IMPROVE YOUR ACCURACY AND INDEPENDENCE! THE WORLD’S #1 DRUM MAGAZINE FUSION LEGEND DENNIS CHAMBERS SHAKIRA’S BRENDAN BUCKLEY WIN A $4,900 PEARL MIMIC BLONDIE’S PRO E-KIT! CLEM BURKE + DW ALMOND SNARE & MARCH 2019 GRETSCH MICRO KIT REVIEWED NIGHT VERSES’ ARIC IMPROTA FISHBONE’S PHILIP “FISH” FISHER THE ORIGINAL. ONLY BETTER. The 5000AH4 combines an old school chain-and-sprocket drive system and vintage-style footboard with modern functionality. Sought-after DW feel, reliability and playability. The original just got better. www.dwdrums.com PEDALS AND ©2019 Drum Workshop, Inc. All Rights Reserved. HARDWARE 12 Modern Drummer June 2014 LAYER » EXPAND » ENHANCE HYBRID DRUMMING ARTISTS BILLY COBHAM BRENDAN BUCKLEY THOMAS LANG VINNIE COLAIUTA TONY ROYSTER, JR. 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CONTENTS Volume 43 • Number 3 CONTENTS Cover and Contents photos by Steve Parke ON THE COVER 24 WHAT YOU NEED TO 32 DENNIS CHAMBERS KNOW ABOUT PLYWOOD The legendary fusion drummer— SNARE DRUMS busy with guitarist Mike Stern by Michael Dawson and with bassist Victor Wooten—is still setting stages afi re with his scorching chops and unshakable 42 SHAKIRA’S groove. BRENDAN BUCKLEY by Robin Tolleson by Ilya Stemkovsky 50 BLONDIE’S CLEM BURKE by Patrick Berkery 54 NIGHT VERSES’ ARIC IMPROTA by Ben Meyer LESSONS DEPARTMENTS 60 BASICS 8 AN EDITOR’S OVERVIEW The Modern Drummer Guide to Reading Rhythms Part 4: 16th Notes It Was Twenty Years Ago…. by Miguel Monroy by Billy Amendola 62 STRICTLY TECHNIQUE 10 READERS’ PLATFORM Eights and Sixes, Part 1 Hand Exercises for Rhythmic Accuracy by Bill Bachman What’s Your Favorite Dennis Chambers Performance? 64 ROCK ’N’ JAZZ CLINIC Dennis Chambers’ Half-Time Shuffl e The Fusion Legend’s Take on a 12 OUT NOW Steely Dan Classic by Daniel Bédard Hunt Sales on Get Your Shit Together 66 JAZZ DRUMMER’S WORKSHOP 13 ON TOUR Contemporary Coordination Exercises 8 Challenging Independence Ideas Jake Bundrick with Mayday Parade by Mike Alfi eri 30 ON TOPIC 68 ROCK PERSPECTIVES Fishbone’s Philip “Fish” Fisher “Golden Measures” and Fibonacci Rhythms Exploring Mathematics in Music 78 RETAILER PROFILE by Aaron Edgar Lone Star Percussion 70 HEALTH AND SCIENCE 82 CRITIQUE Warm-Ups and Mobility Guidance Part 3: Bass Drum and Lower Body New releases from Donny McCaslin, by Brandon Green Antonio Sanchez, and the Pineapple Thief EQUIPMENT 84 ENCORE David Bowie’s Never Let Me Down 2018 14 PRODUCT CLOSE-UP 72 SPOTLIGHT Gretsch Brooklyn Series Micro Kit Craviotto Drum Company 86 INDUSTRY HAPPENINGS Vic Firth PureGrit and DoubleGlaze Montreal Intensive Drumming Day and more Drumsticks and VicWax Stick Wax 74 NEW AND NOTABLE DW Collector’s Series Pure 88 KIT OF THE MONTH Almond Snare A Compact Flyer Yamaha Crosstown Advanced Lightweight Hardware Agean R Series Low Noise Cymbals 22 GEARING UP WIN! Larry Lelli of the Broadway Musical A $4,900 Pearl Mimic Pro Come from Away Electronic Drum System! Page 71 AN EDITOR’S OVERVIEW It Was Twenty Years Ago…. Founder Ronald Spagnardi i, everyone, and welcome to 2019! This is the 1943–2003 Hissue of Modern Drummer that’s given out at the annual winter NAMM trade show, which is being Publisher/CEO Isabel Spagnardi held between January 24 and 27 at the Convention Smith Jeff Senior Vice President Lori Spagnardi Center in Anaheim, California. That’s where instrument Vice President Kevin W. Kearns manufacturers and related companies display their latest products. You can keep up with what’s going Associate Publisher Tracy A. Kearns on at NAMM by checking in at moderndrummer.com Advertising Director Bob Berenson and at our social-media pages. And we’ll be covering much of the best new gear in upcoming issues of the Advertising Assistant LaShanda Gibson magazine—which, by the way, is now available at your Senior Art Director Scott G. Bienstock local Walmart. Of course, to get the best deal on MD Contributing Designer Richard Leeds you should become a subscriber; details are available online. On a personal note, this past October I celebrated my “offi cial” twentieth year Editorial Director Adam J. Budofsky at MD. I’d like to thank each and every one of you for supporting and reading Managing Editor Michael Dawson our magazine and for giving me the opportunity to speak with you all these years. I’ve actually been associated with this fi ne publication for even longer, as Associate Editor Willie Rose artist-liaison of the Modern Drummer Festival, beginning with the second one. I Editor at Large Billy Amendola actually attended the fi rst festival with my pregnant wife. I’ve always wondered if that was one of the reasons our son, Matty, became an amazing drummer himself. THE MD PRO PANEL/ADVISORY BOARD: Chris Adler, Kenny Aronoff, Eddie It’s been an eye-opening experience for me being on “the other side” of the Bayers, Gregg Bissonette, Jason Bittner, Bill Bruford, Will Calhoun, Terri Lyne Carrington, Matt Chamberlain, Jeff Davis, Peter Erskine, Daniel Glass, Benny business at MD. I spent most of my fi rst forty years out on the road touring, and as Greb, Matt Halpern, Horacio Hernandez, Gerald Heyward, Taku Hirano, Susie some of you know, I’ve been blessed to have my fi fteen minutes of fame, as well Ibarra, Jim Keltner, Paul Leim, Peter Magadini, George Marsh, Pat Mastelotto, as being fortunate to do session work here in my hometown of New York City. It Allison Miller, Rod Morgenstein, Andy Newmark, Stephen Perkins, Dafnis never gets old hearing songs I wrote and recorded on the radio. I never take any Prieto, Rich Redmond, Brian Reitzell, Jim Riley, Antonio Sanchez, Gil Sharone, of it for granted, and I appreciate and thank the gods every day for making my life Chad Smith, Steve Smith, Todd Sucherman, Billy Ward, Kenny Washington, a happy one. Of course, as any musician knows, it’s not always fun and games— Dave Weckl, Paul Wertico there are as many disappointments as conquests in the biz—but it’s the way you handle those challenges that will determine how far you get. I was fortunate to have already known many of the players we subsequently CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: SUBSCRIPTION CORRESPONDENCE: Patrick Berkery, Stephen Bidwell, Modern Drummer, PO Box 274, Oregon, covered in our pages, and since I began working at MD I’ve met many more David Ciauro, John Colpitts, Bob Girouard, IL 61061-9920. Change of address: who’ve become good friends. One of those is this month’s cover artist, Dennis Mike Haid, John Martinez, Ben Meyer, Allow at least six weeks for a change. Chambers, one of the most infl uential drummers of our time. I’ve been a huge Ken Micallef, Jeff Potter, Will Romano, Please provide both old and new fan of Dennis’s drumming for years; one of the many times I’ve seen him play was Bernie Schallehn, Ilya Stemkovsky, Robin address.