STICKS, CAMERA, ACTION!

NEAL WILKINSON with Spike Wells at a Gretsch drum promotion

One of the things that has got me through this weird, dry, gigless period (well, I did a video at the Ropetackle theatre, Shoreham with the QOW trio a couple of weeks ago and have a gig with Simon Spillett  still in the book at Ronnie’s in Septemeber) is the weekly Drum Hang zoom meetings on Saturday afternoons.

These are organised by my close friend and erstwhile pupil RUSS GLEASON and are hosted by him and renowned UK session drummer NEAL WILKINSON.

The meetings have been screened since May and have attracted an increasing, and increasingly international, number of attenders owing to the professional stature of some of the star guests.

I’m talking names like STEVE GADD, ADAM NUSSBAUM, GREG HUTCHINSON, NATE SMITH, ERIC HARLAND, VINNIE COLAIUTA and MIKE CLARK…………..

This  Saturday, they will welcome JACK DE JOHNETTE (one day shy of his 79th birthday) and, later in August one of my latest favourites BILL STEWART.

The format is that the guest is introduced after about 50 minutes of the 2 hour+ meeting and the first part is devoted to NEAL WILKINSON himself  chatting with, and taking questions from, the other participants and illustrating phrases, patterns, beats and grooves on his own home kit.

Neal is amazing. He has lived and breathed the drums and music (music rather than just drums, he would emphasise) almost all his life. He was taken on – a rare honour – by the legendary teacher Max Abrams, who would only spare time for pupils of exceptional talent, at the age of EIGHT!   Neal was already working professionally in his early teens and at 19, he joined the jazz-funk band Morrissey-Mullen and stayed with them for ten years.  It was while doing a BBC Jazz Club broadcast opposite Morrissey-Mullen that I first met Neal and I could hear good he was.

He went on to become the go-to drummer for recording studios, theatre work and film soundtracks. He has worked in London and Los Angeles and toured with James Morrison, Van Morrison, Ray Charles and Carole King among others.

Watching him share and demonstrate his knowledge on Saturday afternoons is fascinating. Although he has not had the opportunity to play much out and out jazz over the years, he clearly loves and has got “into” Elvin Jones and Philly Joe Jones. He strokes the drums and cymbals with a beautiful touch.

I hope and pray that Covid 19 will not prevent Neal from returning before too long to his illustrious playing career but it is our gain that he has the time and enthusiasm for the present to do the Drum hangs.

To go back to those American giants, some have simply talked and conversed and others have played a little on screen.

STEVE GADD brought a practice pad to demonstrate some tricky rudiments. He is clearly, despite his mastery of 8/8 funk, at heart a superb jazz drummer.

ERIC HARLAND had a whole kit set up on camera (like Neal) and I loved his presentation. His speaking veered towards the philosophical (which I found a welcome contrast to the picking the bones of flams, ruffs and paradiddles!)  and he emphasised a concept which he called synchronicity and which he illustrated by playing straight crotchets or quavers on the bass drum and hit hat in unison and then letting the hands free to stray into cross-rhythms and beyond. Fascinating stuff.

I look forward enormously to the venerable JACK DE J on Saturday. After the Charles Lloyd quartet, he had a brief stint with Miles Davis in 1969/70 in the band which also featured Chick Corea and Dave Holland. I loved the odd gigs he did with Bill Evans but I have listened with the most pleasure over the years to his contribution to the Keith Jarrett trio with Gary Peacock.

As for BILL STEWART, he is always a joy to listen to. Like Jack De J, and very few other drummers, he seems to have mastered the art of swinging with an 8 feel, although he can dot his crotchets perfectly in the Elvin tradition. I love the way he tunes his kit and he knocked me out when I heard him live with the Larry Goldings organ trio. He is a superbly original soloist and I recommend everybody to check out the wonderful album KEVIN HAYS TRIO LIVE AT SMALLS. They play the Charlie Parker blues Cheryl and at the end, the guitar and organ riff ad lib on the last two (contrapuntal) bars of the tune while Bill builds the most wonderful improvisation over them.

Lastly I would like to thank Russ and Neal for having me (w h a-a-a-t?)) as their guest last week. I think it went OK but I did feel a bit of an anti-climax compared to what has gone before and what is to come.

It was helpful that two non-drummer distinguished musicians, saxophonist Art Themen and pianist/arranger/writer Brian Priestley, joined in so that I could concentrate on the joys and perils of ensemble playing. This led to an amusing heartfelt exchange with that great drummer Jeremy Stacey about bass players who speed up or slow down and what we drummers can or can’t do about it……………………………

I thoroughly recommend these highly enjoyable Drum hang zooms to all readers. They are not “teccy” or “anorakky”. Not a bass drum pedal mechanism in sight. They are led and attended by musicians who happen to be drummers. If you would like to taste and see, just email Russ at russgleason@hotmail.com or visit <www.drumhangs.com>