Tony Williams: Drumsets Should Sound Like One Instrument (1983)

Posted on November 4, 2017 by Scott K Fish

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SKF NOTE: In a sidebar to this interview, Tony Williams said he was playing Gretsch drums: 24″ bass drum; 5 1/2 x 14 snare; 14 x 14, 14 x 16, floor toms; 9 x 13 and 10 x 14 rack toms. All Tony’s drums are double-head, he said, “with black dot (REMO CS) heads.

Interviewer Paul de Barros asked Tony, “Is tuning [drums] important.” Here’s Tony’s answer:

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Tony Williams: Yes. I hear drummers that have maybe 12 drums which all sound the same. If you closed your eyes, you wouldn’t know where they were on the set. Or else you have guys where each drum sounds like it’s from a different set.

It’s important that the drum set sounds like one instrument.

Like, if you have a piano, you wouldn’t want the C to sound like a Rhodes, the D to sound like a Farfisa, the E to sound like a Prophet. A keyboard is a uniform system; a trumpet is a uniform system…drummers are out to lunch.

On some of my drums, the bottom head is tighter than the top head. On other drums they’re about the same. And on the bass drum the front head is looser than the batter side.

Source: Tony Williams, Drum Innovator, by Paul de Barros, Down Beat, November 1983

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Phil Ehart: Drum Muffling Live and Studio (1982)

Posted on November 2, 2017 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: This excerpt is one of several messages I rediscovered this week on an unmarked audiocassette that was probably made in 1982. While working at Modern Drummer it was often easier to interview people if I taped our conversation. That way I could focus better on the person I was speaking with, and I’d be sure to have their accurate quotes when finished. This rediscovered tape was used often, because it has short Q&A’s, usually related to MD‘s “Ask a Pro” column, from Mel Lewis, Max Weinberg, Sam Ulano, and Phil Ehart.

This is Kansas’s drummer, Phil Ehart, answering a fan’s question about Phil’s drum muffling methods onstage and in studio. Plus, the kind of drum heads Phil uses.

I am not the interviewer on this tape. He worked for a time as an MD editorial associate or assistant, his first name was Michael, and he was introduced to the magazine as one of several drummers interviewed for a feature on Broadway drummers. He and I shared an office. My best guess is, when Michael was getting ready to make his phonecall to Phil Ehart, he used my tape and tape recording system.

When I find Michael’s full name I will update this information.

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T. Bruce Wittet on Keith Moon (1982)

Posted on October 30, 2017 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: This excerpt is one of several messages I rediscovered this morning on an unmarked audiocassette. While working at Modern Drummer it was often easier to interview people if I taped our conversation. That way I could focus better on the person I was speaking with, and I’d be sure to have their accurate quotes when finished. This rediscovered tape was used often, because it has short Q&A’s, usually related to MD‘s “Ask a Pro” column, from Mel Lewis, Max Weinberg, Phil Ehart, Sam Ulano, and others — including writer/drummer T. Bruce Wittet.

Keith Moon died on September 7, 1978, and Modern Drummer, which existed then, never had an opportunity to interview Mr. Moon. Then in 1982, MD gave T. Bruce Wittet a green light to write a Moon feature based on existing print resources, music recordings, and personal sources, such as those of Phil Evans. Bruce Wittet gave a Mr. Evans a “special thanks” in the Moon feature profile, Keith Moon Remembered.

As MD‘s Managing Editor, I received a letter from a credible source who wanted to, in his opinion, correct Mr. Wittet’s article, and to augment Wittet’s research with new Keith Moon details.

This excerpt is my call to Bruce, and the two of us going over the letter writer’s points, with Bruce responding. The Keith Moon backgrounder here should be of particular interest to Keith Moon/The Who fans and historians.

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Paul Motian: Gene Krupa and Chick Webb

Posted on October 29, 2017 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: This is a very brief snippet from my interview with Paul Motian. An edited version of this interview appeared in the April/May 1980 Modern Drummer — which means I produced this interview as a freelance writer prior to being hired as MD‘s Managing Editor.

Paul Motian and I were in his NYC apartment. This was near the close of our interview. I was telling Mr. Motian how disappointing it was for younger drummers who, in the last years of his life, dismissed Gene Krupa‘s drumming as uninteresting and old-fashioned.

Motian responds with his recollection of Krupa, and how Motian discovered later in life how much Chick Webb influenced Gene Krupa. Here’s Chick Webb’s live recording of Liza mentioned in our conversation here.

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George Harrison: Why Be the 501st Greatest Rock Drummer?

Posted on October 25, 2017 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: Great advice from George Harrison to Zakir Hussain: Be yourself. And Zakir had the wisdom and maturity to take Harrison’s advice to heart. As a side note, the drummers are Harrison’s “Living in the Material World” are: Jim Keltner, Ringo Starr, and Jim Gordon.

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Zakir Hussain leaps borders with all-star jazz & Indian music band Crosscurrents
George Varga, Contact Reporter
October 21, 2017

George Harrison offered some life-changing advice when a young Zakir Hussain told the former Beatle he wanted to become the world’s first great rock drummer from India.

…Harrison told him simply: Forget it.

Hussain had been hired in 1972 to perform on Harrison’s “Living in the Material World” album.

“George said: ‘If I open the doors to this recording studio, there are 500 of the greatest rock drummers who will lay down what I need. But what I really need is a tabla player who understands both worlds of rhythm, Indian and Western. So why do you want to be the 501st-greatest rock drummer?’

“What was brought home to me by George and — a few years later — by John McLaughlin, with whom I co-founded the band Shakti, is that the reason I was sitting with them making music is because I had something to offer they craved, something that was not part of their musical worlds.”

Full story

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