The Art of Playing with
Brushes: Liner Notes
Making the New
Brushes DVD from Hudson Music
by Steve
Smith
 Adam
Nussbaum had come up with a fantastic idea for
an educational DVD and explained it to me one
day in mid-2006. Since all drummers have their
own distinctive way of playing with brushes, it
would be fascinating to film a number of
drummers playing brushes to the same tempos and
feels. This way, we would have a direct
comparison of how different players approach the
same tunes.
I presented this fresh idea to Paul Siegel
and Rob Wallis of Hudson Music. They loved the
concept and wanted to go ahead with the project.
Since they had so many projects currently in the
works, they asked me to get involved as a
co-producer and work with Adam to develop the
idea into a full-blown production.
 The
first thing Adam and I did was determine which
tempos we wanted to focus on. We got together a
number of times at The Drummers Collective in
New York City with brushes, two snare drums, our
iPods full of tunes, and a metronome.
We
tried to determine what would be the most
interesting feels and tempos to address where
the players would possibly use different
techniques, or have to change their moves. That
way, we would see the greatest variety of
approaches.
Adam and I zeroed in on a number of
different feels and tempos incorporating 4/4
swing, ballads, 3/4 time, and Latin. Since we
wanted all the drummers to play along to the
same tracks, we enlisted jazz veterans Vic Juris
(guitar) and Jay Anderson (bass), to record the
tracks.
We spent a day at Jay Anderson's
upstate NY studio where we recorded 17 tracks.
We used 7 different tracks for the DVD, but we
made sure we had enough tempos for a
state-of-the-art 17-track play-along CD to
 include
with the final package.
Adam, Rob, Paul,
and I worked on a list of brush masters who we
wanted to see perform on the DVD. Adam made the
calls and over a period of months we confirmed
five incredible drummers: Charli Persip (Dizzy
Gillespie/Billy Eckstine), Billy Hart (Herbie
Hancock/Stan Getz), Ben Riley (Thelonious
Monk/Ron Carter), Eddie Locke (Roy
Eldridge/Coleman Hawkins), and Joe Morello (Dave
Brubeck/Marian McPartland).
Adam and I then developed our ideas for
filming over a series of e-mails and meetings.
We performed and videotaped a brushes clinic at
The Drummers Collective on January 27, 2007, to
clarify our approach. Meanwhile, Rob and Paul
where checking out studios and assembling a team
to record and film the DVD. It was determined
that we would film at Bennett Studios (owned by
Dae Bennett, son of Tony Bennett) in Englewood,
NJ, February 4-6, 2007.
 The
three days we spent in the studio were
life-changing for me. It was enlightening to see
how different drummers played the same tunes
with such vastly diverse approaches and
techniques.
Each one of the players
sounded superb, swinging hard and playing with
extraordinary musicality. Adam and I interviewed
the players about their concepts, techniques,
musical influences and experiences. To hear them
talk about music was one revelation after
another -- these drummers were as articulate as
they are wise.
We have more than one hour of documentation
from each drummer, including Adam and me, plus
we have 30 hours of behind-the-scenes fly on
the wall footage of some funny and revealing
anecdotes with the drummers hanging out and
trading stories.
What remains is the
gargantuan task of viewing the footage, taking
notes, and organizing an edit of all of this
valuable information. I'm confident that this
DVD will be a vital resource for all drummers,
which will never go out of style; the
information is timeless and priceless.
We'll also be including bonus material in the
form of historical footage, essays, listening
lists, a play-along CD, and more.
-
Steve Smith, February '07
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