Sacrifices and Musical Reward

There is going to be a special moment in any true musicians life. A moment when you feel that pull of music, a force that will pull you away from the concept of a normal life, as you foster that force you will begin to notice how much sacrifice you are willing to accept to chase music’s pulling force.

I have felt that pull and with it I have endured my own sacrifices for music.  My first major challenge was handing over my interests in a successful and growing company.  Since then I have sacrificed so many facets attributed to a normal life.  Now in my early thirties I have no home, no wife, and no kids.  I lack so many of the possessions a person of my age should have.  In some sense of the word I have become a gypsy roaming from gig to gig.  But, with those sacrifices I have seen what I consider great rewards.  I have seen the world and met many interesting individuals along the way. Perhaps the greatest thing I have received is the music, be it playing in a small club to a few patrons or rocking thousands after they have demanded another encore.  I guess it is these small playing moments that make all the sacrifices worthwhile, for these small moments are something very few will ever experience.

Just the other evening I had one of these small moments.  A terrible illness had grounded our bandleader and front man, leaving the rest of us to make up a set of songs with what we had.  And, I have to say we rose to the challenge.

The first thing I must point out is that our regular show band consists of a repertoire of dance and top 40 hits from the 60’s to today.  Songs such as My Girl, Mustang Sally, and Pretty Woman, but without Jim’s leadership and vocal abilities these songs are difficult to achieve, so to make the evening successful the band changed up gears in moments. 

The bass player Brad and I made our way to the hotels five star dining room and approached pianist Greg Goodwin about helping us out.  With his acceptance we were able to match his amazing piano voicings with saxophonist EJ Hughes smooth style, Brad’s tick tock time and my old school jazz brushwork into a night of contemporary smooth jazz that was not only well received, but also well enjoyed.

I guess it is strange to say that all of those sacrifices were vindicated by such a small experience, but they were.  It is a powerful feeling as a musician to walk into an evening preparing for a train wreck only to have your musical brothering and your own skills reach the surface and show you just what you are made of musically, and what you have earned.  

1980's The Drumming Importance of Michael

In this installment of our great drummers of each decade series we find ourselves in the 1980’s.  There are dozens of great drummers from this era.  Lars Ulrich of Metallica, Dave Lombardo of Slayer, even Phil Collins became a household drummer name thanks to his sweet sounding gated reverb tom fills from “In the air tonight.”

As I researched the 1980’s I came across Michael Jacksons “Thriller” album and I feel that this album can help any drummer of any style to succeed because it touches on the fundamental lesson of our craft.  The dance.

Drumming is the eldest instrument, even outdating the voice.  It represents the heartbeat and in the most indigenous tribes of Africa the drummer is regarded with supreme authority because only he can speak with the God’s.  When the drummer or drummers played the tribe danced honoring the Gods.

It seems that in today’s competitive driven world we as drummers have overlooked that fundamental lesson in our craft.  We strive now to be the fastest or the one with the most blazing fill.  We forget that we are there to support the tribe, in this case the band and the audience. In doing that it means we must mature at our craft taking away ego driven fills and tempos and replacing them with movement and space. 

I chose “Thriller” for the 80’s because it is not the drummer I seek to listen to.  It is the immortal Michael Jackson.  In this tribe he is the leader of the drum circle and we must support him.  In return we shall dance!