[Dixielandjazz] The Greatest Music Lesson - was drums

[pj.ladd]

HI,
It is nice to have my own rule reinforced.`Listen` has always been my 
philosophy.

I grrw up listening to th Big Bands. James, Miller, Dorsey etc., and decided 
I would like to play drums. My first drum was the head from a banjo stuck on 
one end of an empty 56lb distemper drum. (Distemper was the stuff we used to 
paint walls with before emulsion paint came along) with a hand carved pair 
of sticks.
I soon found however that I liked the brushes better than the sticks, 
particularly after hearing Krupa`s `Wire Brush Stomp` and became reasonably 
adept. I also found I could change the sound by switching from wire brushes 
to nylon and by putting elasticbands round the bristles to clump them 
together to get a solid `knock` without the hardness of sticks.
I always though that the drummer was there to support the rest of the band 
and lay down a steady beat not to take the limelight..

I was never a very good , `good` meaning flashy, drummer. I couldn`t do a 
long solo  for nuts. I could mange a four bar break on the end of a number 
and that was about it.
BUT. I once, by accident, overheard my leader, a man of vast professional 
experience reply to  another musician who had asked why I always played with 
the band when there were many `better` drummers around who would give their 
eye teeth for the chance. He said `I dont like drummers, I would rather not 
have one at all but Pat is no trouble, he always turns up for a gig, his 
playing never gets in the way, when he plays the band swings, and he LISTENS 
to what everyone else is doing`
Who says that eaves droppers never hear good of themselves. That really made 
my day.

I also remember a visiting drummer of some reputation who sat in at one gig. 
When the number ended the leader slowly turned round and said to him. `Are 
you building a shed back there?`

Cheers

Pat.