Credit Where Due: Paul English Invented Wooden Brushes

Posted on July 1, 2021 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: In 1981, when I interviewed Paul English for Modern Drummer, I was early into my self-study of country music. This was a music that, at its inception, and for many years after, didn’t use drummers. In many instances, country musicians wanted nothing to do with drummers.

That situation had changed, of course, by the time Paul English started playing with Willie Nelson. My intro to Willie’s music happened much earlier, but it was his Stardust album, released in 1978, that really caught my attention. The album is a combination of great American songs played beautifully, uniquely, by Willie’s country band – including drummer Paul English.

When I heard Willie Nelson was performing in New York City, I was successful in securing a phone interview with English. Then I met Paul and Willie in NYC and saw their show. Willie used two drummers then: Rex Ludwig and Paul, which was disappointing. Ludwig played much louder, too often drowning out the more subtle drumming of Paul English.

In my introduction to Paul’s MD interview I wrote, in part, No drummer can play Willie Nelson’s music better than Paul English because Paul’s drumming is a great part of Willie’s music. You can hear the empathy, the craziness, and the love. Paul’s and Willie’s musical relationship somehow always reminded me of the same type of relationship between drummer Sonny Greer and Duke Ellington.

Finally, I know wooden brushes are readily available in 2021. But the first time I heard of them was from their inventor: Paul English.

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Paul English: See, I play with mallets, brushes, sticks, and I play with wooden brushes.that nobody has ever heard of because I made ’em!

Scott K Fish: What are wooden brushes?

PE: You take some little bitty dowels. Wooden dowels. Take about 15 or 20 and cut them off the length of the stick and glue them all together in a circle. Wrap some tape around them and file the ends off. They’re only about a quarter-inch in diameter. Then you have your set of wooden brushes!

I used them on On the Road Again ’cause I’m playing 16th-notes with a syncopated accent.

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Peart’s 1982 ‘Who Reads Modern Drummer?’ Letter

Posted on June 24, 2021 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: It’s clear from Neil Peart’s letter that I lost his first “quote” meant for use in his Who Reads Modern Drummer? ad. Yikes! But Neil’s response was gracious.

I don’t remember if we — Modern Drummer — requested back the 1982 Neil Peart Drum Giveaway contest entries. But it’s interesting Neil thought enough of the contestants to ask about preserving their entries.

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Always One Good Musical Takeaway

Posted on June 18, 2021 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: One night at a club in Illinois, back when I was earning a living as a drummer, musician friends and I were checking out the band. This was not a name band. It was a lounge band traveling a circuit, probably, of short stints at different Midwestern venues.

The only bit of music I remember from that about 47 years ago? During a ballad, the drummer gently dragged the loop on the wire end of his brushes straight down, from just below the cymbal bell to the cymbal edge.

I had never seen that before. What a great sound effect. I’ve used it countless times since.

And it taught me that, in almost every musical situation, even the mostly lame musical situations, if I keep my eyes, ears, and mind open — there’s always at least one good takeaway.

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Alan Dawson on Drums, Gear, and Individual Sound

Posted on June 17, 2021 by Scott K Fish
Alan Dawson

SKF NOTE: This excerpt is from an in-person interview with Alan Dawson in his living room over a tuna fish sandwich. The more complete back story is here.

Here’s Alan Dawson answering my questions about the need for us to own and use the exact same drums and gear used by our drum heroes.

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Scott K Fish: When you first saw or heard Jo Jones did you have a burning need to know what size his drums were? What kind of heads he used? And what size his sticks were?

Alan Dawson: No. That never even occurred to me. Frankly, he’d sound that way on any drums. He had his own sound. An individual sound. These guys sounded like they sounded no matter what drums they played on.

I didn’t rush out to buy a drumset like Jo Jones’s. Now, just about everybody that heard Jo Jones play the hi-hats wanted to get that kind of a sound. They were experimenting with cymbals to get that too.

But, that’s a little different. That’s not like trying to duplicate by gettinng the same size drums, heads, and all of this business.

I had a drum manufacturer say to me, “I’m not all that interested in having jazz drummer endorsees. Who cares about Buddy Rich? How many drums does he play?”

The average rock ‘n roll star has eight or more drums, usually. And a bunch of cymbals. If a kid sees Carmine Appice and says, “Hey, I’ve got to have a set like that,” then I can see the dealer being a whole lot happier than if a kid comes in an wants to buy a drumset like mine: five pieces and three cymbals.

Everyone has a right in this free enterprise system. If a person has a business, he can’t ignore profits. But, I still think there’s an obligation to deal with profits, and deal with artists, from some artistic perspective; in terms of what they’ve contributed to the music, their feelings about the music, and their commitment to it.

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Mickey Roker with Lee Morgan – ‘The Complete Live at the Lighthouse’ Coming Soon

Posted on June 16, 2021 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: Blue Note Records has some exciting news for fans of trumpeter Lee Morgan and drummer Mickey Roker. The Complete Live at the Lighthouse session will be released this July 30. That’s 12 sets of music, including four hours of previously unreleased music. The album track here, The Beehive, is part of the unreleased music.

Mickey Roker, a complete drummer, is one of my favorites. Aside from the many times I’ve listened to him on albums, in the early 1970s I saw Roker with Dizzy Gillespie’s small group at the University of Iowa.

Lee Morgan? If I don’t own every album Lee Morgan recorded, I’m close. Currently, I own the 3-CD edited version of Live at the Lighthouse, and I’m looking forward to listening to the date in its entirety.

Here’s more info from Blue Note Records’ press release:

Blue Note Records has announced a July 30 release date for Lee Morgan The Complete Live at the Lighthouse, an expansive collection that presents for the very first time all 12 sets of music the legendary trumpeter’s quintet with saxophonist Bennie Maupin, pianist Harold Mabern, bassist Jymie Merritt, and drummer Mickey Roker recorded during their historic engagement at The Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach, California from July 10-12, 1970.

Originally released 50 years ago in 1971 as a 2-LP set, and later expanded to a 3-CD set in 1996, this definitive edition produced by Zev Feldman and David Weiss will be available as an 8-CD set and a limited-edition 12-LP all-analog 180g vinyl set that encompasses 33 performances including more than 4 hours of previously unreleased music that lets the listener relive the experience of being in the club for every exhilarating moment. A previously unreleased version of Mabern’s composition The Beehive from the 2nd set on Saturday, July 11 is available now to stream or download.

The audio was mixed from the original ½” 4-track tapes….

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