Clink, Clink
We’re going to do things a little differently here. In place of a snappy editorial overview of the 2010 Guitar Center Drum Off Grand Finals held January 8th at The Music Box in Hollywood, we are presenting a snappy Q&A with GC’s national drum and percussion buyer, Glenn Noyes. Along with the promo team led by Dustin Hinz and Maria Brown, he helped throw quite a ceremony and celebration for the five national contestants and the L.A. drum community at-large, and we figured kinda like the fatherly uncle of the bride, he deserved to say a few words.

We’ve taken care of the photo album with our feature pictorial. And you can find additional details here.

Hollywood Drum: What is the history of the Drum Off and your involvement with it?

Glenn Noyes: The History of the Guitar Center Drum Off dates back to 1988 when the idea of a local annual competition to find the best drummer started at our Hollywood and South Bay stores. Dave Weiderman and I started hosting these local events which started as a simple in store event with 5-10 players and $500 in prizes. It has grown to what it is today involving over 4,000 drummers across the country each year with over $40K in cash and prizes.

HD: The Grand Finals is a big annual event that keeps getting bigger. Give us an idea of the planning and organization it takes to pull it off.

Glenn: The event is always held in the beginning of January, but initial planning starts weeks after the previous one has concluded and runs the entire year. The hardest part is securing and confirming the artists. For the level of artists we get, they are constantly touring and recording and it is hard to confirm that far in advance. Once we know the lineup of artists, we can then determine the right size theatre or concert hall and get that locked in. These are just two of the many things that have to happen to make this run smooth.

HD: The Drum Off is a learning experience for many young drummers; has launched professional careers; and gathers the drum community. What particularly excites you and drives your passion for it?

Glenn: There are several reasons, but mainly the fact that Guitar Center is able to give this opportunity to every drummer in the country. Because of how big we are (215 stores and counting), we can find that hidden talent in any part of the country and change their lives. So many of our previous winners were looking for that break when they entered our competition and now they play with the biggest bands in the world. Previous winners are now drumming for Prince, Jay-Z, Styx, Mars Volta, and many others.

HD: How do you foresee the Drum Off evolving in both the short and long terms? Three-day festival at old man Yasgur’s farm, perhaps?

Glenn: This is something we will continue to grow each and every year. There are always new undiscovered drummers and we are amazed at the talent level every time we get to the finals. It’s funny, each year we say “How are we going to top what we just did?” But we always find a way. Guitar Center Drum Off is here to stay and will be a huge part of giving back to the drumming community for many years to come.

HD: Open solo. Feel free to communicate whatever you feel inspired to share with the Los Angeles drum community…

Glenn: The one thing we are extremely proud of is the ability to be able to offer this and other amazing events to the drumming community. There have been many drum competitions over the years at local levels, but this is the biggest and best. Guitar Center strives to make this a fun and fair competition so anyone at any age or playing level has the opportunity to get up and play in front of a crowd without feeling pressured or left out. This is not about selling product, it is about playing drums. We need more kids and adults to pick up a pair of sticks and discover the excitement of playing drums. It is vital to the health and future of the drumming community.

Guitar Center also hosts many “Sessions” and clinics throughout the year at stores all around the country. The week after Drum Off, we hosted both Gavin Harrison and Jojo Mayer in back to back Session events in our Hollywood store! Contact your local store for information on the next upcoming event.

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Brian Blade and The Fellowship Band at Zipper Hall November 12, 2010

Triple Blade
Friday November 12th marked the third time I’ve seen Brian Blade perform at The Jazz Bakery.

The first was in 2005 with Billy Childs’ Jazz Chamber Ensemble. At that time, The Bakery had stood at its 3233 Helms Ave location in Culver City for over eleven years since moving from a small photography studio in the same complex after a serendipitous two-year run. I was still relatively new to town, but the warm, open, wood-vaulted listening room with those green plastic lawn chairs (“…the best you could buy,” reminds founder Ruth Price) was already my clear favorite venue for serious jazz. It was a concert venue without the fuss; an intimate club feel without all the clinks and chatter.

Many Bakery shows later, I again caught Blade with the Scott Colley Quartet on the final weekend of the Jazz Bakery on Helms Ave, May 30, 2009. The lawn chairs had only recently been replaced with seating more befitting the nearly 16-year-old and by-then legendary space as it faced an abrupt yet graceful end.

Blade’s performance Friday with The Fellowship Band was part of The Jazz Bakery’s Moveable Feast concert series Price began organizing shortly following the demise of its permanent home. Although technically not housed in the namesake venue, where Ruth Price goes so goes The Jazz Bakery—defined by her commitment to showcasing world-class live jazz in dedicated concert settings and her tireless creative spirit. For this night, The Jazz Bakery was Zipper Hall at the wide-ranging Colburn School of performing arts in downtown Los Angeles.

Inside The Zipper
While Price and her non-profit board of directors continue to sort out the details of a new and fixed home, the Moveable Feast concept has offered some of the same top-quality events we’ve come to expect from The Jazz Bakery at some of the most extraordinary concert venues in town, including Redcat at Disney Hall, The Grammy Museum Sound Stage, Japan America Theatre, and Largo at The Coronet. Price and many of the Bakery’s loyal supporters see the musical chairs, indeed, as a sort of game. A treasure hunt. An adventure. The change of necessity, as is often the case, has become a virtue all its own.

Looking up.

The Fellowship Band at Zipper Hall was exemplary. The superb venue and the simple novelty of it elevated the evening’s experience. Personally, while I’ve passed the impressive facade—located adjacent to Disney Hall—often over time, it was a new and exciting discovery. The 435-seat theater with 60-foot ceiling and delicate wooden arched trellis; and glowing, golden-blonde stage illuminated (if a bit over-brightly) by large, round, celestial pods hovering above added an aura of drama and enhanced anticipation as the seats filled to capacity.

The Fellowship
While Blade, by now jazz drumming’s rockstar, may have been the featured attraction—commanding draw and attention—he was not the story Friday and is deliberately not the story here (pretty sure I’ve written plenty about the guy already). The group (comprised of piano/pump organ, two saxes ranging from soprano to bass, hollow-body electric guitar, upright and drums), once dubbed Brian Blade Fellowship, is now simply The Fellowship Band. If the name doesn’t convince that this is a true band, Blade’s drumming leaves no doubt. Musical brothers for over twelve years now, The Fellowship are a mature, intuitive, patient ensemble focused on the collective whole—a spacious, lush wash of sound undulating and tranquil; crashing and intense.

A joyous blur.

Blade is both the wave and the surfer; simultaneously creating motion and riding it. Happy quietly paddling out or boldly going tubular. At times barely touching a drum or cymbal with stick or brush and then abruptly, spasmodically possessed with whatever motion is necessary to get to where he wants to be on the kit…and NOW! His time-keeping is editorial, narrative, impulsive and abstract; it is broken yet always strangely fluid; and as definitively illustrated this night—which was my point—supremely supportive and musical.

Beyond Hemingway
Blade and The Fellowship are essentially the perfect subplot to update the still unfolding tale of Price and The Jazz Bakery. Sharing history and purpose, both are evolving and passionate collectives committed to a cause greater than their individual parts. The Jazz Bakery transcends its venue. Be it in a cramped and improvised photography studio; a beloved yet ultimately transient space in an old bakery building; a panoply of revolving performance spaces as diverse as Los Angeles itself; or the next future home to come, each musical feast—movable or not—bears its unique brand and spirit. They can take the jazz out of the bakery, but not The Bakery out of the jazz…kind of thing.

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