...and it changed my life

WhoIsTony?

Member
I was wondering if there is a one piece, tune, section of a tune...whatever...that you could put your finger on... that when you mention it the thread title would end your sentence.

I have many ... as most of you all probably do as well.

my brother putting in his Zeppelin II 8 track when I was very young
seeing Buddy Rich on TV
hearing Live At Leeds for the first time
etc etc

but the one thing I credit with actually changing my life as an already semi accomplished player was ....... while studying with Elvin Jones in the mid to late 1990s he showed me a recording.

Elvin never used books
never brought out a metronome
never talked to me once about technique.

he only talked about making music
trusting your instincts
knowing your boundaries and not fearing pushing them

I'll never forget while trading 4s one time with a bass player he brought in I stopped because I didn't like the sticking I used and I questioned if I was in time....Elvin slammed his giant hand down on my sticks holding them to the snare drum and said...
"don't think about that $h!t my man....just play music...ya dig?"

that very day he played me this drum solo ...... and it changed my life

http://youtu.be/H9LL3UtCkaU?t=4m
 
If I'm not mistaken,didn't Elvin dig Moonie as a drummer.?It's been a longtime,but I thought I read an old Downbeat magazine interview with him,where he said that,but wasn't equally kind about Ginger Baker.

Both he an Moonie,had a similar approach,which seemed like...however you played it yesterday,was yesterday,and today is different.They both seemed to want to keep it fresh all the time,and they both ....went for it,without fear.

Both were just unique in HOW, they played the instrument.

Steve B
 
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I don't have any Eureka moments of that kind of magnitude. I could see where meeting/living with Elvin Jones could really be a big event in a persons life.

The biggest change in my drumming life happened the day I joined here and was able to let out all the crap I've been carrying around in my head since age 11, and to witness all the diverse views available here.

But musically? There was so much I liked that one amazing moment never really happened to me, just a series of equally cool inspirations. My first concert was an epic event, (it happened to be Johnny Winter) but I can't say it changed my life, it just reinforced and strengthened how I already felt.
 
Like Larryace already said, spending some drumming time with Elvin Jones probably tops anything I've experienced.

However, I do vividly remember some listening experiences which sort of catapulted me into another musical universe. I can easily list them in chronological order:

1) listening to the Beatles' Rubber Soul and Abbey Road as a kid (before I was a teenager)

2) when I was about 13, an older kid from school lent me the Led Zeppelin remasters compilation. At first I didn't quite get what I was hearing, but I knew I'd heard "something else" and subsequently became a teen Zep-head.

3) The sound of Art Blakey lightly crashing a cymbal on the first note of a recording of It's Only A Paper Moon and the subsequent broken triplets that followed. I constantly carry this sound in my head. It's the first thing that will come to mind when trying out a cymbal.
The moment I heard this recording, that was my Jazz epiphany. Really, it just clicked. My taste in music had sort of started to stagnate at that time but those first few bars of this tune just opened up a whole new horizon for me. At the time I was sharing a house with some friends who were sort of casual jazz fans. I talked one of them into buying a Jazz Messengers compilation "because it would be right up his street" although I was of course curious to find out what all the fuss was over this Blakey guy. I imagine my buddy half-guessed my selfish intention but he went ahead with the purchase. After a few bars he realized that it wasn't the esoteric Chet Baker/Kind of Blue type of jazz he liked and abandoned the CD. Me on the other hand, hooked, and have been ever since. This was an important experience because it happened when I was a young adult. I know a lot of people whose appreciation of music was shaped in their teens, and that's where it ended for them. It's a shame. I think if you try and keep an open mind, then you can still have that "first love" experience all over again.

4) Oh, almost forgot. It was nice when I finally admitted to myself that big Bonham Paiste cymbals were not what I wanted. I'm not a jazz drummer but I sure love the lighter, darker Ks, K Customs and K Cons I play now. It was a very slow realization that took about 15 years so it doesn't count as a eureka moment really.
 
Keith has admitted to learning things from listening to Elvin

Moonie glanced at "the book"???? Perish the thought!! It must have been lying around on "the street" or else he'd never have had the opportunity.


And whilst I know it'll be a common theme, I'm also going with the tired old "the first time I heard Zeppelin" motif.

Strangely enough, it wasn't Bonzo but Page's guitar. Just the sound of that thing. It sent shivers down my spine. Still does. But it was defining for me. It was when I knew......just knew that I had to be a part of this creative process called making music. I never really had that "ah-ha" moment with respect to drumming. My dad played drums and was an active gigging musician, I'd been surrounded by them from the day I first drew breath. They were always there and I always knew I'd play. But it was the sound of that guitar that prompted a young teenager who was undecided between drums, skateboards, BMX bikes, playing up or whatever other distraction, to get off his arse and get amongst it, musically speaking.
 
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I definitely wasn't trying to "top" anyones stories or trying to have a "hey match this" type of approach to the thread....not at all

just really interested in what some of the members here experiences are as far as sort of game changing moments in your development as a player

.....and I really enjoyed those Mike

Blakey is one of my absolute favorites

I didn't want to come across as being jealous or anything about your post.

I certainly didn't interpret it as being "competitive". On the contrary, I enjoy reading your posts because I know that you're very sincere about the music you (and I) love so much.

I'm glad that you share your experiences like this with complete strangers like me. That's what brings me back to DW every time.

Hey, this time 'round it was you that got some time with Elvin. Maybe in the next life it'll be my turn! :)
 
Seeing Roy Haynes live in an audience of 80 people changed my life.

Sitting in at a jazz jam in Boston with a bunch of Berklee kids, where I was thoroughly drug behind the bus, changed my life.

Watching Steve Jordan's The Groove is Here changed my life.

The moment I was introduced to Buddy Rich...

Everytime my jazz band director would kick me off the throne for sucking during class and take my seat. While I sat there, I got to study his playing, and my shame turned to motivation... those moments changed my life.
 
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Thinking deeper, I think the first time I popped in a Muddy Waters CD, it set me on a new course. That qualifies. So that's my big moment. Can't believe I forgot about it. I even remember the date, Jan 3, 1983. I got a CD for myself for Xmas and I finally popped it in. At that point, I was just getting into the Blues, but Muddy's CD was the tipping point. I really didn't know of Muddy before that, something just told me when shopping to buy that CD.

So sorry, I do have one.
 
Very much rock stuff for me...

1. The Beatles - Abbey Road & Let It Be
2. Deep Purple - In Rock & Machine Head
3. Uriah Heep - Look At Yourself & Salisbury

and...
4. Jeff Beck Group - Jeff Beck Group & Rough and Ready (Cozy Powell)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ztLIv0gBsM

...and it changed my life
 
I've told this story before, but I like it so I'll tell it again.

When I was 10 or 11 my mother took me to a Beach Boys concert. I was already interested in music, mostly the soul music I heard on my radio, and my mom was always playing her Beatles records, but I'd never seen a drummer play live before, and when I saw Dennis Wilson in his striped shirt, pounding away on his Rogers kit, that was it, that was how my life was going to be.

I can still see it quite clearly in my mind.
 
August 27, 1981. Journey Escape tour, I was 5, it was awesome, I knew at that exact moment that music and I were destined to be together forever...
 
For me, it was hearing an example of "call and response" in music and realising "so that's what it means!".

I'd been learning guitar for two years or so, and had read about the call and response idea in musical phrasing, but never really understood it until I head Dire Straits playing Tunnel of Love. The vocals and lead breaks do call and response better than anything I've heard before or since. And it's still a favourite song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrDK0UoAkfY
 
In 1969 I was just starting to get into rock having been raised on a substantial diet of symphonic and classical music. "Abbey Road" had just dropped and that whole "Paul is Dead" stuff was going on resulting in a lot of radio play of the entire Beatles catalogue.
Allowed me to catch up real fast.

There was a record store I favored within walking distance that was always current. When I went up there to buy a copy of 'Abbey', I saw an album cover that practically jumped out of the bin: "In the Court of the Crimson King - An Observation by King Crimson" Man, you could almost hear the scream of that tortured red face. King Crimson? I remember clearly thinking it must be some sort of big band leader. You know, Count Basie, Duke Ellington...King Crimson. A few weeks later I was listening to the new FM station WREK that had just started broadcasting from Georgia Tech (still a great station) when they played the song 'In the Court...'

My whole musical sensibilities changed forever on the spot. Went and got the LP the next day - slapped it on and "Schizoid Man" instantly transported me to another world. Never had heard drumming like Michael Giles. Nothing would ever be the same again. Really a peak experience!

Had a similar revelation with the "Discipline " album and tour in '81. Great, great bands and Prof. Fripp is fixing to do it all again!
 
In 1969 I was just starting to get into rock having been raised on a substantial diet of symphonic and classical music. "Abbey Road" had just dropped and that whole "Paul is Dead" stuff was going on resulting in a lot of radio play of the entire Beatles catalogue.
Allowed me to catch up real fast.

There was a record store I favored within walking distance that was always current. When I went up there to buy a copy of 'Abbey', I saw an album cover that practically jumped out of the bin: "In the Court of the Crimson King - An Observation by King Crimson" Man, you could almost hear the scream of that tortured red face. King Crimson? I remember clearly thinking it must be some sort of big band leader. You know, Count Basie, Duke Ellington...King Crimson. A few weeks later I was listening to the new FM station WREK that had just started broadcasting from Georgia Tech (still a great station) when they played the song 'In the Court...'

My whole musical sensibilities changed forever on the spot. Went and got the LP the next day - slapped it on and "Schizoid Man" instantly transported me to another world. Never had heard drumming like Michael Giles. Nothing would ever be the same again. Really a peak experience!

Had a similar revelation with the "Discipline " album and tour in '81. Great, great bands and Prof. Fripp is fixing to do it all again!

I used to go garbage picking as a kid....looking for motors and parts for my bike. I happened upon an 8 track cartridge with that same screaming face. Even though I could not listen to it I took it home and put it on my dresser. Many years later I finally decided to figure out what that was and bought it. Great record!
 
"Dancing Madly Backwards"- first track from the original Captain Beyond -One of my all time favorites! Another pivotal listening experience. Bobby Caldwell's playing was superb. I think that it was the first song in an odd time I recognized as an odd time and could count. Band never got the exposure it truly deserved. At least the small handful of titles is still available.
Y'all should check out that first album - don't be put off by the kinda' spacey name ('Capain Beyond' that is).
 
I was with my then-wife and we took a little trip to Ann Arbor to go shopping. Picked up some new duds and decided to stop at the great Schoolkids Records and see what was up. I was still exploring some of the masters and there were a lot of greats I'd never really listened to yet. I figured I'd buy a CD by one of the famous drummers I hadn't really checked out yet.

And I did. A Miles Davis date. The drummer played things I'd never heard before. I was expecting, and was almost disappointed not to hear, traditional jazz phrasing. But where were the triplets? Why did he play the ride cymbal so much different than anyone else? What made him decide to play these little flurries and accents at such unexpected places in the music? And why did the band seem to feed off of what he was doing when it was so... unfamiliar? And why did he start something but never resolve it in the usual way? No big crash on one... sometimes the roll would just fade away and disappear.

Yeah, I bought this CD, played the first track..and it changed my life.
http://youtu.be/7vWdTXy80Lk
 
For me it was when I saw Phil Collins and Chester Thompson together with Genesis on the 1983 "Mama" tour. I had never seen drumming so powerful and music played with such authority. Back then they were still playing some of their signature Prog, pieces from the 70's. I just knew I wanted to play the drums after hearing that concert.
 
I consider the first time I listened to Deep Purple's Machine Head album a musical turning point for me. It was in the mid 70's and I was in my early teens. Until that point, I would listen to whatever popular music was around, but I was just starting to get interested in rock. A friend of mine suggested that I check out Deep Purple and let me borrow his copy of Machine Head. I can't even begin to explain the magical feeling I got from listening to it. I was so taken by the display of musicianship by every player, the power, speed, dexterity, complexity, etc. etc. It was the first time I actually took notice of a drummer. I was amazed by Ian Paice's playing on the whole album. I listened to it several times just focusing on the drums. I made up my mind that day that I would always seek music that contained high levels of musicianship, dynamic playing, lots of solos, etc. It was the day I became a music snob as my wife calls me!!! Also, it was the day I lost the ability to enjoy a piece of music without analyzing it to death...

Since then, many other bands, musicians, albums, concerts left their impressions on me, but Machine Head was the original eye opener for me.
 
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