Not So Modern Drummer celebrates the life and music of legendary drummer Tony Williams in our new ongoing series. Chapter Seven presents the personal commentary and recollections of John DeChristopher, President of Viper Artist Representation & Consulting. John currently represents Steve Gadd, Peter Erskine, Rick Marotta, and Danny Seraphine. He was also the former Vice President of Artist Relations, and Event Marketing Worldwide at Zildjian Company.
“I discovered Tony Williams a little late, relatively speaking. I recall being a senior in high school, 1977 or 1978, and my cousin who played saxophone, turned me on to Tony Williams Lifetime. I’d been playing drums about five years and was totally immersed in rock drumming, and knew of Tony, but hadn’t heard his playing. Right out of the gate “Emergency” was sensory overload for my limited drumming vocabulary at the time. I’ll admit my only exposure to what I considered “Jazz” back then was Buddy Rich. I was young and naive! But hearing Tony opened my eyes and ears to guys like Billy Cobham and Elvin Jones, and helped me connect the dots between my hero Mitch Mitchell, and his heroes, Elvin and Tony. The other significant thing about hearing Tony for the first time (or the 501st time) was the sound of his drums and cymbals. They were unlike anything I’d heard at the time. And by the time I heard Tony in 1977, I was playing Gretsch drums, but my drums didn’t sound like Tony's drums. Tony's drums were Tony.
Fast forward to managing the drum department at E.U. Wurlitzer Music in Boston and we hosted Tony for a drum clinic in October of 1982. We had a packed house, between Berklee College students and local drummers, and Tony did not disappoint. His Yellow Gretsch drums, even with Black Dot heads, sounded bigger and more powerful than I expected. I had seen a few drum clinics by then, but no one who played as dynamically as Tony. I didn’t interact much with Tony that night because he had family there (he’s from Boston) and left immediately afterward, but a few years later I would enter Tony’s orbit in a more significant way. As my drumming vocabulary expanded in the 1980s it struck me that two of my biggest heroes, Vinnie Colaiuta and Terry Bozzio, were steeped in Tony’s playing. And they would be the first to tell you!
In 1989, I began working for Zildjian as Artist Relations Manager and Product/Marketing Manager for Zildjian Drumsticks. The ultimate objective for Zildjian Drumsticks, besides growing the business, was to make it a legitimate drumstick brand, rather than an afterthought of Zildjian Cymbals. Zildjian Drumsticks lacked credibility in the marketplace in 1990 and we needed a high profile artist endorsement to give us that credibility. Who better than Tony Williams? So in the summer of 1990, a mere 30 years ago, I contacted Tony about playing Zildjian Drumsticks. He was performing at the Modern Drummer Festival in September of 1990, so we planned to meet and discuss it there. You could say I was a little nervous! We had a great meeting and discussed the basic terms of the endorsement, including him being our first “signature” artist where he would receive a royalty for every pair of Tony Williams sticks we sold. At the end of our meeting Tony gave me a pair of his Gretsch 2B sticks and said something to the effect that, “If you can make these, I’ll play your sticks.” I sent his Gretsch 2Bs to our drumstick factory and they replicated them. I sent Tony a dozen or so pairs to evaluate, and I recall going to see him with his band at the Regatta Bar in Boston in late fall of 1990 and him giving me the approval on his stick design. I came up with the name “Artist Series” for this new line of Zildjian signature drumsticks and in January of 1991, at Winter NAMM, we introduced the Artist Series Tony Williams Drumsticks, with Tony himself appearing at our booth to sign autographs. A month or so later I flew out to San Francisco for the photo shoot for his drumstick ad. This was the beginning of my friendship with Tony that flourished over the next six years. And sure enough, having Tony as Zildjian’s flagship drumstick artist brought instant credibility and got the attention of future Zildjian Drumstick artists Roy Haynes, Vinnie Colaiuta, Dennis Chambers, Cindy Blackman and many more. Inviting Tony to NAMM for our autograph sessions became an annual tradition. He’d often call me to chat, and sometimes to try different cymbal sounds. He was always looking forward and didn’t like looking back.
In 1995 Tony switched from Gretsch to Drum Workshop Drums and in October of 1996, Zildjian and DW sponsored Tony’s only clinic tour. Tony and I traveled throughout the US for two weeks and it was incredible to watch him from a few feet away every night. His opening drum solos were always nothing less than jaw-dropping. He would play these beautiful, clean, double strokes on his snare drum for 15 minutes creating this tension that would have people on the edge of their seats, until he finally hit a cymbal or another drum, that would bring a giant release. I can still feel the energy! We had planned to do more clinic tours, but sadly, we lost Tony in February of 1997 at the age of 51. I guess if I have any regrets, it’s not picking his brain more about drums, cymbals, music, etc, but maybe that’s why he liked me. I didn’t ask him the usual questions he was probably asked a million times. But fortunately, I have a “Lifetime” of amazing memories of Tony.”
John P. DeChristopher/Viper Representation & Consulting
Artist Representation for Steve Gadd, Peter Erskine, Rick Marotta & Danny Seraphine
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