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‘born to make history’

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A note on history: Dr'ummer's time to shine

> The drum solo from jazz to rock

Caroline Ho
Arts Editor

 

hat’s the most essential component
of music? Your instinct might be to

say melody, because without a tune, how
can one have any music? But even more
important is rhythm. A single note ora
cluster of notes can’t create music without
being played, and to be played they need
to be set to a tempo. Even a simple beat
can stand on its own without a melody.
We might not realize the musicality of
percussion by itself, and instead hear
it as acomplementary backdrop for
other instruments, which is why the
drum solo stands out as a moment of
acknowledgment for this vital instrument.

Modern rock drumming owes
its roots to jazz music of the early
20th century. In the 1920s and ’30s,
jazz drummers like Baby Dodds and
Chick Webb had immense impacts on
future generations of drummers, with
Dodds’ distinctive “shimmy beat” and
Webb's flashy, powerful style of swing.
But for all their skill and influence,
these and other early jazz drummers
didn’t really play solos—they were
recognized for their work in backing up
other musicians and playing breaks.

Gene Krupa was the drummer
who really brought a spotlight onto the
instrument. Embodying all the vivacity
of the Big Band Era, his drumming was
as distinctive as it was flashy, and he’s
usually recognized as the person to make
drum solos into a performance. Krupa
was also the first to assemble and arrange
the modern drum kit, made up of a snare
drum, bass drum, tom-toms, and cymbals.

Another drummer superstar of jazz

and big band was Buddy Rich, whose
technical mastery and crazy drumming
speeds astonished audiences. Rich is still
acknowledged as the most technically
skilled drummer ever—even though

he never received any formal musical

instruction or even learned to read music.

Through the ’40s and ’50s, musical
trends moved from jazz to bebop
and gradually into rock and roll. Jazz
musicians like Max Roach and Art
Blakey pioneered new techniques of
combining time signatures and shifting
accents to create complex rhythms. The
influences of these artists can be heard
not just in jazz, but also in the styles of
many early rock drummers who were
taught and inspired by jazz musicians.

The drum solo in rock was ushered
in by Ginger Baker, drummer of the
British band Cream (which also included

lead guitarist Eric Clapton). Cream’s
1966 album Fresh Cream included the
track “Toad,” an instrumental song that
was almost entirely a drum solo, one of
the first of such recorded in rock. The
album version is five minutes long, but
there are also live recordings of Baker
playing “Toad” for well over 10 minutes.
“Toad” opened the doors to a flood
of drum solos in rock and metal. One of
the most notable was John Bonham of
Led Zeppelin. The band’s instrumental
track “Moby Dick” (4969) featured a drum
solo that Bonham would sometimes play
for up to half an hour in concerts. The
60s and ’7o0s saw drum solos take centre
stage again and again, although one
notable abstainer was The Who's Keith
Moon, who allegedly thought drum solos
were boring and refused to play them.
The heyday of drum solos can

Sex addiction 1n the city

> A retroactive review of ‘Sleeping with Other People’

Jan Prchal
Contributor

 

Aw film that probably slipped
past your radar in the last couple

of years was Sleeping with Other People
(2015), starring Jason Sudeikis as Jake
and Alison Brie as Lainey, two people
who cannot seem to make monogamy
work for them. On the face of it, this is
a conventional romantic comedy, filled
with sexual humour and heart, but it
also provides a podium to expose the
prominent features of the modern hookup
culture, such as the loss of virginity,
relationship anxiety, infidelity, sexual
addiction, and the boundaries between
friendship and sexual partnership.

The history of the two characters
begins in college, when they lose their
virginity to each other. The implication
here is that the two characters’ sexual
challenges are the consequence of this

one awkward, yet formative night.
This is obviously an oversimplified
cause for the two protagonists’ later
problems, which is exactly why it is
used in the film. Through its exposure,
this plot device highlights that many
people in modern times consider their
virginity something precious, and
its loss to potentially be something
formative in their later sexual health.
Another modern issue that comes
up, particularly with Lainey, is anxiety
stemming from an unhealthy sexual
relationship. She is shown coping
with anxiety attacks more than once
throughout the movie. Again, by being
shown in the film, anxiety is exposed as
an important issue affecting sexually-
active urban inhabitants, though none
of its underlying causes or appropriate
treatments are dealt with in the film.
The principal hookup culture
problem that the film’s protagonists deal

with is, as the title suggests, sleeping with
people other than those they are currently
seeing. Jake and Lainey’s behaviours are
both adulterous and fuelled by a sort of
sexual addiction that demands the thrill
of an adulterous sexual encounter. Once
more, these issues have been watered
down and moulded into comedic fodder.

Overall, Sleeping with Other
People is well directed, with solid lead
and supporting acting. The writing
is such that, unlike many modern
comedies, the trailer doesn’t contain
the only funny scenes in the movie.

The principal merits of Sleeping with
Other People are that it is a pretty decent
romantic comedy, and that it retains a
sharp relevance to a modern viewer due
to its light engagement on issues that
people face in the present hookup culture
that many of us live in, wittingly or not.

  

  

Photograph via www.drummertalk.org

li

perhaps be encapsulated by Neil Peart,
drummer of Canadian band Rush. He
performed with colossal drum kits
that included a variety of percussion
instruments such as wind chimes
and tubular bells. In the late ’7os and
80s, Peart’s solos, which were partly
composed and partly improvised,
earned him a massive following.

Drum solos are, of course, still
a big part of rock music today, and
probably one of its most divisive aspects.
Some fans love seeing their favourite
drummers showcase their talents
singlehandedly (or, well, four-limbed-
ly). Other listeners regard solos as the
epitome of self-indulgence and a tedious
waste of concert time. Whatever your
perception, it’s undeniable that drummers
deserve recognition of their own.

JASON SUDEIKIS

Geely eed)

SLEEPING
WITHOTHER

Se nc

Pesan s|

Poster via impawards.com