aU CH Uy ACR ON elena tay igskey|eTable Of Contents > OO Key 5 Foreword 6 Introduction 7 So You Say 8 Cold Sweat 13 Pick Hits 14 Cissy Strut 19 Chameleon 21 One Nation Under A Groove 23 Flashlight 25 Blue Matter 27 Diamond 33 Loud Jazz 36 Reference Guide a5 Drummers Index 57 Selected Discography 59 — el CD Tracking Information Audio Cassette Information TT — ] Site [r) 29:00 1 50 You Say (4:20) 2 Cold Sweat (2:13) 1 $0 You Say (4:20) 3 Pick Hits (6:42) 2 Cold Sweat (2:15) 4 Pick Mits (Bass & Drums) (1°50) 3 Pick Hits (3:42) 5 Cissy Strut Bass & Drums) (1:44) “4 Pick Hits (Bass & Drums) (1:50) 6 Cissy Suut (3:45) 5 Cissy Strut (Bass & Drums) (1:43) 7 Chameleon Bass & Drums) (2:34) 6 Cissy Stan (345) 8 One Nation Under A Groove (Bass & Drums) (2:16) | Chameleon Base & Drums) (2:34) 9 Flashlight (Bass & Drums} (2:30) 8 One Nation Under a Groove (Bass & Drums) (2:16) 10 Blue Mater 8:00) 9 Flashlight (Bass & Drums (2:30) 11 Blue Matter (Bass & Drums) (1342) 10) Blue Matter (8500) 12. Diamond (:42) 11 Blue Mater (Bass & Drums) (1:42) 13 Loud Jarz (6:12) 12. Diamond (42) 14 Cue—Solo Section (4:20 into the tack) Hina Side [6] 32:12 15 50 You Say (4:20) 13, Loud Jaze (6:12) 16 Pick Hits (3:45) 17 Cissy Strut (3:40) ‘Songs Minus Drams 18 Blue Mater (6:00) 14 So You Say (420) 19 Loud Jaze (6:15) 15 Pick His (3:45) 20. Cue—Solo Section (4:20 into the track) 16. Cissy Sut 17 Blue Matter (8:00) 18. Loud Jazz (6:15) Recorded and mixed by John Harrisffanel Music, NYC Mastered by Frank Pekoc/Foothill Productions, NYC Produced by Dan Thress & Tom SwitAcknowledgements ce Dennis would like to thank Colin Schofield, Lenny DiMuzio & lan Croit at Zildjian; Scott Miller, Derreck Wiseman, Kazuhisa Yoshizawa & George Frederich at Pear! Drums; Joe Deuro & Carol Calato at Calato Regal Tip Sticks; fob Beals at Evans Drum Heads; John Good & Bon Lombardi at DW Drums; Wan Fitchie at Firchie Drums; Marko Soccoli at Sam Ash Music; Steve Arnold at Manny's Musie; Cathy Rich; Jeff Miller at Gordon-Miller Music; Lou Comtagnoli at Bill's Music; keith Larson at Professional Percussion; and Randy May at May Mikes, Special thanks to Audrey & Milton Chambers, Renee Chambers, Dennisha Chambers & Charles Peters, John & Susan Scofield, Gary Grainger and jim Beard, Tall my fiends in New York & Batimore, you know who you are. SE rr Song Listing & Credits Cold Sweat J. Brown) Dynatone Music $0 You Say J. Scofield) Scoway Music Pick Hits J, Scofield) Scoway Music Cissy Strut (\. Nocentelli, G. Porter, A. Neville, . Modeliste) Rhinelander Music Chameleon (?: jackson, H. Mason, 8. Maupin, H. Hancock) Hancock Music Co, ‘One Nation Under A Groove (G, Clinton, W. Morrison, G. Shidet idgonoxt Mosic Flashlight (G, Clinton, B, Collins, 8. Worl) Bridgepont Music fRightsong, Music, nc Rubber Band Music Blue Matter |) Scofield) Seoway Music Loud Jazz \). Scofield) Scoway Music John Scofield appears courtesy of Capitol Records ‘The musical material presented in this hook is derived from the video Dennis Chambers: ln The Pocket. Produced by Stephen Reed: Executive Producers Rob Wallis and Paul Siegel: Directed by Allie Eberhard; Creative Consultanvinterviewer Dan Thress, Recorded june 9-10, 1992, at Chelsea Studios, NYC, Audio recording and mixing by John Haristifanel Music © 1992 DCI Music video Inc. Al Rights Reserved, Musical performances © & ® 1992 DCI Music Video, Ine. All Rights Reserved ‘The text in this book includes material from the video, outtakes from mn, and an additional interview with Dennis. Dennis ChamberPearl Prestige Custom Series 8x10 Rack Tom 8x12 Rack Tom 9x13 Rack Tom 14x14 Floor Tom 15x15 Floor Tom 16x16 Floor Tom 14x22 Bass Drum Firchie Snare 12"Q8 HH 16" A Custom 17*K Dark Crash 124K Splash 22"Brilliant Earth Ride 16"K Dark Crash Brilliant 14* Mini China {All cymbals are Zildjian) Evans G2 tom heads on top CADICAM resonator heads on bottom Calate/Regal Tip sticks DW pedals Q7mgne> eYAuHENe Key Hi-Hat Cymbals Nia —Qpen Hale lose Open Bide Crash Splash China Comal ene woot whet DBL Peal 80 50. Tom! Yom2—Tem3.— Toma Tom5. Tomo 4 5 In The Pocketoy Foreword ee ee ene niet at aT When hearing a musician as impressive and accomplished as Dennis Chambers, my first reaction is “Where did this guy come from?” In addition to looking for records that he plays on and searching through back-issues for articles, | try to recognize the drummers who may have influenced him. Searching for the ingredients that make Dennis Chambers what he is is what this book is about When | first met Dennis, | thought he was a funkster who migrated into jazz after his years in Parliament-Funkadelic. | didn’t think of him as.a fusion kind of guy. In fact, if he was into fusion | didn’t think he would admit it. But not long after my first meeting with Dennis, | found myself digging up the Billy Cobham and Lenny White albums stashed away in my vinyl collection and giving them another listen. My next meeting with Dennis prompted a funk binge that had me listening to the CD reissues of the Ohio Players, Funkadelic, and the Meters, As this project evolved, | had the opportunity to spend time in Baltimore with Dennis. I remember sitting in his van listening to Tower Of Power cranked up nice and loud, as well as checking out his homemade videotape of Dave Garibaldi. Later he kept me up listening to tape after tape of killin’ grooves, including unreleased P-Funk tracks and an awe-inspiring recording madle when he was only thirteen. We also checked out an Allan Holdsworth concert and were greatly inspited by Gary Husband, Throughout this book, | hope that the soul of Dennis Chambers comes across in his words and music. As you will see, Dennis can inspire you in many ways. Dennis age 8, with is father Milon, and sister Audiey Dennis ChatIntroduction Ifyou already have Dennis’ video In The Pocket, then you have an idea ‘of what this book is about. In the same order as the video, we begin with Scofield's tune “So You Say.” As with other books in this series, roadmap charts are provided to be used with the music-minus-drums audio tracks. The rhythm to the melody, as well as any accents that the rest of the band plays, are writen above the staff. The charts are left ‘open to avoid having to read Dennis’ dense grooves plus the band accents, repeat signs and so on all at the same time. Check out the ‘chants along with the audio to get a feel for what you are supposed to play. At this point, 1 think you will find a new respect for Dennis! Creativity a far as creating slick and appropriate grooves for these tunes, To see how these great grooves work, you can begin by playing the transcriptions of each of the main grooves to the Scofield tunes. Since Dennis and bassist Gary Grainger have such a complementary style, we thought it would be cool to show how the basslines synch up with the {drum parts. We also included the basic grooves to “Cold Sweat,” “Cissy Strut" “One Nation Under A Groove,” and “Flashlight.” Scofield’s tune Loud Jazz” features a drum solo which has also been transcribed. When playing the music-minus-drum versions, you have Dennis’ blessing to go ahead and come up with your own stuff. Use his, {grooves as a reference or start with the music-minus-drum versions belore listening to the full band tracks. The audio for the music-minus. ddrum tracks has been mixed to reflect Dennis’ live mix, with the bass in your face. When you are finished with In The Pocket, pick up Serious Moves, where you will ind some more great Scofield tunes including “Trim,” “The Nag,” “Wabash,” *Make Me," and “Time Marches On.” Dennis’ exciting solo ideas are also broken down and transcribed in a clear and accessible way, and he takes on many interesting topics such as, soloing, chops, feel and imagination, "go-go" grooves and practicing, as well as his approach to playing each of the Scofield tunes. Enjoy. “IBM Rhythm Section, age 13So You Say Qe ee ee Did the “So You Say” groove come before “Tine Marches On,” Which is the same groove slowed down? Probably. I remember when we were working on the Loud Jazz record, John told me that he wanted me capture the same vibe but somehow make it sound different. That's why those two records (Blue ‘Matter/Loud Jazz} sound like parts 1 and 2, as far as the drum parts go. mo Intro funk 4x (3x add bass/4x add guitar) [Bl sane ane [BJ Guitar Soto [a] Feet PLAY 8 mf & ® ‘Dennis Cha(E] [B) rea PLAY 8 [E) Grea mf mp [E] 3x Guitar & Drums PLAY 8 nf [H] rea PLAY 8 aS —— S$. _ [B] Feet QO, f rh (2) eet mf 4 ral. eh In The PocketSo You Say Intro / [A] Groove ¥ RLRRLRERLRRERLRE ° So You Say * Bass “A” GrooveLast 4 bars of Guitar & Drums In The Pocket2 Dennis ChQn Clyde Stubblefield TT 'd like to ask you about some of the diferent musical styles that have influenced you. What about the music of James Brown? | started listening to James Brown at a very young age. | think I was about five or six years old when | first started noticing him, and | used to emulate a lot of his records to learn how to play grooves, orto learn haw to play music, period. There were two drummers who | learned to recognize just by their styles of playing, and they were Clyde Stubblefield and Melvin Parker. Clyde stuck out like a sore thumb to me, | found him the most interesting ofall the players. hn tl Cold Sweat in The Pocket 3Pick Hits Intro sroove solo bass enters ‘add guitar 3 & 4th x fe fe J SH mF Tit [A] same feet fad keys) of LD 5s ae) | ibd Repeat to [A] for guitar solo over form then goon o[] CE) lees _ + AEG? tt +B aids Z —— =a — 14 Dennis ChambersB] Feet a Boe ee 2 a tt abd ‘fill: Fill in 3rd bar of 2nd ending, ete. RLLRR LR LL RR LR In The Pocket 15Inthe Pocket 7Al Jackson What about some of the Memphis drummers, such as Al Jackson? [Al Jackson, | loved his stuff when he played with Otis Redding and Booker T and the MGs, all the stuff that came over the radio back at that time. That influenced your pocket playing? Yeah. Of course, | got away from pocket playing at a very young age. | learned how to play music by emulating those records with the packet stuff, but then I started getting into jazz. | think the first thing 1 remember emulating was Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five,” with Joc ‘Morello, And then it just went on from there into Art Blakey and Philly Joe [Jones]. | never went to school for music, I'm a self-taught musician, s0 I had to get it the best way I could. And the best way 1 knew to do it was to emulate those records, [And at the same time you were gigging. In Modern Drummer ‘magazine, it said that you started working in clubs at the age of six. [At the age of six, yeah, [think | was more of a novelty act, you know—they called me “Little Dennis"—they had a little chair and they would put telephone books on it and | would sit behind the drums and play. | could reach the bass drum pedal but | couldn’t reach the hi-hat. So | was real good at doing that, and then when the police would come, they'd yank me off stage real fast. The reason | could get away with playing in clubs was because of my mother. My mother was a backup singer for Motown Records. So she was sort of {ike a celebrity, and that meant it was okay for me to go in these clubs, because I was “Litle Audrey's” son, Joseph “Ziggy” Modeliste ‘50 after James Brown and the soul drumming, who would you say influenced you? Zig [Modeliste} and the Meters? ‘Yeah, Zig and the Meters—when | first heard “Cissy Strut” that just floored me. Here this guy comes in playing this real slick hi-hat thing, Which was really unheard of back then, this was before [Bernard] Pretty” Purdie played his hi-hat thing with “Rock Steady.” | mean the ‘open-and-close hi-hat thing with the backbeat being the way it was. 1 just fell in love with it.Cissy Strut Solo Groove In The PocketCissy Strut (ae (P] rea FE] (Fa FeeHarvey Mason TQ What about Harvey Mason and his work with Herbie Hancock? Harvey Mason, when he was with the Head Hunters, just floored me. ‘Chameleon—some of the stuff he played on that was just amazing. Just great, great playing, So these were milestones in the evolution of funk drumming. Yes. mo Chameleon ‘The Pocket 2Billy Cobham A What about Billy Cobham, what were some of the ways in which he influenced your playing? ‘When I saw Billy Cobham play, from that moment on 1 wanted to play fusion. Here's a guy who played a right-handed set-up and played a left-handed ride cymbal, he had his ride cymbal on the lel side—when 1 saw that, it was something new for me. Up until that time, | never saw anybody do that. A new challenge. twas a new challenge. So | jumped on it right away. Everything | had learned to do with my right hand, | had to go back and learn how to cdo with my left. But then later | learned that people look at that like i's showing off. So | stopped trying to play everything on my left that | would play on my right and I stuck 10 my right. ——— 4 P-Funk v | Later, when 1 joined P-Funk, one of the percussionists left the band and took al his gear and putt over tothe fet side of my crumb It ‘vas all sick pereuslon—iw bales 'a ‘whole Bunch of cob and various cymbals and othe litle things I could hit So then | started playing alt of st leading with my let hard again, because | had to play percussion with my lft hand and the drums with my ight Wich is eaty todo, actualy, becate for the drum par, all George {Clinton} wanted was a solid bass drum playing on all four beats, and you just crash onthe “one” every other “one with the crash cymbal x But you've also got twenty musicians onstage to worry about, and horn hits... Yeah. Yeah Dennis with P-Funk Dennis ChamberRERL Racy “Sheet Cuts in The Pocket RL RL One Nation Under A Groove R In the early 70's you were playing jazz and fusion gigs in Baltimore? Yeah, until! joined P-Funk. | used to be in a band called Uncle Remus whose bassist was Rodney “Skeet” Curtis, the bass player for Funkadelic. So he later became my in to P-Funk. In Uncle Remus, we Used to play a lot of fusion stuf ike Return to Forever and Tower Of Power. We had a four piece horn section that could cover all the Tower (Of Power stuf and all the musicians were good enough to cover the Retum to Forever tunes as well as the Larry Graham funk stuff So it was a good scene in Baltimore at the time. twas a good scene all over, not just Baltimore, before disco came in and kind of ruined it for a lot of musicians. Groups like Tower Of Power were doing well, | mean they are doing okay now, but they took a long break when disco came in—it just kind of kicked everybody out for a minute. Then came the drum machines, and it really kind of slowed everything down. Did (David Garibaldi had a big influence on your evolving style? Definitely. The way he approached funk was really different. You know, that “Bay Area” sound. | listened to him all the time. |x Teki Fulwood aes | You've mentioned Parliament-Funkadelic drummer Teki Fulwood as an influence. Was he still playing in the Parliament-Funkadelic ‘organization when you joined up? No, he wasn’t around anymore and he died around 1980, ‘So you knew his playing primarily from records? Yeah, Parliament Funkadelic was another band that had a heavy influence on me. | think that was where | actually leamed how to play ‘with a chythm section. Because up until that time, | had played mostly fusion music and its about playing with each other, but you're playing a lot and you're not really listening. | mean you're listening, but you're really not listening to whats going on around you. At least that’s how it ‘was with some of the musicians who were playing fusion at that time. How old were you when you joined that band? Eighteen. And that was your first major touring act? Yeah. It's funny, you know, there I was just out of high school, playing in jaz. clubs, playing a lot of jazz and fusion music, and the next thing | know I get a plane ticket to come down to Atlanta, Georgia, to start rehearsing with the band. And the next night after that, | was at Madison Square Garden. It was pretty wild, | remember the lights ‘went up and | looked up and there are all these people, and | had never seen that many people in my life! | looked down, I had ‘goosebumps. And you couldn't hear the count off because the people ‘were cheering so loud. So | would count off and the band was saying, “What? What's going on?” So I had to yell a little louder to count off the tunes. Playing with P-Funk was a great experience for me How long did it take before you really felt comfortable with that band? ‘After two months | felt comfortable being with the band, but | never felt comfortable playing the music until about three years alter 1 joined. 1 spent a long time playing a lot of jazz fusion music, like funk, so 10 speak, but P-Funk is a whole different type of funk thing, you know. All your life, you listen to a band that you really idolize, and all, of a sudden here you are playing with them. | never dreamed that 1 ‘would be playing with them,Swing 16ths) ‘The Pocket Pocket Playing TT So this period of nine years had a heavy influence on what you've done since then, in terms of your groove or pocket playing. Can you {alka litte bit about how that developed and some of the George Clinton ideas? ‘Well, one thing I had learned was how to play in the pocket, because I didn’t know what that meant. No one explained it to me, especially in that organization. Finally | broke down and said, “Man, what are ‘you guys talking about? What i ‘pocket’?” And what it meant was, the time is here: one, two, three, four, and you could either play right on those beats—which George didn’t want, he wanted it to lay back a litle bit, behind the beat. That's what he meant by putting it in the pocket. You could stil fee! the time being where it was, you just had this heavy or sluggish feeling Where was the hi-hat? ‘The hi-hat stayed on the beat. I's sort of like what Gadd does with his left hand when he plays snare drum. In some of the songs he played with Steely Dan, the snare drum is behind the beat, so to speak. It's a litle bit laid back. And that’s pocket playing—that’s what George called pocket playing. Can you hear the difference between your snare dram and the click when you are tracking? Yeah, it sounds almost like a flam. The thing is, you have to stay cconsistent—every time your stick comes down it has to be in the same place in relation to the click. So that would carry on into the record dates you're doing today, whether its sequenced music or not, ital still applies. Yeah, it all still applies, but I don’t get a chance to do those types of things too much. Usually | work with a lot of guys who use sequen- cers, and they want it to be exactly right on the beat, and as soon as you try to lay it back a litle bit, they think that the time is a little ‘weird. And all you're trying to do is create a comfortable vibe on the track. The only time I ever get a chance to really exercise that type of thing is when I'm playing live, with the rhythm section, a | FlashlightJohn Scofield | | ‘How did your gig with John Scofield come about? Gary [Grainger], who is also from Baltimore, was in the band for a year of two before | joined. He convinced John to go hear me when 1 ‘was playing in San Francisco with Special EFX. So John heard me and Tater he called me up and wanted me to do a record with him. And that turned out to be Blue Matter? Yes. Later | found out that John had heard me play on a lot of P-Funk: records. When John was playing with Miles’ band, they used to take these serious bus rides and Miles’ nephew, Vince Wilburn, was playing drums. Vince had a lot of bootleg tapes of P-Funk and they used to play them on these bus rides. But what really convinced John ‘was when Gary brought him over to hear me play. Had you worked with Gary in Baltimore? | used to go to a lot of jam sessions and Gary would always be playing. Sometimes he would sabotage me by calling up another bass player when it was my time to go up on the bandstand. | only wanted to play with him! | still tease him about that Did John ever lay any Miles ideas on you? No. See, what I felt Miles was trying to accomplish when John was in his band was the same stuff that | already went through with George Clinton. Like I said on the video, P-Funk music was like the national anthem to that band. They would get up in the morning and throw a tape in and it would be P-Funk. So John didn’t have to tell me to play simply or whatever, because | already had that concept covered. DennisBlue Matter | eet near eT cece. The parts that you and Gary came up with for “Blue Matter” are very unique—a lot of patterns phrased together between the bass and the drums. How did that all come about? ‘Well, as far as | remember, John brought in this tune, he just had the cchord changes and the accents. We started playing a groove, which wasn’t the groove that was on the record at the time, it was another ‘thing—and then all of a sudden | started playing the triplet pattern that | earned from listening to Teki Fulwood. Gary had a bass line, and he ‘changed his bass line to fit what ! was doing, so it came about from him listening to me and me listening to him. There were a few things 1 hhad to change to fit his idea, too. And that’s how it evolved. ‘And John just let it happen? He just let it happen. That's the great thing about John. When you play with his band, he doesn’t really tell you what to do. If he doesn’t like what you're doing, he'll say, “Okay, well, | don’t like this, why don’t you try this instead.” But it was very seldom that he would do that. 1 remember he always brought in these tunes and it was like, “Well, here's the tune, here's the accents, you guys got it." He would just trust us to do those things. | can‘t remember it ever being that way since, where a band leader will just let you do what you do—trust you to do what you do. It’s just like somebody saying, “Here's a sketch of the painting—put some color to it” ‘The only other time that happened was with George Duke and Stanley Clark. When we did the Clark/Duke ~3 record, they just flew me out to LA. and didn’t even send me a tape. We got to the studio and we ‘were clownin’ around and | asked what the first tune was going to be, and they said, “Mothership Connection.” | thought it was a joke, because that’s an old P-Funk standard. They said “No, we're not joking.” So | said *Well, how are we going to do it?” They said “You'll hear it” So | got behind the drums and they played the thing down so | could hear what it was going to sound like, and in between hearing the track and getting ready to record, | started doing this drum solo. So ''m playing and | look up and the record light was on, | heard the four- beat click and | just rolled into the groove, and they ended up keeping. the whole track. The whole album was done that way. They would just play the track once and then say, “Put some drums to it.” mo 4$s Blue Matter Intro Bren doublestine swing fel mp “go-go funk” 2x mf Play Ist x0 Oger DP? Feat = epilarse TDI Pl fly JT (E] Brealay Istxonly \_ keyboard solo 5x Og: 2 2 1p yp? 2nd x only perm (1) alreet mp like intro (] 6s y rit ast x oh‘Tntro Groove a Variationsin The Pocket aDiamond You know, a lot of people, when they hear those triplets on the bass drum, immediately think that I got that from John Bonham, probably because that’s where they first heard it, But for me, the first cat | ever heard do that was Teki Fulwood. And the second time I heard it was John Bonham, and John Bonham made it famous, because everybody ‘was into rock music and that kind of thing. Another time | heard that triplet configuration, it was done by a drummer named Diamond, who plays with the Ohio Players. He demonstrated some things like this: a | Groove to “Fopp,” Ohio Players, from Honey COE EEE In The Pocket aGo-Go Weceseccaccccaccccaccceeeeee assesses P-Funk had a huge “underground! following, and in Washington, D.C. they were f00 famous. A lot of drummers copped Tek’ stuff, and I think 2 lot of go-go came from them listening to James Brown and the stuff that Teki did. And like | said, Teki was born and raised in D.C, So | think that local drummers just took the basics ofa lot of his stuff and came up with what they called go-go. In Baltimore-Washington, everybody played it—it wastrt even called go-go back then (early 708), What's the difference between go-go and hip-hop? Hip-hop is just about drum machine sounds. If you hear somebody riding around with some hip-hop music on, the grooves are really happening hypnotic grooves, but what really makes those tunes work are the sounds—the freakin’ low bass drum sounds and electronic snare drum sound. But if you take the sounds away and just listen to the track, it's just a basic groove. SS ’80s Influences i We talked about drummers who influenced you throughout the ’60s and 70s. What about some of your influences from the ’80s? When was the first time you heard Vinnie Colaiuta? | heard Vinnie when | was with P-Funk, and the first thing 1 remember hearing was the Joe's Garage record. When I heard that, | was totally blown away. ‘Today, | have various different influences, a serious range, from jazz and fusion to funk and pocket. Marvin “Smitty” Smith is one of my favorite drummers today. His bebop playing is amazing—and his groove stuff is pretty amazing, too. Jeff Watts, Tommy Campbell, Dave Week, Steve Gadd, Billy Cobham), Tony {Williams} are some of my favorites...and there's two drummers Id like to mention, | don't think people know anything about them, One is Gary Husband, who plays with Level 42 and Allan Holdsworth. When he plays with Holdsworth, he reminds me of Tony. The other drummer is named Mark Mondesir. Both of these drummers are {rom Britain. Mark Mondesir is a phenomenal bebop player. There's Will Kennedy also, who plays with the Yellowjackets, I love the way he plays. There's a whole bunch of guys around New York. Dennis Chambers| think every time you're in New York, you're ata different club every night. Yeah, | make ita point to go and just check people out. And another guy | always fail to mention is Lenny White. Just the way he tunes his, dirums, and his approach to playing the drums really knocks me out ‘And Jack Dejohnette. Those are my favorite players. Including the old ‘guys, Max [Roach] and Elvin UJonesl, Philly Joe and Papa Joe, Big Sid Catlett, Louie Bellson, who I had a chance to play witht sil have to pinch myself on that | can't believe actually shared the same stage with him. That's one of the things that impresses me, you seem very open- ‘minded. You mentioned to me earlier how much you dig the playing of Joey Baron. That's a whole different side of jazz that you are not ‘typically associated with. He's another one of my favorites. When I go sce somebody ike him, | kind of wish Vd never played drums, because he has such a beautiful approach to playing, When Lenny plays, or Jocy or all those other guys, it makes me think about, Well, maybe Fl go into another fied, take another career! And i's weird, you know. Some guys have expressed those feelings about me, and I've said, “Man, et out of here!” —Ss Mare Mons Allan Holdsworth Gary Husband Louis Belkon tenay White ‘Marvin “Smit” Smith in The Pocket 35Loud Jazz Peer eee ‘mn Loud Jazz there are a lot of sections where you solo around accents that the band is playing. Was that hard to get together? No. Well, actually it was, now that | really think about it (sings accents). Yeah, that’s definitely a John Scofield signature tune. It took ime awhile to get the fee! down with all the accents and so forth, For the video, you recorded eleven tunes in one eight-hour session. Some of the tunes were first takes, and a lot of them were second takes. Loud Jazz was four or five takes. Your solo on this take was my favorite—your phrasing has a kind of swingin’ bop feel to it, then it {g0es into some other stuff | think the reason that it took that many takes is because I was trying to go for the vibe that we had when that band was working a lot ‘When you hear some ofthe live tapes, the vibe was phenomenal, mo Intro Feel ‘Swing 8ths Dennis ChambersLoud Jazz z ahi bibs inrrofeel PLAY 8 ep —== Se fll around figures adi dt yh t tobe tay hy wet oye 7 ajar of [D] guitar solo 3x PLAY 32 In The Pocket 72x a) iano solo prays [F} PLAY 31 1 (] pravis (Fy la}reet uf (CD cue) 38 Dennis ChambersGuitar solo groove Variations 2 DewittVariation In The Pocket oh8 Dennis Chambers1992 | just finished a book by drummer Act Taylor called “Notes and Tones,” which is a collection of interviews from the early “70s. He interviewed Miles, Randy Weston, Ron Carter, Ornette Coleman, and at least 20 other musicians. A lot of his questions were about race and politics and how African-Americans have very little power in the music business and yet it really belongs to them. A lot of the ‘musicians being interviewed have moved to Europe to get away from the racism in New York and across America. It seems to me that twenty years later, not much has changed. 1 we walk down fo a club tonight, we will find that a lot of the ‘bands are all white or all black, etc. 'm from the Midwest and there was always a very natural mix—nobody thought about it. But it’s not that way here in New York. Dennis, you play in a lot of bands that are “mixed” or whatever you want fo call it. Is there anything positive you can say that could help shed some ight on this situation—do you know what | mean? | know exactly what you mean. When I was with P-Funk I never saw that kind of thing, We had a percussionist, Larry Frantangelo, who was white, Italian or something, and we had a lot of guys working for us who were white. And it was never like “you white so and so” or “you black so and so, 1 hate you because you're white” or "I hate you because you're black.” You just dug the way he played. ‘Yeah, the guy did a great job, and you just dug him for it. | didn’t see that until after I came {to New York], and it's a very screwed-up thing, What's going on here, why is it still here, what's it all about? [-don't know. | think it has something to do with the religion and stuf that goes on here, If | walk down some of these streets and see a couple of Muslims sitting out there, the first thing that comes out is, “You're a brother of another color.” And they always have to put that ‘out there first, Not to say that that is the start of it. But people here always look at your skin first, before they see the beauty of what that cat is on the inside Would you agree that itis happening on both sides? Definitely (laughs), it's definitely happening on both sides. | hear it more from my black friends than white cats. When 1 hang out with my white friends, I never hear that kind of thing come out of their mouths. | don't know if that’s because I'm around or whatever, but I never hear that. When | get around my black friends, they will be talking about 2 drummer (if the guy is white) they will say he is a “bad white guy.” “He's the baddest white guy,'—you know, he's pretty good for being white. What the hell does skin color have to do with what he is playing. If he’s bad, he's bad. t's a shame that it happens here. | think italso happens in Detroit, but it happens more here Inthe Pocket‘So many great jazz musicians have come out of Detroit—do you think it has always been that way? No, when | started working there with P-Funk they would have a mixed band on the bandstand, but after the gig the black guys would ‘only hang out with the black guys and the same went for the white ‘Buys. Maybe the white guys were affaid to go hang out with the black ‘guys because they were afraid of getting their car tipped off or a guy ‘may take him somewhere and he'll get the crap beat out of him, It's a ‘messed-up thing, and | hope that one day, which will probably never happen, that they will just chill out You see nothing positive about a band being all black or all white. One thing | liked about Miles is that he finally realized that there are some funky white cats. A long time ago when was coming up, if you wanted somebody to play funk, you hired a black guy. It was unheard of for a white guy to play funk. White guys were playing rock and roll, (or whatever. Was Miles ever going to hire a white drummer? | don’t know. Because when there were auditions—well, usually there ‘weren't auditions. Somebody usually recommended somebody. | think that Miles eventually decided that if you could play, and play what he wanted to hear, then he would hire you. Its just unfortunate that he never got around to hiring a white guy on drums. | don’t think that anyone recommended a white drummer, He had white guitar players, saxophonists, and keyboardist. You have worked with several people who played with Miles... Yeah, Bob [Berg], Mike [Stem], John [Scofield], and Adam [Holzman Did Miles ever contact you? Yeah, sure, right before Ricky Wellman joined the band, when 1 was with David Sanborn. | got a call one night, and I said, "Hello," and the person on the other line said, “Who's this?” So 1 was a little annoyed and said “You're the one that called—i's Dennis.” And he said, “Oh, allright. got the right cat.” So I said, “Who's this?’ and he said, “Its Miles.” I said, *Miles who?" By then he was getting annoyed and said, “Miles Davis!” So I figured it was one of my friends playing a litle joke ‘on me, so I said, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, what do you want.” (laughs) So he said in his whisper, I heard you on the John Scofield stuff and I really like the way you play. How would you like to play for me?” So [told him Sure, but who is this really?” He told me again, "Its Miles.” So I'm listening to the line and 1 realize that it sounds long distance, and that maybe itis Miles. Then he went on for about forty minutes talking, about stu and acting lke he had known me for years. He was funny. Dennis ChambersHe wanted me to join up then but it just so happened that Vince Wilburn Who is a friend of mine, and also Miles’ nephew, was playing drums in the band. Now I could not go in and take a friends gig away from him 0 I had to figure out what to tell Miles because I knew that | coulda’ tell hhim—the words wouldn't come out of my mouth—that | didn't want to play in his band. | told him that | had to finish ry tour with Sanbom, and then do another tour with John, and then 'd love to play if it worked out, He said, “Well, take down my phone number and whenever you get 10 New York, call me.” Then he called two days later looking for a saxophonist, and 1 told him about Gary Thomas, and | called up Gary bbut he had just taken the gig with Jack [Defohnette]. Then Miles called ‘me again, looking for a guitar player, so I recommended “Blackbird” McKnight who played with the Head Hunters ‘Then t went hack out with Sanborn and | got ths all at three thirty inthe ‘moming, | answered the phone with an attude, *Yeah.” And the caller said in a whisper, “When you comin’ home?” So | said “Who is this?” Didn't you know by now? (laughs) He was calling from L.A. and wanted me to come out and start ‘working with the band. So | had to remind hien that 1 was going out with John after I got home. Did Miles ever call you again? No, but | used to go see him play sometimes and he would see me and point up at the drum riser as if to say “That could have been you." What types of projects are you interested in doing in the future? | would love to get a chance to do some more jazz playing. t did a record with Gary Thomas that was mostly standards that has done pretty well. It kind of shocked some people. Over the years, I've done a lot of playing with some heavy cats such as Sonny Stitt, Gary Bartz, Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw. When they would come through Baltimore? Yeah, but | also did a few tours with Gary Bartz and Woody Shaw, and. 1 also did a record with Jack McDuff when he was on the Sugar Hill record label, which was pretty cool. 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