Tullio De Piscopo - Suonando la batteria moderna '1974

Tracks list

       First solo album by the most acclaimed Italian drummer!

Originally released in 1974, this record has become the holy grail in the
drum-breaks library field, a true cult among DJs and producers all around the
world!

Now available again in a faithful replica of the original gatefold sleeve and of
the original master tapes

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DRUMS

Jazz Drums as we know them today are a complex group of percussive instruments
that reveal the inventive genius of the first jazz-band players of New Orleans,
on Mississippi show-boats and later, in Chicago. In their actual form (which is
substantially the same as that used in the first New Orleans groups ) they are
none other than the como ination into one single instrument of all the
percussive units used by the Southern blacks.

Let us examine the drums in their single parts: the bass drum is a percussion
instrument without definite pitch, normally beaten by a stick that has a large,
felt-covered knob on one end, while the other end is attached to a pedal played
by the right foot. It is the same instrument used in parades with brass bands,
when it is worn around the neck and can also be played with regular drumsticks
if a drum roll is required. Also a descendant of the traditional New Orleans
brass bands are the Charlestons, two superimposed metal plates which are also
played by pedal. Drumsticks or brushes are used to play one or two cymbals,
large, slightly cupped disks of brass which when struck together loudly, also
produce a crashing, dramatic effect. Drumsticks are also used to play the snare
drum, of military origin, and the tom tom, of African descent, which can also be
played by beating the drum-head with the fingers and the heel of the hand to
accompany dancing. Other supplementary instruments such as the castanets,
cow-bells, etc., are also played with drumsticks.

In early jazz formations and in all New Orleans jazz, drums were used to
rhythmically sustain the group, in other words, to furnish the beat,
particularly with the bass drum playing the strong beats; the Charlestons would
follow on the weak beats and the other parts would more or less 'fill in'
depending on the player's ability, by playing syncopation and off-beats. Rarely
were the drums used as a solo instrument in New Orleans or traditional jazz
bands; at the most, the drums would perform during a break, that is, a brief
solo that filled in a pause left by the other melodic instruments between two
stanzas or refrains. In jazz history the most important representatives of this
'archaic' jazz style are considered to be Warren 'Baby' Dodds (brother of the
famous clarinet player Johnny Dodds ) and Zutty Singleton; both can be heard on
the historical recordings of the Hot Five and the Hot Seven where they played
under Louis Armstrong.

During the swing era the drums were somewhat modified and perfected (it was
during the '30s that they assumed their standard and present form), thus
requiring players to develop a more refined, sophisticated playing technique. In
fact, during the swing era the small groups that had made up the backbone of New
Orleans and Chicago jazz moved momentarily into the background and attention was
focused on the first big, commercial dance bands, then to small, experimental
groups that consisted of trios and quartets. But while the New Orleans drummer
had been accustomed to playing with musicians he knew personally and with them
performed music with which he was completely familiar and could therefore easily
provide rhythmic support to, during the '30s the drummer found himself in the
new situation of having to play with a large number of musicians who played
written music that had been selected for commercial reasons and part of
complicated, orchestral arrangements. In addition, because of continuous changes
in orchestral personnel, he seldom had time to familiarize himself with his
fellow musicians; he was forced, by necessity, to adapt himself to the needs of
the group at a short time notice and it was not unusual for the band leader to
expect an exceptionally long break during which the drummer had to demonstrate
his particular virtuosity. Naturally the technical superiority of this
generation of musicians found supremacy in small groups in which the drums
sustained first place together with the melodic instruments. An example of two
such outstanding drummers of the swing era were Chick Webb and Gene Krupa.

Around and immediately following World War II there took place, gradually and
not as suddenly as one is led to believe, a so-called 'revolution' that
initiated what was the 'modern jazz' trend, to which the preceding jazz style
was superimposed and defined as 'traditional' jazz. While it would be impossible
to analyze here all the melodic, harmonic, rhythmic and timbric innovations
created by modern jazz musicians, two considerations can be made about the
drums. The first is that in modern jazz there is no longer any distinction
between 'melodic' and 'accompanying' instruments, thus leveling all instruments
of the group to equal importance, all with solo possibilities (just think of
what a classic accompanying instrument like the guitar becomes, in the hands of
Charlie Christian!). The second is that while in traditional jazz the beat,
i.e., the basic rhythmic scansion of a piece, offered the possibility of
rhythmic balance, in swing, rhythm became explicitly an element of sound, while
in modern jazz the beat is implicit and despite its prominence throughout an
entire piece, whether solo or group playing, no instrument has the specific job
of sustaining the others.

It is clear therefore, that when the drums have been given equal value to the
other instruments, they are freed from the obligation they once had to sustain
rhythmically an orchestra or group and in modern jazz find enormous expressive
possibilities. The musician most responsible in giving the drums their
prominence in this era was Kenny Clarke, and among his many followers two of
completely different styles but both with supreme technical skills, were Shelley
Manne and Max Roach.

THE DRUMS AND POP MUSIC

The introduction of drums in European pop music occurred at the same time as the
transformation of dance bands and was conditioned by the popularity of jazz. In
the first dance orchestras that offered American dance music in Europe (the fox
trot, one-step, and later the Charleston), the drummer often gave his name to
the entire group, which was called a 'jazz band'. The pop music drummer, in
general, was not just a pale image of his jazz colleagues. If he performed any
virtuoso passages they were certainly not the result of an expressive need, but
rather, well-calculated effects created by an arranger for purely commercial
reasons. The drums in pop music were also liberated from their secondary role,
however, in another change similar to that brought on by the modern jazz
revolution: it was with rock 'n' roll and the experiments of the new American
groups that followed the Beatles and the Rolling Stones that re-evaluated the
possibilities of the drums in new forms of instrumental 'sounds' and added to
the wealth of technical capacity and the actual physical make-up of the
instrument, adding other percussive instruments from both Afro-Cuban origin
(bongos) and classical music (tympani), as well as oriental instruments like the
gong, Chinese bells, Korean blocks, etc.

For those who are fascinated by the virtuosity of some jazz or pop musician and
have undertaken the study of the drums with the intention of imitating them, it
is well to remember that it is no longer possible to do so with just a good
sense of rhythm, musical sensitivity and the physical capacity to play. The
modern drummer must also have a thorough theoretical background and a good
teacher to guide him. Sightreading is of course indispensable particularly for
playing the drums and a music school diploma certainly helps. This record,
therefore, does not pretend to offer more than a series of modern rhythms that
anyone with a good musical background can learn from and have fun with.The rest
is up to you!

Tracklist:
1.01 - Tullio De Piscopo - Samba Carnival (2:36)
1.02 - Tullio De Piscopo - Rocking Special (1:34)
1.03 - Tullio De Piscopo - Afro-Cubano (2:45)
1.04 - Tullio De Piscopo - Medium Rock (3:21)
1.05 - Tullio De Piscopo - Moderato Swing (2:35)
1.06 - Tullio De Piscopo - Krupa Swing (3:07)
1.07 - Tullio De Piscopo - Cinquequarti 2/3 (2:51)
1.08 - Tullio De Piscopo - Onda Nueva 3/4 (2:32)
1.09 - Tullio De Piscopo - Drum Fantasy (3:31)
1.10 - Tullio De Piscopo - Dodiciottavi (3:10)
1.11 - Tullio De Piscopo - Samba Lento (2:59)
1.12 - Tullio De Piscopo - Afro-Jazz (2:59)
1.13 - Tullio De Piscopo - Fast Afro Samba (2:22)
1.14 - Tullio De Piscopo - 7/4 Rock (2:34) 

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