#49 Neil Grover- Percussionist for the Boston Pops Orchestra & Founder of Grover Pro Percussion!
Photo taken by Ken Porter ©2017
This week's episode features Neil Grover. Damon and Marcos talk with Neil about performing with the Boston Pops, Boston Symphony, The Opera Company of Boston, Aerosmith, as well as popular John Williams film soundtracks. They talk about the company he founded and the products he produces at Grover Pro Percussion and so much more.
The album that Neil recorded with his wife, Maureen Brennan, is called "Songs of Good Cheer". Maureen is singing and Neil wrote all the arrangements, and play all keyboards and percussion.
The Don Ellis track we played is called "Strawberry Soup".
The Kennedy Center Honors were taped in Washington D.C. on December 3rd and will air on CBS on December 26th.
Damon's gig at Carnegie Hall is with the Young People's Chorus of NYC on Thursday December 14th. Marcos is currently in Ashville, NC at the Living Arts Center, and performing with Rick Reyes at Northeast State University in Blountville, TN.
Sixthman is mentioned with their upcoming winter cruises ranging in several styles and genres. The Xmas Jam hosted by Warren Haynes is Dec 9th at Cellular Center in Ashville, NC.
The educational spotlight is the ASCAP I Create Music Expo coming up May 7th 2018.
Music News this week.....
This is the new bill introduced in congress to benefit music creators and aid in legal help. 55% of the artists nominated for Grammys this coming 2018 are indie artists. The Historic club The Parish on Sixth Street in Austin, TX is being sold on Ebay.
Neil is not only a professional percussionist with the Boston Pops Orchestra, but also founded the company Grover Pro Percussion.
This is the scene Neil refers to with the chorus and percussionists in the movie Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, scored by John Williams. The album Neil played on with Aerosmith was "Just Push Play" (too bad it hit the cutting room floor).
Here's a brief history of the Boston Pops vs Boston Symphony Orchestras.
The piece that inspired Neil to start innovating percussion instruments was playing Scheherazade by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, specifically the triangle part. He started his company by replicating the sound of the BSO's triangle for $25 a piece.
John Williams was the conductor of the Boston Pops for a long time and one of the tours that Neil participated in (while John was the conductor), was the Star Wars tour.
If you are interested in any of the books that Neil has written, you can click HERE.
If you are in Boston for the Fourth of July and interested in catching the Pops perform on the esplanade, you can click this link.
This is a quick video demo on the snares that Grover Pro Percussion makes that were talked about on the episode.
Coming up for Neil is the Holiday Pops series of concerts. Then after Christmas, Neil will play the Bugs Bunny at the Symphony II concerts. On New Year's Eve he will be playing at the Old South Church for the Pipes and Pops concert. Then he will run down the street to play with the Boston Pops Swing Orchestra. After the new year Neil will play a week with the Naples Philharmonic (before vacationing and returning to Boston).
Some of the music Neil has in his rotation is various piano trios like McCoy Tyner, artists like Don Ellis, Stan Kenton, Buddy Rich.
Sponsor shoutout to Grover Pro Percussion and Zildjian Cymbals.
You can follow Neil on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
