SKF NOTE: An pre-internet example of how drummers kept up with news of our favorite players. This December 19, 1974 Down Beat magazine release about Ed Shaughnessy‘s “new 17-piece ensemble” Energy Force has a photo of Mr. Shaughnessy worth studying. Pearl was a new drum company at the time. Seeing Ed’s drumset — the two different size bass drums, the position and tilt of his four rack toms, his cymbal choice and placement — pure gold for drummers.
I never heard Energy Force. Neither can I find any evidence the band ever cut an album. “We’ll play concerts, clinics, and clubs…,” Shaugnessy says in his press release, which also tells us Shaughnessy plays “acoustic and electronic drums.”
SKF NOTE: An excerpt from my 1/12/1982 interview with Owen Hale for Modern Drummer. A reader asked a general question, “Can a studio drummer earn enough money to consider it a steady job?” I posed that question to Owen when he was a new studio drummer at Muscle Shoals studio.
Roger Hawkins had mentioned Owen Hale to me as a new studio drummer who deserved some attention. When Roger Hawkins puts his stamp of approval on a drummer, it’s a good idea to pay attention.
A trumpet player for fifteen years, Owen didn’t start playing drums until he was about twenty years old — and played his drumset backwards. But as you can see from the 1982-2016 photos of Owen included in this YouTube video, he was the perfect drummer to ask about studio drumming as a steady job.
SKF NOTE: Finding snippets of unrelated phone conversations within my Modern Drummer interview cassettes is affecting how I digitize my cassettes. These unrelated snippets are also reminders of my work habits — and my work-around tricks — pre-internet, pre-digital sound.
Case in point: This green 90-minute cassette is relabeled “Bill Maxwell 8/17/82” on side A. Side B was originally marked as Side A of my phone interview with Owen Hale on 1/12/82. But I scribbled out that info and wrote “Sandy Nelson” on that side of the green cassette.
What’s actually recorded on this green cassette?
Mostly it’s Bill Maxwell’s interview. Bill was in New York City on business — including a Radio City Music Hall concert with Andrae Crouch, The Winans, and Shirley Caeser — and wanted to come to the MD offices to say hello, and to conduct his interview.
Blank audiocassettes were usually at a premium in MD‘s office during my time there (1980-1983). Ideally, I could have kept all of my cassette interviews intact. That is, it would have been great having blank cassettes on hand, but I didn’t.
I’m sure I had already transcribed Owen Hale’s interview, which was published in the November 1982 Modern Drummer — ten months after I interviewed Owen. When Bill Maxwell showed up in my office and agreed (suggested?) we do his interview right then and there — I bet I had no new cassettes, so I grabbed the best of my on hand tapes and recorded over Owen Hale’s interview. (Sorry, Owen.)
Then, after transcribing Bill Maxwell’s interview tapes, I must have needed a tape to record my conversations with drummers and other people I was cold calling for my MD “History of Rock Drumming” series. I would hook up my trusty old Radio Shack suction cup mic and tape recorder to my MD land line telephone, and start the tape rolling before I dialed the phone number. That way, I would have backup information (dates, phone numbers, names, etc.) in case I was unable to take notes while speaking on the phone. Plus, I could be more relaxed and focused for my conversations.
So, Side B of this green cassette begins with what I believe is Earl Van Dyke’s phone answering machine and me leaving him a voice message. Mr. Van Dyke was keyboardist and bandleader of Motown’s famed Funk Brothers studio band.
Next on Side B is this recording of my brief, first (phone) conversation with the great Sandy Nelson. I later interviewed Sandy for “The History of Rock Drumming.” I posted the transcript of our interview here. Later, I believe someone (Robyn Flans?) did an MD feature length interview with Sandy.
I don’t know if my nervousness comes across in this soundfile. But I was very nervous. Sandy Nelson was a major influence. I owned and listen to his drum solo 45-rpm hit singles — Let There Be Drums, Drums Are My Beat — time after time. Just getting to speak with him was an honor. And when Sandy tells me at the start of our conversation, “You got the wrong Sandy Nelson” – I had to think quick to — hopefully — persuade him to talk with me.
Finally, Side B of this green cassette ends with an excellent remaining segment from Owen Hale’s 1/12/82 interview, with Owen answering an MD reader’s question, “Is it possible to earn a living as a studio drummer?”
SKF NOTE: Andrae Crouch, The Winans, Freddie Hubbard, Koinonia — Bill Maxwell’s work as drummer and producer is among the best. Bill first came to my attention through my ears in 1981. No pre-judging on my part. The full story of my meeting and interviewing Bill Maxwell is posted here.
My typed transcript of Bill’s interview is 61 pages — at least twice as much material than space allowed in his MD feature. Here’s another excerpt.
=====
Scott K Fish: How did you develop your Bebop drumming?
Bill Maxwell: There was always moonlighting. We would do maybe one jazz song a set. There was this Black club called Trevor’s Club in Oklahoma City where I grew up. It was a great place for me. I started going there when I was about sixteen. They had Sonny Stitt, Roland Kirk, Kenny Burrell — mostly the Black traveling club acts. I’d go hear them all.
Roland Kirk was very nice to me when I was sixteen. I would talk with him about music and his feelings. He could tell I really appreciated it — and he let me play with him. He was real encouraging.
In those kind of situations I’d play Bebop.
There was some pretty good musicians around there and we would do things at night. After everybody quit we would have instruments set up out in the area. We’d all go out and get loaded and set up and play free music. Anything that came to our mind — no form — and we’d just see how long it would take us to do it. And we’d get into Bebop in that.
Scott K Fish 
You must be logged in to post a comment.