276 – Otis Brown III: Playing with Esperanza Spalding and Joe Lovano, The New School Environment, Racial Justice in Jazz

Rick Marotta is known for his recordings and touring with such luminaries as James Taylor, Jackson Brown, Steely Dan, Carly Simon, Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Aretha Franklin, Larry Carlton, Warren Zevon and Bette Midler. Rick began playing drums at 19 when a friend went into the army and left his set of drums to Rick. It wasn’t long before Rick began playing with R&B bands in the New York area, recording with David Spinozza and the group Giant as well as The Riverboat Soul Band. Rick’s current activities include writing music for movies and television, recording jingles and producing.His scoring for TV can be heard on Everybody Loves Raymond, Yes Dear, and the Hank Azaria Show. In this episode, Rick talks about: * His master class at Drum Paradise in Nashville* Staying open to input and fresh ideas* Skills that are needed to record in the studio * Bringing your personality to your playing * Playing gigs with his brother Jerry* Composing music * Cutting “Hour That the Morning Comes” for James Taylor * Recording with Steely Dan * Double drums with Steve Gadd* Changes in the music industry

18 Apr 20191h 41min

Once a year, we get together with our buddy Nick Ruffini of Drummer’s Resource to catch up on developments in our lives, podcasts, and careers. In this episode, Zack, Matt, and Nick talk about: * Los Angeles: Nick’s first impressions, Zack’s memories, the good, the bad and the ugly * Nick’s new company, Revoice Media * Playing drums vs. other music-related jobs, and how ego and identity plays into that mix * Insecurity surrounding money * Matt’s outlook on the Nasvhille scene * Examples of drummers who had amazing gigs, then took a step back from music to do something different

11 Apr 20191h 19min

Accomplished drummer and spiritual teacher Steve Sinatra has dedicated fifteen plus years to making his living as a full time professional studio and touring musician. He’s toured and shared the stage with many nationally recognized artists such as Sarah Buxton, Pat Green, Richard Marx, Vertical Horizon, Billy Gilman, Joe Nichols, Little Big Town, Hunter Hayes and many others.  After spending ten plus years performing with these notable artists, he had achieved the dream that he embarked on as a child. Still feeling unsatisfied and unfulfilled, he was inspired to dig deeper as to why. That tough question lead him to spending the last four years examining and finding answers to some of life’s tough questions. As he refines and organizes the information, he roots to it through self experience and teaching it to others. The unique blend of experiences and teaching modalities he uses are all linked to three categories, Source, Science, and Sound. www.sourcesciencesound.com is also the website where Steve can be found offering a resource for those asking the same tough questions.  In this 2nd episode, Steve talks about: * Asking the question, “Am I a session player or am I a live player?”  * Working with Hunter Hayes * Explaining the “perspective paradigm” and how t effects us * Rediscovering the Love of Music

4 Apr 201950min

Accomplished drummer and spiritual teacher Steve Sinatra has dedicated fifteen plus years to making his living as a full time professional studio and touring musician. He’s toured and shared the stage with many nationally recognized artists such as Sarah Buxton, Pat Green, Richard Marx, Vertical Horizon, Billy Gilman, Joe Nichols, Little Big Town, Hunter Hayes and many others.  After spending ten plus years performing with these notable artists, he had achieved the dream that he embarked on as a child. Still feeling unsatisfied and unfulfilled, he was inspired to dig deeper as to why. That tough question lead him to spending the last four years examining and finding answers to some of life’s tough questions. As he refines and organizes the information, he roots to it through self experience and teaching it to others. The unique blend of experiences and teaching modalities he uses are all linked to three categories, Source, Science, and Sound. sourcescincesound.com is also the website where Steve can be found offering a resource for those asking the same tough questions.  This episode is sponsored by Shure. Enter here – https://drum-mastery.shure.com to enter the Shure drum solo contest by April 15th, 2019.

28 Mars 20191h 19min

Tarik Abouzied has played and traveled with a vast array of incredible musicians. His groups have collectively produced seven original albums: two from Pocket Change, an instrumental funk septet in the vein of Tower of Power, three from Hardcoretet, a modern instrumental jazz quartet, one from McTuff, an incredible funk/jazz Hammond organ trio, and one from his current project, Happy Orchestra. Happy was awarded 4Culture’s Arts Project Grant and its debut album, Baba, reached #5 on the KEXP NW Music Chart and was nominated NW Recording of the Year by readers of Earshot Jazz. Aside from these groups, Tarik has performed with Victor Wooten, George Porter Jr., John Medeski, Chris Wood, Jeff Coffin, Brian Haas, Jessica Lurie, Nigel Hall, Mike Stern, Bob Franceschini, Damian Erskine, and many more. As an educator Abouzied has led clinics and classrooms at universities and schools internationally. He was a coordinator and teacher for the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra’s Jazz Scholars Program, which provides free music instruction for low-income students, and was the Musical Director for Kentridge High School’s drama program, where he led a pit orchestra comprised of student musicians and professional section leaders. He maintains a private studio of drum set, guitar, bass, piano, and music theory students. In this episode, Tarik talks about: * The creative projects he’s involved with in Seattle * Playing bass on pop/cover gigs, and drums on original gigs * Seattle’s support for original/creative music and art at the government/corporate level * Attending University of Washington, which was not a top-tier music school, but perfect for him at the time * “The Amazon Effect” * Amassing an audience online first, THEN booking and marketing a live show * His blog posts and the role writing plays for him * His take on the “low-paying-gig” debate * An influential night with Dennis Chambers, Victor Wooten, and Bob Franceschini This episode is sponsored by Shure. Check out their drum solo contest at

21 Mars 20191h 28min

Petar Janjic was born in Kraljevo, Serbia, also known as Kingstown. At 5, his father, a well known Serbian drummer, gave him a drum set and at the age of 10, Petar began studying with legendary a Serbian drummer Slobodan Stojanovic. In high school, Petar toured all over Europe before his eventual move to the United States. In 2008 he studied Music Performance & Percussion at the McNally Smith College of Music and eventually became one of its percussion instructors.   During his time in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area in Minnesota, Petar’s passion for learning and persistence won the trust of Prince drummer Michael Bland and the music community that surrounded him. Petar eventually became Michael’s first call sub. Currently, he continues to tour and record with Cory Wong and just moved to Nashville in pursuit of more music and recording opportunities.  In this episode, Petar talks about: * Moving to the U.S. from Serbia to study music  * Becoming the sub for Michael Bland in Dr. Mambo’s Combo in Minneapolis  * Overcoming the challenges of learning “popular western music” in Serbia  * How he approaches live drumming vs. drumming in the studio  * Being asked to play on a Prince record by Prince  * Working with Cory Wong * His approach to soloing  Petar endorses Paiste Cymbals and Vic Firth sticks This episode is sponsored by Shure microphones. Apply online by April 15th 2019 at drum-mastery.shure.com for the Shure Drum Contest.

14 Mars 20191h 45min

Jordan Manley made the move to Atlanta in 2014, after growing up and spending the early years of his career in the small town of Columbus, GA. Since moving, he has been a member of several Atlanta-based groups including Black Linen, Lightning Orchestra, and Mattiel, with who he has been touring the U.S. and Europe, opening for the likes of Jack White and St. Paul & The Broken Bones. In this podcast, Jordan talks about: * What Mattiel and her band have learned from each other * The early years of his career in Columbus * Breaking into the Atlanta scene * Struggling with his musical identity * The West African influence in his childhood church * How playing in hip-hop bands made him more attuned to accompanying vocalists * Focusing on the role of the drummer in a given situation, not just the content of the drumming * A different approach to teaching at Meta Music * His goal-setting philosophy This episode is sponsored by Shure Microphones. Enter the Shure Drum Mastery Contest by April 15th!

7 Mars 20191h 43min

One of the premier showmen in rock, Carmine Appice became known worldwide for his astonishing live performances and a highly sought-after session drummer, He is known As the drummer for many ground breaking rock bands in the late 60’s to early 70’s like Vanilla Fudge Cactus as well as one of the first super groups with Jeff Beck, Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1976, he joined Rod Stewart’s band, touring, recording and writing two of Stewart’s biggest hits, “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” and “Young Turks.” In the early 1980s, he toured with Ozzy Osborne and Ted Nugent. In the mid ’80s, he formed King Kobra for two Capitol albums and international touring. In the late ‘80s, he formed Blue Murder with Whitesnake’s John Sykes and The Firm’s Tony Franklin. In the early ’90s, he pounded away soul-style for The Edgar Winter Group. As an educator, Carmine was the first to legitimize rock drumming with his landmark book, The Realistic Rock Drum Method, selling over 400,000 copies His latest project is a re-release of his GUITAR ZEUS project, a compilation album featuring a who’s who list of the best and world-renowned guitarists on the planet including Brian May, Slash, Neil Schon, Yngwie Malmsteen, Paul Gilbert, Richie Sambora, Dweezil Zappa, Vivian Campbell, Steve Morse, Dug Pinnick, and many others In this episode, Carmine talks about: * The GUITAR ZEUS project, a compilation album * New projects and a stage in Carmine’s career  * Life leading up to Vanilla Fudge * The influence of drummers in the 60’s  * Mixing technique with power and volume * Carmine as educator and his very successful book  * Advice for teachers  Carmine endorses Vic Firth, ddrum, Evans drum heads, Sabian cymbals, DW Pedals, Anvil Cases, The Carmichael Throne, Zoom

28 Feb 20191h 10min