SKF NOTE: A few days ago I posted my letter in reply to Neil Peart’s March 31, 1987 letter to me.
This post is Neil’s March 31, 1987 letter. It is one of my favorites from Neil. Mostly, I think, because in this letter Neil gives insight to his music, his reading and writing, his travels, and his guidance to an old friend – me! – who had just relocated to Maryland from Connecticut.
SKF NOTE: This three-page letter to Neil Peart from me was written when I was married and living in Oxford, MD on the Del-Mar-Va peninsula. I was working as Area Director for the MA based non-profit Stop Smoking Clinics, four years or so after stepping down as Modern Drummer’s Managing Editor.
If you look close at the letter images here you’ll see I typed the letter on the back side of Stop Smoking Clinics registration forms.
Neil and I kept up a correspondence. This letter of mine is a response to his March 31 letter to me.
Interesting in retrospect is what I wrote Neil about Buddy Rich’s recent death. I may have Neil’s response somewhere. But reading this letter I am reminded of how distraught I was over Buddy’s death, and how puzzled I was at how very sad I felt.
No surprise, Neil and I often shared thoughts on books. Here, replying to a long list of books Neil had written me about in his last letter, I said, “I cannot believe how many books you are able to read.” And then, at his request, I offer Neil my Jack Kerouac book recommendations.
I miss corresponding with Neil. He was a great pen pal.
SKF NOTE: This is my letter, written the morning of July 13, 1983, to drummer/teacher Fred Gruber.
This morning I am scanning a stack of papers. Interview transcripts, drum columns, old contracts, and letters. Letters to me from drummers. And letters to drummers from me.
This letter is mostly about my belief that the world was coming to the end of great, unique drummers who knew and cared enough about their craft, to pass along their knowledge to upcoming drummers.
In general, what I was seeing in 1983, were drummers who neither knew nor cared about drum history. I was seeing more drummers caring about becoming stars, not artists.
Not that artists can’t be stars. But a star doesn’t need the dedication of a true artist.
We need teachers who can work with kids, I wrote Gruber, more than we need performers who perform to kids.
SKF NOTE: At the time of this interview, Michael Shrieve was on a mission to make music that was both true to himself and appealing to the masses.
Could a hit pop record do that? Shrieve believed the answer was “yes.” I wasn’t so sure. And my strong sense was, despite what Shrieve said, he wasn’t so sure either.
He always seemed much more at home outside of pop music.
This two-part interview starts in Part 1 with Michael Shrieve’s quick “no” response to my question, “Do you ever think about playing drums (or drum solos) with the fluidity of a saxophone player?”
But then Shrieve tells us how he does approach playing drums, lessons learned from drummer Pete Magadini, meeting all “his heroes.”
Then we started loosely discussing what Shrieve called “drum questions.”
Part 2 of Shrieve’s interview begins with a continuation of drum questions.
We also talk about drummers Shrieve admires, albums he listens to often, synthesizers, and his new band called Patterns.
Shrieve was with his band, Novo Combo, when I first interviewed him for Modern Drummer. He left that band before MD published his story.
To keep Shrieve’s MD feature current, he and I sat down again for an updater interview, mostly to talk about Shrieve’s new band called Patterns, which was also short-lived.
Instead, Shrieve’s next two album releases – circa 1983-84 – were the excellent “In Suspect Terrain” and “Transfer Station Blue.”
These albums are Michael Shrieve music. They fit comfortably into no category. So what? Both albums are full of intriguing music.
This recording has a few spots or glitches where moments of our conversation were cut. None of the glitches break the flow of the conversation. Again, I thank my friend, Jason J. Carey, for his great work in cleaning up this sound file.
My Shrieve interview came out – finally – in the July 1983 Modern Drummer.
Shrieve has gone on to record a long discography of albums as leader and sideman. Check out Shrieve’s artist page on Bandcamp.
SKF NOTE: Jason Carey, my friend, is an excellent guitarist. Recently Jason started a one-hour YouTube “Morning Ritual for Guitar Growth;” a wake-up session for guitarists.
Broadcasting from his Maine farm house “dog room,” Jason and viewers from around the globe run through guitar finger exercises, breathing techniques. Much like a jam session, Jason’s morning guitar session moves among many topics, depending on what Jason and his viewers want to discuss.
While performing most of the audio cleanup on my recently posted Michael Shrieve interview, Jason found that many of Shrieve’s ideas on making music on a drumset could be applied to making music on guitar.
Tuesday of this week, January 28, Jason invited me to join his morning session to test the concept that guitarists have something to learn from drummers and vice versa.
I had no doubt about the concept. In my life, non-drummer musicians taught me plenty about becoming a better, more sympathetic, more supportive drummer. From the pages of a jazz book or magazine, I believe, great tenor saxophonist Lester Young was first to stress the importance of knowing song lyrics when playing instrumental song interpretations.
Early on my high school music teacher and jazz pianist, Art Simeone, taught me the basics of accompanying piano players.
The concept of cross-learning among musicians is sound. And I thoroughly enjoyed being with Jason Carey for last Tuesday’s “Morning Ritual for Guitar Growth.” There aren’t many times now I get to chew the fat about drumming with other musicians.
Tuesday in the “dog room,” listening to the conversation, answering questions, I was channeling lots of drummers i.e., Ed Soph, Michael Shrieve, Neil Peart, Baby Dodds, and Keith Copeland. Their words/answers were entering my head. And, when possible, I passed on those drummers’ wisdom to “Morning Ritual” participants.
One person asked, What can a drummer play to help a guitarist not lose time during guitar solos?
Tony Williams’s circa 1972 came to mind. Asked in a DownBeat interview if he was Miles Davis’s Second Great Quintet’s timekeeper, Tony answered with a firm “no.” He said musicians who can’t keep time without relying on a drummer had no business on the bandstand.
The next time you’re awake at 7:30 am, think about grabbing your sticks and drum pad and join the folks on YouTube at Jason Carey’s “Morning Ritual for Guitar Growth.”
Life Beyond the Cymbals
A Blog about Music and Popular Culture
Online Drum Tracks | Drum Recording | Remote Session Drumming | Pro Session Drummer
Life Beyond the Cymbals
Writing About and Reviewing Classical Music and Jazz
Life Beyond the Cymbals
A Drummer's Look at Drums and Drumming
Scott K Fish 
You must be logged in to post a comment.