Old Way of Teaching.

"The Next Forty Years"

By Dave Liebman 

I had many mentors mainly Pete La Roca, Elvin Jones and of course Miles (Davis). They each had there own particular way. Pete was quite an intellectual and very smart. He could explain things to you in detail. Elvin was not that verbal about the music itself but he was an amazingly beautiful player. What he played was enough. Miles said hardly anything. You kind of had to decipher the code. It was a subculture, the jazz world was unique. Mostly African American till the seventies. You were entering a whole other way of thinking, certainly speaking, living and making a living. There was a lot to be gleaned just from innuendo and nuance and your imagination. I think those guys were all kind of "Zen like."

I have my quotations from each of these guys that I use for teaching. I'll say, this is what I thought of that then and this is what I think of it now. They didn't say, "play that play this." They said, "play like I do or watch me."

We had more playing and when you have the process of on the spot in the moment learning there's nothing like that. Even listening to a record is remote until you're on the stage in the heat of the battle. Each of them gave me words of different depths. I'd take that home and think, "what did he really mean by that?" You didn't go back to ask these guys, this was not the scene. You said "thank you" and thought about it for the next forty years."

*excerpt of my radio (Jake D Feinberg), interview with Dave Liebman from yesterday's broadcast of the JFS on Powertalk 1210 

Drummer Elvin Jones playing with John Coltrane.

a slice of life.

"Traded Sandals"

By Jim Keltner

"You should never compare yourself in the first place. Your competition should be you and you should be inspired by other musicians, not intimidated. ...

I would see Clare (Fischer) play at Shelly's Manne Hole with Gene Stone on drums. Gene had a beautiful touch......

During the late sixties I was playing with Bobby Hutcherson and John Handy at The Both/And Club. After the last set guys would come up and sit in.

Hampton Hawes sat in with us. It is astonishing to see that man in person, let alone play.

Jack DeJohnette would come and hang out. I got to be really good friends with Jack. I had already met Jack before, we traded sandals in the parking lot at Huntington Beach at The Golden Bear."

*excerpt of my 2nd radio interview with JK from 2016

Drummer Jack DeJohnette.

from a Jazz Storyteller

"Something A Little Different"
By Odean Pope

"Max Roach was the only guy who produced Hasaan Ibn Ali because he's in that Elmo Hope, Thelonious Monk school. His technique was so great, I've never heard a piano player play like him. He could make the most complex piece sound good, he could make the simplest piece sound good. I'll never forget, when Hasaan would get on the keyboard all of the tenor players would get off the bandstand except for 'Trane, Jimmy Heath and myself. H...is harmonic concept was so advanced they couldn't hear it and couldn't play with him.

He lived about two blocks from where I lived and one day when I was around 15, I was in the basement practicing and he came past and knocked on the window. He asked me if I'd be up for practicing with him. That's how I trained and that's how I got together with 'Trane cause he was practicing with him already.

I had the opportunity to play with Max Roach for the last 22 years of his life and I can't overemphasize how much I learned from this great man, because not only was he one of the greatest percussionists that walked planet earth, he was also a great humanitarian. He always liked to share his ideas and concepts with his group. He had a keen eye for people who were striving to be something a little different.

When Jimmy Myritt introduced me to him in 1967, I worked with Max for one year. That one year told me that music was going to be my livelihood because I had traveled all over the world with Max Roach, Charles Tolliver, Stanley Cowell, Jimmy Myritt on bass and myself."

Second Story

"I came out to California to do studio work because I play percussion but that wasn't my thing.

The only person I ever did studio work for was Phil Spector. He was a big fan of mine and he gave me more money than I ever made in my life.

He was recording John Lennon. I should mention that Phil Spector loved jazz. All the cats he hired to play on his records were jazzers except for the guitar players and the drummers they were Rock and Rollers. The drummers (Keltner/Blaine) understood jazz, came up playing jazz but their forte was Rock.

So I'm home, it's about 10 o'clock at night and really not feeling good and I get a call from my drummer Frank Capp. He said, "we're recording John Lennon and Phil needs a vibe player." I said, "Frank, you know I don't do studio work forget it." Well I get a call 10 minutes later and Phil gets on the phone and says "Terry Gibbs from the Steve Allen Show, ba, ba ba ba da da....(singing the theme song). He said, "come down and I'll give you ten doubles which was 10x your salary. I said, "Phil, I'm not feeling well I can't make it.

I get a call like 10 minutes later and Spector is singing the theme song again. I had never even met the guy. It sounded like they were in trouble so I go down there. I walk in and get stoned just walking in there. Lennon is surrounded by 9 Japanese girls. There playing a playback and I go over to my drummer and I hear "Take 48."

I said, "Frank, you've been playing this piece of shit 48x? He said "yea, until he gets what he wants." So Phil sees me and says "Terry Gibbs, da da da da da....I said, "Frank, where's the music?" He says, "there is no music." I said, "what am I going to play." He said, "ba, ba ba ba bop." I said, "you called me down here to play this?" Capp said, "he's giving you ten doubles."

We went till 4 in the morning and Take 85. The date is over and they wheel out a cake the size of a big table. All of a sudden out of the corner of my eye I see John Lennon running and he dives into the cake like its a swimming pool. Immediately there are these pop guns going off all around me. I freaked out and dove under the piano. I thought it was a real gun.

Hal Blaine came over to the piano looked underneath and said. "Come on out Terry, they do this all the time."

By Terry Gibbs

from archives of Jake D Feinberg 

Give the Drummer some...

Drumming in Sunday drum circle at Malcolm X Park in Washington D.C. photo by Pablo Raw

Every time I see a child playing drums, or playing sticks on tables and just drumming his little heart out I sing within with silent joy enjoying and knowing how the magic world of drumming translates and transforms the drummer.  I always express that emotion saying in an almost sing song voice, "Oh!!! Just wonderful!"  

My mother never let on when my endless drumming got on her nerves. She kept encouraging me in her silence as she putted around the house doing this and that, cleaning and what not. She taught me to make a drum from a Quaker Oatmeal box when I was six, and as a teenager smiled when I turned up one of her ancient artifacts from Central America and focused learning the rhythms Mongo Santamaria played on the recordings from Daddy's eclectic record collection. It was Mommy who gifted me with my first hand drum, a tumbadora made by Latin Percussion on my 17th birthday simply saying one word that capsulized it all and assuaged my angst created by church dogma around creativity and music: "Play."

I look forward to children's imaginations expanding by the limitless power of being allowed to express himself by their families, but most importantly by their parents. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 11.10.16

Don Ramon Santamaria Rodriguez (Mongo Santamaria) would be 98 today April 7, 2015

drums and percussion instruments from parts of the world.

Herstory: Overcoming

I was 13.

After years of being bullied in grade school for being a weird/different girl, I finally had a group of friends and was the de-facto leader of the pack. But little did I know there was a plot taking place behind my back to humiliate me.

First they invited me to a sleepover. After the usual activities, including making up steps to "Bust A Move," I became increasingly aware that no one was really acknowledging my presence, but I didn't know why. Later we're sitting up... talking and one by one each of them files a complaint. "You take way too long in the bathroom" (I had just been diagnosed as diabetic but was scared to tell anyone so my lengthy blood testing rituals in the bathroom made them believe I was either a drug addict or a freak, or both), "you fake crying to get attention" (none if it was fake). I take this in. I should have left then because the next day we went to 6 Flags, where they had made a plan to just totally abandon me. I became aware of this as they all began separating from me. I was left with one person, who I thought felt slightly sorry for me, until someone's mom came to pick us up. I feigned sleep in the car and heard the girl say to the rest "why did you leave me with her???!"

Over the next few weeks one of the girls stole my boyfriend. They ripped my school picture to shreds and put the pieces through the slots in my locker. They completely ignored me in the hallways. So I thought of suicide. Naturally, my community was ousting me as not only their leader but also their friend. I had not one listening ear except my mom, and I think I survived for her.

I'm telling this story because I think it's informative. This one episode shaped the rest of my life. Perhaps it says something about grit, about bullying, about fear, about adolescence, and today, there's Facebook, and texting and all kinds of other ways for stuff to happen to crush the spirit of young people.

In the end I leapt into music. I don't know what I would've done if I hadn't had that oboe to buzz all my feelings into. It was like a magic wand; shitty emotions go in and beautiful sound comes out. The more beautiful the sound, the better I felt, so I got good, and then came the drums, and the rest is herstory.

Art is Life. It's the reason I'm alive, and many others I'm guessing. Share stories folks.

by Kristen Arant 

October 18, 2016


Amy Morrison responded to Kristen's story saying, "Thank you so much for sharing your story, Kristen! I'm so sorry you experienced such painful things, and I'm so grateful you made it through. You have touched (and are continuing to touch) so many lives!

One of my worst experiences was in 7th grade, so I was probably 12 or 13 too. I was at basketball camp, and I overheard a large group of girls talking and laughing about how gross and stinky I was (too painfully shy and self-conscious to use public showers) and plotting to come up and grab me and throw me into the shower. I became hysterical, and could not be calmed, which eventually made it also memorable for those girls.

I had a teacher who forced me to walk back and forth at the front of the home economics class to be an example to the other girls how ladies should NOT walk. I also was suicidal, and I still struggle to defy the power of those experiences to shape the way I see myself today. Your sharing your story helps me feel a sense of inspiration and hope, because as one of your friends commented above, you are one of the "coolest" (and most powerful) people I've ever met, and if that could've happened to you, well, maybe I'm cool too. 😉 Much love to you sister!"


Reflecting deep Renee Panagos said, "The Power and healing of Mothers. To ourselves to our sisters to our children. You let your mom into your heart and hold you. You learned to mother yourself through the Obo and the drum. Most importantly, you chose to live and thrive. Thank you for sharing this very personal story. What if we could learn to mother (love) ourselves and those around us. Choosing life is very powerful."

To Be the Elder



Baba sharing at Malcolm X park with the young (2015)

"Baba is doing what we are supposed to do as we get closer to our graves and legacy and empowerment is the language we cannot help but speak to the next generations. Men representing and moving the community to a higher plane is the social obligation of the Elders; not old people. There is a distinction." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories (10.20.15)

 

Master Drummer

"Shook Up Brazil"

By Randy Weston

"Big Black is from South Carolina, and that part of the area is as pure as Africa anywhere in the United States. Chief Bey is from South Carolina. When they coach their drummers they coach with an African drum. They teach them all the music all the blues and Caribbean. Black was so powerful, he and I toured Brazil together in 1981, just piano and drums. I'd never done that before, Big Black shook up Brazil. They had never heard anyone play drums like that before."

*excerpt of my radio interview with RW from October 2014 on PowerTalk 1210
Jake D. Feinberg

 

Playing together

"Wild Bird"

By Bill Goodwin

"Billy (Hart) is playing a drum set and I'm playing different percussion instruments including a drum set and timbales. Randy Brecker playing on his "wah wah" trumpet was really something ...

That tune was Hal Galper's composition and it's basically a ballad in 11/4 underneath. It was really slow and the chords move really slow and the rhythm is moving fast beneath it. I think it's a bar of 5 and a bar of 4. Billy's holding it down and I'm basically trying to stretch beyond the time signature into a pure pygmy rhythm. I'm playing the timbales, I'm playing the sides.

Billy and I loved doing that record together because we're such good friends. He's like a brother to me.

"I made that record ("Windows") with Jack (Wilkins) and every guitar player would come up to me and ask if I was playing on that. It was just like the record I made with Tom Waits (Nighthawks @ the Diner). All of a sudden all these Tom Waits fans were coming up to me and saying, "weren't you the drummer that played with Tom?"

When I made that record with Gary Burton and Keith Jarrett all the drummers in Europe came up to me and told me how much they loved that record."

 

*excerpt of my radio interview with BG from December 2012

Jake D Feinberg



drummer Billy Hart

 

Drummer, Tony Williams



drummer Tony Williams

"Jump Cut"

By Allan Schwartzberg

 

"Tony (Williams) created these events, they were so entertaining. It's like musical acrobatics. When he would get into a groove they were really nice and intense. He is one of my heroes.

 

...

Most drummers were comfortable playing "chick-e-deesh, chick-e-deesh, chick-e-deesh. He's up there in all the fast tempos, that's where always wants to be. He would do these things that would make you fall back in your chair and say, "where did that come from?"

I can't trace that back to Kenny Clarke or anybody. Any African drummer or anything. He was the one and only guy who made events happen while accompanying horn players and piano players. Really good swinging groove.

I watched Tony Williams once at "The Village Gate" with Miles (Davis) every single night backstage. I played "The Gate" so I could go backstage, practically stand on stage. I watched every single set of every night that they played. They never played the song the same ever. They played at different tempos, Tony did Latino things, he did rhumba things, nutty stuff.

Jump cut to - I get a phone call maybe twenty years later. "Hey Allan, this is Tony Williams." I said, "the drummer?" He said, "yea man. I know you do a lot of studio work and I'd like to do some of that stuff. Boy, it would be great if you could turn me on to some contractors." I said, "Tony, are you kidding me? If I ever had the opportunity to repay you for the thrills I've gotten watching you, it would be my absolute pleasure."

He turned ice cold and said, "man it's no big deal. Whatever it was, just a thought. Alright man, take care see ya." That was my Tony Williams experience."


*excerpt of my interview with Allan Schwartzberg from January 2014
Jake D Feinberg 

Drummer Cindy Blackman 

Funk Drummer, Mike Clark

Isn't this Mike Clark who played with the Headhunters in the 1970's? If so, he was the first powerful and deeply funky white drummer I'd ever watched play. Seeing that was deep. It dispelled the assertion, or rather the belief whites couldn't be funky. Mike Clark? That was a baad brother behind a set! In fact, he and Bill Summers, the world class percussionist, were playing together then in DC. at Constitution Hall early 1970's.

Killer show. I remember details. - Greg

"Outraged"

By Mike Clark

"The music of the late sixties/early seventies changed the world for awhile. I lived in "the hood" with Paul (Jackson) out in Oakland. We played a lot of Black Panther rallies with Angela Davis and Jesse Jackson. It was only because I was Paul's friend. They needed a drummer so they'd say, "c'mon." I got to hear and see a lot of speeches about stuff I didn't even know was going on in our country. I was outraged and it blew my mind."

 

...

*excerpt of my interview with MC from April 2013 Jake D Feinberg 

 

Drummer Charlie Watts! Who Knew?

Charlie Watts, drummer for the The Rolling Stones since 1962 and
considered to be one of the best drummers in the world,
Watts says “Jazz is my passion. This is the music that I really want to do.”

 

The Joy of Playing

Milwaukee musicians, Elias Holman (piano), Russell Rossetto(trombone), Carlos Adames (congas), Tony Ayala and an acoustic bassist and drummer. The commitment on their faces must make for a tremendous sound. I would guess the overriding emotion would be joy? - Gregory E. Woods (Jan. 24, 2016)

1974

Wesley Boyd in Czech Republic playing his berimbao (2015) is an Ogan of the tradition.

Gregory E. Woods and Gail Dickert playing drums at Frog Pond Early Learning School.
That's Pam Tinker, the founder of the school standing beside Gail. (10.24.15)

 

STRENGTH of MEN



drummers Max Roach (l.) and Tony Williams

On the left [•] Born in Newland, North Carolina on this day January 10, 1924 Maxwell Lemuel “Max” Roach, hall of fame jazz percussionist and composer.

Roach was playing drums in gospel bands and by 18 was playing in jazz clubs. Roach’s most significant innovations came in the 1940s when he devised a new concept of musical time. He studied classical percussion at the Manhattan School of Music from... 1950 to 1953 and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in music composition.

In 1960, Roach composed the “We Insist! – Freedom Now” suite to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Roach was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame in 1980, the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame in 1982, and in 1984 was designated a NEA Jazz Master, the highest honor the nation bestows on a jazz artist, by the National Endowment for the Arts.

In 1986, a park in London was named in his honor and Roach was recognized with a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant in 1988. Roach died August 16, 2007. In 2008, he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. [•] ~ anon

Scipio Less War

 

 



Rastafarian men.

Haven't seen power in Black men in congregation for many years. This is impressive. Growing up well into my early adulthood it was common to see powerful Black men assemble to talk, eat together, laugh, give counsel and listen to everything around them and in the world. Good days. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 1.11.16

 

BIO

Gregory E. Woods (Dawn Wolf) is an African-Native American Keeper of Stories who leads sacred circles, conducts Rites-of-Passage ceremonies amongst other contributions to the community he lives in and the communities he is led to serve. Mr. Woods in a sharing capacity works as a peak performance coach, a facilitator teaching cooperative synergy through the medium of music and the story power of his ancestor's wisdom. His teaching tools are the circle, mirrors, sound and images among other tools to assist growth, discovery and balance through story and ceremonies.

Dawn Wolf is also an accomplished musician whose musical experiences started as a classical trombonist, which led to decades as a first-rate percussionist performing an eclectic mix of music from various cultures. His career as a working musician started in Morocco and over time led to many engagements not excluding the White House, and scores of churches, dance companies, ceremonial settings, large and small venues.

Mr. Woods is married, a father and a grandfather with the spiritual responsibilities of a Sirmiq Aattuq Wisdom Keeper.

Dawn Wolf at Gail's wedding

Gregory drumming in Hill District in Pittsburgh at African Market Sept. 10, 2011

 

Drummers As Students

Leave The Snare Alone (RIP Alain Tousaint)
By George Porter

"There was a period of the old recordings where bass drums were not very prevalent in the music. It was mostly the top end of the drum kit. It wasn't till the 70s when bass drums got into the mix or when they started remastering some of those old sessions. The drum kit got to be a little bit more fuller. As a kid I remember hearing the top end of the drums more then I heard the bottom end of them.

I think I got the idea to be closely related to the kick drum and leaving the snare drum alone through my session work with Allan Toussaint. It was a strict rule that you don't put a note where the snare drum is. In the jazz community the backbeat wasn't that necessary in the music because the snare drums were playing kind of free kind of things on top of secondary melodies on top of the swing thing."

Excerpt of Jake D Feinberg's interview with GP on the JFS.

Give the Drummer Some

My take on this point was different. My ear heard how the bass drum was played. It was difficult to hear on a lot of stereo equipment, but it was there. Starting out as a drummer in my teen years it was important to follow the transitions from Africa to the chain gangs, to the Dixieland drummers, to Cozy Cole, Ellington's drummer and on to those killer Funk drummers who knew how to play with math, sound and old African rhythms from West Africa. It was a heck of journey.

The intelligence of creative drummers in each era informed me. I learned why they played they way they played by the sense of the times and the music's interpretation of Black lives for each era. The bass drum? It was always sensuous. The bass drum pulled the shy out of the body and for each music style changed the music's sense of self and how it moved the body to engage in dance moves.

 

Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories [11.10.15]

Gregory E. Woods drumming with abandon at Fall Festival 2015 at
Frog Pond Early Learning Center in Alexandria, Virginia.

 

We Come From The Land of the DRUM!!!!



Fijian women from Mereana Taki's galleries.



Mrs. Angela Hunter in green mini dress!!!!

Sinclair, you said, "The sound of the drum is healing and therapeutic. Through its sound, one is able to reach into their inner being to bring meaning and clarity. It is the drum that calls and resurrects that which is discarded and/or dead. The drum is the womb that brings forth life. Never neglect or overlook its power. I could go deeper but for the sake of this post, I won't."

I know the real reasons why you won't go further. You know your audience. Your're a pastor who knows the fears and superstitions of the people he ministers to. I am a drummer, and a Keeper of Stories. I know this story intimately.

You told a powerful story, Sinclair! It goes deep into the essence, the core of Black Americans, and throughout the African Diaspora. The language of the drum is deep within many powerful ways we have historically walked the Earth paths as Africans. The Drum, as a living entity, walks in the spirit of our being. The Drum is a Healer. The Drums open the sound the mysteries the Creator's revelations makes, and the drum deep with powers ties and connects all the elements of Creation, Revelation, Balance and Sacredness. The Drum is the Word. It's sound is power and birth, giving and receiving, the mother and the father, and the circular patterns of rebirth!

I appreciate you saying these words, sharing this ancient teaching. It is fundamental to the whole. I am fully aware of what many Christians fear from the drum, Sinclair. I respect you more for saying simply what is essential to the spiritual walk of people of African descent. It is a missing and disrespected piece.

- Gregory E. Woods, 

Keeper of Stories 10.26.13




pre-Christian Maori couple from Mereana Taki's galleries.

She Can Play !!!!

Drummer Meytal Cohen behind her kit !!!!

Gallery of Meytal Cohen

TRUTH TO PARENT

5647...

"Hold onto your Children's innocence. Teach them to Love their Spiritual beauty. Support them to cherish the beauty unfolding in their Hearts. Show them that it's OK to be self accepting, self affirming, powerful and humble Human BEings who truly Love their Neighbours as yourselves. Reflect their beauty to them in their acceptance and honouring of the diverse Uniqueness in which they live." - Mereana Taki 22.12.09

from Lioness Daiba Sala
September 8, 2013

MEYTAL COHEN VS JULIA DALES

MY COUSIN & I DRUMMING AWAY !!!!

Gregory & Marcia playing for the family in Pittsburgh 2