Buddy Rich 1917-1987

This year marks the centenary of the birth of Buddy Rich, a musician who was a key formative influence and to whom I owe my lifelong affinity with big band music.

The following is a piece I wrote for the American publication Not So Modern Drummer and is reproduced with permission of the copyright holder.

BUDDY RICH

 

 

 

 

Buddy Rich’s playing is something that goes beyond subjective appraisal. Even to the man in the street with no knowledge of drums or jazz music it was self evident that you were witnessing greatness. This alone puts him in a very special category; virtuosity which can communicate with a mass audience.

 

Let’s get one thing clear right from the start. If you play the drums and were not even slightly influenced by Buddy Rich there’s a strong possibility that you inadvertently took up the wrong instrument. Don’t be too despondent though, as a great many drummers are influenced by Buddy without even being particularly aware of it. As with Krupa he influenced a whole generation of players who in turn went on to inspire the next generation of players who in turn influence the players of today. These musicians wrote the DNA code of drumming which is common to us all, and don’t you forget it.

 

For me it all started very early. My parents were in their early 30s when I was born in 1963, and they had been raised on a musical diet of big bands, jazz, and popular singers of the Sinatra school. Their tastes were fully formed well in advance of Rock Around the Clock. They had no time for the new musical trend and found it simplistic by comparison to what they were accustomed to. Don’t be fooled by the history books; regardless of the fact that Elvis’s baby left him, all the established musical styles continued much as they had done. They whole world didn’t suddenly re-tune to rock and roll overnight despite what the revisionists may want you to believe.

 

Having being born into a family where the popular jazz of the mid 60s (Brubeck, Oscar Peterson and the like) was very much at the top of the playlist was one of those lucky flukes of circumstance that go on to shape your destiny, added which my father was a very good semi professional drummer who had studied with a legendary Birmingham (UK) based Rich disciple named Tommy Webster. Added to which my mother came from a huge Irish family all of whom played instruments and sang, as is the tradition.

 

It was in early 1968 that the perfect storm broke.

 

Having taken the UK by storm the previous year (measured by audience reaction rather than ticket sales it has to be said) the Buddy Rich big band became staple listening fare for musicians of my father’s generation, and in order to listen to his LPs in the highest possible fidelity he spent £150 (a huge amount of money then) on a Bang and Olufsen ‘Beogram 1500’ record player. I had just turned five and had never heard anything quite like it. Speakers that stood as tall as I did at the time exploding with music reproduced with an immediacy, power and clarity the like of which I had not previously experienced. From that moment Buddy’s name was added to my list of identifiable jazz drummers that already included Joe Morello, Shelley Manne and Cozy Cole. 

 

Seeing is Believing 

The exact date is unclear but the intensity of the moment is as powerful as it was roughly forty-five years ago, when quite unexpectedly Buddy appeared on a talk show on British television. It was called ‘Magpie’ and was broadcast on ITV, then the UK’s only commercial network and was aimed at hip youngsters, (the squares were watching ‘Blue Peter’ on BBC). No band, just some chat and a drum solo. 

Ka-boom!! 

I ran upstairs and started woodshedding and haven’t stopped. There’s a profundity about those formative influences when your knowledge is in its infancy, and you’re still so youthfully idealistic to believe that you can achieve anything, and whilst I had been listening to jazz drumming on records since my earliest days the impact of the moving image closed the deal. Later that evening my mother, who had witnessed my enthusiasm, commented to my father, “That’s it, he’s going to be a drummer”, more with resignation than enthusiasm if I’m honest.

 

 

I invested a disproportionately large percentage of my teenage years trying to come up with ideas that resembled the kind of things I had heard Buddy play. At that point not the greatest reader of notation and never having seen the merit of transcribing I set about this Herculean task by listening only, as this was just prior to the VHS/Betamax explosion, and all I had to check my work against was fleeting glimpses of Buddy’s hands seeing him on television or playing live a couple of times each year. Adolescence brought with it the chance to play big band jazz for real and I was afforded the opportunity to put my hours of practice before an audience. My fellow drummers all talked about Buddy, but players of other instruments would talk about Mel Lewis, from which I concluded that to occupy a hypothetical middle ground between their two contrasting styles might be a good plan. 

It was/is.

 

Many times I have wondered, if Buddy had played a genre other then the big band jazz for which I knew him at the time, would the impact have been quite as strong?

 

Much as I was massively in awe John Bonham and particularly Ian Paice, the musical context of their playing didn’t move me half as much, and whilst my playing influences and wide ranging and almost incalculable, it is Buddy Rich and Buddy Rich alone to whom I owe my lifelong affinity with big band music. Rock and pop got me excited about the industry, but jazz, especially of the big band variety, made me want to play.

 

It’s worth remembering that the 70s produced a great deal of very good big band music. It was a time before post-modernism and forward thinking leaders and arrangers were keeping the music relevant. In addition to Buddy I soon discovered the then current incarnation of Woody Herman’s Herd, Maynard Ferguson, Stan Kenton, Thad/Mel, Don Ellis, Toshiko Akiyoshi, and a whole heap of top drawer American college bands from North Texas State One O’Clock Lab Band on downwards, but it was the music of the Buddy Rich Big band from 1966 onwards that provided the all-important gateway. That’s not to say that I didn’t develop an appreciation of Rich’s earlier work, but that would come later, and for all the excitement generated by the 1950s Verve imprints (play along with Verve Jam Session Vol 7 some time if you want to get a handle on swinging hard) for me it all begins with Swinging New Big Band.

 

The opening title, Bill Holman’s ‘Readymix’ is not so much an opening tune as a statement of intent. There’s almost a feeling of anger in Holman’s counterpoint and you hear a fresh, new orchestra with a point to prove. Buddy’s playing on this track in particular is like an accelerant, and sets fire to everything it touches. I love how he can sit on the front of the beat without speeding up (most of the time), but it’s a skill that big band drummers should use judiciously, and is perhaps best held in reserve for those days when you are meeting the band payroll yourself: suffice to say it doesn’t lend itself to an evening of melodies from the Glenn Miller era.

 

Now, let’s take a step further back in time to another Rich-led big band record date, ‘This One’s For Basie’. More than ten years prior to Swinging New Big Band but the 1966 Buddy Rich is a wildly more contemporary and hip sounding drummer then a decade previously. None of us can definitively say why (just like nobody knows quite how his left hand technique worked-videos with titles like ‘Buddy Rich’s Left Hand Technique Explained’ leave me somewhere between despairing and murderous; how Buddy’s left hand or for that matter any part of his playing worked is not the point, about which more later). The modernisation of style is self-evident. Was it the ascendancy of the likes of Joe Morello and Sonny Payne that made him dig deep into that vast reserve of talent to remind the young Turks of the status quo? (More than once I’ve heard it said of the Rich vs Roach session that Max finished in third place}. With nobody to answer these questions we have no choice but to resort to conjecture, but a listen through recordings of Buddy with Harry James between 1962 and 1966 clearly display a new stage in his evolution. The sound changes (thank you Remo!) and the unrelenting virtuosity of tracks like ‘Explosion’ (Chicago Opera House, October 2^nd 1955) remains, but seems somehow tempered with space, more considered, (‘Caravan’ August 1961) and becomes even more dazzling as a result. There’s a live recording of King Porter Stomp recorded at Chicago’s Holiday Ballroom with the James band that epitomises rhythmic hipness by today’s standards. What that must have sounded like to the ears of 1964 we can only imagine.

 

Key to all this though, is whatever modernisation, self-reinvention, or whatever you want to call it took place, he’s still unmistakeably Buddy Rich. Only once briefly was this not the case, the truly dreadful Buddy-Rich-Plays-Disco abomination ‘Speak No Evil’ possibly BR’s sole significant lapse of integrity as a recording artist. In fairness he was by no means alone. Jazz musicians were fair game for record labels looking for a cash-in; records like this could be recorded quickly and relatively inexpensively and who knows? Surprise chart success couldn’t be entirely ruled out. In case you don’t know this recording and I’ve piqued your curiosity I say one word to you. Avoid. Others may cite the MCA record from the early 80s, but I actually rather like the chart of Never Can Say Goodbye, even if Buddy’s tom sound is such that he could have probably got a similar result from playing the empty cases.

 

Similarly, with only slight and usually short-lived variations he stuck to the same, no-nonsense, simple drum set layout. I remember in about 1980 some friends had been in New York and came back to the UK having seen Buddy at the Bottom Line. We were told that he was “using concert toms” and nightmarish images haunted my young mind of a marine pearl Quadra Plus outfit replacing the much-loved ‘Krupa’ configuration (for that’s what it was). Having being previously alarmed by Roy Haynes’s flirtation with concert toms could Buddy have gone down the same pathway? Happily, not.

 

This brings me to another point, and it’s an important one.

 

Rich’s virtuosity was often a soft target for the self appointed jazz intelligentsia, the British journalist (and sometime drummer) Richard Williams is amongst the worst offenders, and many such chin strokers have wasted much copy bandying about a relatively limited repertoire of clichéd, unfounded and shallow barbs, so allow me if you will to take a moment to torpedo a handful of these right now.

 

‘Buddy Rich didn’t invent anything he played, he merely took from others’.

 

The great consolidator, Buddy took the best of everything that his late 1930s peer group could do, rolled it all into one and did it better. His playing of that era is full of all kinds of influences, from Krupa to Chick Webb, Tony Briglia to Jo Jones. Philly Joe Jones did something similar a couple of decades later where he tool all the best bits of  bop’s founding fathers and assimilated them in his own recognisable style. We all do this; it’s called being influenced. Not only that, in later years there are a number of things that appear in his playing that are his alone, and owe little or nothing to what went before.

Groove playing. 

How many times have I heard drummers say; 

“Buddy Rich couldn’t play rock”.  

My recollection is that I never heard him play anything other than jazz with jazz musicians. If there exist bootlegs of him jamming with Jimi Hendix, Moby Grape, or the 1910 Fruitgum Company for that matter I am happy to be enlightened. The self proclaimed ‘too hip for Buddy Rich’ brigade of drummers of the time (I could name names!) were quick to accept the received wisdom about this aspect of his playing, a point of view which history has comprehensively disproved. Like much of the jazz/rock crossover drumming of the late 60s there is a strong element of improvisation in the time feels, an unrelenting straight beat would have been way too vanilla for the context of the music. And as for some of those breaks, just check out the call-and –answer shout chorus on ‘Love and Peace’. I know those two bar phrases inside out and they still sound incredible. Testimony to this is the amount of times Buddy’s breaks and fills have been sampled by more contemporary artists.

 

The Jazz Waltz 

Undoubtedly the Shaw and Dorsey orchestras would have played in 3/4 for dancing but the jazz waltz came into vogue from the late 50s. Having a far from encyclopaedic knowledge of the Harry James repertoire I can’t be completely certain but it’s a fair bet that Buddy probably didn’t play a jazz waltz until his late 40s. Jazz drummers of the day, tended to play jazz waltzes like ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and ‘Someday My Prince Will Come’ with space and a lightness of touch. Contrast this with Buddy’s four-limbed turbocharged approach. It’s like harmony on the drumset rather than time with a few left hand comments. You can hear it in development on ‘Willowcrest’ (that eight bar solo would change beyond recognition on later versions) and it was fully formed by the time of recording ‘Preach and Teach’, 'Goodbye Yesterday' and ‘Ode to Billie Joe’ just a year later.

 

Right until the end there was ongoing development. The last time I saw him play on his final UK tour in late 1986 he came onstage and rather than setting the tempo for the opener on the hi hat, he began to play the ride cymbal instead. Then with his left hand he unleashed continuous eighth notes with syncopated accents. It was breathtaking and he had proved the point yet again before anyone else on stage had even played a note.

 

Imitate then innovate 

Over the years I’ve seen a number of players who had Buddy’s style down cold, which is without doubt an extraordinary achievement however you look at it. For myself I’ve always had enough trouble sorting out my own solos never mind playing anyone else’s, but listening to Buddy and other early influences instilled in me the habit of reverse engineering, whereby I would strip back an idea I liked in order to get to the root of it, and then look at all sorts of different ways in which the idea could be extrapolated. I remember mixing a Buddy idea with one of Gary Chaffee’s concepts years and years ago and I still haven’t worn it out. Listen first, the listen some more and then learn how to learn. That’s the point.

 

I’ve never tired of those great big band records of the 60s, 70s and 80s considering that some of that music has been part of my life for nearly half a century. There isn’t much music that many people listened to through their childhood and adolescence that is still so cool. After he passed I didn’t listen for a very long time until the Pacific Jazz reissues appeared with all the missing tracks that we had known about for years, but that all changed about a decade ago.

 

Having a long established track record as a big band leader myself there had often been requests to play ‘hit’ tunes associated with other bands, and Buddy’s repertoire was always very close to the top of that list. Always I had resisted as my modus operandi as leader was to showcase new musicians playing and recording work by new or little-known writers.

 

That all changed in 2006 when I got calls to appear on a couple of drum shows, the condition being that the content would include some of ‘Buddy’s Greatest Hits’. So well received were these performances that Tony Bennett’s former manager Derek Boulton offered me a UK tour headlining in theatres if I was prepared to do something similar. How long do you think I took to consider that decision?

 

For my own amusement I ditched the double bass drum pedal and secondary ride cymbal and got hold of a period correct set of Slingerlands for that cool, classic look. I don’t consider myself a ‘heritage’ player and big band accounts for probably only about fifteen percent of my work as a freelance professional but to have been gifted with opportunities like these helped me to connect with all the reasons I wanted to learn to play in the first place, something which every player should always keep in mind.

 

In conclusion a personal reminiscence

 

Years ago the BBC used to run an annual big band competition, and as well as winning bands there were prizes awarded to individual players, so it was quite a coup aged just 16 to be awarded with the Jack Parnell prize for best drummer. This was quite prestigious and I was featured in the newspapers, on television and radio. A few months after all this palaver Buddy’s band were playing in the UK and I went to the concert in Nottingham. The promoter knew me because of my recent glancing brush with success and arranged for me to meet Buddy prior to the concert. To my embarrassment the concert promoter proceeded to regale Buddy with full details of my recent achievements and alleged prowess. Buddy very graciously congratulated me, and asked if I would like to sit in (!)

 

I knew he had hung one or two over confident young players out to dry so thinking quickly I responded thus; 

“Oh no, these people have come to listen to you, they don’t want to hear me”. 

He gave me that look, wished me luck in the industry and then went out and played with a casual, almost nonchalant virtuosity, which no one who ever saw him at the peak of his powers will ever forget.

 

Thank you Buddy Rich. If it hadn’t have been for you, I wouldn’t be me.

And Now, For Younger Viewers......

When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me, so goes the oft quoted passage from the First Book of Corinthians, which was not written by J K Rowling in case you don't know.

Mainstream news media, especially the absurdly bloated national broadcaster, have been going big on the latest actor to take over the role of Doctor Who, and the fact that this undoubtedly estimable thespian just so happens to be female. Many of us have been asked the question

"Would you prefer a male or female doctor"

at one time or another, and quite honestly I think the Beeb have missed a trick, and that an opportunity for a full-blown plebiscite has been lost. Imagine the build up, hustings, debates, polls about polls about exit polls and a blow by blow run down as the nation decides this matter of the gravest constitutional importance.

Perhaps it would result in another 52/48, with the wrong choice of Doctor Who ruining the future for our children and grandchildren, or maybe Jeremy Corbyn could be the successor to the time lord, which would for a whole variety of reasons probably bring great joy to a great many people.

I remember watching Doctor Who when I was about eight years old, when the ever-so-slightly camp John Pertwee inhabited the title role, and a year or so later the return of the daleks made the cover of the Radio Times, although my recollection is that it didn't trouble the autocue of Reginald Bosanquet and Sandy Gall so much as once. I'm sure John Craven's Newsround would have covered it and possibly Newsbeat on Radio 1, two strands that had been introduced to foster an interest in current affairs amongst younger people, which is a perfectly worthy undertaking, though personally I had long been a devotee of ITN news, primarily because the theme music was so good.

Back then the distinction between children's programmes and the rest of the broadcast output was perfectly clear, and your parents would watch you watching them, with occasional interjections along the lines of

"That's nice dear"

when one's excitement had risen to fever pitch as Joe 90 had single-handedly thwarted an international spy ring with nothing more than a pair of special glasses.

 Nowadays though it seems that certain children's programmes, of which Doctor Who is perhaps the standout example, are watched and taken quite seriously by a much broader age range of viewer, in much the same way as it is hardly unprecedented to see men in business suits reading Harry Potter novels in first class train carriages. I can remember probably exactly forty years ago when at school we each had to talk about our hobbies (I talked about drums and big band jazz it won't surprise you to learn) one classmate talked about the DWAS (Doctor Who Appreciation Society, Paul Tipton was his name as it happens) and was chastised in a torrent of adolescent vitriol by the entire class for his lack of maturity in choice of viewing, the collective opinion being that it was 'for children'.

Personally the fourteen year old me couldn't wait to grow up, put on a good suit and learn to drive a car. I admired grown up music and grown up women, but with just days remaining until the fortieth anniversary (August 1977) of my first 'grown up' gig with adult musicians and for proper money I can't help but contemplate how different what the world had to offer was, and if what we had to look forward to was in some ways better.

Rock, paper, sticks.

If you are not a drummer stop reading this now.
Do something else, make something nice to eat, read a book, walk the dog or watch TV.

Okay, now they've all gone we can continue.

So, tell me, what sort of sticks do you use?

Now tell me why.
I've used the same model for at least a decade. They're very traditional, general purpose, useful in pretty much any situation and medium weight, a bit like me in other words.

But there's a problem.
They're no longer 'the ones'. My unswerving fidelity and occasional passion for this model has disappeared like Charles Ryder's love for the army.

I started on a new batch and nothing seemed right, to the point where last night I kept picking up different pairs throughout the show trying to find something that felt right and would enable me to play as I wished, but to no avail.

The epiphany occured during the drive back to Suusex when I realised that it's not them, it's me. I've outgrown them and it has been a long, slow process the first steps of which were taken in 2002.

That year I had the call to replace the legendary Ronnie Verrell in the Best of British Jazz group. It felt like being elevated to the peerage. They could have had anyone they wanted and they asked me. Wow.

It was very much a part of the show to include a big and lengthy drum solo towards the end of the night and one particular evening in Radlett I decided that I needed to do something.
By the time the drum feature came around my hands were tired. Not serious pain so much as an aching fatigue, but it was enough to prompt me to take action. I went home from that show and commenced the process of completely dismantling and rebuilding my chops, with no guarantee of a result. Scary.
It was a while coming but the key step was to make the fulcrum as relaxed as possible, and even more importantly that when the stick strikes the playing surface there should be absolutely no tension.

I often refer to this as a 'soft landing' and here's a little video about it from last year. A more comprehensive explanation of this and related concepts will be included in my forthcoming DVD.

The next step was to shift from a two finger 'pinch point' and develop what I like to call the enhanced fulcrum. This involves gripping and supporting the stick through the whole hand, with particular emphasis on developing the role of the middle and ring fingers. Nothing new there, lots of players do this already,  but the difference is that I do this with traditional grip and have developed the ability to actually change the fulcrum whilst playing. It has brought with it a whole new take on finger control too.

Has it made me play any faster? Probably not but I'm not all that bothered. The difference it has made is to my endurance, control and quality of sound, but my hands have developed such strength that I'm going to have to find a bigger stick, as the 5A feels like a knitting needle now.

Beacause of the quest for complete relaxation all the energy is at the beginning of each stroke, effectively I'm throwing the sticks at the instrument, but my very closed yet ultra relaxed hold on the sticks means they stay under control, but finding the optimum weight and density is the task now. Years ago I discovered a particular maple stick favoured by the late, great Bob Armstrong and I used them for ages. About two weeks ago I happened to pick up a pair at Lee Smith's studio and it was like trying to play with two feather dusters, way too light.

Just like clothes and shoe size your sticks should fit you. If you are fortunate enough that the signature model of your favourite player works for you then that's great, but you are not built like them and what meets their various needs may not be right for you. You may have to accept the uncomfortable truth that the signature model of a player whose band and style you absolutely loathe suits your hands perfectly. Deal with it.

And that reminds me of my friend Steve Celentano. Steve's Dad was part of the security detail to a certain Francis Albert Sinatra and one day Steve and a pal has gone along with Pop to where the Chairman was performing a show. Sinatra would use touring bands augmented with his own section leaders, rhythm section and conductor and the Count Basie Orchestra was the band of choice this particular day. When no one was looking Steve and his pal purloined drum sticks off Harold Jones's floor tom, and a couple of years ago Steve sent the sticks to me as a gift. They are Rogers Buddy Rich model and I couldn't play with them if my life depended upon it. They're so light I feel like they're not there, but when you consider the power and virtuosity in evidence on the Swinging New Big Band and Big Swing Face records, to say nothing of the legendary 5am collaboration with Sammy Davis Jnr, all quite probably using a stick that I can't even feel, it just goes to prove the point that all of this is about personal preference, and just because one of your heroes favours something does not mean it will work for you. Be influenced and admire, but be yourself and make your own choices.

So I'm sitting here wondering what sort of stick will fit the bill. Should I go back to oak, following a casual dalliance in the 1990s? My hands are extremely large so weight and density are pivotal. Here's a picture of one of them.......

I think half a day at Bell Percussion is probably going to be called for, meanwhile I'm conducting an experiment into mass and velocity using a screwed up ball of paper, a small rock and a wood tip 5A.

For details about any of my bands, guest appearances, private lessons, masterclasses etc, contact me here 

Warning, Experts Approaching (part 1)

Sometimes my blogs are about drums, sometimes the wider music industry. On other occasions drums and music are convenient metaphors for a whole range of wider issues. This is one such post.

Fake news and alternate facts are nothing new, they've been around forever. They have merely been rebranded and were formally known as opinions, or lies in some cases. Whether is international political policy decisions that effect millions of people or something altogether more prosaic somebody's always trying to further a personal agenda for one potentially devious reason or another, if only to bolster a fragile ego.

Look around you, it's everywhere.


Expertise is a quality conferred upon us by others; if it's self proclaimed there's a real possibility of it counting  for nothing.
I wonder sometimes if the definition of an expert is anyone who knows a fraction more about any given subject than we know ourselves.
'According to experts' say the newspapers about virtually everything from the occurrence of haemorrhoids to the severity of hurricanes or worse predicted outcomes in the economy, and yet so often these feted, highly remunerated types turn out to be close to one hundred percent wrong. It is of course not possible to be one hundred percent wrong about anything, anymore than it is possible to be completely right. No absolutes. Between 1 and 99 percent.

Not that long ago a certain politician spoke for many when he said that we had "had enough of experts" and setting the context of his point to one side for a moment if a broader view is taken I find myself largely in agreement. At the time of writing we are in a particularly unsettled period in the UK given the political climate together with recent events that have shocked the nation. Facebook is awash with secondhand opinions and statistics that are swallowed whole with a gullibility bordering on the ovine. Aspects of the music industry also function in very much the same way.

Musicians just like politicians can be the cause of great divisions of opinion. The are a number of highly acclaimed and undoubtedly skilled players of our instrument who simply don't move me. It isn't that I don't get it, because rest assured I do, it's just that the end result leaves me a little cold, but that's fine and in no way does it diminish the quality of the players in question. This being Buddy Rich's centenary year I have been asked to write a number of pieces about him and one of the themes that comes up repeatedly is for all his demonstrable uber virtuosity even he was not to everyone's taste. I was an avid follower of his work especially in the early 1980s and the vast majority of my fellow drummers of a similar age all thought they were too cool, and that Buddy was old fashioned and unhip. History has of course proved them wrong. Personal taste or preference is another matter altogether. The legendary bandleader Benny Goodman apparently wasn’t interested in auditioning Buddy in 1938 when his superstar drummer left the firm to branch out as a leader in his own right, and for his entire life held firm to the opinion that Gene Krupa was head and shoulders above everybody.

Subjective appraisal is not fact. Take that on board before reading further.

Not so many years ago a musician friend of a similar age told me that the 'best drummer he had ever heard' was someone who had been in the year above him at college. Two things struck me as interesting; firstly that my friend was absolutely one hundred perecnt sure of the quality of judgement of his eighteen year old self (we were both in our early 40s when the conversatiion took place). Secondly, my friend not being a drummer seemed to have no awareness that his lack of expert, inside, specific knowledge of the necessary techniques and mechanics required to play the drums in any way diluted the potency of his opinion. I have my opinions about players of other instruments naturally, we all do, but I'll always defer to my expert friends who have taken the time to master those instruments themselves. They know more than I do. Fact.

Another contentious issue amongst musicians can be time. Rhythm section players, bass players and drummers especially carry much of the responsibility for maintaining time. If we're smart it is the single thing we spend most of our practice hours working on, because more than anything it's what people want from us. I have seen many drummers with superhuman facility who never quite figured out when to put their chops in their back pocket and wondered why they didn't work as much as they might have wished. The out of context and unnecessary drum fill is like a form of musical tourettes.

Once or twice in the studio I have seen great players totally wrong footed by this. I can think of two specific occasions where the music in question was to be recorded to a click or a backing track. Both times for one reason or another it was mooted that the rhythm section lay out in order for the rest of the band to record certain parts in isolation. The result on both occasions was utter carnage and about as accurate as an indoor sundial.

Another memorable occasion was also on a session where a young arranger had brought in some charts. They were without exception fantastic, superbly conceived and scored. However, one particular chart caused the arranger considerable consternation and he became increasingly agitated, saying that the chart was "racing away". There was no click involved, and the percussionist got out a metronome to check the tempo at the beginning of the next take. It was 82 bpm. Four and a half minutes later at the end of the take he checked it again. 83 bpm. That equates to racing away by 0.2% of a beat per minute, approximately, but the arranger was convinced that he was hearing a marked increase in tempo that we knew simply was not there. Trust your rhythm section. We're here to help.

You can fool some of the people some of the time.........

There are a number of my fellow drummers who proclaim to be experts in 'vintage playing'. There is somewhat more to it than playing a 65 year old drumset and wearing some retro spectacles but a surprising number of people fall for this. Putting calfskin heads on your drums will in no way compensate for a lack of 'touch'. It's the man behind the gun who counts, and no amount of aged marine pearl will compensate for knowledge gaps, but again people are often fooled. Once on a big band rehearsal leader Jay Craig called an old Gene Krupa chart entitled 'Stop, the Red Light's On'. There was an eight bar break midway through the chart and I summoned up some key elements of Krupa's sound and style. Jay loved it so much that he asked me if I would write the fill into the chart which I declined to do, as mere rhythmic notation alone would not convey the sound and inflection necessary for authenticity. Twenty per cent technique, eighty per cent ear, as a general rule. As a compromise I wrote my phone number on the chart in case help was  needed.

A particular favourite vintage drum anecdote comes from a benefit gig some years ago. There were three or four of us drummers on the bill, and I was to play first. I offered my at the time brand new DW drum set to the other players for their use. The drummer following immediately after insisted on using his vintage drums, in this case as he put it a "67 Ludwig jazzette". Not in any way offended I put my drums away and cleared some space. He opened his cases and out came some rewrapped Ludwig drums circa 1984. The white marine pearl was clearly not Ludwig (lacking that distinctive 'horizontal' pattern to say nothing of the fact that the original Jazzette sets were not available in this finish). The lugs on the 12" tom were the same size as all the others, completely wrong for the period, and the keystone badge was the large, reissue version that appeared circa 1984. I could go on. Whether my friend had convinced himself that he had bought vintage or if he had been conned by an unscrupulous vendor is almost impossible to say, but he had repeated the misinformation to himself to the point where he actually believed it.

Just Because I'm Famous Means I Know More Than You.........Wrong.

I spent much of the late 70s and early 80s in the Midlands Youth Jazz Orchestra. It was a very happy time and I learned a lot. The opportunity to play really demanding charts was so valuable as was the chance to accompany the many guest artists who would appear with the band.
I've always had a strong capacity for recall and have whole swathes of big band charts committed to memory. The confidence this brings came in really handy on one particular occasion. We had a big name guest and were playing a chart called Chief's Blues composed by Rich Shanklin. The guest star had a solo on this piece which ended abruptly and was followed immediately by a four bar drum solo. The guest star couldn't get his head around this and kept running over. The whole band knew the chart inside out and knew the guest star was wrong,  but even in light of this he asserted that his mistake was somehow my fault. If this had happened in a different situation his perceived greater standing in the industry could have made his spurious argument winnable, so if you are ever in a room with important players and one of them tries to point the finger at you don't be afraid to stand your ground if you are sure you are right. Keeping quiet and saying nothing could potentially hinder your career advancement, so speak up.

Sometimes it's personal and there's not a lot you can do about it other than walk away. In the mid 90s a band I depped for from time to time had a fallout with their drummer. I subsequently learned that although the leader was very keen to hire me one of the band members lobbied very hard for someone else, undoubtedly a most capable player but no longer in the industry. Someone else's opinion and willingness to express it repeatedly cost me a lot of work and a lot of money, nevertheless  the important thing was that I am still here and I didn't allow it to knock my confidence and determination to advance myself.

Self belief is important as is the ability to constructively doubt yourself. There is something very liberating about knowing that part of what you are doing could be improved upon, together with the knowledge of what you have to do in order to attain that goal. Finding and maintaining this all important balance will take you a long way.

I remember a conversation with a very learned rabbi a couple of decades ago who also happened to be a musician. He said that one of his favourite answers to especially perplexing theological questions was "I don’t have the knowledge" as it gave him the impetus to study further.

When you know what you don't know, that's one giant step closer to expertise.
What this all boils down to is belief versus doubt. Once you are confident enough to be comfortable with the element of doubt you've got the game won.

Is it better to be absolutely convinced of your point of view or is a shred of reasonable doubt to be recommended?

I'm not sure, you tell me.

Incidentally, I know at least three drummers who believe themselves to be the 'world's best', each one of them is wrong to a greater or lesser extent.

The more I write about this the more I find there is to write, so stick around for part 2.

5000 Thanks

Everything starts with a thought.

I've been doing what I do for north of fifty years.
I was hand drumming before I even picked up a pair of sticks. If you doubt me take a look at this...

Whilst never having played on chart topping records, composed anything, or performed sold out arena tours I nevertheless feel moderately successful. I never managed to work my way into the midsts of the self-selecting elite. It's fine, I like things the way they are. Of course as we all know success in creative endeavour does in no way necessarily equate to money. I have many wealthy friends for whom contentment is frustratingly elusive.

For many years now but especially in the last decade I have been fortunate enough to carve out a niche in the drum industry, and one of the most gratifying aspects of this is to have the opportunity to share knowledge and information with my fellow players. Private teaching, masterclasses and drum camps are great but there's only one of me and I can only be in one place at any given time.

More and more I was being asked about the possibility of producing some sort of instructional video material, and whilst I have been compiling all sorts of ideas for projects over years and years there's always that tax bill,  car service, dental work or whatever that gets in the way.

At first crowdfunding didn't really appeal, but what with some of the biggest names in my area of the industry blazing a trail I thought maybe I ought to give it a go after all. What I hadn't for a moment considered was the sheer scale of support, the overwhelming  feeling of goodwill and just how many thoroughly decent people have been willing this to succeed.

It's quite a feeling let me tell you, in addition it feels much more like a collective effort, and if you have any suggestions or requests regarding content I'd be only too happy to consider them.

If I had massive wealth either via family or extraordinary commercial success I could have put my hand in my pocket and just done it without the assistance,  but without the assistance it would feel a whole lot less exciting and special. All manner of people from close friends to people I only know on Facebook have made over 100 contributions of varying amounts all of which are valued and sincerely appreciated.

Not everyone is in a position to do this but many have made invaluable contributions of a different kind by liking and sharing my seemingly endless attempts at raising awareness.  I'm not the most comfortable self-publicist but sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and do it. "He who whispers down the well......" so begins the old adage.

Obviously given the relatively modest budget I won't be able to take my big band into the studio to film and record what we do. Big band playing will be a part of the DVD content though, together with hand techniques and drum set concepts.
If this first outing does the job I can't rule out a more lavishly produced sequel featuring performances by my esteemed musician colleagues.
Also there are several books part finished so maybe I'll be able to get on with them at last!

Once again heartfelt thanks to everyone who has played a part in this success, the crowdfunding initiative remains live and full details are here.

The Wisdom of Crowdfunding and a Life Changing Few Quid

As a great many of you will be aware I recently took my first step into the world of crowdfunding. At the time of writing the campaign has been running for a little over a week and a half. The response has been amazing and I am sincerely appreciative of everyone who has either contributed or helped to spread the word. Even just sharing a link to my page is a massive help.

Like everyone else I had watched the growth of crowdfunding sites and have contributed to several projects, usually jazz musicians recording exciting and innovative new music which otherwise might not get a hearing.  I recently made a small contribution to a great young jazz artist who has composed and recorded some exceptional music, and it was this project in particular that prompted me to give it a go for myself.

Like most musicians I do not have vast reserves of cash washing around which I can spend to indulge my creative whims, and this is very often the key hurdle to developing new work. Indeed, a fellow drummer who is one of the most revered players on the scene (himself a successful crowdfunder) told me a couple of years ago that he "couldn't afford to retire". In spite of what you might think we're not all mansion dwelling millionaires. Most players are working all the hours God sends in order to sustain themselves and support their families.

So, what to do? For a long tme I have fielded many requests about potential projects; from recording new big band music, recording old big band music, putting on concerts, producing a multi media training pack for big band drummers and so  on. Perhaps as a result of my growing profile as an educator in the last little while there has been considerable interest in the prospect of doing an instructional DVD. As you will probably be aware the last option was the one I chose to pursue, and you may well be wondering why.

The answer is simply that  I have spent several decades developing and refining a whole range of techniques and concepts for drummers, and although nothing is ever completely unique in our world my ideas are quite unlike anything else I have seen out there, and having seen the benefit to so many students over the years I thought it was probably high time I distilled the best of it into something that might be of use to present and future generations of drummers. Just like everyone else I can't be in more than one place at any given time so it seemed like a logical next step. Also given the huge interst in drumming I have witnessed in China it is my intention to have a Mandarin soundtrack option too. Does anyone know a bilingual drummer with a good speaking voice??

It's not the first time that I have funded a project via an external source. In the dying days of the pre Blair Tory government some bright spark thought it might be a good idea to get rid of some of the enormous cash surplus that was washing around (remember the 'war chest' anyone?) by allowing indviduals and community organisations to apply for small amounts of funding up to ( as I reacll) a maximum of £5000.

The initiative was called Arts for All and it changed my life completely.

A four thousand pound grant enabled me to take the big band into the studio and make our first album. The timing was perfect as the band had been playing regularly for about two and a half years, was sounding great and had established a repertoire of its own. Without that funding the first album simply would not have happened. At the time it was pivotal as the CD release was the key to stepping up a gear from the Sunday lunchtime London jazz gig circuit to better venues, festivals and radio airplay. Perhaps more significantly the whole emphasis of my professional life began slowly to shift, and something that we did for fun on a Tuesday morning or a Sunday afternoon began to become the Magnetic North of my career, and the path to all kinds of opportunities I couldn't have forseen when we decided to 'get together for a blow' on a wintry Tuesday in early 1995.

Apart from a small touring grant a couple of years later I never sought any further arts funding. My belief is that if a small injection of public finance is enough to get a new project off the ground and if it can subsequently go on to be self-sustaining then that is a close to perfect scenario.

That's the way it was back then before the internet took over the world. Even twenty years ago though things had come a long way from the days when your fate as a performing artist was in the hands of a rich, fat man with a big cigar. Small independent record labels and self-starting musicians had gradually liberated jazz from the increasingly commercially driven agenda of what we used to call major record labels. The closed shop of old had become an open market but was as nothing compared to the opportunities and freedom available to creative people in 2017. Back in the 90s without the support of Jazzizit records and the Arts Council I could not have got off the starting blocks, but now I can and so can you.

Having spent several months working on my proposal prior to launching, this whole process has been thought provoking to say the least, and it led me to reflect not for the first time upon the power of the internet and specifically its impact upon me personally.

For me the first game changer was Youtube. Having released the first two albums and played a huge number of shows the band had become a fixture on the UK jazz scene but the reach was decidedly limited. When it was still in its infancy over a decade ago I digitised some old VHS tapes of live performances and put them out there to see what might happen. Over a period of time, by no means over night, I began to connect with more and more people around the globe, especially in the USA and much more recently a series of drum instructional  videos produced to promote the band's 20th anniversary concert has had tens of thousands of views and left me inundated with requests for individual lessons and drum show appearances from Stafford to Shanghai.

So the internet gave me the opportunity to reach a wider audience, but it was social media that enabled me to retain that audience. Now, through the contemporary phenomenon of crowdfunding anyone with an idea they would like to bring to fruition can involve the end user from the earliest stage of the production process, and this is exactly what I have done. From a producer or executive producer credit to having some influence on the content of the finished production this endeavour is to some extent a collective effort.

 In the simplest terms, for someone like me crowdfunding creates the opportunity to offer an audience the facility to buy into a proposed future production, and in the event that insufficient people do then it's up to me to have a rethink and come up with something that the audience actually wants.

This strikes me as a very positive development and gives me good reason to be optimistic about the future of our creative and cultural well-being. Also it helps a little bit to level the age old playing field where familiy wealth and or connections all too often trump talent and merit.

My thanks to everyone who has helped with this both by pledging support and helping to spread the word. truly I couldn't do it without you, but wihout you there wouldn't be a whole lot of point.

The crowdfunding page can be found here.

We Do Play Requests......

As many of you know I took my first steps in the world of crowdfunding earlier this week and the response so far has been little short of remarkable.

The content of the dvd is something I have been working on for many years and the trick now is to distill ideas, concepts and techniques into a finished product that will be as beneficial as possible to drummers of every stripe. Invariably in clinics and personal tuition I find myself stating that very little of what we do is actually 'genre specific' and that there are a relatively small  number of key criteria in playing from which everything else stems.

So, drummers, in order to best reflect the truly democratic nature of crowdfunding I am only too happy to consider suggestions (legal and decent please 😆) with regard to topics for inclusion.

We do play requests, so feel free.

Crowdfunding campaign is here......https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/pete-cater-drum-instruction-dvd-music-jazz/x/15946557#/