Archive for the ‘Percussionists & Drummers’ Category
September 29th, 2011
When I opened this website as a companion to my memoir about my life with legendary Chicago drummer Harry Brabec, I had no idea how many interesting percussionists I’d meet as a direct result. Getting to know George Edwards, an American drummer in Japan who hails from Chicago, has been a most enjoyable experience. Now, after several months of interesting email exchanges, I thought it was time to share the story of George’s interesting musical journey in a companion article to this one. He and Harry walked different musical paths, but had they been able to know one another professionally, I’m sure they would have been friends. Certainly they would have appreciated one another’s humorous take on life.
Tags: George Edwards, percussionists
Posted in Barb's Notes, Percussionists & Drummers, Reader Mail | No Comments »
September 29th, 2011
After a lifetime of playing with countless jazz, rock, and country groups in Chicago and Los Angeles, George Edwards took a teaching job in Japan in 2003. His unusual 46-year journey as a freelance drummer and now teacher will be of interest to drummers everywhere. His interesting link to Harry Brabec is that he took a marimba lesson from him in 1966 when Harry was teaching privately at Northwestern University in Chicago.
Tags: George Edwards, music biz history, percussionists
Posted in Music Biz History, Percussionists & Drummers | 1 Comment »
October 24th, 2010
James Blades, a celebrated British percussionist, died in 1999 at the age of 97. This post features his books, “Percussion Books and their History,” and “Drum Roll,” with a drawing of Blades from the latter book’s fronticepiece. Links in the article provide additional information about Blades as both a percussionist and an author.
Tags: Books, percussionists
Posted in Books, Percussionists & Drummers | No Comments »
August 5th, 2010
Fritz Reiner was Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra between 1953-1962. In this excerpt from his book, SYMPHONIC PARADOX, former CSO percussionist Sam Denov tells what it was like to work with Fritz Reiner. “He had a penchant for constantly testing the musicians in his charge,” says Sam. “At times [. . .] Reiner would descend on any musician without warning, just to have some personal demonic fun. One never knew when it was going to be his ‘turn in the barrel’ as it came to be called, because it was like being a duck that was in a barrel; an easy target, so to speak.”
Tags: Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner, LP records, Sam Denov
Posted in Guest Writers, LP Recordings, Percussionists & Drummers, Symphony/Classical | No Comments »
July 15th, 2010
Chicago Symphony percussionist Jim Ross Jr. is the son of James Ross Sr., with whom Harry worked in the fifties when Fritz Reiner was Music Director. In this article, Jim shares fond memories of working with Harry in the seventies when he was just getting started as a professional musician, and also speaks about his dad and mom, a marimba soloist of note who died last year at 89.
Tags: Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chuck Foster, Fritz Reiner, James Ross, marimbists, Melody Top, percussionists
Posted in Guest Writers, Percussionists & Drummers, Symphony/Classical | No Comments »
June 22nd, 2010
The title of my memoir, The Drummer Drives! Everybody Else Rides, was prompted by Panama Francis’ wonderful quotation. It hit me dead center the day I accidentally stumbled across it on the Web because it seemed to sum up Harry’s life in a nutshell.
As I’ve explained in the book’s Preface, a good drummer always drives a band, and all the other musicians simply ride along. Francis’ comment spoke to me not only about how my Harry could carry a band with his rock-steady beat, but how he lived his entire life. He was always the bold leader, always the one saying “Follow me, I know the way.”
Tags: Barb's Notes, music quotations
Posted in Barb's Notes, Percussionists & Drummers | No Comments »
May 21st, 2010
Harry played “A Chorus Line” for two weeks when it was presented in Milwaukee’s Performance Art Center in June, 1979. He often arranged for me to see a show from both the front and the back, and I was privileged to be backstage during the dress rehearsal for this particular show. Here is a unique backstage view of Harry playing this show and working with the forty or so percussion instruments it required. Includes 6 photos.
Tags: Joel Cohen, percussion instruments
Posted in Barb's Notes, Broadway Musicals, Percussionists & Drummers | No Comments »
May 14th, 2010
A good show drummer must be able to anticipate a tempo change and catch cue after cue, in addition to musically backing the group he is working with. But how does the show drummer learn his trade and design a setup that works for him? This article by Harry Brabec, written in 1985, shares tips that are still timely today.
Tags: drums, Harry Brabec, percussion instruments, Show Drumming
Posted in Percussionists & Drummers, Show Drumming | No Comments »
May 4th, 2010
Most of the great percussionists of the forties and fifties are gone now, but four of them were still playing their hearts out in the Windjammers Circus Band in the eighties and nineties: Harry Brabec, Charles Owen, Buster Bailey and Boyd Conway. In this article you’ll also meet their buddy, Doug MacLeod, now 88 and still drumming with the Windjammers and the Plymouth Community Band. “Playing now helps me to stay mentally alert and physically fit,” he says.
Tags: Boyd Conway, Charles Owen, circus music, Doug MacLeod, Elden "Buster" Bailey, Merle Evans, Ollie Zinsmeister, U. S. Marine Band, Windjammers Unlimited
Posted in Circus, Concert & Marching Bands, Percussionists & Drummers | 1 Comment »
May 1st, 2010
Chicago jazz vibist Duane Thamm shares some remembrances of Harry Brabec, along with an encounter Chicago Symphony timpanist Ed Metzenger had with conductor Fritz Reiner.
Tags: Duane Thamm, Edward Metzenger, Fritz Reiner, Harry Brabec
Posted in Percussionists & Drummers, Symphony/Classical | No Comments »
