#263 Mark Stone- Percussionist, Educator, Composer, World Committee Chair & More!
This episode is sponsored by Dream Cymbals.
Prof. Mark Stone is a composer-performer with a passion for using music to bring diverse communities together. An internationally recognized multi-percussionist, Stone has performed with the foremost musicians of Uganda, Ghana, South Africa, India, Trinidad, Ecuador, and the United States. As a composer his work is rooted in traditions stretching from classical Indian music to European concert music and American jazz to traditional African music. The cross-cultural capacity of his music has been described as, “revolutionary to our musical landscape. The experiences he gained traversing geographical borders has put him in a unique position to cross genre borders and break conceptual boundaries.”
His newest project, the Stone Sound Collective, crosses these borders and boundaries as it unites diverse musicians and instruments. The group brings together ancient percussion traditions of Africa and India with the lyricism of stings and saxophone. The collective performs original compositions rooted in its member's wide-ranging musical influences, creating music that celebrates the oneness of humanity by uplifting hearts, expanding minds and connecting souls.
R.I.P.
James Mtume, legendary jazz and soul composer and frontman of R&B group Mtume, died on Sunday at the age of 76. -Article
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday to the late Max Roach.
Happy Birthday to the late Kenny “Klook” Clarke.
Happy Birthday to the legend, Dave Weckl.
Happy Birthday to friend of the show, Matthew-Lee Erlbach of Be An Arts Hero. Matthew-Lee is a writer, actor, and filmmaker from Chicago and New York, whose work largely focuses on erased histories as well as the impact of technological revolutions on capital, labor, race, spirituality, and democratic movements. He also writes comedy. It’s dark. He loves pudding.
A proud graduate of the public school system from K-College, Matthew-Lee created a writing program for single mothers transitioning out of homelessness and prison and is a team leader for Habitat for Humanity, locally and globally. He is the Director of Government Affairs and Public Policy for the Arts Hero campaign and co-founder of Arts Workers United, where he is lobbying for a landmark Arts & Culture worker relief bill he co-wrote, called the DAWN (Defend Arts Workers Now) Act.
For his organizing, activism, and policy work on behalf of Arts Workers, he has been interviewed/featured in multiple national media outlets including NPR, MSNBC, CNN, PBS, WGN, Washington Post, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Crain’s Chicago Business, Chicago Reader, and Playbill, among others. He is also an advocate for ethical AI and ethical transhumanism.
He has received support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Laurents/Hatcher Foundation, Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, Puffin Foundation, was a member of Ars Nova's Play Group, MVMNT Theatre’s Play Group, is a HUMANITAS New Voices recipient, and is a proud member of the Dramatist’s Guild, WGA, and SAG-AFTRA.
Matthew is the co-founder of Be An Arts Hero.
Happy Birthday to friend of the show, Terence F. Clark. Terence is a Memphis based drummer, producer and overall creative. Known for his impeccable and soulful performances, his professionalism and discipline of craft, Terence has traveled the world building relationships with and through music. As Terence finds inspiration in his travels and engaging other cultures, he always lends inspiration with his unique brand of performance, solid groove and musical knowledge and excellence. It's always been more than “just about the music”, to Terence; it's about creating the very best and discovering a community of artists with which to learn from and create with along the way.
Terence began to dream about making music at the age of two. His father, Marc Clark, an organist and pianist and grandfather Loyce F. Clark, a guitarist and legendary quartet vocalist, became his early mentors along with music producers, Kevin Paige and Niko Lyras. Terence developed the gritty elements of his style while playing with local bands on Beale Street. Those experiences stirred up his love for the city’s music legacy and heartbeat of all musical forms. His professional career has spanned from touring nationally and internationally as well as recording with an eclectic array of artists of many genres. He currently tours with the legendary, Robert Cray Band. A musical education and real-life experiences have refined his talents.
Terence is also a Producer and Co-Founder of The Undertone Collective, a production company that enables artists by providing a vast range of media and production services. He's passionate about furthering the legendary music that Memphis has always heralded, while creating a support and resource system for new and experiences artists. Terence is currently mentored by David Porter, Tommy Sims, James Waddell, and Steve Jordan. His musical inspiration stems from the likes of Steve Jordan, Al Jackson Jr., Howard Grimes, Steve Gadd, Tony Williams, Dennis Chambers, William Kennedy, Dan Needham, Dave Weckl, Marvin McQuitty, and Austin Bradley.
Working with Terence means working with an artist whose creativity and versatility are only matched by his personal warmth and dedication to the project. His passion is not only for the art, but for the artist. He is currently working with Keith Urban.
Happy Birthday to friend of the show Neil Larrivee. Neil is the Vice President of Mission Advancement. Mr. Larrivee will play a crucial part of Music for All’s current efforts to lead through the challenging times of the pandemic with new and expanded fundraising efforts through donations, grants, and new sponsorships. Looking forward, Mr. Larrivee’s vast experience and knowledge of the music industry will help support a strong Music for All long into the future.
Mr. Larrivee was the Vice President of Drumstick & Mallet Innovation for the Avedis Zildjian Company. For 34 years, Neil played a unique role in the overall growth of Vic Firth while also coordinating its music industry leading education program. In 2016, he was responsible for bringing together both the Zildjian and Vic Firth Education staffs into a single, fully integrated department. Most recently he was responsible for drumstick and mallet product innovation for Zildjian, Vic Firth & Mike Balter Mallet brands.
Outside of Zildjian, Neil has over 40 years of music teaching experience within the marching band, drum corps, and indoor marching percussion activities as well as private lesson instruction resulting in his induction into The Cadets Drum & Bugle Corps, Winter Guard International, Massachusetts Drum Corps and Music Educators Hall of Fame.
Neil is an active clinician and adjudicator in the marching band and indoor percussion arena. As an avid concert attendee, Neil will often be found taking in live performances of jazz, orchestral, or contemporary chamber music in Boston or wherever his travels may take him.
“With a decorated multi-decade career in the music education and business world, Neil will be a resource for all facets of Music for All, which includes the shouldering of responsibilities which will allow others to shift focus as we retool MFA for the realities of the years to come,” said Jeremy L. Earnhart, President and CEO of Music for All.
Headquartered in downtown Indianapolis, Music for All is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit educational organization that uniquely combines regional and national music education programming with awareness and advocacy efforts aimed at ensuring and expanding access to music in schools and communities.
Happy Birthday to friend of the show, Paul Wertico. Paul is hailed in the press as "One of the most versatile and musical drummers in music today", Paul Wertico was born January 5, 1953 in Chicago. He gained worldwide recognition as a member of the Pat Metheny Group from 1983 to 2001. During his tenure with Metheny, Wertico played on ten recordings and four videos, appeared on numerous television shows, and frequently toured around the world. He also won seven Grammy Awards (for "Best Jazz Fusion Performance," "Best Contemporary Jazz Performance," and "Best Rock Instrumental Performance"), magazine polls, and received several gold records.
In recent years, Wertico has continued to tour and perform around the world, as well as around the Chicago metropolitan area, where he is based. This led to the creation of his own band (the Paul Wertico Trio) and collaborations with jazz notables such as Larry Coryell, Kurt Elling, and Jeff Berlin. These collaborations enabled Wertico to be featured on group recordings in a variety of musical genres, and also gave him an opportunity to produce records. In 2009, Wertico's trio joined forces with Marbin, which consisted of Israeli musicians Danny Markovitch (saxophone) and Dani Rabin (guitar). The group performed as Paul Wertico's Mid-East/Mid-West Alliance, and recorded an album for the Chicago Sessions label that received accolades from publications such as the Chicago Tribune, DRUM!, and Modern Drummer. Wertico's current group is Wertico Cain & Gray, featuring multi-instrumentalists David Cain and Larry Gray. A 2013 recording by Wertico Cain & Gray, entitled Sound Portraits, won "Best Live Performance Album" in the 13th Annual Independent Music Awards (2014).
When not touring, Wertico divides his career doing session work, producing, composing, and leading his own groups, as well as teaching. Among the musicians he has played with are: Eddie Harris, Lee Konitz, Dave Liebman, Sam Rivers, Bob Mintzer, Terry Gibbs, Buddy DeFranco, Roscoe Mitchell, Evan Parker, Jay McShann, Herbie Mann, Randy Brecker, Jerry Goodman, Ramsey Lewis, David Bowie, Charlie Haden, George Coleman, Diane Schuur, Nelson Riddle, Sonny Fortune, Ken Nordine, Tierney Sutton, and many others. Wertico was a member of the Larry Coryell Power Trio until Coryell's death in 2017. From 2000 to 2007, he was a member of the platinum-record-winning Polish progressive rock band, SBB. He is also the inventor of TUBZ, made by Promark, who also makes the “Paul Wertico Signature Hickory Wood Tip Drumstick” (TX808W ).
Gig Alerts
Bonnaroo announced their lineup for this summer. Tickets go on sale Jan 15th at noon, CST.
Damon will be playing with Morgan James this Sunday at the FTC Stage One as a special guest.
COVID cancellations are continuing in 2022 – here’s a list of canceled events and tours so far. -Article
Mailtime
A listener wrote in to Damon (discussionsinpercussion@gmail.com), and asked about a looping pedal for percussion. Damon first found out about that from friend of the show, Marcelo Woloski and his old Boss Loop Station pedal (Damon mistakenly said Line 6 pedal).
He now recommends the updated Boss RC505 pedal.
Educational Spotlight
The educational lesson series with CongaChops and Latin Percussion is continued this week with Maracas.
Iconic Recording
There are two iconic recordings for this week, picked out by the guest Mark Stone.
The first recording is the Naked Lunch Soundtrack performed by Howard Shore/Ornette Coleman w/London Philharmonic.
Music News
Will the Grammy Awards move to Las Vegas for 2022? Rumors suggest the Recording Academy is moving music’s biggest night.
The Recording Academy and CBS postponed the 64th Grammy Awards show last week. “The health and safety of those in our music community, the live audience, and the hundreds of people who work tirelessly to produce our show remains our top priority,” the announcement reads. -Article
Want to see Metallica, the Black Keys, Tool, or Eric Church this year? You may encounter these COVID-sniffing dogs that are keeping artists touring.
Venues, promoters, and organizers are doing their best to keep everyone safe. N95 masks, hand sanitizer, vaccines, and negative tests haven’t stopped the spread completely, though. Now tours are turning to COVID-sniffing dogs like German Shepherds and Labrador retrievers to help keep them safe. These dogs are specially trained to detect traces of the virus in crew members. -Article
Mark Stone Interview
The song leading into the interview is called “Presence” performed by the Stone Sound Collective.
In this new group, Stone plays the newly-invented array mbira, an American-made 120 key lamellaphone and a wide range of traditional melodic African instruments, including the Ghanaian gyil, Ugandan akogo, and South African karimba. He is joined by Matt Dufresne (saxophones, flute, atenteben, and nadaswaram), Abigail Alwin (cello), Chinelo Amen-Ra (djembe, congas, and cajon) and Sam Jeyasingham (mridangam, tabla, kanjira, thavil, and morsing). These established artists freely cross musical boundaries with their dynamic playing and are exceptional improvisers, bringing a wide-range of performance experience and artistry to the Stone Sound Collective. Through their music the collective aims to contribute to the development of vibrant and inquisitive communities where people see, hear, and experience the many ways we are all connected.
Mark is the chair of the World Percussion Committee for the Percussive Arts Society. The co-chair is Dr. Andrés Espinoza Agurto.
For the World Percussion Committee…
Charge: The World Percussion Committee makes recommendations for the various contemporary and traditional world percussion events at PASIC. Committee members also contribute to Percussive Notes, Rhythm! Scene, and Rhythm! Discovery Center to help expand cultural diversity, musicianship, and understanding of world percussion.
Guidelines for Membership: Each committee member should attend at least two (2) out of the three (3) PASICs within each membership term. Members will be expected to serve on either a PASIC review committee and/or World Percussion Ensemble Competition judging panel when requested by the Chair, which will typically entail one to two services per three-year term. Exceptions will be taken on a case-by-case basis, but failure to serve on at least one review committee or judging panel per three-year term will result in removal from the Committee. In addition, members are to maintain a reasonable line of communication with regards to Committee business.
Shout-out to PASIC.
You can email Mark if you’re interested in joining the World Percussion Committee here: stone@oakland.edu.
Mark’s first instrument was a King George marimba (pictured above).
Mark talks about his relationship with Bernard Woma and Phil Faini.
Mark mentions the Ugandan Amadinda. He also talks about the Embaire.
Friend of the show (and student of Robert Van Sice), Eduardo Leandro, plays on a marimba with the quarter tone row of bars in front of it.
Mark talks about music for Gyil and orchestra.
Mark is going to Ghana in February to the Bernard Woma Dagara Music Center with some students.
Mark teaches at Oakland University, in Rochester Michigan. They have a new graduate level music program that is accepting new students.
Mark is the outgoing Arts Commissioner for the city of Pontiac, Michigan.
The BBC Africa program that Damon talks about is on YouTube. He also talks about the grassroots program called Be An Arts Hero, which helps push for a cabinet level position for the arts. Damon mentions STEM represents science, technology, engineering and maths. “STEAM” represents STEM plus the arts – humanities, language arts, dance, drama, music, visual arts, design and new media.
Mark tells a story about Jumbie Records that he used to run with other musicians.
Mark talks about his choices for the iconic recordings for this week.
Damon brings up Lake Victoria in Uganda and his introduction to it through the African Ciclids.
Mark mentions the herbal treatment for Covid 19 in Uganda.
Mark lists an extensive list of mentors and teachers that have helped him throughout his career.
Mark uses Tycoon percussion, and Array Mbiras.
You can find Mark at Oakland University, on his Website, and YouTube.
The song leading out of the interview is “Gyil Yeru” performed by Mark Stone.
