Hal Blaine’s ‘Staying In Tune’ Unplugged

Posted on May 6, 2017 by Scott K Fish
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SKF NOTE: Boy, finding a stack of Hal Blaine‘s replies for his Modern Drummer “Staying In Tune” column brings back memories. I’m posting one page of Hal’s replies here.

From strictly an editing perspective Hal’s typed replies meant lots of work. If we had computers enabling us to highlight Hal’s paragraphs and choose the “Sentence Caps” function – editing would have been much, much simpler.

As it was, pre-computers, it was easier for us to retype Hal’s answers before editing them and sending the copy to the Modern Drummer printer. Unless we wanted Hal’s answers to appear in all upper case letters – we had to change them. We could have used proofreader marks, but with no space between sentences that was impossible. And even with space between sentences, the number of proofreader marks would have been silly. So we retyped Hal Blaine’s replies.

All of which was well worth it to have Hal Blaine willing and able to share his experience and wisdom with MD and our readers.

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Haskell W. Harr’s Letter: I Am Like Father Time (1983)

Posted on May 5, 2017 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: Haskell W. Harr is one of the renowned historical drum instructors. At age 89, Mr. Harr wrote this letter to Modern Drummer to thank us for publishing a story about him and his legacy to drumming. Mr. Harr, as he writes in his letter, is a member of the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame. And I remember my surprise and honor at receiving Haskell Harr’s handwritten letter.

Here is the text of Haskell W. Harr’s letter:

August 17th, 1893 (sic)

Dear Sirs:

My name is Haskell W. Harr. I want to thank you for putting an article about me in your magazine in August.

I had a letter from, N. Jersey, Ohio, and Illinois the past week, each having read it.

The one from Illinois is from Jack Brand Drum Studio. They are sending me a drumhead to autograph, so they put it on the wall, in their studio.

I think that is wonderful to give me that space. My troubles, one of them is poor eyesight and I am not able to answer all of the letters.

I am on the PAS Hall of Fame, and I get many letters from them. They furnish me all of my writing paper.

I started the percussion course in the VanderCook College of Music in about 1931. I had a letter from one of the members there about that time. It is surprising just how many letters I get, from young people who are starting in this modern time, and are using my books, 1 & 2.

Will you please send me one of the August issue of Modern Times (sic)? I will mail you a check.

Thanks again.

Sincerely yours

Haskell W. Harr

P.S. I am now 89. Can’t see very well, and don’t do much walking. I am like father time.

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The Worst That Can Be Said About a Musician

Posted on May 4, 2017 by Scott K Fish

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SKF NOTE: “The rhythm section, as a section, was unrecognizable to me.” That was part of Cannonball Adderley‘s response to Down Beat columnist Leonard Feather during  November 2, 1967 Down Beat “Blindfold Test.”

A montly Down Beat tradition, Mr. Feather would play records for well-known musicians – without disclosing ahead of time the musicians on the records, and ask his guests to rate the recording one star to five stars.

A few minutes later, thinking about what Adderley said, I thought for the first time: How awful! Unrecognizable is the worst that can be said about a musician!

How much better — whether a performance is no stars or five stars — to have listeners say, “I know who that is. I recognize their playing.”

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Dave Weckl On Drumming Before and After Studying with Gary Chester (1983)

Posted on May 3, 2017 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: This is excerpt is from my August 5, 1983 interview with Dave Weckl. Modern Drummer published a much shorter version of this interview in April 1984 as an Up and Coming profile of Weckl. I’ve posted a copy here.

Dave Weckl is 23-years old here. He was living in Bridgeport, CT getting ready to go on tour with Simon and Garfunkel  — arguably the first major gig that put Weckl on the map. I asked him if any of the Simon and Garfunkel drum parts he was learning for the tour were tough to learn. The song Allergies was a bit challenging, and that’s where Weckl begins on this excerpt.

With Gary Chester’s daughter, Katrina, and former drum student, Tony Cruz, working on a Gary Chester documentary — it’s interesting to hear Weckl talking about studying with Gary almost 34-years ago. This is not Weckl recalling what it was like studying with Gary in 1983. Weckl is speaking in the present in 1983.

If you’ve not yet visited Katrina’s official Gary Chester Facebook page — now’s the perfect time.

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Adding a Piece to Gary Chester’s Tapestry

Posted on May 2, 2017 by Scott K Fish

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SKF NOTE: Last Saturday I visited Tony Cruz at his Nyack, NY home. We were meeting in person for the first time, but being interviewed on camera, by Tony, about drummer extraordinaire Gary Chester was the real purpose for my visit. Tony and Katrina Chester, Gary’s daughter, are producing a Gary Chester documentary.

I left Tony my only complete transcript (61 typed pages) of Gary Chester’s interview so he can scan the pages. Also, I passed on to Katrina the original two-page typewritten letter Gary wrote to Modern Drummer to introduce  himself and to give us a first peek at his strong career as a studio musician.

Somewhere I have my Gary Chester interview tapes — which I will digitize and give to Katrina. The one tape I’ve located is digitized and with Katrina and Tony. On that tape you can hear Gary Chester introducing me to Katrina — who was age 14 at the time.

If you’re a former Gary Chester student, co-worker, and have some stories you’re willing to share, please consider contacting Katrina and Tony. Every piece of the tapestry helps. I know, for example, Gary gave lesson instructions to students through audiocassette. Katrina and Tony have at least one of those in hand. Odds are there are more of those cassettes floating around.

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