Memorial Day: Thank You!

Posted on May 25, 2015 by Scott K Fish

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Derek Trucks: Inspired by Elvin Jones’s Mother

Posted on May 24, 2015 by Scott K Fish

Watkins: Tedeschi Trucks ‘happy and soulful’
Billy Watkins, The Clarion-Ledger 11:16 a.m. CDT May 14, 2015

Derek Trucks

Derek Trucks

Q. I wanted to know about [Derek Trucks‘s] style, about what he tries to say using his guitar.

A. “I try to convey some kind of emotion,” he says. “Like the great jazz drummer Elvin Jones said his mother used to say to him. She was a gospel singer, and whenever Elvin would play she would shout out, ‘Tell your story.’

“I totally get that. There has to be something behind what you’re playing. With all the great musicians, you can feel there is an art to it. It’s not, ‘Hey, check out all the stuff I figured out in my practice room.’ It’s more about improvising and playing what you feel. One of the first things I learned from hanging around blues clubs or during my time with the Allman Brothers was the importance of not playing the same thing the same way two nights in a row. It was all about ‘take it somewhere else tonight.’ ”

Full Story

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Philly Joe Jones on Baby Dodds

Posted on May 23, 2015 by Scott K Fish
Philly Joe Jones

Philly Joe Jones

“When I was working with Joe Morris opposite George Shearing in the Three Deuces on 52nd St., I went across the street one night to the Onyx. Just casually, you know. And I happened to look at the placards outside that said BABY DODDS. Well, I had always been reading books and things and so I knew that Gene Krupa had been influenced by Baby and Baby had been hanging out with Gene.

“So, wanting to play the drums as bad as I wanted to, I said, ‘I’m going’ to listen to this drummer.’ So what I did, I went in the Onyx, and Baby was playing in there with a bass drum, and a snare drum, and ONE cymbal, a ride cymbal. It wasn’t a sock cymbal. He was swinging’

Baby Dodds

Baby Dodds

SO MUCH I was late an entire set! I don’t get back to work. I missed the entire set, and Joe fined me. I think it was a $30 fine. I couldn’t leave, I sat down and just stayed.”

Source: “The Forming of Philly Joe,” by Ralph J. Gleason, Down Beat, March 3, 1960.

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Jaimo’s Drum Room Circa 1980

Posted on May 23, 2015 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: After interviewing Jaimo and Butch Trucks (Modern Drummer May 1981), Jaimo and his wife at the time, Candy, invited me to spend a weekend with them at their Macon, Georgia home. It was both a fun and somber weekend – which I’ll write about sometime.

I took the photo of Jaimo in his home drum room. Attached to the door (rear left in this photo) is a chart of the human muscular system. I’m sorry my inexperience with a 35mm camera overexposed that part of the photo.

The second photo of Jaimo, Butch Trucks and yours truly was taken in the basement of a New York City bar. There was a very small office in that basement. That’s where most of the MD Jaimo/Butch interview was taped. I think this photo was taken by my friend, Bill Grillo.

L-R: Jaimo, Scott K Fish, Butch Trucks

L-R: Jaimo, Scott K Fish, Butch Trucks

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Jaimo

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The Forgotten Gary Chester/Charles Perry Drum Book?

Posted on May 22, 2015 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: This 32-page drum method book by Gary Chester and Charles Perry is not available on Alfred Music‘s web site. I would not swear in a court of law this book is out-of-print. But it appears to be.

There are two sections of the book I find most interesting. One is this photo section of Gary Chester at a recording session.

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