Joe Porcaro: Jeff Put Me Through the Grind

Posted on January 5, 2016 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: A nice profile of percussionist Joe Porcaro by my longtime friend and Modern Drummer colleague Robyn Flans.

From Sinatra to Scaggs, T.O. drummer has shared the beat
Posted: Jan. 02, 2016 Jan. 02, 2016
By Robyn Flans

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Joe Porcaro

Imagine just moving to Los Angeles and landing your first big job as a drummer, playing a private party at Dean Martin’s house.

There was Joe Porcaro, having moved from Connecticut in 1966….

Since then, [Porcaro] has amassed such a body of live and studio work as a drummer/percussionist with Sinatra, Martin, Johnny Mathis, Pink Floyd, Boz Scaggs, Madonna and others….

Music became the family business for his sons Jeff, a drummer; Steve, on keyboards; and Mike, bass. Porcaro adds that his daughter Joleen could have become an amazing drummer had she chosen the music field as well.

Being in the same profession as his kids created some odd moments.

“I would walk into a session and ask who was playing drums,” Porcaro recalled. “‘Your son is,’ and it would freak me out. We were doing ‘Ironsides’ and they would say Jeff was on drums.

His sons were all members of Toto — Steve still is — so when it came time for Joe to record, son Jeff became the taskmaster.

He remembers the time he played bass marimba and gong on the classic “Africa.”

“After 60 seconds or so, Jeff would stop and say, ‘Dad, hold back, you’re rushing.’ Can you imagine? He’s telling his father to lay back. He put me through the grind. I had to be right on.”

Full Story

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Street Drummer Meets Ugandan Children’s Choir

Posted on January 4, 2016 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: This makes me smile. Ms. Naomi Langworthy chronicles her Adventures of a Street Drummer on her YouTube channel. This musical discussion with the Imani Milele Children’s Choir from Uganda – who, I guess, stopped as they walked by Naomi Langworthy, breaking into song and dance.

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Ed Thigpen’s Photo Worth 1,000 Words

Posted on January 4, 2016 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: My introduction to Ed Thigpen was the Oscar Peterson Trio’s Affinity album. This Ludwig drum ad was a favorite too. Pre-internet, it was the best view I had of the drum setup Ed Thigpen used to make his great, musical sounds.

thigpen_ed_ad

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Drumming: Don’t Beat Yourself Up Over It

Posted on January 3, 2016 by Scott K Fish
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Elvin Jones

SKF NOTE: Growing up, it seems every time I saw one of the great jazz drummers perform, I was always surprised by how relaxed they played. Max Roach, Elvin Jones, Roy Haynes, Sonny Greer, Art Blakey, Joe Morello, Buddy Rich, Steve Gadd, Jack DeJohnette — all of them were very relaxed behind their drumsets.

I don’t know why I was surprised. I don’t know why, just hearing these drummers on record or radio, I imagined they must be wailing the tar out of their drums and cymbals. Maybe it was the posed album cover photos of grimacing drummers, sticks in hand, arms extended as far upward as possible. Maybe it was the exaggerated way drummers fake played along with their records in old black-and-white movies.

It’s not that these great jazz drummers were incapable of playing loud. They could play loud alright. But their volume had more to do with the open way they tuned (tensioned) their drums, and more to do with maximum power from very little physical movement — like snapping the wrist.

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Carmine Appice

Once I asked Carmine Appice why famous rock drummers, playing with p.a. mics all over their drumsets, were still bashing their drums and cymbals. Shouldn’t the mics and the sound engineers enable rock drummers to play more relaxed while keeping up with the volume of electric guitars, keyboards and vocalists? I said, Max Roach plays plenty loud when he needs to, but he never bashes his drumset.

Carmine’s answer was that rock drumming is full body drumming.

I don’t know. I still see stories of famous rock drummers, miked to the gills with torn flesh and muscle injuries. I never see that about jazz drummers. I understand the show biz part of full body drumming. But what’s the point of having tons of mics and giant p.a. systems if drummers are hurting themselves, playing as if they were using no amplification systems at all?

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Keith Copeland: You Can’t Teach Feeling

Posted on January 2, 2016 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: This interview was done over dinner at a Centre Island, New York restaurant in early 1980s. I have forgotten the restaurant name. Neither do I remember how this interview happened, nor if it was ever published in Modern Drummer. But re-reading it for the first time in 30 years — I am impressed! Keith Copeland and I had a good rapport, asking very good questions and giving very good answers.

We were talking about teaching and drum student aptitude. Keith said, “You can’t teach feeling. You can teach anybody technique. If you don’t have heart it’s going to be very hard for me to teach it to you.”

That’s when I asked my opening question in this exchange.

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Keith and Ute Copeland

Scott K Fish: What about that famous story of Papa Jo Jones throwing a cymbal at Charlie Parker because he felt he was playing so bad? Doesn’t that contradict the theory of either you have got it or you don’t?

Keith Copeland: I can’t say what was going through Papa Jo’s mind. But, I think he did that because he recognized some talent in Charlie Parker and, that would scare him enough to really make him get it together.

That’s what happened to me when I was coming up.

The worst, most traumatic experiences I had was when I was trying to play with people I love and revere today. They literally scared me to death to make me practice.

When I was 17 I sat in with a group that pianist Barry Harris was leading at Minton’s Playhouse. It was George Coleman on tenor, Charles McPherson on alto, Peck Morrison on bass, and Barry. Lenny McBrowne was the regular drummer.

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Barry Harris

I thought I was playing pretty good. But I wasn’t playing any bass drum or bottom. I wasn’t playing four-to-the-bar lightly like Lenny. I was just using my bass drum to drop bombs and answer what my left hand was doing — in the style of Philly Joe Jones with Miles [Davis].

But Barry wanted to hear some bottom! We were playing all the Charlie Parker tunes. When those tunes were recorded, Max Roach was playing some bottom too. When I was playing behind the horn soloists, Barry kept looking at me real strange and I was feeling real bad.

When Barry started soloing he started having a conversation with me about my inadequacies in using my bass drum. He was soloing and talking to me at the same time! I’d never seen anybody do that before.

So, I went home and worked on it. The next time, I had it more together. At least Barry didn’t talk to me during his solo. The way he looked at me and the way he was talking is still alive in my mind.

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