Staying Sane as a Drummer

Posted on July 21, 2026 by Scott K Fish

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.

Part A of this full interview, plus several excerpts from the full interview, are on my YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/@scottkfish4292

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Blues v Jazz Drumming: No Difference

Posted on July 20, 2026 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: Among my interviews with drummers, a few are the only known interviews – at least full length interviews – with a few drummers. Jim Gordon is one. Frankie Dunlop is another. And Fred Below is a third.

Fred Below is arguably the father of Chicago electric blues drumming. Mr. Below recorded with Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, the Aces, Little Walter, Junior Wells, Willie Dixon, Chuck Berry, and other pivotal blues musicians.

This July 9, 1982 interview was published in Modern Drummer‘s September 9, 1983 issue as, “Fred Below: Magic Maker.”

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.

Part A of this full interview, plus several excerpts from the full interview, are on my YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/@scottkfish4292

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Donald Bailey, Sr’s Unique Drum Angles

Posted on July 19, 2026 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: Jim Keltner once recommended I interview for Modern Drummer Donald Bailey, Sr. Keltner raved about Bailey’s drumming. I knew Bailey by name only and I dismissed Keltner’s suggestion.

Much later, after hearing Bailey’s great work with Jimmy Smith, I regretted not interviewing Bailey. But I was too late. Bailey was dead.

In my November 15, 2021 blog post I praised Donald Bailey and shared my regret for not interviewing him.

October 1, 2023 I received a reader response to my “With Regrets to Donald Bailey” post:

“Hey Scott I would love to talk to you about my Father. Just came across your blog today.”

The sender was Donald Bailey, Sr’s son, Donald Bailey, Jr, who is also a drummer.

In this excerpt, Bailey, Jr and I discuss the reason his dad set up his drums, especially his snare and small tom, at such a severe angle.

That full interview is available on my YouTube channel.

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Humbled by Mel Lewis

Posted on June 28, 2026 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: There was a time drummer-producer Paul T. Riddle and I decided to tape our phone conversations about drums and/or the music business. We both have in common love and great respect for the founding fathers of jazz drumming for what they played, and for their words of wisdom.

Exactly what we planned to do with the tapes? I don’t remember. Sometimes we’d just let the tape roll while we talked. Later on we’d figure out if we said anything worthwhile, worth publishing.

We’d talk loosely about writing a Paul T. Riddle/Marshall Tucker Band biography. But always we’d end up kicking that can up the road.

Last week I started re-listening to two 90-minutes drum/music business tapes Paul and I recorded on Tuesday, January 24, 1989. Paul was in South Carolina. I was in Maine.

This segment is Paul and me talking about Mel Lewis‘s lifelong dedication to the Art of Jazz Drumming. Years earlier, Paul and I caught Mel’s big band at the Village Vanguard. Modern Drummer Features Editor Rick Mattingly was there. So was drummer Danny Gottlieb, and Marshall Tucker Band band and road crew members.

Listening to Paul’s obvious love of Mel Lewis and other jazz legends, it’s easy to understand why Paul, for his current band, The Toy Factory Project, is surrounding himself with contemporary musical giants; musicians who also know and respect the work of their musical forefathers.

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Why I Stopped Writing Album Reviews

Posted on May 8, 2026 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: Writing Modern Drummer music album reviews was not for me.

Growing up, I enjoyed reading and learning from album reviews in music magazines, notably Down Beat. At first, reviewing albums for MD seemed a fun idea. List the album title and record label, the recording date, and the personnel, ending with my brief impression of the album.

Easy. Right?

Not for me.

Disney’s Thumper the Rabbit’s life philosophy got in my album review way: “If you can’t say something’ nice, don’t say nothin’ at all.”

One moment of one day I find an album lacking. Does that mean every listener will find the album lacking?

Miles Davis’s Second Great Quintet, the John Coltrane Quartet, are just two examples of musicians with albums I didn’t like at first. Mostly because I didn’t understand what I was hearing.

Today I own pretty much every Miles, every Coltrane album.

In the 1970s I dismissed Maynard Ferguson’s albums because his looked like an old cat trying to look hip.

Then, in the 1970s, three different times, on NYC’s legendary WRVR jazz radio, I heard killer contemporary big band tracks, without knowing the band’s identity. All three times it was Maynard Ferguson’s big band.

I realized how wrong, petty, and foolish I was to have snubbed Ferguson’s music because of his appearance. I’ve tried to never make that mistake again about any musician.

I have a group of albums I find as fresh today as they were when I first heard them decades ago.

On the other hand, I have been very disappointed re-listening to albums I thought were great 40 or 50 years ago. The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s first album, “Are You Experienced?” is one example.

Am I saying “Are You Experienced?” is a bad album? Am I dissing The Jimi Hendrix Experience? Not at all. It’s just that, my hearing “Are You Experienced” for the first time after decades, simply didn’t match my overwhelming enthusiasm for that albums in 1967.

Music changes. Music tastes change. I change. My music tastes change.

Bad album reviews never change. They are forever.

So, way back when, I pushed my MD desk chair back away from my electric typewriter, and haven’t written a music album review since.

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