Throughout my years of playing the drums, I have had the privilege of attending clinics, master classes, and workshops with greats such as Peter Erskine, Jojo Mayer, Kenny Werner, the Joshua Redman Trio, and Dave Liebman. They all gave me something completely different: Erskine spoke about his career as a musician while Werner spoke about concepts from his well-known book, Effortless Mastery, which should be read by every musician. Recently, the Berklee Percussion Days took place, and I was able to attend a clinic with my drum teacher for the last two semesters, Bob Gullotti.
Gullotti is one of Boston’s most popular drum teachers and one of the go-to guys - alongside Joe Hunt and Billy Hart - if you are serious about playing the drums. The clinic was divided into two parts: performance and educational exercises. He has developed a variety of exercises out of the well-known Syncopation book by Ted Reed. He also teaches you how to articulate notes on the drums in the style of Charlie Parker. All in all, he’s a dictionary of drumming.
At his “Textures” clinic, he talked about the interaction between him, bassist John Lockwood, and tenor saxophonist George Garzone of The Fringe. They have been playing for over 40 years, originally with Rich Appleman on bass. Speaking of his time studying at Berklee (1967-1972), Gullotti says, ”The key at Berklee is to connect and play with as many people as possible. They are your future!” In one year, he does about 150-200 gigs, many with Berklee alumni.
When The Fringe get together, as they have been doing every Monday for the last 10 years at the Lilypad, they don’t discuss what they are going to play; instead, “We will talk about food”. They are a free jazz - or, some might say, an avant-garde - trio: one band member might start a tune while others join in later, they might experiment with different grooves, or play out of time depending on the moment. According to Gullotti, “It’s a trio but feels like a quartet”.
The importance of listening is almost always brought up during clinics. Gullotti says, “Listen to what is coming in, hear every note, and really blend with the group sound.” There comes a point, as musicians, where we have listened to so much music that we become able to identify players on certain recordings, without knowing the personnel beforehand. For instance, when you hear a heavy hitting jazz drummer, there’s a good chance that it’s Elvin Jones on the drums; with further listening, you’ll know with which group he is playing, perhaps John Coltrane’s or Wayne Shorter’s. As Gullotti says, “It’s all about the sound.”
Alone on stage, he ably demonstrated how a Fringe concert could sound; you can hear the band when he’s up there. He played the drums with just his hands, brushes, sticks, mallets, and bamboo sticks, moving around to create different sounds and dynamics. After performing for a good ten minutes, he told us, “’Have You Met Miss Jones’ kept going through my head while playing”. Then he demonstrated some of the different exercises he uses with students in class and tells us how he’s taught, both at school and in his home, for over 20 years.
Recently, I found a video of Boston drummer Kevin Fortunato talking to drummers who gig frequently in the Boston scene. One of them said, “A common thread here, that I really feel like I need to mention, that gave a lot of us the tools to be able to do this, is that we all studied with Bob Gullotti.”
The best story by far from Gullotti involves Hermeto Pascoal’s performance at the Regattabar a few years ago: During the concert, band members would switch instruments and play a ballad - which would normally be played slowly - really fast. The owner of the bar had to hit the lights and stand in front of them, wave at them, and tell them to stop. They’d been playing for hours without a break in the music, in accordance with Brazilian custom, and to the shock of the American club owner.
My experience is that, no matter what clinic you attend, you will learn something you didn’t already know. It’s also important to attend not only the clinics geared for your instrument, but also to learn about as much as possible about other instruments.
Studying with Gullotti is something special. The progress you will make if you dig deeply into his exercises is incredible.
Here’s an interview with Bob Gullotti:
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