DRUMSET/HAND PERCUSSION/MALLET INFLUENCES
Rehearsing @ the Sesmas in EAST LOS,
a tune by FLASH (CIRCA 1974)
Pic by Hector Alvarez
about a million years ago, mas o menos
notice how the rack tom IS NOT mounted on the bass drum
I didn't start using a rack until 1985 for the same reason
and I stopped using T rods on my bass drum in 1975
ZONING IN ON
DRUMSET/PERCUSSION
INFLUENCES
indigenous drumming and more influences will be found at the link below
http://christophergarciamusic.weebly.com/mexica-drummers-and-beyond.html
Every year I receive a few letters in regards to this
so I just thought I would post it
i.e.,
THANKS FOR ASKING
DRUMSET INFLUENCES
my first instrument
the WILLIAMS,
and in this order,
William Ward
AKA Bill Ward of Black Sabbath..
William Bruford
AKA - Bill Bruford of YES, King Crimson, BRUFORD, EARTHWORKS etc., etc.,
William Cobham
AKA - Billy Cobham - Horace Silver, the MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA
and several recordings under his own name
and last in this particular line up in regards to when I first heard him,
Anthony Williams
AKA - Tony Williams
everything I do is from what I learned from "LISTENING" and attempting to replicate
what I heard in various bands, i.e., I grew up before there were transcriptions,
CDs,
DVDs,
COMPUTERS,
instructional videos etc.,
yeah I'm old
We would put bands together to play this music as soon as the albums came out,
Art Ensemble of Chicago
Black Sabbath,
Jeff Beck,
Circle,
Ornette Coleman,
Gentle Giant,
King Crimson,
Led Zeppelin,
Mahavishnu Orchestra,
Flash,
Return to Forever (Electric)
Jethro Tull,
Yes,
whatever we wanted to learn, we would woodshed them by listening,
wearing out the record, that black thing with a hole in the middle, and
figuring it out as best we could using only our ears to guide us,
i.e., growing up in East Los, my folks did not have the money to pay for lessons,
nor did any of the other guys I played with have money to pay for lessons and there
were no marching bands in East LOS where I could learn rudiments from etc.,
so we were playing everything by ear
what a concept!!!!!!!!
We would perform at backyard parties in East Los, Montebello, Pico Rivera,
etc., the sheriffs would eventually show up, tell us to turn it down or they would
have to shut us down, i.e., they always shut us down anyway.
Only once did we do a gig in LA and the LAPD showed up,
told us to STOP PLAYING, which we did,
then they told us to pack up and pick up everything on the ground
or they would arrest us on the spot,
i.e.,
we stopped
We would do these gigs and people would be shot and get shot at
WHILE WE WERE PLAYING,
gives a whole new meaning to A TOUGH CROWD
i.e.,
another dimension that most folks who play music have NEVER have had to deal with
OR
you would get the drunken spectator who would tell you that his brother plays better
than you and was wiling to fight you about it and sometimes did.
DRUMSET INFLUENCES
Musicians I continue to learn from who happen to play drums,
in alphabetical order
Airto,
Barry Altschul,
John Bergamo,
Art Blakey,
John Bonham,
Terry Bozzio,
Bill Bruford,
Clive Bunker,
Bobby Caldwell,
Michael Carvin,
Mike Clark,
Alex Cline,
Billy Cobham,
Jon Christensen,
Jack de Johnette,
Drumbo,
Eric Gravatt,
Trilok Gurtu,
Roy Haynes,
Papa Jo Jones,
Elvin Jones,
Richard "KUMA" Luna,
John Marshall,
Pierre Moerlen,
Bob Moses,
Paul Motian,
Jamie Muir,
Tony Oxley,
Bernard Purdie,
Max Roach,
Cornell Rochester,
Paco Seri,
Ringo Starr,
Chester Thompson,
Arthur Dyer Tripp,
Narada Michael Walden,
John Weathers
Bill Ward,
Chick Webb,
Lenny White,
Tony Williams
HAND PERCUSSION INFLUENCES
Musicians I continue to learn from who happen to play hand and/or stick percussion,
in alphabetical order
Airto,
Chepito Areas,
Manolo Badrena,
Cyro Baptista.
John Bergamo,
Ostad Bikjekhani,
Subash Chandran,
Swapan Chaudhuri,
Ramiro Ramirez Duarte,(TRIBU)
Trilok Gurtu,
Shaukat Hussain,
Zakir Hussain,
Morris Pert,
Allah Rakha,
Ganam Rao
Dom Um Romao,
Selvaganesh (Vinayakrams son) ,
Robert Thomas Jr.,
Arto Tuncoboyacian,
Nana Vasconcelos,
Collin Walcott
MALLET INFLUENCES
John Bergamo,
Gary Burton,
Ron George,
Benoit Moerlen,
Philippe Saisse,
Leigh Howard Stevens,
Ruth Underwood
Sounds Like
Hopefully, like all of the above distilled thru 40 years of personal performing experiences
there are many more here that have not yet been added but I had to start somewhere........
THANKS FOR ASKING
ON ANOTHER NOTE
Everything that I play,
everything that I do musically,
is directly related to my experiences and studies with
MAESTRO JOHN BERGAMO
(May 28, 1940 - October 19, 2013)
who not only opened up doors to me and for me to worlds that I had only vaguely heard about
he also opened up doors to myself that I didn't even know existed within myself
and told me to go ahead
to get in there
and to do it with INTENTION, INTENSITY, ENTHUSIASM
sincerity and humility
and nothing less than 1,000 percent
my heart sores at John's passing but SOARS for the great SPIRIT that he leaves us with
a tune by FLASH (CIRCA 1974)
Pic by Hector Alvarez
about a million years ago, mas o menos
notice how the rack tom IS NOT mounted on the bass drum
I didn't start using a rack until 1985 for the same reason
and I stopped using T rods on my bass drum in 1975
ZONING IN ON
DRUMSET/PERCUSSION
INFLUENCES
indigenous drumming and more influences will be found at the link below
http://christophergarciamusic.weebly.com/mexica-drummers-and-beyond.html
Every year I receive a few letters in regards to this
so I just thought I would post it
i.e.,
THANKS FOR ASKING
DRUMSET INFLUENCES
my first instrument
the WILLIAMS,
and in this order,
William Ward
AKA Bill Ward of Black Sabbath..
William Bruford
AKA - Bill Bruford of YES, King Crimson, BRUFORD, EARTHWORKS etc., etc.,
William Cobham
AKA - Billy Cobham - Horace Silver, the MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA
and several recordings under his own name
and last in this particular line up in regards to when I first heard him,
Anthony Williams
AKA - Tony Williams
everything I do is from what I learned from "LISTENING" and attempting to replicate
what I heard in various bands, i.e., I grew up before there were transcriptions,
CDs,
DVDs,
COMPUTERS,
instructional videos etc.,
yeah I'm old
We would put bands together to play this music as soon as the albums came out,
Art Ensemble of Chicago
Black Sabbath,
Jeff Beck,
Circle,
Ornette Coleman,
Gentle Giant,
King Crimson,
Led Zeppelin,
Mahavishnu Orchestra,
Flash,
Return to Forever (Electric)
Jethro Tull,
Yes,
whatever we wanted to learn, we would woodshed them by listening,
wearing out the record, that black thing with a hole in the middle, and
figuring it out as best we could using only our ears to guide us,
i.e., growing up in East Los, my folks did not have the money to pay for lessons,
nor did any of the other guys I played with have money to pay for lessons and there
were no marching bands in East LOS where I could learn rudiments from etc.,
so we were playing everything by ear
what a concept!!!!!!!!
We would perform at backyard parties in East Los, Montebello, Pico Rivera,
etc., the sheriffs would eventually show up, tell us to turn it down or they would
have to shut us down, i.e., they always shut us down anyway.
Only once did we do a gig in LA and the LAPD showed up,
told us to STOP PLAYING, which we did,
then they told us to pack up and pick up everything on the ground
or they would arrest us on the spot,
i.e.,
we stopped
We would do these gigs and people would be shot and get shot at
WHILE WE WERE PLAYING,
gives a whole new meaning to A TOUGH CROWD
i.e.,
another dimension that most folks who play music have NEVER have had to deal with
OR
you would get the drunken spectator who would tell you that his brother plays better
than you and was wiling to fight you about it and sometimes did.
DRUMSET INFLUENCES
Musicians I continue to learn from who happen to play drums,
in alphabetical order
Airto,
Barry Altschul,
John Bergamo,
Art Blakey,
John Bonham,
Terry Bozzio,
Bill Bruford,
Clive Bunker,
Bobby Caldwell,
Michael Carvin,
Mike Clark,
Alex Cline,
Billy Cobham,
Jon Christensen,
Jack de Johnette,
Drumbo,
Eric Gravatt,
Trilok Gurtu,
Roy Haynes,
Papa Jo Jones,
Elvin Jones,
Richard "KUMA" Luna,
John Marshall,
Pierre Moerlen,
Bob Moses,
Paul Motian,
Jamie Muir,
Tony Oxley,
Bernard Purdie,
Max Roach,
Cornell Rochester,
Paco Seri,
Ringo Starr,
Chester Thompson,
Arthur Dyer Tripp,
Narada Michael Walden,
John Weathers
Bill Ward,
Chick Webb,
Lenny White,
Tony Williams
HAND PERCUSSION INFLUENCES
Musicians I continue to learn from who happen to play hand and/or stick percussion,
in alphabetical order
Airto,
Chepito Areas,
Manolo Badrena,
Cyro Baptista.
John Bergamo,
Ostad Bikjekhani,
Subash Chandran,
Swapan Chaudhuri,
Ramiro Ramirez Duarte,(TRIBU)
Trilok Gurtu,
Shaukat Hussain,
Zakir Hussain,
Morris Pert,
Allah Rakha,
Ganam Rao
Dom Um Romao,
Selvaganesh (Vinayakrams son) ,
Robert Thomas Jr.,
Arto Tuncoboyacian,
Nana Vasconcelos,
Collin Walcott
MALLET INFLUENCES
John Bergamo,
Gary Burton,
Ron George,
Benoit Moerlen,
Philippe Saisse,
Leigh Howard Stevens,
Ruth Underwood
Sounds Like
Hopefully, like all of the above distilled thru 40 years of personal performing experiences
there are many more here that have not yet been added but I had to start somewhere........
THANKS FOR ASKING
ON ANOTHER NOTE
Everything that I play,
everything that I do musically,
is directly related to my experiences and studies with
MAESTRO JOHN BERGAMO
(May 28, 1940 - October 19, 2013)
who not only opened up doors to me and for me to worlds that I had only vaguely heard about
he also opened up doors to myself that I didn't even know existed within myself
and told me to go ahead
to get in there
and to do it with INTENTION, INTENSITY, ENTHUSIASM
sincerity and humility
and nothing less than 1,000 percent
my heart sores at John's passing but SOARS for the great SPIRIT that he leaves us with
