My last post got 5 stars so I’m doing a second part. I’m happy to find Max Roach is featured in the book that Bennie recommended. He is rightfully everybody’s favorite drummer. The first jazz record I ever owned was Charlie Mingus’s “Town Hall Concert” from 1974. I was still in high school and didn’t know what to make of it at first but I eventually fell in love with it and Danny Richmond’s playing. Brad Fox could sing that whole lp.
My favorite drummer though is Ed Blackwell. Trained in New Orleans, he is what they call a melodic drummer. He plays on Ornette’s “Science Fiction,” an album that turned my head around. I got to see him playing with Don Cherry at a club in New York. I shook his hand even. I was talking to Hamid Drake when he played here and he told me he studied with Ed Blackwell. Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell recorded “Mu” first part and second part, released on a separate lp, in just one session! Just listen to a few minutes of the second track on “Mu First Part.”
And don’t you love the Actual label. The lower case, sans serif typography, the sparse placement of the image on a white sleeve and the logo! In a box with the stylized “A” next to it. The number, flush right at the bottom, indicating a whole series of recordings. Actuel albums looked like anthropoligists’ collections, carefully notated field recordings.
After Bennie showed me a few jazz licks Peggi joined us on sax. Bennie played her panadero, and I played drums. Any time you have two drummers you are jamming. It has to be the easiest path to “jamming.” I never liked bands with two drummers. It is so messy. The most valuable tool in a drummer’s kit is space.
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