Drummer Nation

Matt Brennan is an author, musician, and academic. He is currently an Associate Professor in Popular Music at the University of Glasgow.  His newest book is Kick It, A Social History of the Drum Kit. In it, he addresses the seeming contradiction between the centrality of the drum kit on one hand and the general disparagement of drummers on the other. He examines the roles of artists and manufacturers against a dynamic backdrop race relations, global migration, and the tensions between high and low culture.

During the US quarantine of 2020, Sean Kennedy revisited  the popular 1700’s rudimental snare drum solo, "The Downfall of Paris." After discovering a little known fife part, Sean penned an arrangement for a percussion section with brass quintet. Friends Clayton Cameron and Bernie Dresel were enlisted as additional snare drummers. Over a two week period, the musicians began submitting their audio and video performances to Kennedy, who had them edited into a unique performance. Sean was joined by Clayton and Bernie for this interview, offered as our salute this week’s Independence Day holiday.

Todd Sucherman, best known as the drummer for the band Styx and as an award winning educator, has a new album out under his own name, called Last Flight Home. Coproduced and cowritten by longtime friend, J. K. Harrison, Todd's, sensitive groove based drumming serves to reveal his talents as a solid song writer, producer and arranger, and surprisingly, as a first rate singer.

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Duduka Da Fonseca started playing drums when he was thirteen. He moved to New York City in 1975 and was the founder and leader of Brazilian All Stars, Brazilian Express, and the New York Samba Band. He was a teacher at the Drummers Collective and wrote an instructional book, Brazilian Rhythms for Drumset. He is a founding member and co-leader of Trio Da Paz and leads the Duduka DaFonseca Trio. (Pt two of two)

Coping with Covid with Sabian CEO, Andy Zildjian

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Duduka Da Fonseca started playing drums when he was thirteen. He moved to New York City in 1975 and was the founder and leader of Brazilian All Stars, Brazilian Express, and the New York Samba Band. He was a teacher at the Drummers Collective and wrote an instructional book, Brazilian Rhythms for Drumset. He is a founding member and co-leader of Trio Da Paz and leads the Duduka DaFonseca Trio. Part one of two.

Pelle Berglund’s new book, "Buddy Rich, One of a Kind,” offers a precise and highly detailed accounting of the events in the life of one of the foremost musical geniuses of the twentieth century. From Buddy’s early days as a child Vaudeville star, to his emergence as the most in-demand sideman of the swing era, to his eventual success with his own band, Berglund dots the landscape with the names of hundreds of musicians, band leaders, performances, and recordings. Buddy’s personal relationships with celebrities including Frank Sinatra and Johnny Carson are detailed. Never before seen photos complete this first rate accounting of the life and music of arguably the greatest drummer of all time.  

Click this link to enter to win a set of Istanbul Mehmet Shiny Black Bell cymbals: https://drumlink.com/category/contest/

Bill Goodwin began his professional career at the age of seventeen with saxophonist Charles Lloyd. During the 1960s, he worked with Art Pepper, Bud Shank, George Shearing, and many other jazz luminaries. In 1969, Bill moved east to work with Gary Burton and settled in the Pocono Mountains. In 1974, he became a founding member of the Phil Woods Quartet, remaining with Woods for some forty years as a drummer and record producer, and winning three Grammys. Crossing genres, he’s also worked with Tom Waits's and Jefferson Airplane. He’s been teaching at William Paterson University in New Jersey since 1970.

New Orleans drummer Johnny Vidacovich is an expert in the unique Second

Line musical drumming tradition. He is highly sought after for his contributions

in styles from jazz and Dixieland to blues and R&B. No drummer's trip to New

Orleans is complete without hearing Johnny play at one of the many local

venues. What do you ask a living legend to talk about on his own show? Anything he

wants to...Unscripted.