Cindy Blackman Santana Carlos Santana , Lenny Kravitz
The jazz-rock drum virtuoso took a break from all-things music to talk about … more music . She ’ s currently in the process of recording her next album , which will feature her husband , Carlos Santana , as well as John McLaughlan , Orianthi , and Richie Sambora .
CM : From your days playing on a toy kit to your first high school band practice to busking in New York City and all the way up to walking out on a stage now , can you describe what it is about drumming that satisfies and pushes your artistic drive ?
CBS : Playing drums is in my soul . It makes up a great part of the way that I express myself as a creative being and certainly the way I express myself as a musician . The rhythms , the physicality , the sound , and the feel of the drums are very inspiring to me . I love setting up moods and colours and pushing the music to greater and greater heights .
CM : How has your approach to drumming changed or evolved through out your career ?
CBS : My goal is to elevate my level of virtuosity both musically and technically . I strive to always see the beauty in whatever I am doing and to fully put myself into it .
CM : What drew you towards your unique jazz-rock style of playing and what sort of things does the fusion allow you to accomplish that you might not have been able to without it ?
CBS : Mixing things up allows me more freedom of choice , and that is supreme . The larger the vocabulary , the better . Then I can use taste to add this or that as I feel and hear it .
CM : You ’ ve been described as not just a keeper of time , but a creator of it . How does a drummer move beyond the boundaries of the time keeper ’ s role ?
CBS : To create , you have to hear a sound , a feel , a mood , and yes , the groove . To create over the time , you have to hear it and have enough ima gination and vocabulary and be virtu osic enough to say whatever it is that you are hearing on top of what you are playing or not playing .
BS
Jeff Burrows The Tea Party , Crash Karma
Jeff Burrows is the chain link between three generations of drummers and brings his talent behind the kit and as a songwriter to Crash Karma and The Tea Party , the latter of which is fresh off their Edges Of Twilight Tour , where they played their seminal 1995 album from front to back .
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