July 2014 Issue – Volume 39 • Number 7

Ricky Lawson

Photo by Jaeger Kotos Michael Jackson. Whitney Houston. Eric Clapton. Lionel Richie. Phil Collins. Steely Dan. What do these artists all have in common? Besides being superstars, they all tapped the tried-and-true drumming services of Ricky Lawson, who died this…

John “Twink” Alder

The drummer/sonic explorer details his work with the Pretty Things, Syd Barrett, and a bevy of other quintessential psychedelic acts.   A key proponent of the British psychedelic rock and early punk movements, drummer John Alder, aka Twink, has performed…

July 2014 Issue – Volume 39 • Number 7

Shirazette Tinnin

  This drummer has put no small amount of her rich life experiences into her scalding solo debut.   Shirazette Tinnin’s Humility: Purity of My Soul is that rare album that arrives with no warning but announces a fresh drumming…

Gerald Cleaver

The exploratory drummer/leader and accomplice to Joe Morris, Craig Taborn, and others at the forefront of the jazz avant-garde has a deep respect for existing forms—and a healthy attitude about working around them.   Detroit native Gerald Cleaver is that…

Rhythm and Timing Part 5: Single 8th-Note-Triplet Partials and Bonus Exercises

In this final segment we’re going to focus on the three different parts of 8th-note triplets (“one-trip-let”). Playing on the downbeats is pretty simple, and the third partial isn’t too strange, since we hear it all the time in swing…

Omar Hakim

It makes perfect sense that he’s among the small group of key musicians Daft Punk called on to take the EDM duo’s already famous grooves to the next phase. After all, he’d done the same for Weather Report, Sting, David…

Being The New Guy

Photo by Jason Powell Your abilities will never be more scrutinized than after you’ve accepted a job to replace a drummer whose playing helped define the sound of a popular band. Simon Phillips and Todd Sucherman, two monster players who…

Syncopation Revisited Part 2: 3/4 Applications

We continue this month with more of my favorite ways of interpreting the classic Ted Reed book Progressive Steps to Syncopation for the Modern Drummer. This time we explore ways of converting the written manuscript from its original form to…

Sam Ulano

We lost a legendary New York City drum teacher when Sam Ulano passed away at age ninety-three on January 2 of this year. Ulano was a dear friend of Modern Drummer, especially in his vigorously active later years, during which…

Anup Sastry

Photo by Gabriel Rocha The progressive metal powerhouse knocks it out of the park on Intervals’ recently released third album, A Voice Within. This, on top of mind-bending work with international metric manipulators Skyharbor, Nevermore lead guitarist Jeff Loomis, and…