Drummer Blog | Jeff Consi | Melbourne, Australia

DW Mini Pro

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.

Sly & The Family Stone Fresh

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!

Lettuce

Happy New Year… hope you are all doing well. I figured I would start things off with a slamming band called Lettuce. The drummer is from NYC… Adam Deitch. He is probably one of the nastiest drummers out there. You may know Adam from his stints with Average White Band or John Scofield. Lettuce are all sharp players, but Adam is really exceptional on this recording. Precise with grease. No note is wasted.
Check out http://www.lettucefunk.com