October 2020 Issue – Volume 44 • Number 10
Articles in October 2020
Sugar Percussion Snare Workshop
Transforming Raw Planks to “Perfect” Circles It all started with a few innocuous text messages: “How would you like to attend one of my snare classes and maybe write a little article about it?” asked Jefferson Shallenberger, founder and master…
Philly Joe Jones
Miles Davis was the only group I gave up New York to go out with. That was in ’54, and it was my greatest experience in the music business.I don’t think I’ll ever be associated with four people like Miles,…
Beat Displacements
Exercises for Internalizing 16th-Note Permutations Displacement is a beat-editing tool that can make a groove sound glitchy. This is achieved by shifting the groove in such a way that what was originally played on beat 1 is now landing somewhere…
Stick Technique Revisited
Part 4: Alley-Oop The alley-oop technique is what I call a wrist/finger combination used for playing double strokes (diddles) and triple strokes. While it can be likened to the push/pull technique, which is a wrist stroke followed by a finger…
sE Electronics - V Pack Arena Microphone Kit
A perfect set for capturing the punchy, full tones of a five-piece drumset. Chinese musician/composer Siwei Zou started sE Electronics twenty years ago in an effort to improve the design of some of the microphones that were coming out of…
Gretsch, 64 Audio, Istanbul Mehmet, Latin Percussion, Promuco Percussion, DW
Gretsch Heritage Build Setups USA Custom and Broadkaster drums are now available with a Heritage Build option. This vintage-style look is available in any drum finish and features center-mount, double-ended lugs and extended tension rods of different lengths to suit…
Meat ’n’ Potatoes—With Some Spice
This month’s KOTM is a hybrid rig that the owner uses on semi-acoustic shows with his rock band Floater. The “groovy meat ’n’ potatoes” of Portland, Oregon–based drummer Mark Powers’ set consists of a vintage Yamaha bass drum, a new…
Deep Purple’s Ian Paice
Of all the remarkable rock drummers to have originated in the late 1960s/early 1970s, none was more astonishing than Ian Paice. If John Bonham was the zeppelin, Carl Palmer the tank, and Nick Mason the perpetual clock, Ian Paice was…
Rick Shutter
“Day by Day,” the gargantuan hit single from the Grammy-winning musical Godspell, gets by with some tasteful cymbal swells and tambourine shaking—until drummer Rick Shutter blasts the ride-out with a driving rock groove. It’s a classic moment on a timeless…
Noble & Cooley
6x14 Copper and 4.75x14 Painted Alloy Classic Snares Premium metal drums that provide maximum impact withoutsacrificing versatility or sensitivity. The Massachusetts-based Noble & Cooley drum company has lineage that goes back as far as 1854, when Silas Noble and James…
Nektar’s Ron Howden
The progressive-rock elder statesman has survived life-threatening medical issues to celebrate his iconic band’s fiftieth anniversary with a fine new album. Throughout its five-decades-long lifespan, Nektar has generated a cult following, sending music listeners on mind-bending conceptual sojourns. Likewise, the…
Remembering Neil Peart
Part 2: “De Slagwerker” Drum Solo Neil and I often talked about improvisation. He told me why his solo in “De Slagwerker” was so important to him. What follows are some of Neil’s own words, taken from his Drum Channel…
Bill Stewart
Striving for Clarity His appearance on the new John Scofield album marks thirty years of one of modern jazz’s great partnerships. But of course that’s only part of what he’s been up to lately. When Bill Stewart made his first…
Samba Funk
Modern Fusion Beats Based on Traditional Brazilian Rhythms Hi, everybody! It’s a pleasure to be back writing for Modern Drummer and sharing some of my Brazilian culture with you. This time I am talking about my application of samba funk…
What Song Are You Working on Now?
“Metropolis—Part I” by Dream Theater .@ptrlcc “Chemical Warfare” by Slayer .@nickkcuevas “Hemispheres” by Rush . The first section is so tough on the hi-hat.@mconrad332 “Around the World” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers .@_rywill22 “Just like Heaven” by the Cure…
Rudy Royston
His new solo album, PaNOptic, gives listeners—especially drummers—the opportunity to commune with the mind, heart, and soul of Rudy Royston, perhaps more fully than ever before. Modern Drummer has often praised the marvelous first-call jazz drummer Rudy Royston for meeting…
Joe Morello
Chops Master and Musical Poet Joe Morello inspired thousands of drummers during his long career, which spanned from 1957, the year of his first recording session with Dave Brubeck, to 2011, when he passed away. Morello’s legacy reached a wide…
Zildjian - I Family Cymbals
A modernized approach to entry-level bronze. Released earlier this year, Zildjian’s new I Family of cymbals was designed to provide bright and expressive sounds at ultra-affordable prices. These traditionally finished B8 bronze additions replace the discontinued ZBT series and comprise…
Iúri Oliveira
The Portuguese percussionist has made an art out of creating unique hybrid sets for each act he supports—but sometimes a lone shaker is all he really needs. During a recent phone conversation, Portuguese percussionist and drummer Iúri Oliveira was a…
