Wally Schnalle

Last night was a jazz night. I got an chance to check out my old (not his age) drum teacher, Wally Schnalle. Wally was the first drum instructor I had that taught me proper technique, as well as creativity and finesse on the drums. His music has morphed and changed over the years I have known him (that's about 17 years now) and his CD's have become better and better.

I have not heard his current disc, but after seeing him play last night, I think it's going to be a return to traditional jazz and funk. Where as his last few efforts traveled into the electronica world quite a bit. His playing is as crazy as ever, strong grooves, big fills and great dynamics. I tried not to spend too much time counting during the show, but as drummers that's really hard to do. The odd meter grooves were solid. I think the second song they played was in 13, or 6 plus 7. But after the show my old friend Leonid was convinced that is was in 11, or 6 plus 5. Who cares, it's was bad ass. The bass player was super tight with Wally. He held down the grooves while Wally played crazy polyrhythms and solo'd way over the bar line. It's always fun to watch a bass player and drummer gel like that.

I would recommend Wally's music to anyone into pushing the jazz limits musically and on drums. He's a great song writer and an incredible drummer.

Check out his web site for future shows and recordings: http://www.itrhymes.com

ALSO... I posted some videos from my show last Wednesday at the Uptown. You can check them out and tell me what you think. I am using my small drumset, which I recently heard Wally calls "The Truth". So, it's my MRP kick and a snare drum that my students dad made for his boy. It's his first effort using Bubinga.

Check out all my video's at: http://www.youtube.com/schoolofdrums

Thanks, STEVe