Untitled Document

Jeff Hamilton

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Jeff Hamilton's pedigree will become apparent to you during the course of this feature article, written by me, appearing first of all in the United Kingdom's JAZZ JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL, and is used with permission.
This is typical of the many and varied contributions from readers who have knowledge and/or contact with the JAZZ greats.

I have edited this feature slightly and have hopes of bringing it uptodate over the next little while.

Jeff has the respect of musicial directors and students of the drums the world over. My opinion is that he has now taken over the mantle of the great Mel Lewis and added to that his own considerable musical talent, style and awesome technique. To my mind Jeff is not only the most dynamic and exciting drummer playing today but his approach is the most musical.

JRK

A telling quote from Jeff which may suggest his approach to his music!

`I really don't know why musicians have to be so bitter now in their music, so angry; everything has to have a statement!'

`I started playing jazz back in Richmond, Indiana, when I was very young. I was in a trio with Leo Ryan on piano and his brother Dean on gut string bass; this was at Elizabeth Parker's Restaurant, Main Street.

Richmond's a town of 40,000 people, factory workers and farmers. I think I was 15 maybe 16 when I first played there. This was on Friday and Saturday nights. I couldn't play in the bar, I was too young.

I started military drumming, or you could call it rudimental drumming when I was eight years old. I had been studying with the same teacher until I was 13 years old and had my own drum set. I had also been listening, mostly to the Oscar Peterson Trio or the Basie band and a little later, Kenton, but mostly the Basie band.

My work with the snare drum got my hands to be machine like. I was this mechanical little figure. Wind him up and he can play all 26 rudiments without batting an eye. I then transferred all that technique to my new drum set a la Buddy Rich and Louie Bellson. This was a typical transition from the snare drum.

I was listening very carefully to Ed Thigpen with the Peterson Trio. There were two albums in particular: 'The Trio Plays' and 'Night Train', both on Verve. Those two albums just killed me.

There were some Basie albums that my father found at a cut-out store for 98 cents. I can't tell you the titles now. I just remember Jo Jones. I remember he did bring home First Take with the Ellington and Basie Bands, Sonny Payne and Sam Woodyard; that just knocked me out.

All this was coupled with seeing Gene Krupa on the Merv Griffith Show on TV centre stage, by himself, in a black suit, hair slicked back, with a spotlight on those sparkling white Pearl drums; he looked so handsome. 'This is what I gotta do', I thought. He was my drum teacher's favourite too. I never got to meet him, I always wanted to.

I didn't have a vast record collection but my mother, who was a church organist, had a Hammond organ in the living room. She would play all the big band tunes because they were popular. She wasn't a jazz player but she loved the big bands as did my father. Everybody in my family was a musician except for my father. My two older sisters were pianists, one should have gone on and been a concert pianist. My other sister was the only one with perfect pitch........ball and a slider, that's the only kind of pitch I have.[Jeff is an incurable baseball addict; he also has a very high standard of ability in tennis-JRK.]

Most of my friends were listening to Chicago and Blood Sweat And Tears; this is as close as I got to rock and roll. The only reason I listened to those bands was because they used horns like a big band would, over a rock beat. I didn't dig the Beatles at all, I was anti-Beatles. Now I appreciate the writing they did, but the performance still doesn't knock me out. Ringo didn't kill me as I had learned to do that when I was eight or nine years old anyway.

My first kit was a complete surprise from my parents. They did not make a lot of money. My father was a factory worker and my mother made very little from playing church organ. They had saved together, and I think it was more or less them acknowledging my efforts on a snare drum they had rented for me. I had won a couple of drum contests when I was 12 against high school students; I was getting first division rating.

When I went to Indiana University, Pete Erskine was there, Bill Molenhoff was there, he beat me out of the first jazz ensemble for my first semester.

In 1971 Indiana University was the largest music school in the world. There were 52 percussion majors in my freshman year and very few of them were `slided'. That means that every one got a music education, none were hidden under the carpet, all were worth their place.

I think the drawing card for the university was that the jazz departent was the first to give a degree. David Baker, the trombonist and later a cellist after his car accident, started the first jazz degree course to my knowledge. The other reason was George Gaber, he was a timpanist under Toscanini at NBC, New York , one of the great timpanists, one of the great percussionists. He recorded with Duke Ellington on a record called Jazz Party. That was Duke's band with about 15 percussionists. Gaber had an appreciation of jazz and still taught the techniques of legit percussion.

I didn't go to Indiana as first choice. I was accepted at Eastman School Of Music. They were only taking four freshmen that year in percussion. I was assured that I would be one of them.

The audition was very demanding. I played a four mallet marimba solo, a timpani solo, a multiple percussion solo, a classical snare drum piece and some time on a drum set. I needed a scholarship as I did not have enough money. It cost around $4,500 to get into the school in 1971. That's nothing now, but at that time it was one of the most expensive in the United States.

I had a successful theory test, I had done piano in high school, and since the Dean Of Education was from Indiana and knew my drum teacher I seemed to be a sure in.

Then I received a letter from the Dean Of The Music School saying that I was accepted but was not getting the help of a scholarship as their budget was tight, this was a blow. The band director arranged for an audition at Indiana and I got in at the last minute.

My close friend John Clayton the bass player had been studying Ray Brown here in LA. He had gone to a UCLA bass clinic that Ray took. He asked John to come up and play, John played Ray's solo on 'Tenderly' from the 'That's The Way It Is' album. He stayed behind after the class and that's how their friendship started. Ray thought that John should learn legitimate bass playing, that is classical bass playing, so he sent him to Indiana to study with Murray Grodner.

That's the reason for John being at Indiana. He was immediately swept up as being the musician in the jazz departent because he was so advanced over most of us, except for Peter (Erskine). He was pretty advanced too but they never played in the same band because he left after his freshman year to go with the Kenton Band.

I knew that my playing was not up to snuff, so I talked to John about what was wrong.... it seemed my time was not steady. He asked me what I was listening to and I told him Oscar Peterson and Count Basie.

I was told to listen to people who play good time, like Philly Joe Jones. Play to the records and don't be surprised if you get to play with some of those guys eventually.

He asked me to name three bands I wanted to play with. I said Woody Herman, Count Basie and the Oscar Peterson Trio. I have since played with Woody and Basie.

I am great friends with Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen who were part of the Peterson Trio. I did have an offer to play with Oscar for a week in Detroit in 1978, but I was in Japan with the LA 4.

I left Indiana to study with John Von Ohlen in Indianapolis. He showed me how to treat a big band. A lot of the time he would put lead trumpet parts in front of me, then put the tape on of whatever band it was and I'd play along to it not knowing what was going on except for the lead trumpet.

His principle was, don't think like a drummer filling for the band, think how one of the horn players would phrase it. Von Ohlen's stroke is the one I applied to my playing, which is bringing the stick back and dropping it on the cymbal getting three bounces. You're getting a natural accent on two-a-three, four-a-one, getting two and four where you snap your fingers anyway if you listen to jazz.

John Clayton had worked with Murray McEachern in Palm Springs. Murray loved him. Jane Dorsey had called Murray and commissioned him to lead the Dorsey Band in 1974. They re-organised the band after auditions in Kansas City. They wanted some college students at $250 a night, pay for your own food and hotels. Murray asked John if there was a drummer he felt comfortable with. I went out to Kansas City on John's recommendation..... my first time away from home.

We rehearsed for two weeks and went on the road playing Opus One, Song Of India and all that. I loved it, it was great. I got to stay on the band for eight months. We didn't record, by the way. To my knowledge that band still hasn't recorded, even with Buddy Morrow fronting it.' [The band did record-Tommy Dorsey Band Featuring Buddy Morrow on MCA 5187-JK.]

As things worked out, Dennis Wilson came from Lionel Hampton's band to play lead trombone. I got a recommendation from Dennis to go on Lionel Hampton's band. So in 1975 I was in Hampton's band for a very short time. After three months he laid the band off because Bette Midler had asked him to do a show on Broadway called 'Clams On The Half Shell'.

I went back to Indiana, thought that was that. I was 21 at this time.

The Dorsey Band came to French Lake Indiana. I saw Murray about getting my old job back; the guy on drums had some personal problems anyhow, so I sat in and was back.

I was with the band for a month when John Clayton rang me from Los Angeles. He said the Monty Alexander drum chairwas open to me.

'I started with Monty in June of I975. That was probably the most eye-opening experience for me. I had experienced big band playing, now I was tossed into a trio and my role was not just to play time but also to be a contributor to what was going on.... be a soloist.... set up introductions and endings. I was thrown into being an important part of a threesome and I loved it.

I realised then that 1 had a lot more to offer than just being a big band drummer. It was quite challenging as I went from big drums and big cymbals to smaller drums and smaller cymbals and a different concept of intensity, still burn but keep that intensity going within the dynamics of the group. This was a great experience for me. I think Monty Alexander is remarkable. He has a lot of talent in different areas of music, playing straightahead, swing, bebop and ballads.

Monty, Oliver (Jones) and Gene Harris have similar qualities in the energy they create. It's an Oscar Peterson influence. Even so each one of these players adds their own personality to that style.

Monty's time is so good. His background in Kingston, Jamaica, learning reggae and calypso has really influenced his playing.

As a drummer, with him you really do not have to work that hard. You just sort of listen to what he's doing and play time with him. You don't have to fight him. He's panned sometimes for too much humour and playing too much to the audience, but this can beg the question. "Is he or isn't he an entertainer with a commitment to entertain'?".

Well, I just saw Monty this past weekend and he summed up his attitude, and mine, with one simple word. . . joy!

Every time I sit down to the drums it's pure joy. I recapture that emotion of when I was 13 years old and saw my red sparkle drum set. It's that very same joy. I really don't know why musicians have to be so bitter now in their music, so angry; everything has to have a statement! Just state who you are by sitting down and being that person, playing according to your own emotions, expressing your own personality.

One of my pet peeves is drummers taking solos that turn into show and tell experiences. I am not much for extended drum solos unless there issome form to it.

Jazz drummers are supposed to be playing the tune; even avant-garde playing has some form! Why do some have to pull out their Charlie Wilcoxon Book and show everybody what they have? I like to hear melodic lines on drums. Why play 'Satin Doll' when the rest of the band are playing Confirmation`?

That trio with Monty Alexander has the potential of being one of the best trios ever.

My first album was on MPS at Montreux, with Monty. It was a scary night. Mel Lewis was there playing with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Band, right before us. I got to sit behind Mel and watch him play. He was one of my mentors. I was 21 or so, knowing that there was going to be a record and having to follow that band; and after us was Stan Getz with Joanne Brackeen and Billy Hart.... we were the throwaway group. Monty had such a competitive spirit that night. We came out and played 'Night Mist Blues', and from the opening of the tune people just turned around and started listening. This was one of the few times that I really don't remember what I played. The blood was just rushing; I really wasn't in control of what I was doing.

I still get a kick out of listening to that recording. I enjoy the excitement that was caused by the trio, I enjoy the intensity of our arrangements and the cleverness of what we did, but I still sound like a 22-year-old drummer!

I had my drums tuned too low and they didn't get a great drum sound on the record. There are a couple of places where I tried to do too much. Some say it was one of the best trio alhums, John Clayton can't listen to it, he thinks it's terrible, Monty likes it, I like it sorta, because it's like pulling out a year book, but 1 don't pull it out and play it for students.

After two years with Monty I felt I was ready for big band again. I heard there was an opening with Woody from Birch Johnson who was on the Dorsey Band with me.

Dan D'Imperio had reached his end with Woody and was ready to get off. Birch told me that the job was open for me if I wanted it. It had always been a dream of mine to be on Woody's band.

A part of me didn't really want to go out on the band. I had seen them perform. There seemed to be a lack of interest; guys were ready to get off. Woody had just had his car accident and he was coming out in a walker with a bicycle horn. I guess I missed the good days. He just wasn't inspiring the band. He seemed lucky to get to the front of the stage; he had lost all his teeth, broken his leg.

I talked to Von Ohlen about it. He said "You're just what they need, they want a good drummer, go on".

I couldn't understand that way of thinking. I didn't want to look at it that way. He said "They need someone to just lay it down and swing. Woody will love you". I took that approach. I felt I could play just about anyway I wanted. I had had some experience now. I wasn't right out of college like a lot of the guys were. I felt I had my own way of playing and 1 could do that and still have reverence for what Jake, Hannah, Don lamond, davey Tough and so on had done. It was a challenge for me to be able to do that. To go on and play Chick Corea's arrangements and still have Four Brothers happening.

I was real happy with the way I played. I should have probably played a little more beboppish in 1977, but I played real big band style and Woody seemed to like it. I went on to sub five or six times after that I took a smaller bass drum, smaller cymbals and did play more bebop style and it worked...... I prefer the way I played later. What I learned from Woody is that a leader owes it to the guys in the band to let them develop without telling them what they should be doing. 1 really admired Woody for letting me do that.

There were a couple of guys that were misfits and he let them know it. t His apparent carefree attitude, even on a big concert, taught me to stay loose and just relax.

A drummer had to conduct that band! Woody would count off 'La Fiesta', which is in 6/8, like one, two, three, four!!!!! I've got to come up with the right rhythmic pattern regardless.

In Caldonia. which is like a bat out of hell, we had it down to six seconds a chorus one night. He'd turn round and shout "Here's a good old good one. . . Caldonia, and count one-a, two-a, three-a, four-a". I'd just have to take over at the proper tempo. That's expected of the drummer when you go on that band.

Woody was approachable yet unapproachable; there was this tough guy thing he had that, if you were intimidated, you didn't feel you could talk to him. My first night, he ignored me because I held out for $50.00 more a week. I felt "Hey, I'm somebody, I've made five records" or whatever. He was really bugged. The first set was Four' Brothers. La Fiesta. Giant Steps, Fanfare For The Common Man and Caldonia. The only ballad was Early Autumn. He threw everything at me, I knew what he was doing. He sat right in front of the drums so he couldn't see me. When we came to Caldonia, 1 played it very fast. I was used to this after playing with Monty, my fast chops were up! He turned around and said "Don't play it so fast tomorrow night, pal!"

I thought, well I've got his attention, so I'll speak to him at the break. I found him sitting in a corner. I extended my hand and said "Hi Woody, I'm your new drummer Jeff Hamilton". He growled "I know who you are pal. . . and you sound marvellous, all right'?" That's all that was said for two weeks. `There are now four people who have passed on who have been major influences on my playing. My first drum teacher, Shelly Manne, Woody herman and now... Mel Lewis. You kind of feel that all your heroes are leaving you and the ball is dumped in your lap. I met Mel Lewis in 1974 when I was playing with the Tommy Dorsey Band. Caterina Valente was to appear with the hand in Montreal. I was 20 years old and she asked if the rhythm section could cut her music. Murray said yes. She said that just to be safe she would bring mel Lewis in. they flew Mel in from New York and he used my drums. I had been listening to him and transcribing him for a couple of years, so I was well aware of who he was, what he did. He was one of my heroes already. He was very kind to me that night. He said "You played just a little too loud, but everything else was great. You're swinging, you're not killing it, the band feels good, keep up the good work". The next time we met was the following year at the Montreux Jazz Festival. He was a little bit harsher. He came out at the sound check and said "You're playing the wrong cymbals, you shouldn't be playing these things, they are awful". I reacted "Well, what cymbals should I be playing?" He said "You should be playing the Mel Lewis Swish Knocker over here instead of this swish cymbal; I designed that cymbal you know". I said "Well, get me one". As long as you came back to Mel like that, much like Woody, if you weren't intimidated, you hit it off pretty well with him.

`If someone asked me to sum up my playing, I would have to say it was Mel Lewis' relaxation and concept of touch and dropping the stick on the cymbal, Philly Joe's swing feel, his groove, Max Roach and Shelly Manne for soloing and John Von Ohlen kind of wrapping that up. A lot of other people may hear different things, I've heard mention of Elvin Jones, Tony Williams. I suppose we all come out of each other.

`I play Remo Benwood Drums with Fiberskyns. I don't use any muffling, though I keep a pair of men's underwear in the bass drum. Occasionally I use the internal tone control on the snare drum, but no other tone controls.

(As I write Jeff is using Remo drums. I understand that his cymbals are all custom made for him. All I can confirm is that for me he has the quintissential drum sound and cymbal sound - JRK).

The reason the drum sound has changed is mainly because of the engineers. Early rock and roll was alright, but when the surfer music came in, the engineers did not know exactly what sound they wanted. The bass drum sound was too boomy. They put the microphone against the beater which meant the front head came off and so they changed the way the drum sounded. Sticky tape came in then, and it was decided that the drier the sound the better.

I think drums can be an obnoxious instrument unless they have a warm sound that draws the listener to them. The player has to have a warm sound, a soft stroke, a nice touch that attracts the listener to the drums instead of bashing the daylights out of flat, splatty sounding drums. With the flatter, drier sounding drums, there are ways to get the same bounce as before.

On newer sounding drums that are deader, what you would play on "open" drums, sounds more difficult. On the dry drums you hear every note, where on open drums you don't. Just like on horns, you don't hear every note. That's what I'm going for. Horn players swallow notes, like Charlie Parker. He didn't play all the notes; he ghosted some of them. So why do drummers have to make every note crystal clear? It seems like that's the trend now, you have to hear every beat, every stroke.'

I work with brushes a lot. It is a dying art. 1 started because a pair were thrown in with my first drumset. I thought "I wonder what these are for?"

Most of the good brush players are over 50, and there's a good reason for that. When musicians started plugging in their instruments, there was no need for brushes. you couldn't hear them. I was fascinated by them and John Von Ohlen taught me to use them effectively.

I played with the Basie band just after he died. They had had a drummer who had lasted one night. They called me and I had to fly,to Kansas City the next day and spent two months on the band. I just wanted to fill. I didn't want to stay on the band full time. I had always wanted to play on te band, and this was my chance. It was wonderful, I just wish Basie had been alive. Actually the Basie Band is more restricting for a drummer than any other. And this is because of the fabulous list of great drummers who have been with the band.

It Was July of 1977 that I went with Woody.1 had planned on staying with him at least ayear. I guess it was in Decemher that Ray Brown and I had lunch. I had met him while I was with Monty and talked to him a couple of times about my direction. Oddly enough his advice was 'get your mallet playing together' and 'survive in the studios'. I haven't paid much attention to either. He (Ray Brown) said "I've got to talk to you. I've got this little band and I need a drummer.I don't know if you've heard of a group called the LA4;lvc Ilcrlr(I ol a group callcd Ihe LA 4, it's a band with Bud Shank, Laurindo Almeida and Shelley Manne! I said "Yeah, sure... I want to replace Shelly Manne!

I like to describe the LA 4 as being for the Scotch drinking audience, the lawyers, the people who like classical music and some light jazz. That group was perfect for them.

We were compared to the Modern Jazz Quartet by some. That seemed a perfect time for me to move so I left Woody's band and moved to LA. This was in 1978 after we did those three records (Flip And Woody Together, Road Father and Chick, Donald, Walter and Woodrow). Until I joined, the LA 4 had heen a very colourful chair for the percussionist. I am a jazz drummer though, and I don't fancy myself as a percussionist. I just wanted to play the drum set.

There had been a lot of bells and tinkling effects which was the way Shelly approached the band. During the time we were negotiating I actually told Ray (Brown) that I wasn't crazy about the tapes he had sent me, that I loved everybody in the band as an individual but there was something not working for me. He said "That's why I called you. Put anything you want in the band and play the way you want to play". Understand that I am not putting Shelly down. I loved him and I'm still not over missing him. He was a great friend and idol. I just felt the band could swing a little more. I did play some percussion as it was part of the book, but I gradually phased it out. They didn't say a thing about my playing at the first rehearsal and still haven't said a word. It must have been be OK!

`The Philip Morris/Gene Harris Superband was Gene's project. He had basically retired, was playing in a jazz room in Idaho when Ray Brown came in and said he played too well and he'd got to get out of that place. After three vears or so playingwith Mickey Roker in the Ray Brown Trio, Gene started gaining popularity. He did a couple of albums on his own and then someone said "Let's put Gene with a big band". That Superband record made a lot of noise, and was nominated for a Grammy.

I look at that project as being Gene's baby. They wanted to get an all-star band. Gene wanted his rhythm section with Herb Ellis; from then on they got all star horn players as there was enough money to pay for them. I think that other drummers that didn't get called looked upon it as a very prestigious job. I didn't really look at it that way. It was a nice experience. I went to a lot of nice places in the world that I hadn't been to, and I've been to Europe 33 or 34 times and had not visited these places. It was great going to Casablanca and Cairo and Taiwan and so forth. I had never been to Australia or Korea.

You don't find me in funky, cross-over situations. The most I have done was with Woody in the Chick, Donald, Walter and Woodrow album. That's what Woody wanted and that's it. I wasn't crazy about it. I just did the best job 1 could. It really didn't turn out all that badly, but it's not my cup of tea. I grew up listening to the stuff that swings and that's what I enjoy doing.

On the recent Philip Morris tour an Australian critic said that Jeff Hamilton, even though he was a small group drummer, held his own admirably in a big band situation! I wish that things would open up a little more so that you weren't just a big band drummer, or a small group drummer, or a fusion drummer. I tend to be pigeon-holed into being a groover or a time-keeper, a good brush player who swings, when I really like to do everything, big band, bebop,1 like to float, like to play Bill Evans style, which I don't get a chance to do.

`When 1 was in town I played in the Bill Holman Band.I think that Bill considered me to be the drummer in his band. I did it for five or six years I'm on the road around six months in the year. Bill's band never has been the sort of band that's working every week; he does maybe a dozen concerts a year and the rest of the timc he's rehearsing and you lived for the rehearsals, hecause it's such great music. Anytime you can get to play the music is OK with me whether you get paid or not.

We've all worked in that band for virtually nothing and nobody complains. Woody called Bill the Dean of big band writers. Mel Lewis called him the King. To get to play Bill's music was another dream come true for me. The Jazz Orbit and Fabulous Bill Holman albums are stuff that I played to with Von Ohlen. These were my formative years and to finally get to play those charts with Bill Holman was incredible. The thing that makes his music so exciting from the drum chair though is for thc drummer not to be exciting!

If the drummer is the glue for the whole band and just weaves in and out from one section to the other, then the music comes off much better. Just like Mel Lewis did. I'm always thinking about what Mel was doing; what would he do here and so on. There are times that I'll play just thc same fill he did. Why change it when it was so right'? When Bill and I worked together in Cologne, hec said to me "Don't make such a big deal out of that drum fill".... Just like Mel again!

Mel was very outspoken, alienating a lot of people. Unfortunately they couldn't overlook what he said and listen to his playing. I observed him upsetting people with what he said. I understood what he was saying, but because of his lack of diplomacy, his fame did not happen as it deserved to happen until he was around 50 years old.

He was always another Kenton drummer, he's done some TV work in LA or such like. No real credit given. It wasn't until the Thad Jones/ Mel Lewis thing that he achieved some fame. Mel was held in very high esteem by the European radio orchestras. He'd go over with Holman, work with Brookmeyer, do tributes to Thad. I think that my style of playing is clear cut different to Mel's, but there's still the influence of him in my playing. I don't worry about the comparison of my playing with Mel as I would with other drummers.

There's been a comparison with Shelly for my brushwork. I get tears in my eyes when I read those. I think it's nice to have it said, but I know in my own heart that it's not even close. There are so many things that Mel did that I don't think I'll ever be able to do, just because of differences in personality and upbringing. But it is nice that some people compare us.

John Clayton and I started our own band . We've kept a very low profile. John's brother Jeff joined us to co-lead the band, the Clayton Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. We wanted players who thought the way we did, like Snooky Young who gives 100% when he plays. We didn't want junkies, we wanted guys who were into playing music. We've got a great band, but unfortunately the market for big bands today is not as good as it was. We can't just take a 'bus out and tour. The best chances are with a record and local appearances. For instance we did the Concord Jazz Festival ; we were a great hit and it turned out beautifully. `We've done some CDs records, featuring John's writing, which is a tip of the hat to Ellington or early Quincy Jones or the Basie Band, just swingin' relentlessly.

A typical line-up would have been trumpets, Snooky Young, Bobby Bryant, Oscar Brashear, Clay Jenkins, trombone, George Bohannon, Ira Nepus, Thurman Green, Maurice Spears, saxes, Jeff Clayton, Bill Green, Ricky Woodward, Herman Riley, Bob Hardaway and Pete Christlieb. Jack Nimitz or Lee Callet, baritone.

John Clayton plays only one or two tunes a night on bass. He spends most of his time out front. You have got to put your heart into playing John's writing. There's enough of the Duke's influence there that you have to live with the music for a while to make it really happen. `Cedar Walton played piano with us for a while, Ray Brown has played in the band, we've also had Doug McDonald and Jim Hershman on guitar at times. We only rehearse as and when the three leaders are in town.

I take out big band drums when I played with Gene Harris't trio because Gene is so strong, Ray is too, it is like playing with a big band. Sometimes I play the same volume and you can still hear all the voices. I do the same with my new trio too .... for the same reasons.

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