Born in Cuba and raised in Puerto Rico, Walfredo Reyes Jr comes from an impressive family of percussionists. Wally is currently the touring (and recording) drummer for the legendary band Chicago!

Over the last 40+ years, Walfredo has toured and / or recorded with legendary artists like Carlos Santana, Traffic, Steve Winwood, Jackson Browne, Celia Cruz, Gloria Estefan, Ricki Lee Jones, Richard Marx, Sergio Mendes, Smokey Robinson, Robbie Robertson, Joe Sample, Boz Scaggs, Christina Aguilera, Ricky Martin, and Lindsey Buckingham (just to name a few).

In this conversation, Brian and Wally talk about:

• What helps any drummer get hired and what helps keep him/her in that chair for YEARS.
• How he and the other band members of Chicago (as well as any musical artist) allow their music to grow, change, and evolve as they do the same as people.
• The influence that past Chicago drummers like Danny Serafine and Tris Imboden have had on him and how he plays the band’s music.
• The process of recording drums for the newest (and 38th) Chicago album “Born For This Moment” and the home studio set-up he used for some of those drum tracks.
• Chicago’s brand new documentary “Chicago: The Last Band on Stage” and the way that the band found a way to make new music during the global shutdown. (Release date for this film is the same date as this episode’s: September 30, 2022)
• The importance of appreciating every single moment on stage and treating every show like it is your last.

*Since we could not play any of the band’s music on the podcast version of this interview, here’s the song “Our New York Time” (the song that we talked about on the show:

CHICAGO FACTS:

• Chicago is one of the longest-running and most successful rock groups, and one of the world’s best-selling groups of all time, having sold more than 100 million records.
• In 1971, Chicago was the first rock act to sell out Carnegie Hall for a week.
• To date, Chicago has sold over 40 million units in the U.S., with 23 gold, 18 platinum, and eight multi-platinum albums.
• In 1974, the group had seven albums, its entire catalog at the time, on the Billboard 200 simultaneously.
• They have had five consecutive number-one albums on the Billboard 200 and 20 top-ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100.
• The group has received ten Grammy Award nominations, winning one for the song, “If You Leave Me Now”.
• The group’s first album, Chicago Transit Authority, released in 1969, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2014.
• The original line-up of Chicago was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.
• Chicago received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award on October 16, 2020

This is a very special episode of Dial-A-Drummer and a replay of Brian’s new weekly Amazon Music /AMP live radio show called “Drum Corner Radio”.

GET AMAZON’S AMP APP AND TUNE IN TO BRIAN’S WEEKLY SHOW LIVE, GO TO LIVE.ONAMP.COM/BRIANSTEPHENS (or search for @brianstephens on the AMP app)

This episode is sponsored by Session Ace: Remarkable Tools For Musical Craftsmen. Check out their complete line of in-ear monitors, studio microphones, high fidelity earplugs, cymbal cleaner, and other assorted gig tools specifically designed for musicians!! Find everything at https://SessionAce.com

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