There is an ancient Chinese curse that says “May your children live in ‘interesting’ times”—meaning, I suppose, a period of calamity and conflict. That also implies that if you grew up in a dull era, it was also a safe one. How safe we drummers are I don’t know; there are a few clouds on the horizon, but we have certainly come a long way during a most interesting time—for our endeavor a revolutionary time—the rock era. Along with the bassists, we have gained quite a lot of technical and artistic ground while most of the other instruments of popular music were seemingly marching in place, playing well, but rarely, startlingly new, except for the advances in electronics. Our act is getting better at a leaps-and-bounds rate, and there is every reason to believe that we are still only on the threshold; that progress will continue and accelerate. Samba, reggae, […]

June 1983 Issue