[chungiemunchin]

I just read the latest Modern Drummer Poll and am disappointed in the magazine's inability to discern what kind of music a drummer plays. Spawning this little diatribe is the winner of the jazz poll for this year which is Keith Carlock. Now, I am a huge fan of the man and I know he can lay down some jazz, but he hardly plays jazz. He plays rhythm and blues and pop music mostly. I almost hope Keith himself feels embarrassed because he (and we) knows that there are cats who dedicate their lives to playing jazz and are much more deserving to top that category. Keith for sure belongs as the number one R&B drummer or pop or even fusion for that matter....but jazz? Come on MD...............get yourself together!

[Bo Eder]

Or maybe Keith Carlock isn't embarrassed...

From what I understand about the man, I think he attended North Texas State University before coming out to New York. If you know anything about that particular music school, it's HEAVY on the jazz idiom. I went to a community college where my teacher was an alumni of NTSU, and what he taught kicked my ass every day. I never studied music so hard in my life - and this wasn't even the real NTSU. The level of players coming out of that school is downright scary. I never grew more humble.

I used to gripe about Modern Drummer and all these polls, and as I got older, I learned that I am just happy to be able to make any kind of living playing my drums. In order to make any kind of living, you learn how to be fluent at almost everything, because you never know what the person holding the checkbook is going to ask for. So, chances are, any professional out there, regardless of whatever the MD readers vote him best at, can probably play anything (or at least fool everyone into thinking that). Getting in the pages of MD is a feat I haven't mastered, so just getting noticed is something to brag about!

A bigger gripe that may not be apparent about Modern Drummer is the mixed message you get when you open the magazine up. You could read an interview with Steve Gadd, who will talk about his time in college and the things he's studied, and how all that has helped him be who he is, and then you can turn the page to a guy who "just picked up the drums a couple of years ago" because it was fun, joined a band that got a hit record, and knows more about the touring life of a pop musician than he does how to play.

And BOTH sides of the story are typical of being a musician. You could argue that Gadd would obviously have more longevity in the profession, but not really. There are drummers out there in their same bands still on the road, doing their gigs, without the education, too! (I won't name names here, but think about it, you'll probably come up with your own).

If Modern Drummer wants to be an educational magazine, fine, if it wants to be a fanzine, that's fine too. But I think we as a community of drummers need to recognize when the publication is being BOTH so it can sell magazines to its subscribers, and that's really the business of Modern Drummer.

Advice here: Don't read so much MD, but do get out and play, learn and socialize with musicians. You're in the business of working as a drummer, not supporting Modern Drummer.

AND ANOTHER THING: I've been reading Modern Drummer since it's inception in 1975. Can anyone tell me why it's called "Modern Drummer" when the drummer's job really hasn't changed since the inception of the drumkit? The main job is still to provide time for the band. I haven't seen any new memos on THAT ever changing....

[chungiemunchin]

Very tempered answer my friend. I understand exactly what you are saying on all points. I know that Keith can kick some jazz with the best of them. It's just funny to me that he gets recognized for that rather than for what he actually does but I understand what you are saying. As for Modern Drummer, I only got back into the drumming world after a twenty plus year lay off (to raise my family), a couple of years ago. And yeah, I have been trying to figure MD out in the regards of which drummers they choose to spotlight. They seem to spend an inordinate amount of space on cats who play by ear and play in rock bands. Not that you can't be outstanding just because you play by ear. I mean look at Paco Sery. Still, I just don't see that there's that much to talk about when you're talking about the drummers for R.E.M. and Wilco respectfully. Not when you have cats like Carlock, DeJohnette, Washington, etc. So yeah, in the end, I agree with you but still wanted to belly ache about what seemed to me, a bit of a miscategorization.

[Bo Eder]

Believe me, I've bellyached about it for years. Nowadays, if I have time to kill at my favorite drum shop, I'll read some MD there without buying it. I know what I need to focus on so I try to stick to that.

Oddly enough, MD at least has a good balance of written articles to ads. Some of those fashion magazines are 80% ads and 20% articles! As a amateur-semi-pro photographer, I noticed the same thing in photography magazines. They're all about selling magazines and getting us to buy manufacturers' products - and those are worse - there's only so many ways to operate a freakin' camera!

Here's an even more way-out story for you: I got the chance to go to the NAMM show in Anaheim one year and Clint Black was there to do a little seminar with some kids in the morning. Before the show, I swear I thought Eddie Van Halen was warming up. I go backstage and there's Clint Black with his cowboy hat on, wearing a Telecaster and seriously doing a better Van Halen "Hot for Teacher" solo than I'd ever heard! If he was a little younger and had long hair, he'd be one kick-ass rocker too.

I recall mom always telling us "you can't judge a book...."