Average band with a great drummer sounds great, great band with an average drummer sounds average.
A great musician is just a thief who doesn't get caught
You only get better by playing.
But, I don't think any arranger should ever write a drum part for a drummer because if a drummer can't create his own Interpretation of the chart and he plays everything that's written, he becomes mechanical; he has no freedom.
If you think you stink, you probably do.
I consider every drummer that ever played before me an influence, in every way.
There are only two types of music.good and bad.
I never believed in a set routine. It should depend on how you feel, because you play what you feel.
I think it's a fallacy that the harder you practice the better you get.
Almost everything I've done, I've done through my own creativity.
Every drummer that had a name, had a name because of his individual playing. He didn't sound like anybody else, So everybody that I ever listened to, in some form, influenced my taste.
But, when you have to resort to turntables, trick lights, flashing lights, fire and all that, you're actually saying, I need this because what I do is not all that together.
If you have any requests. keep them to yourselves. we don't play requests!
As far as music school goes, I walked through Berkelee one time.
But I think that any young drummer starting out today should get himself a great teacher and learn all there is to know about the instrument that he wants to play.
If he's a true symphony artist, he knows better than that because he knows that the only truly creative musician is the jazz musician.
If you can play, you can play anything. I don't like classifications.
Well, I never really practiced because I never had the opportunity to practice.
But primarily, the drummer's supposed to sit back there and swing the band.
I mean, I think I liked every band I ever played in because each band was different, each band had a different concept, and each band leader was different... different personalities and musical tastes.
I can think of a lot better things to do with my hands than to cut them up on the rim of a drum.
You either swing a band or don't swing a band and that's what's lacking today.. There aren't any guys who get back there and play with any kind of guts.
I think the drummer should sit back there and play some drums, and never mind about the tunes. Just get up there and wail behind whoever is sitting up there playing the solo. And this is what is lacking, definitely lacking in music today.
There were so many individual styles thirty or forty years ago.
No, I don't like recording. It's a bore.
