Rusty Burge joined the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music faculty in 1992 as a member of Percussion Group Cincinnati, with whom he has performed extensively throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Recent performances include the Japan World Drum Festival, Chinese International Music Festival, Taipei International Percussion Convention, the Ravinia Festival, Merkin Hall in New York City and the International Percussion Convention. He has recorded with the Group for the Mode, Centaur, Einstein and Ars Moderno labels. The Group has also made concerto appearances with more than twenty different symphony orchestras. He was formerly principal percussionist with the West Virginia Symphony and plays extra with the Cincinnati Symphony. He received his undergraduate degree from the Eastman School of Music and a masters degree from CCM.

Professor Burge teaches percussion, jazz vibraphone and directs the CCM Steel band. He is an active jazz vibraphonist who has recorded for Summit, J Curve Records, Human Records and Telarc. Recent jazz performances with Ted Nash, Rich Perry, Peter Erskine, Dave Liebman, Rufus Reid, Steve Allee, Steve Houghton, Roland Vazquez, Michael Spiro and Jim Rupp. Recent performances at the 2016 PASIC Convention, the 2016 Midwest Clinic and the 2017 JEN Convention with the BAHA Quartet (Burge, Allee, Houghton and Allen.) His latest recordings are Faraway (with Steve Allee) and Driftin' with Steve Houghton, Steve Allee and Jeremy Allen. In 2017 Burge (as a member of PGC) was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Giovanni Hidalgo. Gio was born in Puerto Rico in 1963 and grew up in home filled with the drums, bongos, congas and timbales used by his father and grandfather, both musicians themselves. Gio began playing on a home made conga crafted by his father from a wooden barrel, when he was just eight years old. He also practiced on other percussion instruments, applying his great talent to become one of the top Latin percussionists in the world today. Widely acknowledged among the greatest congueros of his generation, Giovanni is the son of the noted percussionist Jose "Manengue" Hidalgo, he was educated in Latin rhythms from childhood onward, and as a teen regularly walked to local gigs with his congas strapped to his back. He soon caught the attention of the legendary Dizzy Gillespie, touring in his United Nations All-Star Orchestra for four years; Hidalgo also became a noted session player, recording with Freddie Hubbard, Paul Simon, and Mickey Hart's Planet Drum project. In 1992, he recorded his debut solo LP, Villa Hidalgo; Worldwide followed a year later, and for 1997's Hands of Rhythm, a collaboration with pianist Michel Camilo, Hidalgo earned a Grammy nomination in the Best Latin Jazz Album category. His Greatest Hits collection followed the next year.

Sergeant First Class Glenn Robertson, is a drummer and a bass player with the Six String Soldiers. He is originally from Spencer, Massachusetts. Prior to joining Six-String Soldiers, he had the privilege of opening for and sharing concert bills with such diverse acts as John Mayer, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, George Clinton, Soulive, Martin Sexton, Colbie Caillat, Dave Barnes, Brett Dennen, and DJ Logic. SFC Robertson’s career has included appearances at venues ranging from the Montreal and Norwalk Jazz Festivals to the Hammerstein Ballroom, and New York City’s famous CBGB club. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he studied with Thom Hannum, Bob Gulloti, Jeff Holmes, and Eduardo Leandro.

Percussionist Randy Gloss is a founding member of Hands On’Semble, Randy was a driving force in the ensemble, having written many of the group’s compositions, organizing, producing and arranging tours, albums, grants, endorsements, and projects throughout the group’s extensive history. Ultimately, taking leave from the ensemble in the Fall of 2021. In those 24 years though, Hands On’Semble accomplished a tremendous amount out of very little, and afforded Gloss the percussion adventure of a lifetime on a global scale.

Randy has more recently released a percussion duo album with Pete Lockett (Stones In the Yard) in 2020, as well as a solo percussion album for Orenda Records in 2015-16 (The Ayes Have It Vol.I, Self Portraits in Percussion), with a follow up Volume II to be released soon.

Randy has also worked with an extensive array of world renowned artists including: reggae superstar Ziggy Marley (on the Grammy winning album Fly Rasta); violin icon L. Shankar (Shenkar); pianist Larry Karush; The Lian Ensemble (including the Pangea Project with Djivan Gasparyan and Swapan Chaudhuri; and the 2009 UCLALive production of Medea starring Annette Bening); percussionist Adam Rudolph’s “Go: Organic Orchestra” and world percussion group Vashti; projects with slide veena virtuoso Chitravina Ravikiran (including a concert tour of India that also featured Brazilian pianist Jovino Santos Neto and master Ghanaian drummer Alfred Ladzekpo); a Balkan/Indian collaboration with maestros Aashish Khan, Swapan Chaudhuri, Miroslav Tadic, Vlatko Stefanovski; Romanian pan flute virtuoso Damian Draghici; overtone singer David Hykes; Turkish musician Latif Bolat; Vinny Golia’s Large Ensemble; pianist Ardeshir Rohani; flautist Nicole Mitchell, pianist Dan Siegel, and South Indian percussionist Poovalur Sriji to name only some. Randy has also contributed percussion for film soundtracks by composers Danny Elfman, Harry Gregson-Williams, and Gary Chang; for television series’ such as Fear Factor; video games such as Uncharted 3 for Sony Play Station; recorded music for the American Conservatory Theater; Southwest Chamber Music (Lou Harrison); and has recorded several extensive percussion sample libraries for software companies such as: Apple (Garage Band), Ilio, and Native Instruments.

Gloss has performed worldwide at international music festivals such as: International Oud festival of Jerusalem; Tahiti Guitar Festival; PercPan, Ritmos de Terra, the International Music Festival of Belo Horizonte, and Encontro Internacional de Percussão in Brazil; World Drum Festival in Hamburg Germany; The Taiwan International Drum Festival, the Tainan Chi-Hsi Int’l Arts Festival – Int’l Drummers Gala and the Hsin Chu International Folk Drum Festival in Taiwan; Percussive Arts Society International Conventions (PASIC); Angel City Jazz Festival; Seattle World Rhythm Festival; Watts Tower Day of the Drum Festival; the Different Drummer Festival, and numerous PAS “Days of Percussion” including New York City, Southern California, Central California, Northern California, Southern Oregon, Utah, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Nevada. As well as performances at venues such as: Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco; Royce Hall, Skirball Cultural Center, Getty Center, and Ford Amphitheater in Los Angeles; Siri Fort Auditorium and National Center for Performing Arts in India; SESC Sao Paulo and Sergio Magnani Music Hall Fundação de Educação Artística in Brazil; and in Canada at Outremont Theatre in Montreal and Convocation Hall in Toronto.

Randy Gloss is faculty at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Valencia California where he has taught since the late 90’s, overseeing the MFA World Percussion Program (since 2007); from 2015-2020 was the Director of World Music Performance Programs; and 2018-2021 the recipient of the Michel Columbier Performer-Composer Chair at CalArts. Additionally, Randy has taught at UCLA and LA Music Academy (LAMA), and has been a visiting artist/lecturer/clinician at many universities, music schools and conservatories in the U.S. and abroad.

Gig Alerts

The Ground Up Music Festival is back in Miami for 2022.

The Modern Drummer Festival is back virtually only for 2021, in December.

Educational Spotlight

The Zildjian company has launched a YouTube page called the Zildjian Learning Zone.

Product Review

Damon grabbed this iPad sleeve for his tablet, charger and bluetooth pedal, from the company Feel Felt LT.

Iconic Recording

The iconic recording this week was chosen by Rusty, and it features Mike Mainieri.

Music News

2022 GRAMMYs Awards Show released their Complete Nominations List. You can find out who's nominated in each of the 86 categories at the 2022 GRAMMYs Awards show by CLICKING HERE.

Damon talks about the “Thanksgiving Carol”, Alice's Restaurant Massacree by Arlo Guthrie from the album with the same title.

Rusty Burge Interview

The song leading into the interview is “Faraway” by BAHA (Rusty Burge, Steve Allee, Steve Houghton and Jeremy Allen)

Damon met Rusty through friend of the show, Steve Houghton.

Rusty was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame with the Percussion Group Cincinnati. He gives a bit of history on the Percussion Group.

Rusty teaches at CCM. The University of Cincinnati, College Conservatory of Music.

Damon and Rusty talk about the 100th anniversary of the vibraphone concert. They go through the featured icons, Lionel Hampton, Milt Jackson, Bobby Hutcherson and Roy Ayers. They also talk about the vibraphonists honoring them: Jason Marsailis, Joe Locke, Warren Wolf and Stefon Harris.

Rusty brings up Mike Mainieri.

This is one of the albums Rusty mentions.

Rusty started on piano thanks to his mom. He then moved over to drumset.

He went to Eastman School of Music for his undergrad. He mentions Keith Copeland being there when he was.

Rusty talks about improvisation for everyone and not just Jazz players.

Rusty has written a couple of books. The most recent one is called, “New Adventures: Ten Pieces for Vibraphone”

The second book he wrote is called “Method for Vibraphone”.

Rusty talks about some of his duties as a professor of percussion and also how he diversifies his life to have a successful career.

Rusty talks about his family. Both his parent were pianists. He grew up in Fort Collins/Boulder Colorado with his mom.

Damon brings up the infamous, Rocky Mountain Oysters. He also mentions a wild game restaurant.

Rusty played with the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symhpony Orchestra, and Columbus Pro Musica.

Rusty and Damon talk about audition and competition strategies.

Rusty crosses paths with friend of the show, Nick Angelis, who teaches the marching band percussionists.

Damon brings up the venue in Cincinnati called Memorial Hall OTR that both he and Rusty have played at. He also mentions the restaurant Boomtown Biscuits and Whiskey.

Rusty uses Vic Firth sticks and mallets (He also has a signature series mallet), Zildjian Cymbals and Yamaha Instruments.

You can follow Rusty on his Website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Shout-out to everyone involved at the Percussive Arts Society for being able to pull off the PASIC event without a hitch.

Damon brings up TV theme songs, and mentions the one for WKRP in Cincinnati. Since Thanksgiving is right around the corner, here’s the Turkey Drop snippet from the show.

The song leading out of the interview is “Waltz for Tomorrow” by Rusty Burge and Steve Allee from the album ‘Faraway’.