Stephen

Where y'at?!?! You all are speakin' my LANGUAGE now!!! The drummers from there have that lagniappe...a little something extra. Herlin is an incredible player...he sounds FANTASTIC on Harry Connick Jr's second christmas album. I believe most of that is Herlin. A more sophisticated New Orleans sound to my ear. Here are some of the drummers from that area that you need to know: Shannon Powell - He taught me how to set up a big band with his simplistic and powerful style on Harry Connick Jrs first Christmas album James Black - A jazz cat that became popular in the R&B/funk scene that was coming around in NOLA about the same time as Motown. I believe he played on a bunch of Fats tracks as well as one of my favorites, Hook & Sling by Eddie Bo. Man...forget about it...that song is so funky. Johnny Vidakovich - You will hear cats like Brain Blade talking about Johnny. He is ALL vibe. Just incredible feel. And he's a character to boot Raymond Weber - Currently playing with Dumpstaphunk. Some great funk drumming on She and Star Turtle by Connick. I crashed a band in front of him when I was 19...still trying to recover my dignity lol Russell Batiste - Same vein as Raymond...incredible feel. Stanton Moore - Probably the one that is holding the torch around the world for NOLA drumming. Galactic is his group Brain Blade - Nuff said Zigaboo - Long time drummer for The Meters and a legend worldwide Brass bands are also important to listen to for their drumming. My favorite recently is The Hot 8 Brass Band...younger vibe and more aggressive sound. More traditional sound would be Olympia Brass Band and Treme Brass Band. A bridge between those two would be the dirty dozen brass band or Rebirth (I believe Russell Batiste was with them for a while...may be wrong there) Ok...I'm gonna stop now lol. But seriously, there's some CATS down south that NOBODY really knows about. Geoff Clapp, a recent guest artist we had, was a heavy cat in the NOLA area for a long time. If you're ever in the area, The Maple Leaf is a killer local venue and the Snug Harbor area will be where you go to hear jazz and big band on a nightly basis. Laissez les bon temps rouler!!!

Couldn't agree more. You all are creating an incredible resource over there.

I'm not sure what black magic they use...but it's crazy lol I honestly don't know how it takes the instruments out

The Moises app lets you remove drums I believe

Oh...yea, you've gotta tune them out lol. Think of their clapping as being LED by you...not you being led by their clapping. It's a tough one to tackle though.

The only time I've had it be an issue is when I was in New Orleans...I left several pairs in a hot car with something heavy on top of them. It warped the wood and I didn't realize it until I got on the gig (they feel SUPER weird when you hit the cymbals and fly off at irregular angles). If they were just sitting there, they should be fine. Remember...wood is a living thing. So forests survive in crazy climates all of the time. But, they can be warped.

Once you get the hang of it, it's pretty obvious...but I remember being perplexed by this exact thing. Below is a link that explains it. If that's not enough, let me know and I'll shoot you a short video explanation as well! https://www.jazzinamerica.org/LessonPlan/11/2/160#:~:text=In a jazz performance%2C the,through is called a chorus.&text=For each chorus%2C something different,1.

Yea, going down in number will be lighter/smaller. If you want bigger I would go to a 2B. This also varies across stick companies. Even though Zildjian owns Vic Firth, their sticks and sizes are still slightly different

Yep...this will happen. Just preparing things ahead of time will help you with this though. That process of going through the song, working those fills, etc. They make those "surprise" moments not such a surprise. Because you know the song so well, you're able to adjust. Since you know it's a large, open acoustical environment, I would start preparing fills in that way. I would develop fills with a lot of space...simple fills. Fills that just focus on moving the song to the next section without getting in the way. If it were me, that's what I would do. I would just take the knowledge I have of what's going to happen and prepare appropriately. If you know those busy fills won't work, just prepare in the opposite direction. Space can be every bit as interesting as lots of notes. I also love using the acoustical environment to augment what I'm doing. I try to see it as a positive...I get to work on my spaces and yet still try to move the song a long. Miles Davis...lots of space...but never boring.

Lol...wouldn't that just be cute.....

I will just say it out loud here...I have a severe man crush on Brian Blade's playing. Just one of the best in the game.

Just saw his concert last week...insanely good

My brother and several other members of my family have served...really appreciate you brotha!

Oh man...I don't know how I even start with this...A Love Supreme was pretty earth shattering for me

You may want to try the song "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac or "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen (four on the floor in the kick)