This morning I had the opportunity to attend a 1 1/2 hour frame drum workshop with three-time Grammy Award winning master drummer, composer and educator, Glen Velez. It was an absolute blast!

As I’ve mentioned before (and even in my last blog entry) I am a huge fan of ethnic percussion. There’s just something about all the different hand/finger techniques that intrigues. I’m also in love with the sound. This 1 1/2 hour session was my dream.

The workshop was put on by the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts at the Flynn Space in downtown Burlington, VT. I was sitting at home on Friday, reading 7 Days (the local arts newspaper) when I read about a dance performance taking place that night. What caught my eye was the name Glen Velez. I was familiar with him and wanted to know why he was in Vermont. I went to his website to check his schedule and found out that he was doing a workshop the following day. I jumped at the opportunity.

There were 16 of us who came to the workshop (which was quite nice because it. Experience ranged from people who had maybe seen a frame drum once or twice to those who owned drums of their own and were familiar with some basics (like myself). Glen structured the workshop in such a way that no one was ever bored or drowning in too much information and technique. He had us repeat everything he taught us multiple times so that it would sink in. The entire group caught on quite quickly.

We started out by learning a method of keeping time (feeling the pulse) both physically and orally. We worked on speaking rhythms through quick "call and response." Then those of us with drums began to play the patterns on our drums while continuing the vocal counting.

Glen demoed each of his drums for us, showing us various techniques and the crossover between cultures. We learned about the origin of the drums and how they traveled to different areas and evolved. Glen explained how he has taken all of the techniques that he’s learned and fused them together to form his own language of frame drumming. It was so cool to see everything in action.
Major kudos to the Flynn for bringing in such an amazing performer/educator!



Highlights from the workshop can be heard here;
Highlights From Glen Velez Workshop

The University of Vermont Jazz Ensemble performed a concert of works by Frank Zappa this evening at the Davis Students Center. The Grand Maple Ballroom was quite full for the concert. The UVM Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Alex Stewart, certainly brought their A-Game.

The group performed arrangements by Ed Palermo, a composer/musician from New York who performs all Zappa music with his own Jazz band. In addition to the 13 Zappa compositions, a piece by UVM bass player, Russ Flynn, was performed. The song sat well in the company of the Zappa originals. There was some obvious influence from Frank Zappa though Flynn’s compositional voice was quite apparent.

The Jazz Ensemble The UVM Jazz Ensemble successfully brought the music of Frank Zappa to Burlington tonight. "The orchestrations are beautiful," said Said Stewart of the arrangements by Ed Palermo. "They preserve the feeling of the original tunes but find and exploit the jazz character that’s in so much of Zappa’s music." After this concert, I am inspired to go dig up some original recordings and explore more of the music of Frank Zappa.



A short compilation of the evening can be heard here;
Highlights From UVM Jazz Ensemble Frank Zappa Concert

I just got back from an evening of great Rock and Blues music at the Higher Ground Ballroom in South Burlington, VT. On invite from my friend Erik, I attended the concert without any previous knowledge of the bands on the bill. It was a packed house. Erik has great taste, it as an awesome show!

Headlining was Rock/Blues trio "Back Door Slam." These guys certainly brought the crowd tonight. Lead singer and guitarist Davy Knowles is quite the talented musician. His voice is strong with energy and soul stretching far beyond his years. His guitar playing was spectacular. Knowles played so tastefully while still bringing forth an obvious natural talent for 6-stringed expression. The crowd agreed as the provided hearty applause after every solo and song ending. This lively applause brought the band back on stage for a two song encore starting with a tune featuring Davy on a mandolin. They closed it out with a solid, soulful blues ballad. Back Door Slam really had the room in their pocket.

Opening bands were "Township" and "Need To Breathe." Both were hard rocking bands with a nice edge. Township played a solid set knocking out song after song and really getting the audience going. Need To Breathe relaxed and took their time, really sinking into the vibe of the moment. Two songs in their set included keyboards. Both bands were tight and have obviously seen many a stage.
Check out all three bands on myspace;

Back Door Slam
Township
Need To Breathe

And so The Journey begins! Work is in progress for a full length album for my ska/rock band, Behind Bad Luck! As with the demo we produced in late 2007, I will be engineering this project and keeping everyone up to date along the way. I’ll do my best to post regularly about this recording journey and about other things on the side.

Scratch guitar and bass tracks for several songs have been laid down by John Pizzirusso and Jared Brickman, respectively. I’ve recorded the drum tracks for one of the songs so far. I’ll be recording my drum tracks for these songs over the course of the next few weeks. After that, I expect we’ll begin tracking guitars and bass.

We’re recording the tracks with the aid of the on campus, student run record label/studio, Madstop. They have a Pro Tools 7.4 LE system using a Digidesign 002 Rack interface. I’m bringing in a lot of my microphones because of my preferences in sound. Due to the lack of some serious recording facilities, I’m doing are best to make creative use of space and my knowledge of acoustics to achieve the best possible sound. Every session is certainly an experience.

For those of you who like to geek out over gear lists, here’s some of what we’re using for microphones;

>AKG C1000s
>AKG D112
>Rode NT1a
>CAD Equitek E100
>CAD Equitek E200
>Shure SM57

It’s a relatively modest collection but the sounds are good and I’m a happy engineer/drummer. More to come as the sessions progress!

So, I've been doing live recordings at coffee houses and whatnot for the past 4 months now and it's been going very well. If you're interested in checking out a sample of the recordings, please listen to the "Mobile Recording Sampler" on my page. Quality of sound varies do to the musicians and their gear but you can get a good idea of what the recordings are like.

If you're interested in having a soundboard/live recording done at a very low price, let me know!

Peace.

Ben O'Brien Smith
BOSS Recording Services
http://www.Benobriensmith.tk

My new CD, The Electronic Ambient Demos, is now available for purchase.


Tracklist:
Lone Wolf
Regroup
Dune
Ambiessence
The Other Side
Unrest

CDs are $5 in person. I will ship CDs for $7 total. If you decide to purchase more than one CD and have it shipped, you will only pay for shipping for one CD.