Jack DeJohnette

Modern Drummer is rebooting its world-famous Drum Festival on September 12 at 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time with a live-streaming event honoring the late, great Rush drummer Neil Peart. Proceeds of ticket sales will benefit brain tumor research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. The event, which will be produced and distributed …

Mark Love has been promoted to the position of Director of Research and Product Development at Sabian.

The June issue of Modern Drummer magazine features an interview with three-time Grammy Award–winning producer Russ Titelman who in his long career has worked with musical giants including Little Feat, Randy Newman, James Taylor, Brian Wilson, Cyndi Lauper, Graham Central Station, Rickie Lee Jones, George Harrison, Chaka Khan, the Bee …

Jazz-meets-house trio Moon Hooch’s third album, Red Sky, expands the group’s danceable sound while maintaining a spirit of spontaneity. Modern Drummer Online asked drummer James Muschler about making the record and bringing its electro-acoustic blend to a live audience.

(Available digitally March 31, 2016; in print April 1, 2016) Print Copy ○ iTunes ○ Amazon ○ GooglePlay ○ Subscribe On the Cover Andrés Forero “Andrés Forero is one of the most creative and versatile players of our time, and his participation in Hamilton solidifies his stature as one of …

(Available digitally March 31, 2016; in print April 1, 2016) Print Copy ○ iTunes ○ Amazon ○ GooglePlay ○ Subscribe On the Cover Andrés Forero “Andrés Forero is one of the most creative and versatile players of our time, and his participation in Hamilton solidifies his stature as one of …

Over the course of his forty-year career traveling the globe to teach, perform, and conduct clinics, Dom Famularo has interacted with some of the finest drummers and drum instructors in the world. The following list contains many of those names, organized by country/continent. If you’re looking for top-notch drum instruction, …

Half a dozen top-shelf 2015 jazz and fusion releases still in high rotation at Modern Drummer HQ.

We asked the members of the Modern Drummer Education Team if they felt that it’s important for drummers to learn to play other instruments (piano, bass, guitar, etc.), or should they focus on honing their craft at the kit exclusively? Here’s what they had to say….

Hello, MD readers. Vince here. I consider myself eternally blessed. From an early age, I was able to experience music from the very best seat in the house—backstage. My mom took me to all the greatest gigs, giving me a rare chance to see, hear, and really experience music, unlike …

What is the rhythmic essence of progressive music? What makes prog so different from other genres? Does it require a specific skill set on the drumkit, or does the nature of the music make it open to interpretation? MD posed these and other questions to the drummers in Spock’s Beard, …

We asked the members of the Modern Drummer Education Team to share their thoughts on their favorite methods for developing independence. Here’s what they had to say.

We asked the members of the MD Education Team if they think it’s important for their students to study jazz. Here’s what they had to say….

The February 2013 issue of Modern Drummer magazine features renowned bassist Mark Egan sharing some of the lessons he’s learned from working with drumming royalty. Here he focuses the discussion on the unique qualities and skills each of these players brings to the table….

An exclusive web-interview with Dave King of the Bad Plus.

As a member of Dave Holland’s big band, quintet, and octet, Nate Smith holds, well, three of the most cherished gigs in jazz. Holland, a revered bass player who started his own musical quest with Miles Davis in the ’60s, has nurtured many a drummer in his high-octane ensembles, and …

On Friday, April 27, UNESCO director-general Irina Bokova and UNESCO goodwill ambassador Herbie Hancock will kick-off the first annual International Jazz Day with a full day of events including live performances, master classes, and discussions.

For the May 2012 issue of Modern Drummer, we talked to MD Pro Panelists Gil Sharone and Bob Gatzen, as well as jazz great Jack DeJohnette, about the subtleties of drum tuning. Bob has posted many insightful You Tube lessons on the subject over the past few years, including this …

Two drummers working it out, face to face—trading licks, contributing to a massive groove, spurring each other on—it’s one of the great musical traditions, and surely it goes back to the very invention of the drumkit at the beginning of the last century. This group of tunes focuses on tracks …

For intermediate and advanced jazz musicians, all instruments (limited enrollment) — Event to be held August 20-24, 2012, The Spa at Norwich Inn, Norwich, CT– The National Music Workshop is proud to announce the 2012 Pat Metheny Summer Music Workshop. World-renowned guitarist, composer and bandleader Pat Metheny will return to …

Educator and renowned player Danny Gottlieb chronicles the history of jazz drumming in an entertaining and educational workbook format.

Living Colour’s drummer reminisces about his hero Tony Williams, the jazz and fusion great whose story kicks off Modern Drummer magazine’s brand-new Influences feature series.

As a result of the tremendous success of SABIAN U, SABIAN has just announced the launch of a Band & Orchestral curriculum. Comprised of 4 brand new courses, the new curriculum is specifically designed for retailers who sell Band & Orchestral instruments…

My name is Joao Lencastre and I was born in Lisbon, Portugal. I started to play the drums at the age of thirteen. Since I started playing I’ve been collaborating with many different groups in all styles of music, including metal, reggae, Afrobeat, electronic, big band, alternative rock, and all …

Welcome once again to the MD Readers Poll, where the greatest drummers on the planet are honored by the most educated drum fans around. Let’s get right to it: the envelope, please….

Hey, you people! Hope everyone is happy and healthy in this crazy world, striving to help out. I want to talk about my new record, The Interplanetary Note/Beat Conference, with Nels Cline (Nels Cline Singers, Wilco) and Larry Goldings (who’s played with stellar musicians like Jack DeJohnette and John Scofield). …

If you ask Steve Jordan who his favorite drummer is, be prepared to get hit with a never-ending list of influences, ranging from the obvious—like jazz greats Kenny Clarke and Philly Joe Jones and funk innovators David Garibaldi and Stephen Ferrone—to the more obscure, like Motown/disco session drummer Andrew Smith, …

Famed bassist/producer/remix engineer Bill Laswell on Ginger, Tony, Elvin, Zigaboo, and more…

When Jack DeJohnette hooked up with trendsetting trumpeter Miles Davis in 1969, the drummer was immediately thrust into the media spotlight as he became a main rhythmic catalyst behind Davis’s revolutionary electronic jazz sound. With that band, Jack appeared on one of the most controversial…

Dennis Chambers was born on May 9, 1959, and started playing the drums at the young age of four. By his sixth birthday he was already playing in nightclubs. Strictly self-taught, at the age of eighteen Dennis went straight from high school to playing with George Clinton’s Parliament Funkadelic, where …

It’s taken the jazz community nearly half a century to catch up with the inventive and super-hip stylings of Roy Haynes—the oft-proclaimed “father of modern drumming.???

On Tour And On Stage: 9 Lives (+9, +9 More). MD’s editors just can’t keep a list of their favorite albums short–even in service of a can’t-resist pun. Twenty-seven live albums you gotta have.

Best known for his top-selling instructional book/DVD, The Complete Modern Drum Set, LA-based drummer/educator Frank Briggs exposes his jazz-fusion roots on his first solo recording, China Ranch.

I’m convinced that, ten years from now, we’re going to look back at 2007 as an unusually fertile time in music and in drumming.

Since moving to New York in 1996, Allison Miller has thrived by refusing to acknowledge musical borders. Alli, as she likes to be called, has allowed her sincere love of pop and rock music to ground her jazz playing–and her passion for jazz to elevate her pop prowess….

Simply put, Max Roach brought jazz drumming into the modern age. Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bud Powell revolutionized jazz with new melodies and concepts; Max matched these musical geniuses with startling rhythms and reactive, action-packed drumming that still influences drummers on a profound level today….

This much is unanimously agreed upon: In the hierarchy of jazz drummers, Jeff Ballard has climbed so high he can clearly see the summit….

The Dave Brubeck Quartet was the most popular jazz group of that time. “Take Five,” featuring a drum solo by Joe Morello, was a million-seller. This group toured the world playing concerts instead of location club gigs. I can’t think of one jazz group today that approaches the level of …

The title of this piece is a cryptic warning that appears in the liner notes of Jon Christensen: Selected Recordings, a recent tribute CD on ECM’s Rarum series. Over the past thirty years, the Norwegian drummer has played drums and percussion on fully fifty-five releases from the esteemed German jazz …

When twenty-five-year-old Eric Harland was a teenager, he weighed an astonishing 380 pounds, making him a target of cruel children, mean-spirited teachers, and sometimes, his own family. “I would walk into a clothing store and the employees would just laugh,” recalls the Texas native. “Man,” they would say, “we don’t …

“He’s a bad boy, that’s for sure,” says guitar star John Scofield of his talented young sideman Adam Deitch. On the Sco gig, Deitch comes across like a composite of two great drummers that the guitarist has worked with before’the original funky drummer himself, Clyde Stubblefield, and highly regarded jazz …

On the eve of his seventy-fifth birthday, Elvin Ray Jones exhibits the relaxed demeanor and lean physique of a weathered–but still dangerous–championship athlete. When he smiles, which is often, he still looks like he’s twenty-five. His sense of humor is sharp, his intellect acute. And as anyone who has seen …

At a 1999 Birdland performance with The Dave Holland Quintet, Billy Kilson led band and audience in a rousing chorus of drum worship. Holland, one of jazz’s most celebrated bassists and composers, has played with all the innovators, from Tony and Elvin to Jack DeJohnette and Billy Higgins. So you …

Jack DeJohnette has remained one of the world’s premier drummers by always looking forward, and never losing the passion. Oh, and by playing some of the most uniquely beautiful drums ever.

He’s typically surrounded by a multitude of percussion instruments. In the course of a tune he might incorporate any number of sounds and timbres, often creating unique colors and effects by combining instruments in non-traditional ways. He sometimes appears to be grabbing instruments at random, and yet the resulting sound …

The scene: a cold night in Williamsburg, Brooklyn at North On Sixth, a multi-level hole in the wall jook joint where the bathroom graffiti is more political than obscene. Attracting a crowd of Manhattan intellectuals and Brooklyn deadheads, North On Sixth is tonight showcasing Ben Perowsky’s Moodswing Orchestra. A collection …