Modern Drummer Magazine

As a lover of music and the process by which records are made, I am always thrilled to meet someone who has played a part in creating a song that I’ve heard hundreds of times on the radio and sung along with as many times. It was, therefore, an obvious thrill to meet up with […]

  FAME? Ben Riley doesn’t ever recall having had the feeling of being “famous.” It’s a word he avoids. Although he says a friend once called him “jazz’s best-kept secret,” the jazz drummers’ community holds his authoritative playing in the highest respect. It is true, however, that Ben never received his fair share of media […]

Many drummers have a roadie on standby during concerts, in case of a head breaking, cymbal cracking, or bass pedal busting. Bun E. Carlos, the deceptively powerful drummer of Cheap Trick, has his man on alert just in case the perpetual cigarette dangling from his lips should be extinguished, or should he slap it across […]

Whenever one thinks of Hawaii, images of sun-drenched beaches and swaying palm trees invariably come to mind. Yet, although few musicians would view Honolulu as a major music center, some very fine jazz can be heard in the Islands. Propelling much of that music is drummer Noel Okimoto. At 28, Okimoto is a seasoned veteran […]

The audience is ecstatic, on their feet and prepared to clap until their hands become raw. Anybody arriving on the scene at this moment would be excused for imagining that this is the end of a noisy rock concert; it is unusual for relatively quiet, intimate music to elicit such a noisy, enthusiastic response. The […]