#293 Kate Gentile- Drummer, Composer, Educator and More!
Photo of Kate by Dustin Carlson.
This episode is sponsored by Dream Cymbals. Check out some of their hand crash cymbals and gongs!
On the episode is Kate Gentile. Kate is a Brooklyn-based drummer and composer. As a leader, Kate released Mannequins (Skirl Records) in 2017 with Jeremy Viner, Matt Mitchell and Adam Hopkins. Her current band, Find Letter X, features Mitchell, Viner, and Kim Cass on bass.
Snark Horse, a band in which Kate co-leads and shares compositional duties with pianist Matt Mitchell, released a 6-CD box set on Pi Recordings in July 2021 featuring Kim Cass, Ben Gerstein, Jon Irabagon, Davy Lazar, Mat Maneri, Ava Mendoza, Matt Nelson, and Brandon Seabrook. Kate also co-leads Secret People, the cryptic jazz/noise rock trio with guitarist Dustin Carlson and saxophonist Nathaniel Morgan (Out Of Your Head Recordings, 2022).
Kate has composed for and recorded with International Contemporary Ensemble and has a septet recording of her 13-movement composition “biome ii” to be released soon. She has also been commissioned by Adult Swim.
Kate also plays in Matt Mitchell's projects Phalanx Ambassadors (Pi Recordings 2019) and A Pouting Grimace (Pi Recordings 2017), Dustin Carlson's septet Air Ceremony (Out Of Your Head Records 2018), and Will Mason’s Happy Place.
Kate has also worked with Michaël Attias, Tim Berne, Anthony Braxton, Cloud Becomes Your Hand, Steve Coleman, Dave Douglas, Marty Ehrlich, Miles Okazaki, God Is My Co-Pilot, Helado Negro, Chris Speed, Chris Tordini, Anna Webber, and John Zorn.
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday to Airto Moreira! Airto was born in 1941 in the small village of Itaiopolis - south Brazil, and was raised in Curitiba. Even before he could walk he would start shaking and banging on the floor each time the radio played a hot song. This worried his mother, but his grandmother recognized his potential and encouraged him to express himself. By the time he was six years old he had won several music contests singing and playing percussion. The city gave him his own radio program every Saturday afternoon. At thirteen he played his first paid engagement and became a professional musician. After that he worked in local bands playing percussion, drums and singing. At the age of sixteen he moved to São Paulo and soon was performing regularly in night clubs, shows and television, as well as touring with prominent artists.
In 1965 he met singer, Flora Purim in Rio de Janeiro. Flora moved to the USA in 1967 and Airto followed her shortly after. When in New York, Airto began playing with jazz musicians. It was bassist, Walter Booker that introduced Airto to the greats - Cannonball Adderley, Freddie Hubbard, Ron Carter, Lee Morgan, Paul Desmond and Joe Zawinul, to name a few. Zawinul recommended Airto to Miles Davis for the "Bitches Brew" recording session in 1970… the iconic album that changed the face of jazz. Davis then invited Airto to join his group, which included such jazz icons as Wayne Shorter, Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette, Chick Corea and later John McLaughlin and Keith Jarrett. He remained with Miles for two years and appears on such releases as "Live/Evil", "Live at the Fillmore", "On the Corner", "The Isle of Wight" and later releases including the "Fillmore Sessions".
Following his stint with Miles, Airto was invited to form the original Weather Report, a group with Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, Miroslav Vitous and Alphonse Mouzon with whom he recorded "The Weather Report". Soon after, he joined Chick Corea's original “Return to Forever” band with Flora Purim, Joe Farrell and Stanley Clarke and they recorded the albums, "Return to Forever" and "Light as a Feather", touring extensively around the world.
In 1974 Airto formed his first band in the USA called "Fingers" with Flora Purim. Since then, they have performed constantly all over the world and recorded their own albums for major record companies in Europe and America. Airto remains one of popular music's most in demand percussionists. His collection of instruments, along with his knack for playing the right sound at the right moment has made him the first choice of many producers and bandleaders. His work with Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock, George Duke, Paul Simon, Carlos Santana, Gil Evans, Gato Barbieri, Michael Brecker, Dexter Gordon, The Crusaders, Chicago, and many others including contributions to movie sound tracks such as The Exorcist, Last Tango in Paris, King of the Gypsies and Apocalypse Now, represents only a small number of the musical contributions Airto has made over the last four decades.
His impact was so powerful that the leading jazz magazine “Down Beat” added the category of percussion to its reader’s and critic’s polls, which he has won over twenty times since 1973. In the past few years he was voted number one percussionist by Jazz Times, Modern Drummer, Drum Magazine, Jazziz Magazine, Jazz Central Station's Global Jazz Poll on the Internet, as well as in many European, Latin American and Asian publications.
As a member of the "Planet Drum" percussion ensemble, he has advanced the cause of world and percussion music together with Mickey Hart, drummer of "The Grateful Dead", master conga player Giovanni Hidalgo and tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain, along with Flora Purim, Babatunde Olatunji, Sikiru Adepoju and Vikku Vinayakram. In 1991 the Planet Drum project won the Grammy Award for World Music. Airto also contributed to another Grammy Award winning ensemble, "Dizzy Gillespie's United Nations Orchestra", which received the award for Best Live Jazz Album. In addition, Airto's song "Samba de Janeiro" was remixed by the Bellini Brothers and landed at Number 1 on the dance floor in 27 countries across Europe and Japan for three months.
Airto's recording for European based label Melt 2000 called "Killer Bees" features Herbie Hancock, Stanley Clarke, Chick Corea, Mark Egan and Hiram Bullock; was one of the most critically acclaimed albums on the European market. Other releases on this label include the group "Fourth World" with Jose Neto, Gary Meek and Flora Purim.
In 2001 when Airto recorded with Japan’s renowned Kodo group, he contributed with two of his compositions: "Maracatu" and "Berimbau Jam". The song "Maracatu" was chosen to be one of the official songs for the 2002 World Cup in Asia to open the ceremonies for the event in Japan.
In September of 2002, Brazil's President Fernando Henrique Cardoso inducted Airto Moreira and Flora Purim to the "Order of Rio Branco", which was created in 1963 to formally recognize Brazilian individuals who have significantly contributed to the promotion of Brazil's international relations.
For three years Airto was a professor at the Ethnomusicology department of UCLA, and broke new ground in musical concepts and creative energy. In 2006 he was featured on Chick Corea’s five cd box-set entitled “Five Trios” along with bassist Eddy Gomes. He also composed and performed with the help of Gil Evans, a project called “Brazilian Spiritual Mass” with the WDR Philharmonic Orchestra in Cologne Germany. Airto was also a featured guest of the Boston Pops Philharmonic Orchestra with whom he performed a piece called “Pela Floresta” inspired by the Brazilian Amazon forest.
Airto is presently promoting his new solo album release called “ALUÊ” which he recorded and has already toured in Brazil, featuring his daughter, Diana Purim on vocals. They are currently preparing for upcoming performances in Europe and the USA.
Gig Alerts
Blue Note at Sea Cruise is a jazz cruise program that combines thousands and thousands of blue notes, all of which are at a "slightly different pitch from standard" and creates a musical oasis where, great music is the only rule! This will take place from January 13th-20th, 2023.
The 10th Annual Big Drum Bonanza presented by Modern Drummer and Muso Entertainment is happening September 22nd – 25th at Champion Site + Sound studios located in Los Angeles, California. The 2022 lineup features incredible guest artists Simon Philips, Kenny Aronoff, Russ Miller, Sarah Thawer, Jotan Afandor and more TBA. -CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS AND REGISTRATION.
Bad Bunny kicks off World’s Hottest Tour with sold-out shows in Orlando. Bad Bunny’s much-anticipated World’s Hottest Tour started with a sold-out show in Orlando at the Camping World Stadium. The tour is promoted by Live Nation and CMN in the US and continues with stops in Boston, Chicago, New York, and many more before finishing up at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on October 1. Bad Bunny then heads to Latin America in October. Special guests joining Bad Bunny for select dates on the US leg of the tour will be Grammy-nominated DJ and producer Alesso and ten-time Grammy-nominated artist Diplo. -Article
Imagine Dragons kick off their massive North American stadium tour in Salt Lake City. The Grammy award-winning band started off their massive North American tour Friday night. Imagine Dragons played to a sold-out crowd of over 40,000 fans in Salt Lake City, Utah, at Rice-Eccles Stadium. The Mercury Tour will stop in Boston, Toronto, the band’s hometown of Las Vegas, and wraps up in Los Angeles, completing the biggest North American shows of their career. At their Salt Lake City show, the band dedicated their song “Believer” to Ukraine and spoke briefly against the Russian invasion there. -Article
Educational Spotlight
The FULL SCHEDULE for the CD Baby, DIY Musician Conference is up now.
Damon will be speaking at the DIY Musician Conference in Austin, TX from August 26-28 (Damon’s birthday is the 28th). Other friends of the show that will be there include: Chris Robley, Cheryl B. Englehardt, Suz Paulinski, and Ari Herstand.
If you would like a preview of that conference, head over to the DIY Musician Podcast, episode 307.
If you want to bring a friend, you can do so FOR FREE by entering the coupon code: DIYCONFRIEND22 at checkout from now until August 12.
Berklee Online is offering a FREE 4-week Ableton Live course. Ableton Live Fundamentals is a perfect point of entry if you’re looking to learn this fascinating program, which will open up new possibilities and change the way you think about making music. Ableton Live is not only an ideal tool for recording, but it can also be used for composing, arranging, mixing, and especially performing. This course touches upon all of these fundamentals, as well as production, synthesis, sampling, effects processing, and workflow inside of this unique software.
The Percussive Arts Society invites you to the PAS Awards Banquet at PASIC 2022. The Banquet will be held on Thursday, November 10, 2022, from 6 – 8 PM in Sagamore Ballroom 2.
Heavy hors d’oeuvres will be served, and vegetarian options available. Hosted bar with wine, beer, and soft drinks. Ticket Information: $60 per ticket, 250 Tickets Available.
New Artists have been announce for this upcoming PASIC.
Damon Grant will be giving a clinic at PASIC November 12th, 2022 at 10am in room 109.
Iconic Recording
The iconic recording that Damon chose for the week is “Ancient to the Future” by the Art Ensemble of Chicago. The personnel on that album is as follows:
Lester Bowie: trumpet, fluegelhorn
Malachi Favors Maghostut: bass, percussion instruments
Joseph Jarman: saxophones, clarinets, percussion instruments
Roscoe Mitchell: saxophones, clarinets, flute, percussion instruments
Don Moye: drums, percussion
Bahnamous Lee Bowie: synthesizer
The iconic recording that Kate chose was Miles Davis’ “Nefertiti” from the album with the same name. The personnel on that album is as follows:
Miles Davis – trumpet
Wayne Shorter – tenor saxophone
Herbie Hancock – piano
Ron Carter – double bass
Tony Williams – drums
Music News
U.S. congresswoman Rashida Tlaib is drafting legislation that would compel Spotify and others to pay “a new streaming royalty…directly to artists.” This latest attempt to reform the way that Spotify and competing streaming services pay royalties entered the media spotlight following a recent update from the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW). The organization has for years pushed Spotify to increase its average per-stream royalty rate and abandon plans for purportedly pernicious technologies. -Article
Ever since Kylie Jenner posted a photo on Instagram of her and Travis Scott’s private jets with the caption, “you wanna take mine or yours?” celebrity use of private jets has been the topic of much discussion on the internet. Celebrities face such criticism for flying privately because private jets have a disproportionate impact on the environment than public flights. Private jets are the worst offenders for emissions per passenger, at five to fourteen times more polluting than commercial planes. -Article
What Is Avant-Garde Jazz? Avant-garde jazz is a genre of music that pushes jazz beyond the traditional forms of swing, bebop, hard bop, and cool jazz. Avant-garde jazz musicians are known for embracing collective improvisation, radical harmonic concepts, and even atonality. Originating in the mid-1950s and continuing through the present day, the avant-garde jazz idiom remains a key component of the jazz scene at large. -Article
Shout-out to everyone participating in the 2022 DCI season (especially friends of the show). Special shout-out to Colin McNutt , Iain Moyer and their team at the Boston Crusaders for all they are accomplishing.
Kate Gentile Interview
The song leading into the interview is “Stretch Goal” by Matt Mitchell from the ‘Phalanx Ambassadors’ album, available only on Bandcamp.
This is the first percussion podcast that Kate has been on.
Kate talks about her process of expanding her musical palette.
Kate is originally from Buffalo, NY.
Shout-out to Aaron Staebell, who was one of Kate’s first teachers.
Kate attended Eastman School of Music, first as a music education major.
Damon mentions this post (below) by the Jazz memes Instagram account.
Kate talks about the importance of learning the “rules” of music to inform your musical choices.
Kate and Damon mention and list some Avant-Garde jazz artists that they checked out.
Kate and her partner just got and listened to the Sun Ra discography.
Kate mentions some of the classical and contemporary composers that she likes and/or have influenced her, including: Brian John Peter Ferneyhough and Giannis Klearchou Xenakis.
Shout-out to Ches Smith.
Kate talks about how she chooses instrument and sounds to play by: frequency, duration, attack, decay, envelope, timbre, wave-type, resonance, overtones, wet, dry, rough, smooth, metal, wood, membranophones, idiophones, low to high etc.
Kate won the “Rising Star” award for percussion this year in Downbeat Magazine’s critics poll.
Kate attended the School for Improvisational Music, and their summer intensive programs.
Kate talks about some of the people that helped her expand her creativity in the music she loved and plays now.
Kate worked other jobs to help her pay some bills. She has chosen practical choices to fulfill other needs (food, exercise, etc).
Kate is really into coffee. She has great barista chops in addition to her playing chops. Kate made coffee on the east river ferries early in the morning and was done early enough to play gigs and do sessions afterwards.
Kate moved on to more than just making coffee. She developed other skills like roasting and packaging and more! She talks about some skills like, how to make a great espresso.
However, she has been off of caffeine for the last five years!
Damon and Kate talk about different types of tape. Gaff > Duct.
Kate also does visual arts.
Damon mentions the Sunhouse Triggers.
Kate divides her musical time up between being a sideperson, bandleader, composer, and educator predominantly.
Damon and Kate talk about the “Three M’s”.
Music
Mates
Money
Kate is almost finished with a double (possibly triple) length album.
You can find the albums Kate plays on Bandcamp.
Some of the bands/projects she is associated with……..
Find Letter X
Jeremy Viner - clarinet/tenor
Matt Mitchell - piano
Kim Cass - bass
KG - drums, compositions
MANNEQUINS
Jeremy Viner - clarinet/tenor
Matt Mitchell - piano
Adam Hopkins - bass
KG - drums, compositions
buy/listen on bandcamp
SNARK HORSE
Matt Mitchell - piano
KG - drums
+ configurations of: Kim Cass, Jon Irabagon, Ben Gerstein, Mat Maneri, Matt Nelson, Brandon Seabrook, Ava Mendoza, Davy Lazar
Plays many very, very short compositions, half of which are Kate’s and half of which are Matt Mitchell's.
6-CD box available now on Pi Recordings - check it out on Bandcamp!
GLOATMEAL
Matt Mitchell - various
KG - various
collaborative duo project...extensive percussion setups, electronics, layering, home recording, etc.
listen on bandcamp
SECRET PEOPLE
Nathaniel Morgan - alto sax & compositions
Dustin Carlson - guitar & compositions
Kate Gentile - drums/vibes & compositions
Secret People on Bandcamp
PHALANX TRIO
Matt Mitchell - piano
Kim Cass - bass
Kate Gentile - drums
Kate gives both in-person (NYC) and remote lessons, available via Zoom (or similar app of your choice). You can contact her at: kategentile@gmail.com.
Kate picked the iconic recording. The NY Times article Damon referenced can be FOUND HERE.
Shout-out to Rich Thompson at Eastman School of Music, the aforementioned Aaron Staebell, Tim Berne, Miles Okazaki, and Jim Black among others.
The song leading out of the interview is “Breach Zone” by Matt Mitchell and Kate Gentile from the album, ‘Panoply’ (disc 6), available on Bandcamp.
