The Drummer's Dominion

Drum-Related Blathering and Minutiae

Esperanza Spalding Wins a Grammy

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esperanza_spaulding

Subtitle: Esperanza Spalding Once Slummed it with the Likes of Me

Congrats to Esperanza Spalding, the virtuoso jazz bassist/vocalist extraordinaire who won the Grammy for Best New Artist last night. Not only is it amazing that an actual talented musician won this award (go figure!), but she beat the presumable shoo-in Justin Bieber. (And well done, Bieberites, channeling all your negative energy through your vapid, tween hive mind and trying to cast a pall over the event.)

Esperanza and I played a couple forgettable, low-profile recitals together at Berklee. Who would have guessed back then that she would go on to be world-famous, and that I would be… administering this website? Uh, everyone, actually. We all knew she was destined for greatness.

Congratulations, Esperanza!

New Drum Channel DVDs

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Drum Channel DVDs

Press Release – 7th February 2011

Drum Channel Release Drumming DVDs Featuring Mike Portnoy, Terry Bozzio and Stephen Perkins

Drum Channel’s reputation for working with the Best Drummers in the World continues to grow and they can now announce the launch of three new DVD’s featuring interviews and performances of some of the most incredible drummers of our times.

For the first time Drum Channel has released to DVD the special event where Terry Bozzio meets and talks to Mike Portnoy on his show ‘The Art of Drumming’. This DVD titled  Mike Portnoy on the “Art of Drumming” Show with Terry Bozzio, brings you the man responsible for the ingeniously intricate Dream Theater beats in candid conversation with incredibly musical and entertaining drum jams. (RRP $24.95).

Next up is the re-mastered magical Terry Bozzio: Melodic Drumming and The Ostinato, Vols. 1, 2, and 3. This 3 DVD set shows features over four hours of Terry Bozzio at his very best in stunning 5.1 surround sound quality. It strips down groundbreaking ideas, demonstrates revolutionary approaches to drums, contains hundreds of ‘how to’, examples and exercises. Each radical technique is clearly explained by Terry himself. (RRP $39.95).
The third is Stephen Perkins: Hands*Feet*Mind*Soul. Stephen takes you through eleven classic Jane’s Addiction tracks, breaking down the drum parts, analyzing the beats, and explaining why he chose each one and how it sets the foundation for each song. Also included with this double DVD is a downloadable workbook and play along tracks featuring bassist Tony Franklin. With over fours hours of footage, this DVD represents incredible value for money and retails for $24.95!

Drum Channel DVDs are available online at DrumChannel.com and Amazon.com. Alfred Publishing is the exclusive worldwide distributor for retail music stores.