I’m tempted to begin each of my new Modern Drummer columns by writing “With everything else that’s going on in the world…” because the unrelenting news cycles force me to question the relative importance of an artistic particular or a paradiddle. But since this is Modern Drummer and not Modern Politics (or Modern Ecology or Modern Psychology), I’m going to indulge in a rumination that I hope will prove insightful if not inciteful. I came across a thread on the internet that proclaimed a relatively young drummer as being “The next Buddy Rich!” This of course invited commentary from persons with opinions that went all over the map, which in turn generated responses until the discussion turned acrimonious in fairly short order. I’ll admit, it got me to thinking. Since I just turned the ripe old age of 68, let me get one thing out of the way: young drummers […]

August 2022 Issue