#274 Amy Smith- Percussionist for the Caixa Trio, Educator, Music Therapist & More!
This week’s guest is Amy Smith. Amy is a nationally recognized performer and educator. As a member of the percussion group, The Caixa Trio (www.caixatrio.com) she has performed in France, Puerto Rico, Korea, Mexico, Brazil. In addition, Amy has performed with many orchestras including the Nashville Symphony, the Evansville Philharmonic, the Boulder Philharmonic, and the Sewanee Festival Orchestra. She is a sought after clinician and has presented workshops and master classes throughout the United States. A former resident of Tennessee, Amy was a band director for the Murfreesboro City Schools and the director of Steel de Boro, an elementary steel drum band. Under Smith’s direction, Steel de Boro performed at prestigious events including the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, the National Staff Development Council, and the Housing and Urban Development Conference. Amy was the national winner of the 1996 MTNA Collegiate Percussion Competition. She was a marimba soloist with the Boulder Bach Festival in Colorado and was also a member of the 1994 Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps. In 2001, Smith studied African Music and Dance abroad in Ghana, West Africa. Amy holds a Bachelor of Music Education and a Performer’s Certificate from Pennsylvania State University. She received her Master of Music in Percussion Performance from the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she was awarded a Chancellor’s Fellowship. Her former teachers include Frank Giguere, Dan Armstrong, Cort McClaren, Doug Walter, and Paschal Younge. Amy is an endorser of Innovative Percussion, Pearl/Adams Musical Instruments, Evans Drum Heads, and Grover Pro Percussion. Currently Amy is the orchestra. mariachi and percussion director at Young Women's Leadership Academy. She lives in El Paso, Texas with her husband, percussionist Andy Smith, and their two children.
R.I.P.
R.I.P. to Taylor Hawkins. Taylor, the longtime drummer for the megaplatinum band Foo Fighters, has died. He was 50, and died in Bogota, Colombia, where the group was scheduled to perform. -Article
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday to Steve Fidyk. Known for his versatility and musical approach, jazz drummer Steve Fidyk has earned national and international acclaim as an artist, author, composer and columnist. His third recording as a leader features an all-star band of New York’s finest — the impressive front-line of trumpet legend Joe Magnarelli and tenor titan Xavier Perez, alongside the rhythm team of pianist Peter Zak, and bassist Michael Karn. Each member is an active, contributing participant that pushes Fidyk’s hard hitting rhythmic and melodic message direct to the theatre of operations.
Steve’s father John Fidyk, who played tenor saxophone with groups throughout North Eastern Pennsylvania, began taking him on gigs as a substitute drummer at the age of eight. Encouraged by his parents, Fidyk pursued music throughout high school, and majored in music education at Wilkes University. He played drums in the big band under the direction of Bob Wilbur and eventually Tom Heinze. It was at this time that he began to immerse himself in jazz, listening to the great big bands of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, and Buddy Rich. Rich was the first jazz drummer Fidyk saw perform live when he was eight years old, and that experience left a lasting impression.
In 1987, after hearing Fidyk play with the Mansfield State College big band, legendary jazz drummer Joe Morello accepted him as a student. Morello was instrumental in helping Steve with his technique, sound production, coordination, and overall approach to playing the instrument. Morello was also helpful with developing his articulate teaching skills, and Fidyk has been dedicated and committed to education ever since.
For over 21 years, Steve Fidyk was the drummer and featured soloist with the Army Blues Big Band, a premier 17- piece jazz ensemble stationed in Washington DC. During his tenure, he performed for seven US Presidents, numerous dignitaries and in 2008, traveled throughout the Middle East supporting the troops during a USO Holiday Tour. Fidyk currently leads a quartet featuring his original compositions and arrangements. He also performs throughout the US with small groups led by tenor saxophonist Walt Weiskopf and guitarist Jack Wilkins. He is a member of the Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia, a big band led by trumpeter Terell Stafford.
As an educator, Fidyk is a member of the jazz studies faculty at Temple University, The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and serves an educational consultant for Jazz at Lincoln Center's Essentially Ellington Program. He has authored several drum methods for Mel Bay and Alfred Publications, and contributes columns on a regular basis to Modern Drummer Magazine.
Fidyk has appeared on over 100 recordings and his discography as a co-leader includes Big Kids with John DeSalme (U.S. Roots), and two recordings with The Taylor/Fidyk Big Band: A Perfect Match (Write Groove, 2003) and Live at Blues Alley (OA2, 2006). His debut as a bandleader was Heads Up! (Posi-Tone, 2014) featuring Terell Stafford and Tim Warfield. His follow-up recording, Allied Forces (Posi-Tone, 2016) featured Brian Charette, Doug Webb and Joseph Henson. Both solo recordings feature Steve's original compositions and arrangements.
Steve Fidyk attended the University of North Texas, and holds degrees from Wilkes University and The University of Maryland, College Park. He was a student of Joe Morello, Ed Soph, John Riley, Ralph Peterson, Robert Nowak and Angelo Stella.
Happy Birthday to Javier Raez. Javier is an audio engineer, content creator and producer for Congahead Studios. In 2006, Martin Cohen uploaded the first Congahead video on YouTube. A decade later, Martin along with a brilliant team of creators like producer Javier Raez, congahead has become the go to place for many artists from around the world to showcase their talents. Since then, this channel has grown not only in the amount of performances uploaded but with quality of video and sound. They went from shooting with a single shot cam corder to a multi cam 4K quality production.
Happy Birthday to Scott Pellegrom. Scott is known throughout the drumming community as the “mad scientist.” His playing as a soloist and band leader exudes creativity, from surprising ideas to blinding hand speed, using found objects to pulling unconventional sounds from conventional instruments. Videos of his hyper-creative playing can be seen on Drumeo, the Dream Cymbals and PDP/DW Drums social media channels, Scott’s Instagram (@scottpellegrom), and numerous other places around the web. Incorporating elements of drum and bass, jungle, and fearless improvisation into his playing, this “drummer’s drummer” defies expectation and genre, whether it’s playing jazz standards or today’s most experimental music.
Performing since the age of 5, Scott currently leads his own band, SP3, works as a chameleon-like head of percussionist and session drummer at Third Coast Recording Studios, and is an in-demand sideman for renowned artists spanning genres and styles. His reputation as an exciting, dynamic player has helped him cultivate a globetrotting career as a clinician and educator, teaching private students, masterclasses, and performing at drum festivals around the world.
With a recent Drumeo video passing 5 Million views, 32 thousand Instagram followers, a final four finish in the Guitar Center Drum-Off, and a nomination for Modern Drummer’s “Best Up-and-Coming Player,” Scott’s ability on the kit speaks for itself. As a proud endorser of Dream Cymbals (maker of the signature Scott Pellegrom RE-FX Crop Circle), Remo Drum Heads, PDP Percussion, and Prologix pads, he also travels as a brand ambassador, demonstrating products at Musikmesse, PASIC, and NAMM every year, and working closely with these companies to develop and market unique products for today’s drummers and percussionists.
A self-described “rhythmist,” Scott’s passion for honing his craft seems to spill from his personality, whether performing at a festival for thousands of spectators, leading a school assembly of young non-musicians, or delivering a presentation at a TedX event. As a professional educator, Pellegrom offers both in-person and Skype/Facetime lessons, has twice been featured as a Drumeo presenter, leads workshops, and provides vital technical and philosophical information to drummers of all ages and skill levels.
While his extensive career appearances and performances are too numerous to list, some noteworthy highlights include events like the Victoria Drum Fest, Montreal Drum Festival, PASIC, SXSW, Cape Breton International Drum Festival, Music China, Shanghai Music Mesa, and Australia’s Ultimate Drummers Weekend. He shared the stage with acts such as Karl Denson, Digital Tape Machine, Joel Cummins, Billy Strings, Federico Malaman, Seth Bernard, Theo Katzman, Bernhard Lackner, The Drifters, and many, many others - not to mention appearing at drum festivals alongside many of the greatest players in the world.
Happy Birthday to Ray Yslas. Ray is one of modern music’s most accomplished percussionists, appearing frequently on major concerts, recording sessions, music festivals, and on television. He has performed on international tours with platinum artists including Stevie Wonder, Christina Aguilera, Willie Nelson, Idina Menzel, Colbie Caillat, Patti Labelle and the Backstreet Boys, and his network TV appearances include The Grammy Awards, Saturday Night Live, Oprah, American Idol, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Late Show with David Letterman, and VH-1 Storytellers. Ray is distinguished in the industry by his intuitive musicality and consummate professionalism, and through working with an astonishing spectrum of signature vocalists, he has developed a truly orchestral approach to building his percussive arrangements, by treating each song as a story. Ray developed his musical instincts in the burgeoning Latin music community of Los Angeles, and he has worked with superstars like Juan Gabriel, Luz Casal, Pepe Aguilar, Joan Sebastian and Alejandro Fernandez.
Happy Birthday to Joshua Simonds. Previous to the Percussive Arts Society, Joshua Simonds was the Executive Director of Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras. He holds a Master of Arts in Arts Management from American University in Washington, DC, and a Bachelor of Arts in Percussion from California State University, Long Beach.
During his tenure, CYSO has more than doubled its programs, built strong relationships with world-class composers resulting in numerous world and local premieres, and initiated groundbreaking artistic collaborations, including performances with Ben Folds, My Morning Jacket, The Second City, My Brightest Diamond, the Chicago Bulls, and multiple performances at the legendary rock festival Lollapalooza.
His passion for percussion has always been at the forefront of his work at CYSO. During his tenure at CYSO, the organization built one of the largest youth steel pan programs in the midwest, performed multiple times with Chicago’s Blue Man Group in Chicago’s Millennium Park, engaged Third Coast Percussion on multiple occasions including a 2014 year-in-residence resulting in a New Music USA grant for a video recording of David T Little’s Radiant Child for Percussion Quartet and Orchestra, and most recently secured Glenn Kotche as CYSO’s 2016-2017 Composer in Residence. These are just a few examples of Joshua’s life-long commitment to percussion performance and education.
While at California State University, Long Beach, Joshua studied percussion with Raynor Carroll, Principal Percussionist of the LA Philharmonic, Dr. Dave Gerhart, and the late Dr. Michael Carney. Joshua is also a proud alumnus of the Velvet Knights Drum and Bugle Corps.
Happy Birthday to Jordan Rose. Native of Houston, Texas, drummer Jordan Rose has performed at festivals and venues throughout the US, Canada, Europe, Mexico, Asia, and the Middle East. From 2012-2014 Jordan toured extensively with multi-Grammy award winner, Joe Louis Walker. He now resides in Brooklyn, New York where his talents as a session drummer have given him the opportunity to collaborate with musicians Charlie Puth, Jeff Coffin, Nona Hendryx, Bakithi Kumalo, Louis Cato, and many others. This year Jordan is touring with Theo Katzman of Vulfpeck, The Blues Brothers, and Caleb Hawley, and is scheduled to perform across the US, Europe, and Russia.
From 2007-2010 Jordan fought a battle with a growth in his right ear which caused him to lose almost all hearing. Due to modern medicine and miraculous healing, his hearing was restored. From this three year period of trial and uncertainty, Jordan gained an even deeper love, appreciation, and excitement for music and a greater understanding of the intense power it has to impact lives. As he shares his talents in drumming, he hopes that he can bring the same life-changing positivity to the world that music has brought to him.
Happy Birthday to Brian Potts. Brian is a versatile performer and dedicated educator with a passion for Brazilian percussion. Under the tutelage of Dr. Ney Rosauro at the University of Miami, he became enamored with the sound and capabilities of modern pandeiro techniques. His degrees culminated with a doctoral essay based on an interview with the great Marcos Suzano, which has become an invaluable reference for pandeiristas the world over. Also, Brian works closely with the Pandeiro Repique Duo, comprised of Bernardo Aguiar and Gabriel Policarpo, with whom he founded the Brazilian percussion supergroup PRD Mais in 2016. In addition to his love of Brazilian music, Brian has sought to help make the pandeiro an international and limitless phenomenon by adapting the instrument to a wide variety of styles, including jazz, funk, soul, Latin, and classical music. In his clinics, Brian strives to relate the versatility of the pandeiro by utilizing modern techniques that allow students to approach the instrument in a creative and interactive fashion. He also teaches at Barry University in addition to online (i.e. Skype, Zoom, etc).
Happy Birthday to Alan Evans. Drummer Alan Evans began playing as soon as he could hold drumsticks, helped by his father, an amateur drummer who made his living as a high school gym teacher. Evans’s father loved music of all types, and it was through his music collection that Alan and his brother Neal were exposed to jazz greats John Coltrane and Miles Davis, as well as classical music and opera. Growing up in Buffalo, New York, Alan first played drums in a marching band. As adults the Evans brothers settled near Woodstock, New York, which had a thriving music scene. After playing in different groups, Alan came up with the idea for Soulive as a “live soul groove” group. Alan is a multi-instrumentalist, recording engineer and owner of Iron Wax Studios as well as an owner of a record label in, Vintage League Music.
Gig Alerts
The Newport Jazz Festival announced its lineup for July 29-31, 2022.
Apple’s music discovery app Shazam has added new concert discovery features. Here’s what’s new on deck.
When users ‘shazam’ a new song, they’ll be shown concert information and tickets on sale for upcoming shows nearby. Users can also explore an artists’ Shazam page to see more tour dates, times, and locations of upcoming events for that artist. The entire experience takes place inside the Shazam app. -Article
Educational Spotlight
Over on the Drum Candy Podcast, Mike Dawson interviewed Mitch from Audimute discussing studio treatments for your home studio or other spaces.
Iconic Recording
The iconic recording this week is "Keep Movin'" (by G.H.Green/arr.Bob Becker) at the Parco Auditorium in Tokyo, Japan on May 30, 1984. It is performed by NEXUS (clockwise from Bob Becker on solo xylophone - Russell Hartenberger, Bill Cahn, Robin Engelman, and John Wyre.
To order NEXUS recordings GO TO THEIR WEBSITE HERE.
Music News
Adam Blackstone shared musical direction duties at the Oscars with Derrick Hodge and Dontae Winslow.
Questlove Wins Best Documentary for Summer of Soul at 2022 Oscars.
There were other musical winners like: Billie Eilish, Finneas, and Hans Zimmer Take Home Oscars At 94th Academy Awards as Ratings Rebound. -Article
The Grammy Awards will take place in Las Vegas this coming Sunday.
Miley Cyrus’ Plane Struck By Lighting En Route to Paraguayan Music Festival As Inclement Weather Forces Third-Consecutive Cancellation -Article
Amy Smith Interview
The song leading into the interview is “Highway 22” by Anders Astrand, performed by the Caixa Percussion Trio.
Amy grew up in in Enfield, CT, with friend of the show (and now husband) Andy Smith. Amy carpooled with Andy to study at Falcetti Music with Frank Giguere. In high school, Amy studied with Sam Macaluso of Enrico Fermi High School Band.
Amy was born in Nova Scotia Canada. Rumor has it, PEI (Prince Edward Island) Mussels are some of the best.
After Canada, it was off to Kansas and then San Antonio Texas where she started on piano and drums before making the move to Arizona (shout-out to Cave Creek) and then Connecticut.
At age 13, Amy became a naturalized citizen.
Pop music was heavy in Amy’s high school rotation.
Amy attended Penn State University for her undergrad and studied with Dan Armstrong.
Amy talks about the Penn State band taking the field.
Amy was a member of the 1994 Crossmen Front Ensemble (pit)
Amy got her masters at the University of Colorado and studied with Doug Walter.
Before attending Colorado, she studied with Court McLaren during the summer.
Damon and Amy connect the dots with an old Leigh Howard Stevens marimba that is owned by mutual friend, Jack Mansager.
After Amy’s masters degree, she moved to Murfreesboro, TN to be with Andy and started teaching elementary school band. She was one of the founding members to start the Steel De Boro band.
The Julies and Amy secured a grant to purchase the drums, mallets and stands as well as the “engine room” instruments (drumset, congas etc).
Amy and Andy went to study abroad in Ghana through West Virginia University with help from Paschal Younge.
Amy and Damon talk about some advancements in technology.
The Caixa trio formed in Tennessee with friend of the show Dr. Julie Hill, Julie Davila and Amy.
A few of the pieces they started with were Nebojsa Zivkovic’s Trio per Uno, Daniel Levitan’s Variations on a Ghanaian Theme, Mary Ellen Childs’ Click, and Mark Ford’s Stubernic, among others.
Amy mentions J.B. Smith’s Conga Tarang (which is the song leading out of the interview).
Amy talks about budgeting, raising money and writing grants.
Damon mentions the percussion trio, Talking Drums, featuring Michael Spiro, Jesus Diaz and David Garabaldi
Amy talks about writing more as the trio and Damon brings up Avaloch Farms where several groups have spent time writing at.
After spending time in Tennessee, Amy and Andy moved to Indiana and started teaching theater in addition to music, but also started her music therapy degree at St. Mary of the Woods.
Damon mentions a scene from the movie Bumblebee.
Amy talks about how important music and song lyrics are with music therapy.
When Amy and Andy made the trek to El Paso Texas, Amy started teaching at the Young Women’s Leadership Academy.
Amy teaches an all female mariachi band and Damon mentions Flor de Toloache.
Damon mentions some other styles of folkloric Mexican music including: Banda, Norteño, Ranchera, Cumbia and Marimba.
Amy picks the iconic recording. See above.
Amy uses Pearl Drums, Adams Percussion, Evans Drumheads, Grover Pro Percussion, and Innovative Percussion.
Mentors that Amy shouts out (that are not already mentioned above) are the late Sheasby Matiure, and the late Bernard Woma.
The song leading out of the interview is “Conga Tarang” (for conga trio) by J.B. Smith, performed by the Caixa Trio.
