Carlos Solorzano is a professional drummer & songwriter from Southern Arizona who is available for
drumming services & music licensing opportunities.
Carlos has been featured both as a performer and writer from DRUM! Magazine and is endorsed by and proudly uses:
Soultone Cymbals, Ahead Sticks & Accessories, Drum Dots and Hansenfutz Pedals.
Pete Swan
Drummer, Producer & Educator from Tucson, AZ
Q; How would you describe your musical background? What drew you to the drums? What are your earlier memories of playing music?
Pete; My first memory around drumming is listening to some records at 4-5 years old and being totally drawn to the drums. I used to make drumsticks out of Tinkertoys and played different sounds on the oriental rug in our dining room. At some level I knew I wanted to be a drummer.
My next memory is of making a “drumset” out of metal boxes my dad brought home from his work, and I would arrange them on my bed and then play along to records or the radio.
My next memory is of making a “drumset” out of metal boxes my dad brought home from his work, and I would arrange them on my bed and then play along to records or the radio.
I finally got a drum set with the help of my dad and having a paper route and learning to play to the Dave Clark Five and The Beatles.
When I was 14, my mom remarried, and she told my brother and I we needed to find another place to live to give her time with her new husband. My dad was remarried, and his wife would only accept one of us, so my younger brother went to live with my dad.
I moved into the home of a friend where I could have my drum set and lived in the basement. It gave me time to play drums and I was especially drawn to the music of Jimi Hendrix. I lived there for about 6 months and then moved to another friend’s house. His older brother was a drummer and I used to love watching him play and talk about music. He was into jazz, and I was exposed to lots of different music including Blood Sweat & Tears,
Chicago, Dave Brubeck, and many
others.
Q; Can you tell us a bit about your musical education?
Pete; I studied snare drum at one point with Don Worth, Sr., who was a percussionist with the Portland Symphony. It was my first exposure to learning to read and about getting good technique. I struggled with focusing as a student of music because of having ADHD as a child.
I had a recording of Buddy Rich and Dave Brubeck Quartet that I listened to all the time. I also really liked Frank Zappa (who I got to meet once), Jimi Hendrix, and Mitch Mitchell. I feel I was influenced by so many great drummers growing up.
I think my first gig was at 14 subbing for my friend’s brother’s band at the last minute and being terrified.
On drumset I was self-taught so learning how the drumming worked was a circuitous process.
When I was about 27, I enrolled at Mount Hood Community College and got exposed to real musical education and being around real jazz musicians. I was there for 2 years and then earned a scholarship to the University of Arizona.
Q; How did you get into the process of booking musical events?
Pete; I got into booking because of putting together the jam session at Old Pueblo Grill with a great friend named Ed Uhlman, who was the director of the Tucson Jazz Society at the time. That was my initial experience with having to hire musicians and put together a schedule and promote an event. Doing a weekly event and learning by trial and error to keep the attendance interested was a huge experience. It was at the Old Pueblo Grill that I decided to use the Cheers TV show theme song concept of “a place where everyone knows your name,” as a foundation for creating an atmosphere that people would want to return to on a regular basis.
I now have had experiences with lots of concerts, events, Including being in a partnership where we put on the annual New Year’s Eve event at the Marriott Starr Pass. That was the largest, most complicated event to put together. I took a whole year and took having a $100.000 per person in ticket sales to break even. My partner had a strong corporate background, so I learned so much from working with her. The process of booking has continued to be something I continue to learn more about and work at finding a balance between the business side and the artistic side for me. Also, working to treat musicians in the way I would want to be treated and finding ways to encourage others and myself to keep growing.
Q; What are some examples of how you progressed musically and how has that impacted your journey as a musician?
Pete; I grew up listening to lots of different styles and played a lot of rock and blues music with two friends from high school named Dan Mason and Denny Bixby. Both were really gifted musicians. Dan was a great guitarist and very creative. He had a complex life that created an edge to his music. He had muscular dystrophy and had difficulty walking and was in constant fear of the disease spreading and losing the ability to use his hands. He was driven to get every moment out of his life, and it came through in his music. He also became a heroin addict in high school, which added to the drama of playing together.
I was drawn to the music of the Grateful Dead and Frank Zappa because of the creative and improvisational qualities of the music.
Jazz became more and more of a focus for me because of the drums playing a melodic role in the function of the music. Wynton Marsalis has described jazz as “America’s classical music.” I think of it as an amazing gift that came out of the tragic circumstances of slavery. The mixture of African rhythms and Blues mixed with European harmony has given the world an incredible art form. Growing up my two passions were music and basketball. As a result, many of my idols were African- American. I used to listen to Nat King Cole at night while my friends were listening to The Beatles. I was drawn to the music not because of the color of their skin but the feeling I got from the music.
I am very fortunate to have several opportunities musically. I am the musical director at Hacienda del Sol and program the music seven nights a week. I play Friday and Saturdays with jazz trios and quartets that I put together. I perform regularly with Matt Mitchell and Ed Delucia on guitar and my
good friend Scott Black on bass.
Tuesdays I play with guitarist
Nathaniel Burnside and myself on cajon, performing original Flamenco music. The other nights I have solo piano players, and a great tango guitarist Maximiliano Larrea on Sunday mornings.
I am also grateful to work with Arthur Vint and the Century Room, which is where he is the artistic director, bringing in local and national acts on Thursday nights. I also get to play with the Century Room Jazz Orchestra once a month.
Q; What projects are you working on right now?
Pete; Right now, I am studying tabla with my teacher Prafulla Athalye, a great tabla player from Mumbai India and a student of Allah Rakah and many other great teachers.
I am doing a recording of 11 songs from the Library of Congress written by a relative of mine.
I am also working on developing a website/book on a drumming related concept.
Musically, I am working with Nathaniel Burnside on new material for the flamenco project, have several big band performances over the next year, and working on new ideas for concerts at the Century Room. Aside from that, I continue to work on practice routines to keep improving.