Monday, June 13, 2016

Music Education Monday: Jazz/rock drumming with Danny Seraphine

Today for Music Education Monday, you can get a drum lesson via video from Danny Seraphine, best known as a founding member and the original drummer of the band Chicago.

Although Seraphine (pictured) left the group in 1990, his work on their early albums helped establish them not only as major hit-makers, but also as a band that, at least early in their career, was considered innovative and musically credible by a lot of jazz players and fans.

Although Chicago subsequently wound up squandering much of that reputation by becoming little more than a vehicle for soft-rock tunes by outside songwriters, it doesn't diminish the quality or importance of Seraphine's playing on those early recordings. And as you'll hear, the skills that helped Seraphine earn a place on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "The Top 100 Drummers of All Time" remain undiminished even now.

In the video below, produced by the website Drumeo.com and titled "The Art of Jazz Rock Drumming," Seraphine plays three songs with his current band C.T.A., gives a presentation outlining some his drumming ideas and concepts, and takes questions from the audience. As a bonus, after the jump you can see another master class presented by Seraphine just last month at Bentley's Drum Shop in Fresno, CA.



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