Randy Cooke photo courtesy of Neal Burstyn (www.ntbcreative.com)

The Hour of Groove is Upon Us

Everybody talks about groove. The truth is that few groove. The Montreal Drum Fest 2009 feels that this will change. You cannot help but groove once you witness Ndugu Chancler, Gerry Brown, and Randy Cooke. Either of them would set the Pope grooving. Either of them begins playing and every rabbi within five miles will be grooving like there was no tomorrow. And believe it, once Ndugu, Gerry, and Randy proclaim the pulse, every gilded statue of the Buddha will rise up from its station, flex its metal robes, and undulate.

We speak beyond secular for good reason. Were the groove to prevail there would be no war, terrorism, famine, warlords, or wedding gigs.

 





Ndugu. Two words: “Billy Jean”. That's Ndugu grooving in real time, not Pro Tools or beat cleansing software. Ndugu lays stick to head anywhere, anytime, and it grooves. Gerry Brown: the man played with Stevie Wonder. Dig? Gerry lifts one arm and the stick catches the light and then drops to the drum like a jackhammer to a Lexus. Right there, in that motion, time, and explosion, is the groove. Then Randy Cooke gets his fingers snapping and his legs dancing, the way he did in Toronto and LA studios, and now does around the globe—and it's a righteous groove you'll hear. One that put a smile on Ringo Starr's face.

Next time you go for your exalted drumset fill, you're going to have to justify: Is this tom embellishment going to further the passage of the groove or is it going to put a bump in the road? Just don't be thinking too long up there.
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