Drummer is a beautiful, minimal drum machine for iPhone
By Ellis Hamburger on November 3, 2014 10:00 am
The free app launches today.
[Y]ou don’t need to understand bars to understand Drummer. Tap play, tap some circles, and listen. Then tap some more circles, or swipe downward on a column to generate an easy downbeat. You can swipe between different drum instruments, create a few more drum tracks, and alter beats-per-minute. Before you know it, you’re jamming.
…a new generation of music applications that anybody can use — a new generation of apps that make producing music as fun as shooting an Instagram photo.
“You shouldn’t have to start with theory. You should start with the sound, and you should start with how it feels,” says D’Silva.
“If I can’t have the cover story, I’m not doing an interview at all.”
I witnessed three drummers flat out refuse Modern Drummer feature interviews because they weren’t cover stories. The drummer with the cover story had his photo on the magazine cover.
Two decliners were jazz drummers. The third was a pop/country drummer who played with a long deceased big name in pop music.
I understand why the drummers said no, but I thought they were shortsighted. An MD feature interview – with photos – was great publicity, easily parlayed into greater publicity.
During my time as MD‘s managing editor (1980-83), each issue generally had three or four feature stories: three feature drummer interviews, and maybe a feature on a drum company, a cymbal manufacturer, or the history of jazz drumming.
The editorial staff – Features Editor Rick Mattingly, me, and Ron Spagnardi – discussed which drummers would have the cover story each month. Ron Spagnardi had the final word, but I don’t remember us having any line-in-the-sand disagreements.
The key deciding factor, but not the sole factor, was: which drummer would sell the most magazines off newsstands? Modern Drummer depended on newsstand AND subscriber sales. Subscribers paid in advance. Newsstand MD buyers had to be persuaded every month that the current issue was worth whatever it cost at the time.
The calculation was based on experience that started, I think, with MD‘s October/November 1979 special Gene Krupa issue. MD founder/publisher Ron Spagnardi told me at one staff meeting, the Krupa tribute was the lowest selling MD ever. That surprised Ron. He expected, because of who Krupa was, what Krupa meant to all drummers – that drummers would scoop up that issue.
They didn’t.
One month MD‘s editorial staff wrestled over two feature interviews as the cover story. One was an outstanding, personal piece on Papa Jo Jones by Chip Stern – who was very close, and spent a great deal of time, with Papa Jo Jones.
The second interview was with Slim Jim Phantom, drummer with a hot, rising band called Stray Cats.
Who was more deserving of the cover? Papa Jo Jones. No question. Who would sell more issues on newsstands? Papa Jo or Slim Jim? If a Papa Jo issue suffered the same fate as the Krupa issue – not many drummers would read it anyway. Whereas, if a Slim Jim cover sold lots of issues – the Papa Jo interview would be in the hands of more drummers!
In the end – for the first time, I think – Ron split the difference, giving Papa Jo 90-percent of the cover with a Slim Jim photo insert on the lower right corner. If memory serves, that cover ended the single drummer photo on MD covers policy. Soon that real estate was used to promote more than one drummer.
New Gene Krupa Orchestra in Hackettstown By Bill Nutt, Correspondent 2:33 p.m. EDT July 11, 2014
“Gene was the first superstar drummer,” says Michael Berkowitz.
Under Berkowitz’s leadership and drumming, the New Gene Krupa Orchestra plays jazz compositions that are faithful to the original arrangements.
“When I was in 8th grade, I met Gene,” he says. “I was totally enamored of his playing.”
Berkowitz would go on to a career in music, where he accompanied such artists as Marvin Hamlisch, Liza Minnelli, Quincy Jones and Nelson Riddle. About 10 years ago, however, he got the idea to create an orchestra dedicated to Krupa’s music.
He then approached Krupa’s estate to work out licensing and other issues. Once he received permission from the family, Berkowitz had the challenge of finding the original arrangements.
“The problem was that a lot of his music was lost in a fire,” Berkowitz says. “So many memories were destroyed.”
He then took on the role of detective, tracking down original scores and charts.
“Every time Gene played a song, it was new. That’s what jazz is about. To simply reproduce it is anti-music.”
“What we try to do is evoke his sound,” Berkowitz says.
SKF NOTE: The original Africa/Brass LP was my introduction to the John Coltrane Quartet and Elvin Jones. This MP3 version of the “Complete Africa/Brass Sessions,” which Amazon is offering now for just $4.99, is a great bargain. I paid about $26 for the double-CD version – which I still feel was a bargain too. This is great music.
[SKF NOTE: Jim Keltner is a wonderful human being AND a first-class drummer. I consider Jim a friend going back to 1981 when I did his first feature interview for Modern Drummer. A great guy, Jim was always, always helpful to MD. For example, MD would not have interviewed Charlie Watts or Ringo Starr without Jim Keltner’s help.
I wish, I wish, I wish Jim would write an autobiography. And I’d love to work with him on it. But he has been a part of so much popular music history – it would be a great loss if he didn’t leave his wisdom for the ages. I’m not talking about a kiss-and-tell book. Just a straight-ahead telling of his stories.]
FRI OCTOBER 31, 2014
Top Rock Drummers Set to Be Inducted Saturday
By RYAN LACROIX
You might not know the name Jim Keltner, but you’ve probably heard him playing drums on some of your favorite songs for the last 50 years.
Founding board member of the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame and author of the Oklahoma Music Guide Dr. Hugh Foley says that Keltner’s status among rock drummers is unquestionable.
“He is the session drummer of the rock and pop era, from the mid-1960s to the present day. That includes an incredible list of artists. It’s one of those jaw-droppers, whether it’s John Lennon or Ringo Starr or George Harrison, with whom he played on all significant tracks by those three former Beatles.”
George Harrison was such a fan of Keltner, he created a fictitious Jim Keltner Fan Club, which was listed on the back cover of his 1973 album, Living in the Material World.
The list of artists Keltner has recorded with is exhaustive.
At the age of 72, Keltner’s work continues to appear in popular music and film.
Scott K Fish 
You must be logged in to post a comment.