SKF NOTE: Paul Motian, Larry Bunker, Jack DeJohnette, Marty Morrell, Joe LaBarbera — pianist Bill Evans’s trios were home to some amazing drummers. As interesting, Evans’s drummers sounded different from each other.
For my ears, the proof of that theory is Philly Joe Jones. Paul Motian and Philly Joe are stylistically at different ends of the drummer spectrum. Yet, they both sound great with Bill Evans.
SKF NOTE: Andrae Crouch, The Winans, Freddie Hubbard, Koinonia — Bill Maxwell’s work as drummer and producer is among the best. Bill first came to my attention through my ears in 1981. No pre-judging on my part.
Introducing The Winans arrived as a new release on my Modern Drummer desk in 1981. I listened to Introducing…. on a marginal stereo system in my rooming house residence — and the music grabbed me immediately. Everything about that album was first class: the Winans, the songs, the arranging, the musicianship, and the production. The drummer and producer was a name new to me: Bill Maxwell.
Long story short, after listening and loving a few more albums with Bill Maxwell producing and/or drumming, Bill stopped by Modern Drummer on August 17, 1982 for a feature interview, published in the August 1983 issue.
This is my first audio excerpt from Maxwell’s interview. It starts at the beginning of our conversation with me asking Bill how he went from bar band drummer to Grammy Award winning record producer for the great contemporary Christian musician Andrae Crouch.
SKF NOTE: A thank you to “Jazz Video Guy” Bret Primack for this new to me clip of Philly Joe Jones as a member of Bill Evans’s Trio. Instructive! The video work on Philly Joe gives us several good moments for studying his playing: brushes, sticks, straight ahead swinging, stop time. I find myself wishing we could hear/see this song — the full concert! — using the camera capturing Philly Joe only.
I enjoyed working with Bret — years ago and ever so briefly — on a drumming project that never went public. Years before getting to know Bret I looked forward to reading his frequent Down Beat interviews. In the same way I am a “Jazz Video Guy” YouTube channel subscriber.
SKF NOTE: Here’s the backstory to this Simon Kirke excerpt.
In this excerpt Simon talks about his favorite drum practice routines.
He also tells us he does not record with a click track, and he tends to play behind the beat “like Charlie Watts.”
SKF NOTE: Reading singer/songwriter Carole King’s memoir, A Natural Woman, I am not surprised at finding several words of “keeper” advice for all musicians. Here’s Ms. King’s advice on performing in front of an audience.
Performing wasn’t something to fear, it was a merely a larger circle of collaboration. The more I communicated my joy to the audience, the more joy they communicated back to me. All I needed to do was sing with conviction, speak my truth from the heart, honestly and straightforwardly, and offer my words, ideas, and music to the audience as if it were one collective friend that I’d known for a very long time.
I had found the key to success in performing. It was to be authentically myself.
Source: A Natural Woman: A Memoir, by Carole King, Grand Central Publishing (2012)
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