Mike Mitchell: I’m Still Searching

Posted on January 14, 2015 by Scott K Fish

Interviews
Dallas’ Mike Mitchell is a Jazz Drumming Prodigy
By Jeremy Hallock – Tue., Jan. 13 2015 at 9:15 AM

Worldly and wise with chops and a first class music education at the age of 20, Dallas drummer Mike Mitchell is a globetrotting prodigy. In the last four years he has won more awards from DownBeat Magazine than he can remember, as well as being cited as an up-and-coming artist in countless other worldwide publications. He has worked with [bassist] Christian McBride, [alto saxophonist] Antonio Hart…. But this only scratches the surface of what Mitchell has already accomplished.

Mitchell has been playing drums since he was two years old, when he watched an older cousin play drums and learned quickly.

“I’m still searching,” he says. “I want to have my own independent style and voice. Most drum nerds are able to listen to an album and immediately tell you who the drummer is and that’s the goal for me.”

It is clear that he has been influenced by jazz fusion drummers like Tony Williams, Jack DeJohnette, and Lenny White. But he also takes queues from rock drummers like Mitch Mitchell, Keith Moon and John Bonham.

Full Story

Posted in Drum/Music News | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Gary Chester as Teacher: No Mistakes Were Allowed

Posted on January 12, 2015 by Scott K Fish
Dave Lazorcik

Just Folks: Veteran Lebanon drummer still a student of music
By Les Stewart
UPDATED:   01/11/2015 06:47:06 PM EST

Lebanon musician Dave Lazorcik never wants to stop learning about music.

“I’m going to keep learning until I’m six feet under,” the 63-year-old Lazorcik said. He has been a student of drums and percussion all of his life, studying with a number of memorable teachers.

He went to the Navy School of Music in January 1971, an experience that allowed him to study under several teachers.

He was assigned to the 26th U.S. Army Band in New York, which exposed him to the New York music scene and culture….

After three years in the Army band in New York City, he returned home and studied percussion….

Lazorcik served as executive director of the Central Pennsylvania Friends of Jazz for 13 years until January 2007.

Among the many teachers he has studied under was Gary Chester, who played drums on Jim Croce’s “Time in a Bottle,” John Denver’s “Rocky Mountain High” and Petula Clark’s “Downtown.”

Lazorcik said Chester was another demanding teacher, describing him as a drill sergeant.

“No mistakes were allowed. Everything had to be perfect,” he said. “You had to sing each part.”

Full Story

Posted in Drum/Music News | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mississippi Welcomes Home Legendary Drummer Jaimoe

Posted on January 10, 2015 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: Jaimoe is wonderful guy and a unique, all-around drummer. For those who don’t know Jaimoe’s straight-ahead jazz playing, I’ve included the clip below. Jaimoe stretches out with a fun solo starting at 11:59 in the video.

Mississippi welcomes home legendary drummer Jaimoe
Jacob Threadgill, The Clarion-Ledger 10:18 p.m. CST January 9, 2015

When Jai Johanson left Mississippi in 1965, he told his mother he wouldn’t return until he could afford his own bus ticket home. He returns 50 years later better known as the musical legend Jaimoe.

[H]e joined forces with the Duane and Gregg Allman to forever change Southern rock with the founding of the Allman Brothers Band in 1968.

“I had originally decided to go to New York and play jazz..,” Jaimoe said by phone from his home near Hartford, Connecticut.

“I used to wonder how anyone could play in Count Basie’s band or Duke Ellington’s band for so long, and it’s all about chemistry,” Jaimoe said.

Saturday, the Iron Horse Grill in Jackson is unveiling the grand opening of the 2,500-square-foot Mississippi Music Experience that will include the commemoration of a life-sized wax figure of Jaimoe that will join other Mississippi greats B.B. King, Elvis, Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson.

“I hope they have some cameras there because they’ll see a grown man cry tears of joy,” Jaimoe said.

Full Story

Posted in Drum/Music News | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

John Bonham: There Goes Another Rubber Tree Plant

Posted on January 9, 2015 by Scott K Fish

SKF Note: Excerpt from a 1988 interview with 21-year old Jason Bonham.

John-Bonham-Stainless-Steel-Ludwig-Drums-Kit-Setup13Jason Bonham: There’s a great story. You must print this. It’s fantastic.

They had this huge, huge rubber plant in the Abba Studios in Stockholm. And they set my dad’s drum kit up in the corner next to it. In this big stone room.

My dad came in. He played for 15-minutes. The next day, the plant was dead.

And they tried to revive this plant for weeks while they were there. And it just died instantly. It was so loud. And [my dad] was using the famous steel drums, like stainless steel shells. Stainless steel bass drum, stainless steel shells. It was just totally awesome loudness.

And this plant, this poor thing, just next day was keeled over in the corner of the room. I thought that was quite amusing.

–end–

Posted in SKF Blog | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on John Bonham: There Goes Another Rubber Tree Plant

Gary Chester: Calfskin Heads, Vintage Drums, Studio Sounds

Posted on January 7, 2015 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: I found the full transcript from my interview with Gary Chester, published in the April 1983 Modern Drummer. The transcript is 64 typed pages, using one-and-a-half spaces between sentences. On a manual typewriter! It is about twice as long as a typical MD feature interview at that time, suggesting Gary shared words of wisdom beyond those in his interview.

Scott K Fish: It seems like all the engineers and producers want all drummers to sound the same. It wasn’t like that in the ’50s and ’60s. Do you remember when that started happening?

Gary Chester: I was the only drummer that stayed with calfskin heads. I loved calfskin heads because I’m a brush player. I love brushes and I love calf. The whole set was calfskin. As soon as I started to record, I used plastic.

I had three set of drums. When I was hot, two of them were stolen. I had one set for rock, one set for “white” music – which is what I call Robert Goulet, or Perry Como, or the Jack Armstrong All-American trying to be rock ‘n’ roll. I had three good sets. All Ludwig.

I love Ludwig. I wouldn’t use anything else. They gave me a $1500.00 set in 1963 when I opened a TV show with Gene Pitney in Chicago. I never bothered them for another set because I don’t need a new set. I love what I’ve got. The old vintage drums, for me, are the greatest.

I usually used calf, but then in the studios, what you’re talking about was about ’74, ’75, ’76.

Around in that area the snare drum was lost. There was no highs on the snare drum anymore. Some guys muffled it down so bad, or took the snares off it so it sounded like a tom-tom. That originated in Philadelphia with what they called the “fatback,” the 2 and 4 really fat.

But there was no texture, no coloring, no emphasis, no highs on any of the playing. That’s what I miss. The drums now sound like sets of five tom-toms.

–end–

Posted in SKF Blog | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment