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My Story (so far) I have made a living in the music biz here in the Motor City for about three decades. Music has also taken me to all 48 of the continental United States, nine Provinces in Canada and 13 Countries in Europe. I play the drums as well as congas and timbales and various small percussion instruments.  In the late 1970's I started a band with my friend Rick Steiger called Kuumba which by 1980 was called the Sun Messengers. I was playing various percussion instruments at the time like the cangas. Like Kuumba, the Messengers were a large horn band that featured Arnold "Jabbar" Clarington on Bari sax. Jabbar had recorded with Edwin Starr (Motown) and was an early mentor to us. Also in the band was Akunda "AK" Hollis, a gifted young conga player and his brother, Mike, was our bassist. Today, Mike Hollis is pretty well known around Detroit as the bassist with the Howling Diablos and AK has become probably the finest African drummer in town. With the departure of Jabbar, Rick Steiger moved over from Alto sax to Bari. Around then we won the first of many Motor City Music Awards -- I think this was about 1981? As a Sun Messenger I did my first road gigs, playing a regional circuit of Detroit, Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Traverse City, Chicago and Toronto, as well as occasional trips to Ohio and Indiana. The Messengers also went on to tour as far as New York City, Boston, Charleston, Atlanta, Birmingham (AL) and Key West (FL). During my time with the Sun Messengers we did gigs backing Leon Thomas & Wendel Harrison, Marcus Belgrave, Faruq Z.Bey, The Drifters, Martha & the Vandellas, Earl King, Wanda Ruzon, Johnny Adams, James "Thunderbird" Davis and a very young James Carter. The Sun Messengers were one of the first jazz oriented groups in Detroit to embrace "world music" -- specially South African Township Jazz and the music of Fela Kuti. The Messengers also incorporated Reggae, Ska, Jump Blues, Swing, and was the first band to really explore New Orleans R&B in Detroit.  I credit Rick Steiger for being the catalist for all of this music, Rick was then and is now, an an authrority on Jazz & World Music. Today he still leads the Sun Messengers and runs a World Music label and African music importing business. My friend of grade school Paul Carey (Bauhof) was our guitarist and worked hard enough to take a position of leadership in the band and should not be over looked for his contribution. Paul has gone on to play with Sir Mack Rice, Pinetop Perkins, Sonny Roads and many others and is concidered one of the strongest Blues guitar players in Detroit today. After he left the band we featured another fine guitarist named George Friend, who has gone on the play with Janiva Magness out in LA and Robert Gordan around the US and Europe. Another important Sun Mess alum was Lou Barnett, a fantastic old school tenorman from 1940's! Lou could really blow the sax and he  showed us about the concept of SWING. He had played and recorded with Todd Rhodes and Paul "Hucklebuck" Williams as well as touring with Aretha Franklin. Finally, the Messengers were well known for playing tunes by Sun Ra. We were so immersed in Ra's music that for about a year we featured Ra's trumpeter, Mike Ray, who came to Detroit to play with us from the eastcoast.  I appear on one of Mikes' Kozmic Krewe CDs, recorded down in New Orleans. Prior to the Messengers I studied briefly with master drummer M'Jumbe Roy Brooks and had the chance to become an early member of Roys' Aboriginal Percussion Choir. I had met Roy through my uncle Bud, another great Detroit Jazz drummer and also a Jazz radio personality. I actually bought my first conga drums from Roy and his partner, Bert Myrick, when they owned a drum store on the west side. Roy passed away recently but was an inspiration throughout our relationship. He often came to my shows and would encourage me.  I was always thrilled when he would ask me to play the drums behind him at his gigs, when he wanted to step up front and play the saw, which he was brilliant on. After 17 years with the Sun Boys, I changed directions and became a full time drummer, getting away from congas and percussion. My first real gig was with Johnnie Bassett, a great local Blues Guitarist. Johnnie was not well known beyond his circle of musicians and I was able to help bring him to National and International attention. Johnnie is a hell of a talent on guitar and I was thrilled to be able to work with such an artist. This led to me being in music management, which is a big part of what I do today. I was fortunate to be able to make many wonderful CDs with Johhnie Bassett, a true virtuoso of the Blues. Another mentor in my life has been pianist, organist, singer/songwriter Bill Heid. Bill is from Pittsburgh and has lived briefly in Chicago, LA and Osaka over the years, but he was Detroit for about 20 years. He taught me a lot about Blues and Jazz. I have never met a musician that can do both Jazz AND Blues as well as he can. The guys that can do both well learned from being around Bill! When Bill lived in Chicago, he did sessions for the Alligator label with Koko Taylor (2), Fenton Robinson (2) and Roy Buchanan. He now lives in Maryland, where he is busy plying his trade. I met Bill through Big Red. Red was indeed big and a quite an amazing guy. We had a small Jazz & Blues Band doing a Sunday night gig at the Tap Room back in 1985 with Kurt Krahnke, James O'Donnell with Bill on piano but that is another story.... Another early mentor was Poet/Activist John Sinclair. John hipped me to so much music at the Detroit Jazz Center back in the late 70's. I am proud to say that I am original Motor City Blues Scholar, his backing band for his Blues/Jazz poetry and he dedicated his poem: Fattening Frogs For Snakes" to Rick Steiger and myself in his book and on CD. I spent the better part of a decade with Johnnie Bassett, about midway through I got a little more serious about artist management. I have now been representing Alberta Adams and Joe Weaver for about a decade and I have to say that I love both of these great artists so very much. They are both extremely talented and beautiful people as well. I also represent the Motor City R&B Pioneers (Joe Weaver with his old pals Stanley Mitchell and Kenny Martin). All of these acts are backed by my band, RJ's Rhythm Rockers. My guitarist in the Rhythm Rockers is the aforementioned Paul Carey. Back when Paul and I were with the Messengers, he had a side band called the Blues Disciples, which gave me the chance to really get to play the drums a lot (remember, I was a percusionist with the Messengers). On piano and vocals is Shawn McDonald, a very talented young musician and Mike Marshall, a bassist that Paul I used to watch in HS. Mike is a real veteran player and a joy to work with. Today I still work a little with Johnnie Bassett and also my old friend Thornetta Davis, the best singer of her generation in Detroit in my humble opinion. Along with Joe Weaver and the Rhythm Rockers, we went to Europe in November of '05. We also took my old friend Keith Kaminski on sax. Keith and I spent many years together on the road and in the studio with Johnnie Basett and I have to say the Keith is one of the toughest tenormen in town today. Another fine singer that I am proud to represent is Odessa Harris, a fantastic singer in the Dinah Washington tradition of Bluesy Jazz. Her musical director is the very talented Duncan McMillan on piano & organ.  It was an awful loss when she departed a few months back. In addition to drumming, bandleading and artist management, I also produce CDs (I am on over 40) and live Jazz & Blues events. I cofounded the Antifreeze Blues Festival with Jeff Grand and Steve Milgrim over a decade ago and it still goes strong with Jeramy Haberman replacing Steve many years ago and my friend Willy Wilson joining us in recent years. I booked the Eastpointe Blues & Cruise Festival for three years.  For four years now I've programed the Jazzin' On Jefferson Festival in Detroit. I should also mention that I spent a full decade as Chairman of the Detroit Blues Society and I was thrilled to receive their Lifetime Achievement Award a few years ago. My newest projects involve working with Electro-Fi recording artist Harmonica Shah, as well as gigs with guitarist Erich Goebel and bassist James Cloyd. I also do gigs with James O'Donnell, my old pal from Kummba/Sun Messenegers. He is an exciting Jazz & Blues trumpeter we have have organized a nonet to advance the road we started with the Messengers many years ago.  In fact Rick Steiger & T-Bone Paxton are involved in the project. Other life long friends from my days with the Sun Messengers include Terry Thunder and William Elijah as well as other former Messengers AK Hollis and Jerome Spearman and Lyman Woodard. I could write about Lyman for a LONG time. Another important mentor to me has been my Uncle Bud Spangler -- a world class drummer, radio host and producer and a prolific producer of Jazz CDs and Jazz concerts. All that I can say after all of these years: so much music, not enough time....