SKF NOTE: Sometimes, when drummers such as Rod Morgenstein, or drum industry people, were willing to answer Modern Drummer readers’ questions by phone, I would grab the nearest cassette, tape the call, and transcribe the answer for publication. I never thought that 35-years up the road I’d be digitizing these calls and making them available for the drumming historical record. The sound quality is less than perfect, but audible.
SKF NOTE: I don’t remember precisely how I came to interview Fred Satterfield. Photographer John Lee, who had established himself in country music circles as a skilled, reliable pro, may have suggested Fred for a Modern Drummer interview. John was with me either in New Jersey or Pennsylvania when we went to see the Oak Ridge Boys in concert. The band had a crossover hit song, Elvira — and they were excellent musicians and singers.
The Oak’s band was much more than a backup band of players who stayed in the background while the Oak Ridge Boys sang. At the afternoon concert I attended, yes, the singers were the headliners, but all the musicians onstage performed as a band.
“Honor your health, keep a positive attitude, and stay fluid,” Fred says in closing this interview. That’s still great advice.
[SKF NOTE: 6/17/17 – Fred Satterfield’s profile interview is now available on MD‘s Archive Page.]
SKF NOTE: A unique photo of Tony Williams by Hiroyuki Arakawa from the A Tribute To Miles CD booklet. The music is a mix of studio and live performances by Miles Davis’s Second Great Quintet minus Miles Davis. Sometimes the group recorded and performed in various incarnations as the VSOP Quintet. The rhythm section of Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams was consistent throughout the VSOP recordings. The trumpet player on A Tribute to Miles is Wallace Roney.
Derek Martin’s Daddy Rollin’ Stone
SKF NOTE: Production and sales of music cassettes were declining. Music CDs were gaining in popularity. Retail stores — mostly music and big box stores – often had cut-out bins piled high with music cassettes. It was a great time for collectors. When I spotted cassettes I thought I should have in my collection, I bought them, not knowing if I’d ever have a chance to own that music again.
Eventually, I stopped listening to tapes. More music than I ever imagined became available on CDs and then digital music. But I kept boxes of music tapes for years, and now I am able to digitize that music and listen to it.
From Sue Records: 1958-1966 Itchy Twitchy Feelings comes Derek Martin’s Daddy Rollin’ Stone. I don’t know any of the session musicians. My hope is someone reading this post will know and tell the rest of us.
But here’s my point: This drum intro is so slick — it had me laughing when I first heard it yesterday. It still has me smiling. Well done. Using a baseball analogy, it’s as if the snare drum is a runner racing to steal a base, and at the last moment the runner slides into the bass drum: Safe!
SKF NOTE: Thinking back on my years as a professional drummer, there were very, very few times I snapped in anger at customers. The common thread involved someone mistreating my drums because they were drunk, showing off, or just lacked respect.
One quiet weekday night I was sitting alone at the rear of the Steamboat Lounge, Davenport, IA on a band break. The lounge was a rectangular building with a raised platform stage for the Millard Cowan Trio near the dance floor.
The upper floor offered customers tables and chairs with an open view of the dance floor and bandstand. But, as I said, this was a slow night – possibly a Monday – and the Steamboat Lounge was almost empty. That’s why I wasn’t certain I heard a short metallic ping sound from one of my cymbals onstage.
From my seat at the back of the club the stage lights were dimmed. Nobody was onstage, and no one was near my drumset. A moment later I heard a second short metallic ping and whispering from the balcony.
Walking quietly toward my drums, still looking for the the ping source, I spotted a well-dressed adult couple standing above my drumset, a short distance from the white balcony railing. We made eye contact.
I can’t remember our specific conversation, but I do remember the man telling me, in his very nonchalant manner, that he had been dropping pennies from the balcony onto my cymbals.
“How would you like it if I went to your office and dropped stuff all over your desk?” I asked. I told the couple the drums and cymbals were my work tools, which I had worked years to buy, always treated them with great care, and what in the world made this pair think it was okay to drop pennies on someone else’s musical instrument?
I was angry. The couple apologized. Later, the club owner, Millard Cowan, told me the way I handled that incident “wasn’t cool.” I deferred to Millard, but I didn’t fully agree with him, and I was disappointed Millard didn’t also see my side of the story.
I was 23-24 years old. Maybe it was the tail end of a bad day, and strangers dropping pennies on my drumset was the straw that broke the Fish’s back.
In hindsight? I would be angry, but I would first try handling the situation more diplomatically. My behavior reflected on Millard’s club — which I wasn’t thinking about at the time. And perhaps I could have turned the situation(s) into a teachable moment.
Life Beyond the Cymbals
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Life Beyond the Cymbals
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Life Beyond the Cymbals
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Scott K Fish 
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