#210 Ross Pederson- Drummer for Manhattan Transfer, Melissa McMillan, Shayna Steele & More!
This week’s guest is Ross Pederson. Ross is an explosive, sensitive, dynamic, and compelling voice on the drum set and in the studio, Ross has in the last decade emerged as an in-demand drummer and producer in Brooklyn, NY. Ross has shared the stage with renowned, diverse and prominent musicians/artists as Fred Hersch, Snarky Puppy (recorded on their first album, The Only Constant), The Manhattan Transfer, Take 6, Eddie Gomez, Kenny Werner, Patti Austin, Shayna Steele, David Cook, Chris Potter, Melissa McMillan, Grace Kelly, Emmy Rossum, Jessie James, David Binney, Lew Soloff, Nir Felder, Will Lee, Kevin Hayes, Jean-Michel Pilc, Rufus Reid, Mark Egan, Francois Moutin, Ben Wendel, John Ellis, Tim Lefevbre, Gary Versace, Oz Noy, Marc Johnson, Patricia Barber, Henry Hey, Lynne Arriale, Johannes Weidenmueller, Jon Hendricks, Madeline Eastman, Joe Martin, Taylor Eigsti, John Abercrombie, Billy Drewes, Rich Perry, Wycliffe Gordon, Gilad Hekselman, Pete McCann, Kate McGarry, Ralph LaLama, among many others. As a sideman, Ross has recorded on dozens of albums ranging from Jazz trio to Indie Rock. He is a current member of the bands of Shayna Steele, Melissa McMillan and Grace Kelly, The Manhattan Transfer, as well as a frequent member of the Kenny Werner and Fred Hersch Trios. In addition to his jazz roots Ross stays in touch with his rock, pop, and singer-songwriter roots, playing with and producing jazz, soul/R&B, folk, rock, and indie-electronic artists in Brooklyn at his home studio.
Happy Birthday!!!
Happy 74th Birthday to James “Mtume” Forman (born January 3, 1946), better known by his stage name James Mtume, is an American jazz and R&B musician, songwriter, record producer, activist and radio personality. He came to prominence as a Jazz musician, working with Miles Davis between 1971 and 1975. Mtume's R&B group, also called Mtume, is best known for the 1983 R&B hit song "Juicy Fruit" (from the album with the same name), which has been repeatedly sampled. Mtume the band also had a top-five R&B hit with the single "You, Me, and He", as well as “Juicy Fruit” sampled in the song “Juicy” by The Notorious B.I.G. James Forman, born and raised in South Philadelphia. He is the son of jazz saxophonist Jimmy Heath, however he was raised by his stepfather, a Philadelphia local jazz pianist, James "Hen Gates" Forman.
Gig Alerts
With traditional live music events still on hold due to coronavirus concerns, many artists are entertaining fans with drive in gigs. Here’s a complete drive in concert directory, including every upcoming show.
Plus, be sure to check back for additional drive in concert information, as this piece will be updated with newly announced events. -Article
Educational Spotlight
The World Vibes Congress happened on Jan 2nd and 3rd. It was full of performances, discussions, and listening sessions with the world best vibraphonists including (friends of the show): David Friedman, Tony Miceli, Stefon Harris, Warren Wolf, Leigh Howard Stevens, and more. Thanks to the Malletech company for hosting the event.
You can watch both days on the Malletech YouTube channel.
The book Damon referred to, “Masters of the Vibes” can be found on the Mostly Marimba website.
Iconic Recording
Damon brings up saxophonist Chris Potter, and the first album he mentions is “Critical Mass” by the Dave Holland Quintet. It has Chris Potter on sax, Dave Holland on bass, Robin Eubanks on trombone, Steve Nelson on vibraphone and Nate Smith on drums.
The iconic recording for this week is “King Kong” by John Patitucci. This song is from the album “Imprint”. This song features John on bass, Chris Potter on sax, Danilo Perez on piano, (friends of the show) Giovanni Hidalgo on congas and Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez on drums.
Music News
The government has officially started mailing the $600 second stimulus checks earmarked in the recently passed $892 billion aid package. Since negotiations on a follow-up to the $2.2 trillion CARES Act began earlier this year, Digital Music News has provided regular updates about second stimulus checks. Owing to the far-reaching economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdown measures, a substantial number of Americans are without regular income and stand to benefit from the new round of once-off payments. -Article
Ticketmaster has been fined $10 million for allegedly hacking a rival ticketing platform and stealing sensitive information between 2013 and 2015, the Department of Justice announced in a formal release. Federal prosecutors levied five charges, including wire fraud and computer intrusion, against Ticketmaster for allegedly accessing “without authorization the computer systems of a competitor.” The episodes that spurred the charges occurred after a former Crowdsurge exec joined the Live Nation team in 2013. For background, Crowdsurge in 2015 merged with live music platform Songkick, which sold “selected assets” – unrelated to ticketing, it bears mentioning – to Warner Music Group in July of 2017. Even before the sale, however, WMG parent Access Industries was a major backer of Songkick. Additionally, Songkick levied a massive antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster/Live Nation. -Article
The song leading into the interview is “Jealous Type” by Melissa McMillan.
Ross Pederson Interview
The interview starts with Ross and Damon talking about Bill Murray. The documentary Ross mentions is called “The Bill Murray Stories: Life Lessons Learned from a Mythical Man”. The photos Damon mentions that (friend of the show Drew McKeon took) can be seen below…..
Damon and Ross recount meeting at a wedding and also reconvening at Rockwood Music Hall. Then they talk about fulfilling the needs of the record and songs you are required to play.
Then they move on to talking about navigating NYC as a percussion player and the luxury of having a car. They talk about some of the apps they use to survive the city.
Apps listed include: Smooth Parking, Spot Hero, NYC Subway App, MTA Train App, MTA Train ticket app, City Mapper (this works in other cities from NYC as well), Uber, Lyft, Google Maps, Waze, Park NYC (for purchasing/extending parking ticket times), and Pay or Dispute (for challenging tickets that are given fraudulently).
Ross’ Dad was a trumpet player and band director. That was the first instrument he learned. His mother taught him piano (shout-out to the Bastien books). He picked up drums from his older brother.
Some of the first bands Ross was checking out were Nirvana, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. He then moved on to bands like Meshuggah. One of his teachers introduced him to “Birds of Fire” by the Mahavishnu Orchestra.
Damon and Ross talk about going after your dreams and not necessarily having a “plan b” while you’re pursuing your dreams.
Ross chose to go to North Texas from studying John Riley’s books, “The Art of Bop Drumming” and more.
He later learned John studied with Ed Soph at North Texas University.
Ross was roomates with Mike League and one of the first drummers of Snarky Puppy. Ross gives a shout-out to another drummer Jon Deitemeyer.
Ross talks about some of the recordings he was listening to during that time in college. Josh Redman’s “Elastic” and Dave Holland Quintet’s “Not for Nothin’”. Ross recorded on the first Snarky Puppy album called “The Only Constant”.
Ross talks about the story of the Snarky Puppy named Karma.
The HBO documentary on James Brown was called Mr. Dynamite that came out in 2014.
Damon talks about grassroots organizations like Be An Arts Hero pushing to help make things better for musicians. He also talks about the BBC Africa documentary.
Damon brings up Ross’ wife, the great bass player Julia Adamy.
Damon brings up the Stuck at Home Records project that he participated in as well as Ross. Ross has been recording from home for a while. Damon refers to the Music Tech Help Guy tutorials on YouTube for Logic.
Ross worked on the new Emily Wildwood album during part of this time in quarantine.
Some of the drummers Ross goes back to for reference are James Gadson, Steve Gadd, Steve Jordan for groove stuff and for jazz, Brian Blade. Ross brings up Emmylou Harris and her song “Wrecking Ball”.
Damon and Ross talk about the Beatles and serving the song. Ross brings up the story about Ringo Starr and Quincy Jones.
Damon brings up the poly rhythms of Meshuggah and relates it to the metric modulation of Ari Hoenig. Ross checked out Ari Hoenig on “Welcome Home” with Jean Michel Pilc and François Moutin. Ari has a couple of books out on how to metrically modulate and polyrhythms.
Ross talks about learning hard lessons and choosing your moments, and knowing the time and place for the decisions you make.
There is a collaborative, multi-media, secret project Ross is involved in right now, so keep your eyes peeled to his social media for updates.
You can follow Ross on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Ross talks about grabbing a full cymbal bag, a backpack with his cats, a stickbag and a champagne sparkle Ludwig snare from his uncle as what he would grab in a fire on the way out of his place. His death row meal would be Sushi from Japan.
Ross uses Meinl Cymbals (special shout-out to Robert “Sput” Searight for that connection).
Damon talks about musical instrument insurance. The two companies Damon recommends are Music Pro Insurance and Clarion Musical Instrument Insurance.
Ross talks about his favorite subway act and it was a beat boxer and he did tip him.
The song leading out of the interview is “Baby Be Mine” by Michael Jackson, covered by Shayna Steele.
