What's going on everyone, this is episode 464 of the Discussions in Percussion Podcast and I am your host Damon Grant. Thank you for joining me, thanks for tuning in, thanks for listening. This is going to be a special episode, if you've been listening for a while, you know that I usually announce the guest and then we go into some segments and then we go into the interview. But for the next couple of weeks I'm going to be doing a lot of traveling and I'm going to take the interviews that I recorded at PASIC at the Discussions in Percussion Podcast booth and throw them together as I kind of a super cut. So you're going to have PASIC recap, part one coming up today and the guests that you're going to hear from that I got to interview at PASIC were Davi's Prieto, Widi Brahma, Kate O'Gala and Andy Akiho. Now these are all friends of the show, so Davi's was on previously, episode 128, Widi was on previously, episode 46 and 140, Kate was on previously, episode 76 and Andy Akiho was on previously, episode 144. So what you're going to hear is we taped this in the expo hall so there's going to be a little bit of background noise but we used a lot of a lear mic so you can still hear pretty clearly what the guest is saying and these were short, you know, 10 or 15 minute interviews. So I'm mashing them together as like a super cut so you can hear what we talked about, some of you walked by and waved as we were conducting the interviews so now you get to actually hear what we said. Alright, so stay tuned for that in a little bit but first up get through these segments and the first segment up is Happy Birthday to friends of the show, starting with Glenn Robertson who was episode 11, Neil Daniels who was episode 387, Mike Bennett who was episode 368, Giovanni Eldago who was episode 115, and Amy Smith who was episode 274. So as I say every week, if you know these people go back and wish them a happy birthday, if you don't know them, go back and check out the episode and get to know them better, then wish them a happy birthday. Alright, next segment up is Gig Alerts. First up for Gig Alerts Thanksgiving Weekend is upon us so hopefully you will be spending that time with friends and family and maybe even checking out the Macy's Parade on television, who knows. But if you are in the New York City area and you don't make it to the Macy's Parade, you can go to the website TaftIn.live and check out all the performances in the city by different musicians from Billy Hart has a group that's playing at Smoke. I know John Skullfield with Bill Stewart's playing at the Blue Note. Yeah, there's a bunch of stuff going on so definitely if you're interested in checking out some live music this week or weekend in New York City, if you're in that area. This is a great time to be in New York City. Check out some Christmas markets, I think there's the Bryant Park one, check out the Macy's Parade and then go to TaftIn.live and check out all of the other acts that are performing. This is a great resource. I use this when people come in to New York City like, where should I go see music? I just sent them this website and there's all kinds of stuff that you can check out. Alright, let's move on over to the Educational Spotlight for the week. It's up for the Educational Spotlight and that is the Harmony Cloud Pro app is now available. This was an app created by a friend of the show stuff on Harris and he actually did a clinic at PASIC describing what the app is, how it works, how you can use it. It's an ear training app. As far as he knows, there is no other app that focuses on ear training specifically. This is a wonderful app that I've used with my students and I'm really excited that this newest version is now out, he's been workshopping it behind the scenes and his clinic was absolutely amazing. If you've seen any footage of that online, you'll see how this strengthens your relationship with pitch and chords and the sonic part of music. So check this app out, I'll have a link to it in the show notes located at discussionsimpercussion.com. Also, not this week, but one of the future episodes of the PASIC recap you can hear my interview with Stefan and he talks about the app and how it was created and all that stuff like that. Next up for the Educational Spotlight, Virtual PASIC starts on Monday, December 1st. There are a bunch of virtual clinics that you can watch and they will be available. I'll have the link to that in the show notes, but they will start coming out on December 1st. If you still have the guidebook app from going to PASIC in Indy, then you can scroll down to December 1st and the following days and see who's giving a clinic when and what day they are presenting it. So, Virtual PASIC is coming up starting Monday, December 1st. Let's move over to the iconic recording for the week. And the iconic recording, I choose this every year for Thanksgiving, and this is a song by Arlo Guthrie and it's called "Alice's Restaurant" it's the only Thanksgiving Carol I know of and you can hear some of it right here. This song is called "Alice's Restaurant" it's about "Alice" and "The Restaurant" but "Alice's Restaurant" is not the name of the restaurant that's just the name of the song and that's why I call the song "Alice's Restaurant" You can get anything you want at "Alice's Restaurant" you can get anything you want at "Alice's Restaurant" walk right in it's around the back just a half a mile from the railroad track you can get anything you want at "Alice's Restaurant" The great thing about that is it's a long story, I think it's about like 19 minutes longer or something like that and birthday boy, friend of the show Glenn Robertson when I would stay at his house with his family his dad would play this song like on full blast if we were sleeping in too long this was the song that we would wake up to. So yeah if you don't know it now you do "Alice's Restaurant" and it's my favorite Thanksgiving carol alright let's move on over one last segment before we get to the interview and that would be "Wow, it was like that" First up for music news Olivia Dean calls out ticket master for providing a disgusting service amid vial and secondary markups and then because she called them out and so many people jumped on board supporting her the company says it will cap resale prices so that is an artist using their platform to enact a good change shout out to Olivia Dean I hope that this spreads to other artists and events so that the resale market is fair and not price gouging but we will see the other thing I have for music news is that NPR secured $36 million in critical federal funding in a court settlement against this current administration and they will be able to keep its interconnection system operational amid the fallout from an executive order so you can read more about this in the show notes but that's a big win and you know I'm in huge support of NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS and all that so anyway that's all I have for the segments that's all I have for music news stay tuned for the four interviews I did at PASIC with Daphne's Prieto, Weedy Brahma, Kate Ogawa, and Andy Akiho and I will talk to you after we are all done. Thank you, congratulations and all your success I know that you have an evening performance with your group and you have a new album with that group, yes I have a new album with that band and you also have a new book which I'm doing the clinic today as well at 1 p.m. Can you give us a quick preview of what you are going to present in the book in the clinic the clinic is going to be about the new book and the new book is entitled What are the Arts and it's basically a gathering of rhythms that I put together 9 different rhythms Latin rhythms in Admeters so I created different versions of Admeters to go it's a very ambitious book because it actually end up having like 500 and something examples which means variations of those Admeters so it's kind of an interesting journey because you know most of the time we have Admeters but really representing beats not the inside contents of the rhythms and in this case because there are Latin rhythms so there is a lot of syncopation with the Admeters at the same time so it's very interesting you know I enjoy all of that and I am to actually start teaching that to my students as well. Right and you are teaching down at Miami? Yeah I'm teaching at the Fros School of Music now University of Miami and you've been there for a little while yeah I have yeah 10 years nice now that book that you just wrote what are the odds that is a follow-up to the rhythm possibilities book that you have no that's the remake was a wall of remake possibility it was my first book I have a second book is entitled Remix in Clonicity which is a remake book for non-dromers oh wow going hence the rhythm to non-dromers which is a course that I created at Fros School of Music and this is my third book man how do you find the time yeah it's actually well you know it's a lot of fun fashion that's what it is I mean because you're also not only a professor but you're also a dad and you are a band leader as well how do you balance the schedule of trying to do these different things like is it some days you do one thing and another or is it a little bit of something every day or it really depends the day but I would say it's probably a little bit of everything in a day you have to consider the priorities like for example the ending of this last book like finishing up was a boost of you know testosterone and energy because I had my own deadline and I have to really do well all of the examples have audio some videos so you can imagine 500 I actually forgot the exact amount but it's more than 500 examples so I had to to look at all the videos and listen to all the tracks before that come out before actually I send it to printing to printing I'm used to double check that everything was all right so it's a long process that sometimes it's just like get compressed into a small amount of time but you know again it just comes out of the love and passion now to get a little nerdy since we were kids books came with CDs and tapes now I've seen books with QR codes and hidden links to maybe soundcloud or YouTube how did you decide to do the audio video the audio video you simply get the book and there is a code which you wrote to my website and you don't know all the audios and all the track that's about it you know it's actually when you purchase the book on my site there is a note they're saying come back to this link and you will be able to insert the code and download the files awesome well I'm looking forward to everything you're going to present this weekend and one last question before I dip over the mic what are you most looking forward to as a spectator here at Pacing? Well I'm looking forward to see some friends looking forward to see as much as I can spectator I'm actually going to be only here for one day which is today I'm living very early tomorrow and I have a very tight schedule of you know some other interviews soundcheck my clinic then soundcheck for the night so I won't really have that much time but you know just connecting with some old folks and you know friends and colleagues is a great thing for me. Careful you're calling old folks well you know we are not asking you all not so we used to for the people watching this I'll give one story I used to see Daphne's play and pretty much every Thursday at the Zinkbar in New York City on House of Street with Jompanitas and friends you were the Ann Friend yeah and it was like three cents a night nine eleven and one yeah it was like five bucks to get in and some of the most killing music I've ever remembered witnessing. There's some fun times yeah some fun time wish you much continued success I'm always in your corner and let's turn this over to Mike Dawson now thank you man I listen to what you said today and then so I won't answer the answer same questions what do you want the attendees of your clinic today to go away with well besides the information of the rhythmic contents that I'm presenting especially in the clinic and it's really you know to be able to chair the amount of possibilities that you can do with one thing because most of the time for example I'm presenting my new book you know people see the book and they just kind of replicate what is written and then they say okay don't check move on. The whole idea is to actually deep in really in the contents and so that you're able to evolve and develop that and make it into a musical context so that's that's to me the bottom line of the whole thing. So for someone who has no experience with Latin music or African music or African percussion or drum set player what is your first step to get them into your music? Well first of all they have to feel it something it is it is even before the understanding is about you know whether that moves you or not it needs to move you and then and then you feel you know kind of represented in that sound even though it is very abstract if you lack the knowledge of it and then little by little you know just just go through it the whole thing it when you're learning rhythms you also learn in the culture where those rhythms come from so I mean you know this is the beauty of music and the beauty of the beauty of percussion and drumming is that you actually get to know so many different cultures through the music and through the rhythms right so yeah I mean it's there are different steps to get to but I think they have the recognition the appreciation and then it becomes the understanding of the whole thing and then the deep of the whole of the whole process of getting deep into it to me it's not only about you know what rhythms you play but how you play them right yeah what would be your two or three albums that you say you have to listen to the absorb the you can listen to my ten albums which you know I have ten albums already as a leader you can listen to any of them but I mean you know I would say any any any music that even including like even if the far the more straight ahead salsa kind of thing everything is it's kind of a knowledge you know source yeah and then you know music from like Roomba music like Afro Cuba music there's so much information out there yeah who are your biggest influences my biggest influence starting in Cuba was a name a man with the name of a Changuito or Selvi Quintana it's still my great one of the greatest inspiration since I was a kid and he unfortunately passed a few months ago right I hit one of my biggest inspiration also Giovanni Hidalgo and many others you know do you recommend that a drums player learn percussion in order to understand the music it helps a lot it does help a lot I mean more than they play in the playing is good it helps but more than the playing is the understanding of what are they doing because that many times compliments if you're playing in the settings with the percussion is that compliments what are you going to do or not so you need to actually know what what your colleagues is playing on the other side and how the whole thing fits together would you start like with what African drumming in my experience you start with the bell yeah start with the shaker yeah because those are the most constant parents and they are the most linear ones see the club is you know we have club in Cuba music as well and and all of that that's a very very important step to start with definitely now what about timbales versus bangas or bangas they all to me the same it has the same kind of level of information to me I mean you can learn the marcha which is the you know the bangas the marcha which is the main kind of pattern that they play in a regular basis when you're playing like four or Latin but then you know the same thing with the timbales you I would say this all this all one thing I don't like to separate things you know what is one thing that you see students do most often incorrectly when they're trying to play Cuban music or like music in general well they playing the rhythms with we know with no content no context so here's the thing you also need to learn what the bass line does what the piano does you know how the whole music scenario fits together so that you can make that music feel good otherwise you are isolated in your own in your own cocoon as I your own bubble and then you think you're doing something right and not listening to everything else so I think besides the fact of learning the rhythm is the connection of that rhythm to the environment to the whole all right so at last time you were a basic I think it was the last time you were doing the cave and singing now time what is the first thing you had to do to kind of get that internalized balls like that well it's based on you playing the flower basically an aromatic pilot you know in the back of your mind I already have that soul you know inherits in myself that it really I don't think about it so I can be freely improvise in relationship to that without thinking that much I have all of my students have to actually kind of do a similar kind of training just because I think singing rhythms is it's one of the most important part of of the of developing vocabulary but also developing a context again okay do they start by singing in time when does it break into free well yeah you start with with the with the constant falls you know and and and then you you at the club and then you start doing you know simple rhythms in it and then you start you know permutating and doing different meters at the same time and so on and so forth amazing last question what's your favorite rudiment my favorite rudiments my god I would probably say either part of the double part of the loop but you know it's interesting because I see all of all of these rudiment books now and my students they all go through you know a lot of that but I did classical training and I did a lot of rudiment exercise and stick control and so forth but what I did I took all of that information I improvise with it so I see them doing something it's like oh but you can you know you can improvise this way and they're like no you know they see it as a kind of a very sad thing and for me because I've been doing it for so long yeah I mean basically I've been playing rudiments for like 40 years so it's it's it's a it's a have a relationship a little bit more natural and just a technique kind of thing so I I like to apply that to the playing but from the within you know kind of way of expression using using it as a way to express the music and not just as a simple technique exercise right right so you think of a pair do not as four notes but like singles and doubles right yeah singles and doubles is just the matrix of everything else right you know after number five if you stick control up number five everything else is just a clone of possibilities and yeah have you ever practiced page two three four I only do that first thing I did when I was at the school I had to but you know after you analyze it and you see the ways constructed which is which is to me a genius you know basically because it really let you know how you can build up yeah and then you can develop you know different so many different combinations out of one you know singles and doubles some three yeah three some fours but that's about it yeah well that's it thank you so much we'll be having a great clinic I play sure welcome to peace like 50 thank you thank you all right thank you to Daphnis for you to see you good to see you good to see you good to see you good to see you are eight year anniversary of me coming here for the last time we saw each other here and I saw each other in New York but here when I was with Jonathan skills oh my god you did you double do it in your with Nikki and I sat in with I sat in back with it that was our reunion of me after my transition that left coming back after like four years so it was a good good first time that's they are and will forever be one of the greatest groups no there's a special to me so I have to get a little deep real quick I know we're here at PASIC and one of my questions will be what are you looking forward to but I need to ask you something about jimbe yeah we lost mama decades unfortunately yeah we lost pop so four years ago now and I consider you one of the preeminent jimbe pullers wow who else is carrying that torch that you're looking up to I mean there's a like I mean bimbo was here this weekend bimbo is open up basic yeah open up pacing bimbo is a legend in this music I mean from the days for him a question to get him about it jolly by I mean date he's a legend I mean and in America I would say between him and Musatari and Abdul Dumbia but then again also jimbe pullers that are from here you know that even that the ones that have transitioned they'll still be like like Papazes Mahiri Fadjabaketa Misexal is Moshay Myline Yaobabio I mean we have a lot of great to me for a table worry Amruqiyate Mariju Abu Kamara Kuipu Sambri Munizaki I mean Jamar Dickerson Sanul I'm saying all these amazing Adrian I mean there's a billion amazing jimbe puller a billion but for me I'm just really happy that the instrument is getting this just due within this industry you know at a festival like pacing and to have the opening night be dedicated to that instrument I'm really happy about that so as far as a jimbe jimbe pullers that I look up to that are still here I mean of course you have like the younger generations I'm really happy to see them playing it sounded amazing of course the older jimbe pullers of course I mean the legends but for me I really look up to the musicians that are able to maintain this instrument inside a narrative outside of its focal practices right you know so of course I love the tradition but to be able to use the instrument outside of its context and really make a light and make sense of it that jimbe puller always needs to be so people like that you know they're not here like when it's like these are musicians who have been able to play these in folklore Frank Mocha you know my little brother you know these are all the people that have been able to to do that and watching them inspire me so I would say them people because I mean not only do I look up to them they inspire me and they make me feel like it's possible and I'm happy I've been able to open up a door as well your group the hands of time has not only carried the tradition of the music but it is crossed over into other genres in your hand you're able to bring this music to a wider audience of people which has made me really happy I know Damon I want to thank you for being an advocate for us and being like a torch a torch a light was because you know as a hand drummer you know we are at a place where we're not no longer getting the you know you know one of the industry first one's fired the last one higher you know so but now it's like who they have to call us so I thank you you know discussion of percussion being always being an advocate for us you know I'm saying but the hands of time was a dream it's a truly a dream the dream I didn't think was ever possible but it became possible you know I'm saying so for me as a jimbe full up and to lead a band like that with these eight individuals shaking door and when there's that key Raja Kaisis move Quran to Sam Dickey Courtney Jamie Smith Shay Pierre of my wife to East Campbell and the list goes on Max Moran when we need him you know Elay Howe when we need him when you know when you're a shake is traveling me it's it's a conglomerate of something special Victor Campbell I don't know what else to say it's a blessing for people wanting to hear the instrument yeah whether in the traditional context in the future it's a good. Well so on that your friend I got what you mentioned I got yeah he was he was fortunate to be part of the Black Panther yeah but more recently in the movie sinners yeah yeah which he just I just found out he told me the other day that you know they just got nominated for the Grammy for that and you got nominated for me yeah with the vocalist you so enduro yes so it's so which for me once again another another moment in jimbe history the first jimbe producer the crew to have co-produced this album along with Mike Lee as a jimbe fuller one of the greatest singers to come out of West Africa Mr. Yusun do it and I really he was also on the Black Panther soundtrack no babama was the Yusu Yusu and Baba which are both of my fathers like there there are the there are the voice of Senegal and and they've been able to maintain it but Yusu was not just a singer he's a musician I've like to really work with him and then for me it was a full circle moment in work of my uncle he juiced behind me on the return to glory album just him as a whole it's a person and it's been a I've been a fan and been in one of my heroes for all these years so yeah with Yusu it was honored so as a jimbe fuller to produce something like that and to produce that work it didn't get nominated and recognized by our peers is a blessing but my get to be recognized by our peers within the working with Willie Nelson and as well as with centers it says that the jimbe is found his heart in within the group of the people you know as an African-American you know born and gotten a raise in America we fight for these moments you know we fight for these moments but we know fight because we have to we fight because it's imperative that it gets us respect that's it what are you looking forward to most at this PASIC 50 the 50th one this could be food could be people performances whatever I'm looking forward one to see my good friend get inducted Mr. Jamie of that all right for me Jamie is a part of my story of my life but Jamie he gives me you know what all the time because he says we need you so jive but you want to people that when you know someone serious and seriously loves you because not the instrument because of the human being and you don't meet that many people so for a long time to meet a man like that from even my stages of even me and you meeting this was a part of another chapter in my life so he was a part of the next chapter and for him for me to be a part of his next chapter is in the deep in the full circle moment for me so for me is definitely seeing him gins flowers and honor him amongst these amazing musicians along with she's the 15 minute warning you see that's how you know when it's getting real so you're saying you to see him get his flowers you see his flowers you know and then you know I'm a fan of a lot of people that say like damn this from like he doesn't know I'm a huge fan of his the way he's playing sloppy you know Mickey the Glitchy Glassman which is on the cover the drum set magazine on the cover of drum set magazine this is my little baby so I mean what she's going to be here with punkadelic and doing that thing I mean I think basic is also you know it's great to see wool love to see him bend up see Michael Marcus and for them to have their booth in the show you know the dexterity within that it's like basic is for me basic is grown to where we are because it wouldn't like this all before I was going to be out of life they've made a conscious effort to keep growing and keeping being more inclusive that's important but you know for me I'm happy that you know they are looking at you know the importance of what this is as a minority in this industry that how do we make this change just narrative so we have the discussion for percussion we have you know the gym based shops hell I'm here you know what I'm saying so it's like who's to say the next two years that I change again so for me I'm lately in awe and I'm happy that this is happening to see a lot of young people it's a lot of young people here and a lot of young people that's now really willing to want to play the instrument of course because of industry music albums I'm doing with these people this person that blah blah blah but now sincerely like I want to play this so yeah it's not always have to be this it can be something that deals with the head like I'm happy that my even my own son not still Wilson he's like man I want to go to basic I'm like of course he has a man after a fun revolution go check them out it's it's touching to me for someone that young one to come to a institute like this and to have convention like this that says that the young people are trying to elevate and roll to go and get to what they want but for a person like him he can feel safe that be a jimmy follow and come here and be accepting yes percussion but a lot of times this is pushed aside right but now we can say they welcome we have boots we have these different places they they have these different workshops and we have these different panels and we have these different entities that are going to allow a person like him to feel as is he belong in the society for years I didn't feel I'm like so now because of the fans and because of people like yourselves because of the Jamie had died because of the whole society wanting to include us it's not exclusive it's not inclusive we're here but I hope that continues I'm sure will this will never change between you and I and plus I voted for you inside a lot of you don't even know you might be you my man thank you see look as you see thank you see you see you see I didn't say that you doing a lot of work man you your work is blessed and continues to do the work because we are advocate for us bro from first with people like me and I'm saying with people color and it being able to understand where we are invited and I'm invited we are we are part of and do you are the person that's the owner toys well you and I but really you bro so I'm I applaud you well thank you so much you are a huge inspiration for me and a north star and I'm just happy to be in your ordinance hey man no we're in each other orbit you gotta realize we made a lot of records on the on Apple Apple with that interview you did folks still talk about it awesome for discussion for percussion thank you thank you bro happy pacing and I'll see you next week yeah sir [Music] welcome to the booth thank you for coming and talking to me thank you having man I enjoyed your performance as watch you you were one of the am friends yes yes yeah yeah how long have you known Jamie well I made a Jamie first time um 2005 I went to Berkeley College of Music and I studied with him so he's my former teacher so I've been yeah 20 years yeah that's amazing yeah yeah yeah and weren't you in like that class of monster percussionist who was like hollow bow goes marcos like there's marcello yeah everybody yeah it was same guy go yeah you were all there no nigga she wasn't I didn't she was I think she was after I was yeah but yeah bow rolled in marcos and yeah masala yeah all those cats yeah man yeah it was percussion heavy you know here for sure now I'm gonna ask you a question that I hear other people ask but I don't think it ever gets asked to the people that are in the group yeah so when you're playing with snarky puppet yeah how do you guys coordinate who's gonna play when because it's like a roster right that kind of slides in and out based on like who's available right so so you you're talking about I got tour dates yes because I know in the recordings right all there right so tour dates uh basically um the manager man send us schedules you know and then we send back uh our availability and uh and they're gonna do the puzzle you know uh based on the you know availability and uh and Mike Mike and the manager man kind of decide who's gonna be doing this tour you know who's gonna do this and uh yeah so we have like four now he's like four drummers including Nikki grasspeas she's a she's the newest additional member wow and uh first female members of snarky puppy and we have three percussion eight me Marcelo and yeah in the section guitars or three guitars and you know but basically yeah they they decided who's gonna be on the tour uh you know depends on who's available you know but sometimes like they kind of hold the confirmation kind of last minutes you know so it's kind of our you know I mean we all kind of doing whatever we can you know so we hold the dates but like you know anything comes like before of course you know like if you want if I want to do is just I you know I take the date and uh you know which is become not available you know so I it's kind of hard uh for me to kind of hold long dates uh because like I haven't done long tour yet you know long long tour these past couple years I guess yeah yeah two years out you know but uh you know I'm you know yeah that's that's that's how how how you works it all gotcha yeah yeah because I know like how like I said for the albums you guys are all there and then I was like man how do they how do they decide you know yeah who's gonna do when yeah so yeah but yeah based on a bit of energy yeah and you said Nikki is the first female member period period yeah yeah yeah finally yeah you need some more estrogen number yeah man you know come on well I mean like you've had female guests like no legal halfway sure yeah yeah yeah like you've had but no like permanent members yeah but yeah Nikki is like first official band members you know yeah and yeah she's she's like amazing human being you know she brings amazing vibes always amazing you know bring the amazing vibe and also her playing is wonderful yeah I just want to let you know first thank you because I've been using your suitcase trick a lot and sharing it with other people you pack a smaller suitcase and put it inside a larger one so you can have time oh there we go weedy bromas he's up next so yes thank you for oh thank you then man how how how recently have you used that suitcase trick in your travels well actually well probably like I've been I've been do I've been used actually I've been using like a more percussion case the mate for special kind of custom I requested from the data company which is they have the booth here so I use like a bass drum case but I cut it more like half oh depth so I can put the symbols bunch of toys and stuff and then has wheels and handles you know so I've been using for this one for kind of like more than decade actually yeah but yeah you know but I always like you know looking more better way to travel I mean you know it becomes more harder yeah yeah all these days but yeah all right last thing what are you most excited for at your basic experience here is it food people performances what are you looking forward well definitely like a people and performances too but I think this is kind of like opportunity to meet old friends you know and meet a new new people too you know and then they all play drums and percussion you know so which is kind of cool and also check out some new products and unique stuff yeah so yeah then put those new products in your second suitcase oh yeah yeah yeah you know it's I have to be careful but you know but that's exciting yeah what is your wife think I know that room things pretty full when I thought I'm sure it's only gotten more crowded exactly yeah so I'm trying to easy these days these years you know but yeah definitely you know she's seeing something you stop and then I you know you just shut the door you like you know that's like maybe I'm home you know just like put that way you know awesome yeah well thank you so much taking it man great to hear you man you can see you always good to you and looking forward to more down the road thank you so much all right happy basic happy busy [Music] thanks for doing this uh man I have known you since 1997 it's crazy and in that time I've seen you have multiple facets of your career I first met you as a professional marching based drummer and then I learned that you were a master steel fan player I'm still learning that yeah one day and that's a go get there and also a Grammy winning composer oh no no no Grammy wins I'm just very grateful to be honored I was nominated Grammy nominee oh so you're like me Grammy loser yeah yeah but it's good it's good to be to have that kind of you know we're our peers support us in that kind of way too you know so I'm not grateful for that yeah so here you're pulling double duty where you have your own booth and in that booth you're selling compositions that you've written as well as other people just all self-mublish them all compositions you know and the compositions that are featured in percussion so a lot of the percussion ensemble works and you know the solos and things that can work for any instrumentation but really focused obviously on the percussion side of it and then also you're performing with Leo right a little bit I'm gonna play I'm sitting in on Leonardo Soto's his presentation we're we're presenting little previews of the piece for him and Houston Symphony for the Symphony Concerto it's gonna be done in March okay um but it's still working progress and we're we're gonna present a couple of the samples excerpts from it and then we're gonna do a world premiere video a park or a night and then we might play a little diddy or something oh that's a fun and and Symphony and we're gonna talk you know about our process and everything kind of present the behind the scenes of this piece being made right now so speaking of your process the last time I talked to you you mentioned that when you're in composition mode you will almost go off grid and disappears that's still part of your process yes I actually flew in here from Houston so me going off grid is like kind of disappearing from the world but I was just hanging with Leo a lot to work on the piece and to be around Tiffany be around him be around even the city everything just it's all part of the creative process um that I've been basically living in this Tiffany studio downstairs from the Symphony for a while yeah I wear out my welcome pretty pretty easily or not I get obsessed you know and it's been an awesome process how I don't know if quick is the right worry but how long do you feel it takes you to do a composition I mean because you've done so many now do you feel like okay I can get this one in about six months or I can I can have a good idea within a couple of months or what you know like I'm kind of curious on the process. I feel like each piece takes about five to ten years okay but because I don't sleep I can make up for a lot of those years wow and I just know but on the real like I really try to I my problem is I can't I don't have a necessarily an exact process I repeat like a specific on them so each time I feel like I'm relearning how to write and relearning the whole process of that kind of that particular piece or how I'm going to pull it off so each time I feel like it's a brand new system and it keeps it fresh but it's not as efficient but so a lot of these times I'm trying to write so many pieces and get really hyped about a lot of these projects basically I'm just I cram almost like years of work into several months and a lot and it's very exponential how the music comes out because a lot of it's marinating for a while like I started going to Houston even back in February without even giving Leo any notes so far and it's just about to be like a whirlwind of those because I've just been marinating I didn't even know much about the Tiffany at all and a lot of times I don't know about much what I'm doing and then when I tackle the obsession takes over it and then it all kind of clicks and then I get some writing fury near the end of it now I saw that you're using a Tiffany shell almost like the Liberty Bell well here's the thing it's not as resonant as I hope we're going to work on what parts of that to take off but it's more because I love the sound of the side of Tiffany and I want to be able to do that to where we can we can have more rhythms and more notes on it without the awkwardness of that also to protect the Tiffany because he's playing these beautiful instruments and having the old one that can be right there and also just so things work getting thematically because it's awkward to be going down there you know and then we can get different timbers coming down and it gets more resonant as you go down and it's unique and then what's kind of cool about it too is different shells will have different personalities right and sound worlds so you know it's you we can mount it normally but it's kind of nice having it hang there we got we were just trying to figure out how we're going to mount it and we thought like maybe okay some kind of big stand that will hold it and we'll all combine us all the tim tim stand and just think oh we can just hang it from there and it also helps it resonate more too I wish it could be more like a bell and I think some of them will resonate more than others and gotta be the beauty of it too some will be dry or some still have a darker personality some will be brighter some will resonate a lot more but it would be nice to have that just like with the with the drums it's manufacturing each time and it's gonna bring something new to it you know but I it's just amazing being on the work with lay on this and and his musicality and getting that out there you know when you're composing how much is the technical aspect and the notes and the sound choices sonically versus the visual aspect knowing that your piece is going to be performed but people are going to be watching that yeah I don't think I'm lucky that well first of all we're lucky that percussion is so visual anyways so you don't really have to think I don't really overthink that because I'm just being like a kid I go there setting up different things with the with the timpani learning I I don't know I didn't know how to play like it's pretty new even though I did so much percussion growing up for some reason I didn't really tackle the timpani so doing that and just being there and kind of being like a kid and learning it almost even though I know a little bit about it doing that playing things that become idiomatic that become the vocabulary and taking these little cells that become the composition and then with that it's going to be visual by default especially when you're doing different things with techniques and trying to create different sounds and timbers with instruments it's going to you know like you said you can call it a liberty bell I don't even think of it like that well you know having these visual aspects that are just a product of trying to make the music right it's going to it's such a visual thing anyways I don't really have to contribute visually to that but with the vocabulary shows some new things and people are interested I love being able to share that with the audience too I'm very visual also you know I grow in MTV I want to I want to hear and see how those sounds are produced yeah what are you looking forward to most outside of the performance like is there like you know some some people you're looking forward to seeing or an experience that you're looking forward to having here at basic yeah well this man getting to run into you again and all my good friends that I haven't seen for several years and just being all the take this all in it's just it's awesomely overwhelming you know and and I'm so grateful that people are coming about a booth and checking out the music I just want to share this with the world and and share these experiences that I don't know my my good friends I haven't seen this so long this this is what makes it awesome yeah that's what I think well thank you for coming by this booth as always you can go to discussions in percussion.com to check out all the bonus content and hyperlinks and you can write to me at discussions in
[email protected] all the social media handling are at discussions in percussion except for the platform formerly known as Twitter that is discussed in Perk. Raise your reviews welcome deceptive and appreciated and feel free to share this with them when you think we get a lot out of it enjoy your Thanksgiving I hope you're spending it with family and friends and loved ones and stay safe out there and I will talk to you next week all right take care peace [Music] [Music]
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