SKF NOTE: This excerpt is from audiocassette Side B of my Modern DrummerFreddie Gruber interview. Gruber was a respected drum teacher whose students include Neil Peart, Steve Smith, Dave Weckl, and Vinnie Colaiuta.
Gruber, a product of post-World War 2 NYC, is known by his peers of that era as a visionary jazz drummer. Perhaps the best example is drummer Jim Chapin‘s description of Gruber’s drumming circa 1949:
Gruber is admittedly a controversial figure. His critics point to Gruber’s lack of a discography. If Freddie Gruber’s so great, why isn’t he on any records, say his critics.
So, here’s Gruber on his journey from player, to non-player, to teacher. Teaching, he told me, saved his life.
As I’ve mentioned before, we were at Buddy Rich’s NYC apartment kitchen table. Buddy was not home, but I was in awe at being so close to Buddy’s presence.
Gruber, a product of post-World War 2 NYC, is known by his peers of that era as a visionary jazz drummer. Perhaps the best example is drummer Jim Chapin‘s description of Gruber’s drumming circa 1949:
Gruber grew up, he explains in this excerpt from my 1982 Modern Drummer interview, influenced by his environment, and by his associations with, and observations of, the great drummers of the Big Band and BeBop years.
Why, then, I asked Gruber, did he study with classical/legitimate percussionists Fred E. Albright and Morris Goldenberg, and not study with jazz drummers? And is what he learned from his legit teachers valuable in how Gruber taught students in 1982?
Gruber answers me in this 1982 Modern Drummer interview excerpt.
We were sitting at the kitchen table in Buddy Rich‘s NYC apartment. Buddy was not home, but I was in awe at being so close to Buddy’s presence.
SKF NOTE: Fred Below is arguably the father of Chicago electric blues drumming. Any one who wants to know how to play drums in a Blues band needs to listen thoroughly to Fred Below.
This July 9, 1982 interview was published in Modern Drummer‘s September 9, 1983 issue as, “Fred Below: Magic Maker.”
In this excerpt, I ask Below if he works on the spiritual side of his life. I’ve long believed musicians play what we are; that what we are is an inner or spiritual matter. And most of my MD interviews include at least one question on the spiritual side of life.
I recorded this interview at my MD desk in NJ using a suction cup mic on a telephone land line connected to a small audio cassette recorder. Below was on a land line in his Chicago home.
Part A of this full interview, plus several excerpts from the full interview, are on my YouTube channel.
I asked Barry by email if this year’s Boothbay Harbor concert was still a go. Last year TLB’s Boothbay Harbor show was canceled because of a family emergency.
Tuesday night, two days before this year’s show, TLB in Canada had not been granted work visas to come to the States.
Barry replied, “We will be leaving tomorrow (July 22) for Maine, however, we are still waiting for visas. …[Y]ou may want to check with the venue on Thursday to make sure the show is on.”
I checked the Opera House events page a few times. No mention of a cancelled show.
On Thursday, Eileen and I drove 90-minutes and arrived early at the concert venue.
Ticket holders were already in line outside waiting for the doors to open.
When Gordon Lightfoot toured, he and the band flew to gigs. A road crew set up, broke down, and transported the instruments and sound gear.
The Lightfoot Band travels in large SUVs with minimal gear. I didn’t find out exactly what each band member carries, or what equipment is supplied locally.
Barry traveled with his sleigh bells (“Song For A Winter’s Night”) and his chimes. That’s it. The unfamiliar drums, cymbals, and hardware he played that night came and went with the venue.
When the Opera House doors weren’t opened on time, venue staffers outside told people in line, TLB was finishing its sound check.
Not ten minutes later, a black minivan stopped near the Opera House entrance. New TLB guitarist, Bill Bell, stepped out on the passenger’s side. The van hatch opened. Bell grabbed two travel cases – one, a guitar case – and hurried inside.
A few minutes later, the Opera House doors open, ticket holders filed in.
With everyone seated, a woman onstage introducing TLB, told the audience they had Maine U.S. Senator Angus King to thank for getting the musicians their work visas.
As Barry told me, except for Bill Bell, TLB band members left home, driving east towards Maine, with no work visas, hoping for the best.
Bill Bell, we learned during the concert, was working on three hours sleep. He performed Wednesday in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Then he flew four hours to Montreal where airport authorities would not let him board his plane to Boston. No work visa.
Twenty minutes before takeoff, Bell’s visa was cleared through a phone call.
After a 90-minute flight to Logan Airport from Montreal, Bell hired an Uber driver for the three-hour trip to Boothbay Harbor from Logan Airport.
Dedication?
Eileen and I sat in the balcony, stage left, to the side of, and slightly in front of, Barry’s drums.
Instead of Barry’s signature seven-piece black Premier kit, I was surprised to see a five-piece red-sparkle Yamaha kit. But Barry’s familiar folded white cloth on the snare batter head was comforting.
Between songs, Rick Haynes, Mike Heffernan, Andy Mauck, and Barry shared Gordon Lightfoot stories with the audience. Musicians would call them “road stories.”
Hopefully, someone is keeping a record of these memories. Otherwise, once they’re gone, they’re gone.
The band sets included songs familiar to Gordon Lightfoot concert goers, and favorite Lightfoot songs not often played in public.
For example, TLB’s second set opened with the trio of singer/guitarist Andy Mauck, bassist Rick Haynes, and Bill Bell playing Lightfoot songs done originally by the trio of Gordon, Haynes, and either Red Shea or Terry Clements on guitar.
Talking after the show with Barry, I learned the red-sparkle drums were provided by the Opera House.
“Did you tune them?” I asked Barry.
“I did what I could,” he said. “How do they sound?”
“They sounded good,” I answered.
When I first took my seat and looked over at the five-piece drum set, my first thought was, “How’s Barry going to play his tom-tom drum intro on “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”?
But, as you can see and hear on the accompanying video, Barry nailed it.
When The Lightfoot Band performs in your area, do whatever it takes to see them.
Because The Lightfoot Band will do whatever it takes to see you.
SKF NOTE: Fred Below is arguably the father of Chicago electric blues drumming. Any one who wants to know how to play drums in a Blues band needs to listen thoroughly to Fred Below.
This July 9, 1982 interview was published in Modern Drummer‘s September 9, 1983 issue as, “Fred Below: Magic Maker.”
In this excerpt, I ask Below what he does to keep his mind, body, and spirit whole. In response, Below doesn’t miss a beat. (No pun intended.) Early in his career, a conductor in the US Army band gave Below advice about creating a healthy “pressure valve” to ease the rigidity that can plague musicians. Especially people who try to do nothing but music 24-hours a day.
As you will hear in this excerpt, Below took the band conductor’s advice to heart.
I recorded this interview at my MD desk in New Jersey using a suction cup mic on a telephone land line connected to a small audio cassette recorder. Mr. Below was on a land line in his Chicago home.
Among my drummer interviews a few are the drummer’s only known full length interviews. Fred Below is included in that group.
Scott K Fish 
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