio Bonsignore!), Headhunters, Promark, Remo, Vater, and Vic Firth to name a few. The one disadvantage was that, like NAMM, it was unbearably loud by the end of the show. On the plus side, it was also a fantastic opportunity to grab some educational material with books, mags, sheet music, CDs/DVDs, and videos from Alfred Music, C. Alan, Downbeat, Hudson Music, Meredith, Modern Drummer, and DRUM! present. One cool surprise was Kenny Aronoff making a guest appearance to sign copies of his new book, “Sex, Drums, Rock ‘n’ Roll” (Hal Leonard/Backbeat Publishing). Kenny was a blast with endless stories about his career in music. Even with the long line, Kenny spent a lot of time with each person. He was totally cool.
I started my PASIC week with a drumset clinic by Marko Djordjevic focusing on the “Drumset as a solo instrument”. For those of you not familiar with Marko, he’s a Berklee grad, and in addition to his recording and touring, teaches now at Berklee and the Drummer’s Collective. Not unexpectedly, Marko began with an energetic drum solo, dexterously blending technique, dynamics and spontaneity. The main take home message from Marko was that he viewed the drumset as a melodic instrument, always keeping a logical musical thought in mind. His solo was inspired by “what he heard coming back from the drumset as he was playing”. He said it “was like a conversation with the drums”.
Next up was Bryan Carter, a Julliard grad known for his work with Wynton Marsalis, McCoy Tyner, Michael Feinstein, Mulgrew Miller, Kenny Baron and Kurt Elling. Brian is currently a teaching artist at Jazz at Lincoln Center (“Jazz for Young People”) and is the house drummer for the NBC TV show, “Maya and Marty”. At PASIC, Brian served up a master class entitled, “If you can rock…You can swang”. His message was that if you can play rock or gospel or country, you can play jazz; you can swang! Bryan’s focus was all about the time and the groove. He had some brave volunteers get up to play at his kit. After a few minutes of on-stage coaching, he had already improved their feel. So, listen to Bryan, and with practice, you can swang!
Matt Billingslea followed with a lesson “Half man, half machine: Exploring sound design, hybrid kits and samples”. Matt is well recognized for his tours with Lady Antebellum (including co-writing a top-20 single) and Taylor Swift. Matt took a studio version of a song with sampled percussion and demonstrated how he translated that into live performance. Using pads and a kick trigger, along with his acoustic kit, Matt did an amazing job of breaking down the song and help the audience understand the thought process behind playing the track live. There were some terrific insights on sample selection, sticking vs. pad placement, and artfully blending the acoustic with the samples.
The first day’s clinics finished up with veteran Mike Clark and his trio (Rob Dixon, Brandon Meeks) on “Funk, Bebop, and Beyond”. Mike has played with legendary groups like Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters and Brand X, but also played with jazz artists like John Scofield, Wayne Shorter, Tony Bennett, Chet Baker and Joe Henderson. He now tours and records with The Wolff and Clark Expedition (with pianist Michael Wolff). Mike played a number of jazz and funk tunes with his trio, showing off his skill with both brushes and sticks, making relatively complex motions seem almost effortless. His fluidity of motion and musicality were truly admirable.
The next morning began with two of my personal “drum heroes”, Peter Erskine and William “Bill” Platt, supported by Pavel Pohanco-Sadafit (vibes) and Pedro Fernandez (keys). Peter has been on over 600 albums, won two Grammy’s and has an Honorary Doctorate from Berklee. Peter’s resume is like a “who’s who” of music, listing Stan Kenton, Maynard Fergusen, Weather Report, Steely Dan, Steps Ahead, and so many more. He’s been voted best jazz drummer 10 times by Modern Drummer magazine readers. Peter also authored a book which every drummer should have in their collection, “No Beethoven: An autobiography and chronicle of Weather Report” (Alfred Music). Peter is currently Professor of Practice and Director of Drumset Studies at USC. Bill Platt is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and one of the nicest gentlemen you’ll ever meet. He is former member of the U.S. Army Band, and Rochester (NY) and Richmond (VA) Symphony Orchestras. He was the Principle Percussionist for the Cincinnati Symphony & Pops Orchestra until he retired in 2010. Bill has recorded over 100 albums and toured the world (note: the sound quality of the Telarc recordings are superb). Bill is now on the Board of Directors for the Cincinnati Symphony and Symphonic Committee of PAS.
So these two legends took the stage; one drumset with Bill stage left, one drumset with Peter stage right, and Pedro and Pavel in between. Their clinic on the “Drumset in the Symphony Orchestra” was both educational and entertaining. Peter posed as a student auditioning for a part (in dark sunglasses no less), showing both how to succeed and how to fail at an audition (the latter was pretty humorous). On a more serious note, these were some great tips on “how to get the gig”. They went on to play several pieces together. The mastery and love of music was evident. This was a clinic not to miss. Two of the best enjoying their craft, sharing some valuable life lessons, and creating some wonderful music. One of the best clinics overall in my humble opinion. Bill’s dedication was astounding as he performed the entire time assisted by an oxygen tank. Now that’s a man who loves his work despite life’s challenges. Incredibly inspiring.
I then ran over to see Andy Smith and his Batuqué Trio (Natalie Boeyink on bass and Jamaal Baptiste on piano) perform under the theme of the “21st Century samba-jazz drumset”. Batuqué refers to Afro-Brazilian drumming and dance. Over the years, Andy has embraced the Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, and Caribbean jazz rhythms to make them his own. His style was quite refreshing and offered a new approach to jazz that many are often not exposed to in the U.S.A. In addition to his drum kit, Mike also demonstrated his skill with some Brazilian drums from Pearl – the Caixa and Repinique.
The first afternoon clinic featured Claus Hessler, a teacher at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt, Germany. He gave a master class on “The Chapin Heritage: Collapsed rudiments”. Collapsed rudiments were the brainchild of the late Jim Chapin but never made it into publication. Claus has re-introduced this concept of changing the distance between the notes of a traditional rudiment to create a new rudiment or discover an existing one with a different perspective. For example, a single paradiddle can be thought of as a collapsed form of a flam accent, and Pataflaflas are collapsed paradiddle-diddles, and so on. Some examples can be seen on YouTube if you search “collapsed rudiments”. Claus and Dom Famularo also put out an educational poster on these collapsed rudiments. Claus very smoothly played an exercise starting with various rudiments and transitioning to the collapsed rudiment in succession without missing a beat (double stokes -> swiss triplets -> alternating flams -> single strokes -> alternating flams -> swiss triplets -> returning to double stokes) – this was quite impressive! Equally impressive was how Claus translated these collapsed rudiments to the drum kit. Very educational indeed!
Later in the afternoon, I went to a clinic by Tosin Aribisala, the “Drum Monologue”. Tosin has recorded and toured with Taj Mahal, Baba Maal, Femi Kuti, Julie Dexter, Fatoumata Diawara, and Carolyn Malachi. Tosin blends his exposure to African music, having grown up in Nigeria, with modern jazz, funk, reggae and other styles. He started off his PASIC solo dancing around the cymbals very melodically and then proceeded to a cool ostinato around the toms, alternating both tempo and dynamics in a very colorful way. Tosin ended with an impressive flurry but his own very of a fade-out. In his solo, he had told the audience a musical story and it was very well received. Kudos!
The second day for me finished off with Jost Nickel, a technical powerhouse was teaching us how to “Groove with creativity”. Jost currently teaches at the University of Pop in Mannheim, Germany and recently released a book, entitled “Jost Nickel’s Groove Book (Alfred Publishing). Jost said that he wanted to write a book where the grooves were really fun to play (not just boring exercises). He started off his clinic by performing the odd-time tune, “I hate my baby (and my baby hates me)” by BBFC. Despite the unconventional meter, Jost was always on top of the beat, nailing some pretty intense fills. He then demonstrated some ideas to stimulate creativity - taking standard beats, splitting them apart into ghost notes on snare and then transferring to the toms - some really great ideas. If this was a preview, then his book must be really good…!
The following morning at PASIC started off with the 2016 over-18 “Hit-Like-A-Girl” contest winner, Helen De La Rosa. Helen is originally from the Dominican Republic and graduated from the National Conservatory of Music of Santo Domingo. Helen moved on to Berklee, where she earned a degree in Music Performance (minoring in Music Production and Engineering). Helen has performed with a variety of artists including Victor Wooten, Javier Limón, Mohini Dey, Donny McCaslin and others. Helen’s playing during her clinic clearly demonstrated why she was the champion this year – very skilled, versatile, and dedicated to her instrument. Helen has a couple of cool videos on YouTube so I suggest checking these out! (Helen De La Rosa & Yogev Gabay – Popcorn [drum set duo], Lost by Lido, Pope Summer Mix 2015 – Ariza Ft. Elin Sandberg & Helen De La Rosa).
Fidel Morales then gave a Master Class on, “Beyond Afro-Cuban techniques for drumset and percussion.” Fidel was born in Cuba, and is both a highly regarded composer and drummer. He now directs the Fidel Morales Afro-Cuban Jazz Group and has performed with numerous artists including Danilo Pérez, Giovanni Hidalgo, Gary Campbell, Gary Keller, Eddie Gómez, and many others. In addition to his mastery of Afro-Cuban rhythms and incorporation into modern jazz tunes, Fidel impressed the audience with his amazing independence, feel and musicality.
Wes Little followed by presenting a Master Class focusing on the Rhythm Section and featuring Brian Allen on bass. Wes graduated from the Manhattan School of Music with a degree in jazz drumming. However, now he describes himself as a bit of a “musical chameleon”, playing a wide variety of styles including a stint with Chuck D, frontman for the rap group Public Enemy. Wes has toured with Robben Ford and Christopher Cross, while keeping quite busy doing sessions in Nashville. He’s also played with many legendary artists such as Stevie Wonder, Faith Hill, Beyonce, Shakira and Alicia Keys. In his master class, Wes varied the groove and feel (rock, funk, blues, latin…), and how to lock in with the bass player. He said, “It’s your relationship to the time; the feel that you bring to the equation.” Wes showed how playing slightly ahead of the beat or behind dramatically changed the vibe, yet sounded very consistent and “human”.
JoJo Mayer, a native of Switzerland, gave a mind-blowing drumset clinic. Jojo started playing professionally at a young age, touring with Monty Alexander, Dizzy Gillespie, and Nina Simone while only age 18. He later moved to New York City and continued to establish his unique style with artists like The Screaming Headless Torsos (love that name!), DJ Spooky, The Vienna Art Orchestra, John Medesky and many, many more. Jojo now leads his band, NERVE, and was voted one of the 50 greatest drummers of all time by Modern Drummer magazine in 2014. Jojo introduced the clinic by saying that “the idea of limitation is extremely helpful, because limitation always brings challenges…that’s when we really become creative.” Creative is indeed what Jojo is all about. For example, Jojo said he thought about a paradiddle “as a melody and not a sticking pattern.” He then showed how he could establish a “musical narrative” out of just a paradiddle. With dynamics and/or tempo, he showed how could create tension. He also varied timbre and pitch (he put his foot on his snare to apply pressure), phrasing and accents to make a melody “not just a mechanical texture.” He then applied this same concept to a simple triplet around the kit. Jojo appeared to view music as shapes and concepts in his mind, and advocates exploring all the possibilities in a form of musical meditation. He is truly a master. Perhaps his class should be called “Zen and the art of rhythmic meditation”?
The last clinic in my 3-day PASIC experience, “Developing a rhythmic foundation for jazz improvisation”, starred Ed Soph along with Dick Sisto on vibes. Ed Soph’s 5-decade long career has established him as a premier drummer, educator, and author. These incredible years were spent playing along with many of jazz greats, such as Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, Clark Terry and Bill Watrous. Ed is currently a professor in Jazz Studies at the College of Music at the University of North Texas where he has inspired and trained many generations of talented drummers (including Keith Carlock, Rich Redmond, Jason Sutter, Joel Rosenblatt and Dave Weckl). Ed and Dick, along with great standup bass player, treated the audience to a number of great jazz tunes. Ed was always so fluid and musical, and the trio played seamlessly as if they were one. He said that drummers should be thinking music and not drum beats. He thought books and videos were useful but served to solve a problem or acquire a skill, but would not teach you to be a musician or successful professional drummer. He also stated a drummer needs to have a musical mind that can create and solve problems – that’s another aspect of learning how to improvise. The improvisational part is so important. Great advice from a drum Jedi.
I also attended one panel discussion on “The state of intellectual property for drummers” chaired by Joe Bergamini. On the panel were Mike Dawson (Modern Drummer magazine), Claus Hessler (artist, author), Dave Black (Alfred Music Publishing), Rob Wallis (Hudson Music), and Donny Gruendler (Ableton). As drummers, I often wonder if we think about intellectual property enough. Musicians seem to understand that they would like to be compensated for original work. However, I’m always surprised by how much proprietary info is illegally shared on the internet by musicians. This can be music, educational videos, copyrighted photos or articles. I know of one instance where a well-known drummer made a fantastic educational DVD at some expense of time and capital, and later found much of it bootlegged on the WWW. How is that drummer supposed to be motivated to ever make another educational video if other drummers aren’t willing to pay for it? Sorry for the rant but I do think we need to set a good example as drummers and musicians. If we want good educational material, then we need to be sure that we honor their intellectual property. An interesting fact was that most published magazine content was still preferred as print, not digital. While digital sales appeared to be increasing, they still accounted for only a small portion of total sales. It was an informative discussion by some of the key players in the publishing industry - well worth attending!
So overall, I’d say it was a great PASIC experience for me. I learned a lot, saw some impressive talent, bought some books and gear, and got to share it all with my drum friends. There was so much more offered than I had time to experience so I encourage others to share their thoughts on the other sessions. I’m very much looking forward to PASIC 2017.