by Isaac » Wed May 07, 2008 11:43 pm
I'm a visual person, so the good drummers I got to see live were my first main inspiration.
This was next to impossible for a Jewish kid from the north end of Winnipeg, Canada.
I sought out records.
I first listened to Mongo, Armando and Candido and Ghanaian Master drummer - Mustapha Tetty Addy on vinyl.
One of my friends, Geoffrey Clarfield was studying musicology in Toronto, and told me I must buy these albums.
In high school I first got the Cal Tjader LP - "Live at the Funky Quarters". I listened to it so much I wore it out
after a few years...My next purchases were "Yambu" by Mongo Santamaria and "Top Percussion". Of course
Santana was a standard bearer with Armando Peraza. Growing up I noticed a lot of good funky congas
and bongos in the background music used for TV sports shows. It turns out that was - Candido!
...and of course the funky congas of Motown hits - turned out to be Eddie "bongo" Brown. Those Motown songs
were like the air we breathed back in the mid 60s. I listened to a soul station in Little Rock, Ark, that could be picked up
all the way up the midwest into Canada. That was my #1 influence since the age of 7.
The first drummer I saw live that made me think " I want to do that too"
was Ramon Lopez who played with the Stan Kenton Orchestra. I saw Kenton in
Minneapolis in the mid 70s... I was almost blown out of my seat from their high energy.
On the same trip I met a conga player
from Chicago ( I don't kow his name) He had spent a few years in Ghana
and let me drum with him in a Park in Madison, Wisconson, while he was
teaching me and his small son..It was a pivotal moment.
Later, back in Canada I started studying with Camerounian percussionist Emile Bisseck.
Living in Jerusalem in the late 70s I was exposed to some great Arabic, Yemeni and Morroccan drumming.
Shlomo Barr, a Morroccan Israeli drummer used to host some nice jams at his place.
My friend Yitzhak Levy-Awami taught me some very lean & funky grooves from North Yemen, based on
the various walking tempos of camels! We would go to the ethnic Jewish Yemenite festivals and see many groups
with all shapes & sizes of drums, depending what region they were from. I began performing Yemeni
music which rhythmically is a mix of India, Arabia and Africa. Vocals & percussion were the main thing.
Later in New York I used to see Mongo, Ladji Camara, Airto, Tito Puente, Jose Mangual, Pete El Conde Rodriguez,
Celia Cruz, Johnny Rodriguez, Steve Berrios, Bobby Sanabria, Manny Oquendo, Johnny Pacheco, Eddie Palmieri, Pappo Lucca,
Jerry and Andy Gonzalez, Nicky Marrero, Eddie Montalvo, Giovanni Hidalgo, Patato, Candido,
Pablo Rosario, Oscar D'Leon.
But mostly, it was Fajardo's group that I went to see once a month for several years...with many great percussionists sitting in,
I studied at the Harbor Conservatory (1990s)
with the late Luis Andino, with Joe Gonzalez (of the Mario Bauza Orch), Ray Cruz, Jimmy Delgado; and Jimmy Sabater,
with whom I got to work.
I went to Cuba for a few weeks in the summer of 1988 which was
a very decisive inspiration.. We had conga classes - My teacher was Guillermo Lopez
I also audited the bata classes, not to play, but just to hear Lazaro Ros sing every day.
One night I was invited to attend a rehearsal with Orquesta Reve and later to sit next to
them at the carnaval. The Papines were there sitting with me! They played
with the highest level of energy I had ever seen...
For a few short years we had a nice steady flow of Cuban groups in NYC and I got to
see the Munequitos, Grupo Afrocuba, Chucho Valdez, Los Papines, Tata Guines, I met Changuito & Anga with Roy Hargrove,
and also not to leave out Los Hermanos Cepeda from Puerto Rico, whom I attended
a Bomba workshop (Dos Alas) with. Chucho also privately told me not to neglect the music of my own Jewish roots,
and to combine it with my love for percussion...In his words
" If you don't do it, who will ?"
I lived in NYC long enough so I could jump out
and catch a set whenever I had a chance in between my job & family time.
Now I don't get to see quite as much...but play whenever I can
and am very greatful for the opportunities I had...
There's a lot of younger great talent now...but for all their innovative speed technique,
and master's degrees, they employ odd changes for the sake of showing chops, it doesn't do so much for me....
If the music were food...I'd be going home hungry.
Like the old charanga tune says....
"Sabor, Sabor, Sabor
...... y nada mas"
ISAAC GUTWILIK
Last edited by
Isaac on Sun Jan 09, 2011 10:36 pm, edited 7 times in total.