Rabbit & Pork

I was recently made aware (by Hudson Music) of two new instructional drum DVDs called Drumsense Vol 1 & 2. They are created by Colin Woolway, the guy who writes an excellent monthly drum lesson column in Rhythm Magazine, which I’ve been pursuing, time permitting.

I couldn’t actually find the DVDs on Hudson’s site, nor on Drumsense.com so assume they’re not released yet. A quick Google found the following site who claim availability on 13th Nov 2006 whilst Musicroom.com allow you to order now.

It’s a mystery as to whether they’re out or not, but I intend to purchase based on Colin’s other work.

This one’s called “Replay x 3″ featuring the Grace Under Pressure Tour, Exit… Stage Left, and A Show of Hands concerts filmed in the 1980s. We get to hear yet more of Neil Peart in 5.1 surround

Full details here. amazon.co.uk have a UK release date 24th July 06 and are selling at the very reasonable price of £14.99.

What! I’ve just turned on BBC1 and caught the latest “celebrity sing-song career revival knockout” reality tv show called ‘Just the Two of Us’. Who’s one of the judges? Stewart Copeland - yes, the guy who started and played drums for The Police.

Stewart - What are you doing? Stop it. Please. Now.

Nice. Very nice.

Wow, what an evening. Having not really appreciated Jazz before, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the music on offer. I could almost become a convert.

First part of the evening, Peter Erskine was interviewed by Neil Percy (principal percussionist with the LSO and head of the Timpani and Percussion Department at the Royal Academy of Music - the venue for the evening). An interesting conversation, which included some nuggets such as the time one his tutors asked him on their first meeting to play every note of an excercise incorrectly. Reluctantly he did so, and was then asked to look out of the window to describe the scene - of course, even though he couldn’t play any worse, the world outside continued as usual. Something for all of us learning the art to consider.

Then, Peter played with his trio, The Lounge Art Ensemble (Saxophonist - Bob Sheppard, Bassist - Dave Carpenter) who effortlessly knocked out some selections from their new album “Music for Moderns”. The striking aspect for me was the dynamic range shown on the drums - I’m used to people going at it - volume 11. His jazz oriented kit (Yamaha drums, Zildjian cymbals) demonstrated very clearly the different sounds that can be produced when played appropriately. The six string bass was also slightly alarming.

After a short break, Peter was joined by 20 or so musicians who were students in the Jazz and Percussion departments at the Royal Academy. They played a number of pieces (written by Peter, arranged by others) and to be honest, this was just astounding. The combination of talent and variety of music was stunning. Play list: Plan 9 - Scotland, Africa - Northern Cross - Song for Jaco (Song for a Friend) - Bulgaria - Not a Word - Sweet Soul - To be or not to be.

I’m not about to rush out and buy a pile of Jazz albums, but the evening has certainly given me some insight into this new world and different style of drumming.

The following pictures were found on my camera, 4 months after taking them at Drummer Live 05. They’re of Gregg Bissonette…

If you’d like a copy of the originals, send an e-mail or leave a comment.

I’ve just booked tickets to see Peter Erskine (who’s well known in the Jazz world) - it’s a genre I know nothing about, but it’s gonna be interesting to see how this part of the drumming world differs from everyday rock & pop.

The venue is particularly impressive. It can be seen here (click on original building -> then ground floor -> then Duke’s Hall on the right).

From the Royal Academy website…

Monday 13th February
7:30pm
Duke’s Hall (Royal Academy of Music)

An Evening with Peter Erskine

Programme to include:

Peter Erskine Fanfare; Plan 9; Sweet Soul; Not A Word; Scotland, Africa; Northern Cross; Song For A Friend (Song For Jaco); When You Are Old (brass quintet); To Be Or Not To Be; Bulgaria

The world-renowned drummer Peter Erskine has collaborated with many seminal figures in jazz and contemporary music, including Joe Zawinul in Weather Report, Mike Manieri and Michael Brecker in Steps Ahead and, more recently, Mark-Anthony Turnage. Peter is a prolific composer in his own right and this concert will feature his music for various ensembles. In the first half of the concert, Peter will be interviewed by Neil Percy, Principal Percussionist with the LSO and Head of Timpani and Percussion at the Academy.

This last Friday, Karen and I went to see Ian Paice at a local venue. I’ve seen Ian once before, performing an excellent duet with Chad Smith (RHCP). Again, Ian played with control & feel and pace when required.

The evening consisted of:

• Ian improvising on his kit
• Questions from the audience
• A demonstration of his one-handed roll
• A mini gig (with fellow members from Deep Purple, Whitesnake)
• A raffle - one day I may get lucky

The gig was light-hearted; consisting of a wide range of songs including some classics such as Fool for your Loving and Smoke on the Water! as well as a completely unrehearsed rendition of BB King’s Hound Dog - which they nailed.

All profits from the event were donated to DrumWright’s adopted charity, Tong-Len, which supports primary education for highly deprived children in Northern India.

As I had hoped, I received the above DVD just before my Christmas break, providing time to watch it in full.

Of course, if you’re a Neil Peart fan, you’ll already have the DVD and love it. I do. The packaging is wonderful - two DVDs, a booklet of fantastic photos all housed in a sleek, shiny fold-out box. The DVD itself has a highly polished opening menu. Time has obviously been put into the production of this item.

The main event has Neil decompose his “Der Trommler” (german for The Drummer?) drum solo into about five main parts. Each part is shown from the original performance, with Neil’s usual insights provided, followed by an in-studio performance. My only gripe is that I wanted Neil to open up just a bit more - I wanted to know more about the influences / ideas behind the composition, and what technically is happending. It can feel like you’re seeing the same thing repeated again and again.

Still, there are plenty of other goodies - my favourites are:

- the two exploration stints, each have Neil jamming on the kit for about half an hour each

- the interview with Paul Northfield (co-producer and engineer) & Lorne Wheaton (drum tech)

- Lorne setting up and talking about Neil’s awesome kit

This DVD is a must for any Neil Peart fan - hopefully, others will follow - I really would like to see a tutorial of sort - but that isn’t going to happen.

This is the title of Neil Peart’s new DVD release. From the website…

“Presents newly-recorded, in-studio footage of Neil discussing, in detail, his approach to soloing. Using a solo recorded in September, 2004 in Frankfurt, Germany, as a framework, Neil talks about each segment of this nine-minute tour de force that is a feature of each Rush performance. He describes the inspiration and the conceptual thinking behind each part of the solo and discusses, and often demonstrates, the technique necessary for playing that segment.”

http://www.hudsonmusic.com/DVD/peart_anatomy.html

I’ve seen various release dates, all around December of this year, but having just checked the above page you can now order even for us non-US types.

So, I’ve ordered, perhaps it will arrive for Christmas. I’ll review it some time.