Jim Gordon – Full Interview – Tape A Side A

Posted on March 22, 2020 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: I posted the back story, the genesis, of this interview, on my blog, right here, so I won’t repeat the story.

This interview with musician Jim Gordon took place January 11, 1982. That makes it 38 years old. Yes, I’ve posted on my blog audio and written excerpts from this interview. An edited version of the interview transcription appeared in Modern Drummer magazine.

But this is the first time I’m making available my full, unedited interview with Jim Gordon. I think it’s time. Jim Gordon is an important piece of pop and rock music history. He is a key part of drumming history. And as far as I know, 38 years later, this is the only full-length Jim Gordon interview in existence.

Looking back, I wish I had more time to prepare for this interview. Those of you who read the back story will learn I didn’t have more time. On the bitter cold night of January 11, 1982, in my room in a Nutley, NJ rooming house, my phone rang unexpectedly. Jim Gordon was calling.

So began this interview.

I will add Tape A Side B and Tape B Side A to the blog as soon as possible.

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Unreleased 1959 Art Blakey and Jazz Messengers Album Arrives April 24

Posted on March 21, 2020 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: On April 24, Blue Note Records will release Just Coolin’, a never-before-released studio album by Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers that was recorded on March 8, 1959 in Rudy Van Gelder’s living room studio in Hackensack, New Jersey. The session featured a short-lived line-up of The Jazz Messengers with drummer Art Blakey, trumpeter Lee Morgan, tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley, pianist Bobby Timmons, and bassist Jymie Merritt. The album features two previously unissued compositions including Timmons’ tune “Quick Trick….”

Nothing more to say. Thank you, Blue Note.

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Ed Soph – You Can’t Just Think Rhythmically

Posted on March 19, 2020 by Scott K Fish
Ed Soph

SKF NOTE: At 4:30 this morning I was reading a typed copy of my 1978 Ed Soph interview. Soph was always interesting to interview. Smart, curious, a strong grasp of drum history; a player who seemed always willing to re-examine his thinking about drumming and music.

Reading this morning what Ed Soph had to say over 40 years ago — his thinking still holds value for drummers and drum teachers.

I asked Ed to describe his concept for his drum soloing. Here’s his 1978 answer:

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Ed Soph: I’m thinking of the melody and the tune when I’m soloing. It may be an extended solo rather than a chorus or two.

I always try to approach it as making a statement.

Take a tune like Straight, No Chaser which has a strong rhythmic identity. I’ll play through the head of the tune and then take some rhythmic or melodic motif — ideally a combination of the two — and build another solo off that. Maybe I’ll go out of time or free up the time and develop a theme and variations, then come back in and play the head again. Just like a good narrative framework in a story.

Nothing sounds worse than when a group’s playing an Elvin-ish swing and the drummer goes into his solo and it comes out like Drums on Parade.

It’s all so easy. It’s all right there if you just open your ears.

Like a horn player, you can’t just think rhythmically. It’s impossible. You have to think in terms of dynamics, articulations, phrases, color, mood, melodies, and tempo.

Which brings me to another point. All drummers should learn some melodic instrument. It’s good for your chops and it’s the best thing in the world for your ears.

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Neil Peart – Fun with the Four-On-the-Floor Bass Drum

Posted on March 18, 2020 by Scott K Fish
Photo courtesy TheFamousPeople.com

SKF NOTE: This excerpt is from the full transcript of my 1986 conversation with Neil Peart. Here’s the back story. Right before I asked this question about playing in 4/4 time, Neil spoke at some length about using odd-time signatures in Rush songs.

Scott K Fish: Do you feel more relaxed playing in 4/4 than in odd-time signatures?

Neil Peart: I don’t know about relaxed. It depends on the context, certainly.

Over the past few years, for instance, when the straight-quarter note bass drum became popular, it’s a thing that you can’t help wanting to get mischievous with. You want to take that quarter note bass drum and have real fun with it. I found that to be a real door.

I opened that door. Just once I wanted to try it; where I’d keep the four-on-the-floor bass drum and see how difficult I could make the hand pattern against that. I found that I got hooked on it. I started to really like the four-on-the-floor bass drum because it gave me so many rhythmic possibilities with my hands. You can keep a steady pulse going, keep a relaxed feel, and at the same time be mentally absolutely frenetic.

So, all things are important.

Here’s something I tried once, sort of as a joke, and found that over the last three or four albums I’ve been able to use it in totally different ways, and not get sick of it.

I really figured that I wouldn’t be able to use it on the new album. I thought I’d exhausted that rhythmic device. Sure enough, I started finding more and more ways that the bass drum became supplemental to the technique that I was looking for.

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Yo-Yo Ma – Musicians Have to Find the Road Never Traveled

Posted on March 17, 2020 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: I’m a longtime fan of Yo-Yo Ma, his music, his artistry as a cellist, and for his ongoing willingness to experiment with music, to take risks. This excerpt is from a new book I’m reading titled, Yo-Yo Ma – Portrait of a Cellist, Mentor, & Musical Explorer, Edited by Megan Westberg.

Ma’s advice here is applicable to all musicians, including drummers.

Yo-Yo Ma: My sense is that the world never needs another musician – you have to create a place for yourself by touching someone whenever you play so that they will want to hear more of what you do.

That’s essentially your only job: to communicate something that another person can identify with, remember, and tell other people about. Then it spreads by word of mouth, and slowly you can build something up.

It’s not the road always traveled; it’s the road never traveled that you have find.

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