What do you get when you morph Dennis Chambers with a twelve year old? Check out Tony Royster Jr. ripping it up at a drum festival. That’s what you get. It is almost unbelievable. He dedicates his performance to the great Tony Williams by throwing in a few Tony Williams signature tom/snare combinations to boot! The linear beats towards the end of the eight minute video are bad to the bone.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1887293651082720270
Want to learn funk licks from the masters? This is the DVD. Clyde Stubblefield and John “Jab’o” Starks… period! That’s all you need to say. Clyde and Jab’o take you through the funkiest of James Brown’s most sampled grooves… “Funky Drummer”, “I Got the Feelin'”, “Mother Popcorn” and the list goes on. There are also live performances with Fred Wesley, Fred Thomas, John Scofield, and John Medeski. Just being able to learn the “Funky Drummer” groove from the masters is enough reason to pick up this DVD.
One of the most inspirational DVDs I have come across is definately Steve Jordan’s ‘The Groove is Here’. Set in New York City, it documents Steve’s thoughts on groove, timing, and playing music. There are excellent in-studio performances with Danny Kortchmar and Bernie Worrell, plus interviews with Steve and friends he has worked with. Levon Helm(The Band) is a highlight! As is the realization of the length of a quarter note… invaluable. This is not a “let me show you how to play a million notes in one measure” DVD, it is about being a musician first, and a grooving drummer second.
Although I mostly use and endorse Yamaha Drums and Grover Pro Drums, I recently picked up a silver sparkle Drum Workshop Mini Pro kit. I think it was intended to be a kid’s drum set, but when I heard it in the shop I was blown away. Out of the box… 16″ kick, 12″ snare, 10″ tom, 13″ floor tom, dw4000 bass drum pedal, dw4000 hi-hat stand, snare stand. throne, and a retro ‘off the bass drum’ cymbal arm!
It has an amazing sound, great for RnB gigs. The hardware is a bit too light. But, load-in and out can be done in one trip! The kick drum needs a proper bass drum mic which needs to go through a PA system. That adds the fat bottom to a really punchy sounding kick. Take one for a spin if you catch em’ in the stores.
What can I say about Sly & the Family Stone but ‘Fresh’! It’s a funk masterpiece. Though Larry Graham and Greg Errico are not on this one… Andy Newmark is. And, he is masterfully funky. The grooves have a loose, street feel but are pretty sharp in their execution. The opening track, ‘In Time’ is almost impossible to learn because nearly every bar is different from the last. But, somehow the same theme runs through the entire tune. Andy Newmark is a funk master!
