#363 Dr. Johnny Lee Lane- Percussionist, Educator, Author and More!
Professor Johnny Lee Lane has distinguished himself as a leader in percussion education and as an astute businessman in the percussion industry. Known by many of his students as “Prof Lane” or by many of his colleagues as “JL,” Lane has impacted many lives. He has served in many roles that include musician, professor, private teacher, consultant, sales representative, motivational speaker, clinician, adjudicator, mentor, and board member. Regardless of which role Lane has operated in, he always lives by these two mantras: “The Groove” and “Life.”
“Johnny Lee Lane is a singularity in the world of percussion,” says marimbist and composer Julie Spencer. “There is simply no one like him — a luminary personality as well as an in-demand creative artist and clinician, legendary motivational speaker, powerful presence in the industry, with a lifetime of work in education and a remarkable agent of inspiration for thousands of people in percussion. His development of the United States Percussion Camp, in the face of biased systemic opposition to his being the first “non-white” leader and organizer of a major national percussion event in the U.S., as well as being a well-known judge in percussion competitions and creating the network of many hundreds of leading percussionists and virtuoso players and recording artists coast to coast that creates accessibility cutting through all kinds of age, professional, social, gendered, and biased hierarchies, opened the way for many hundreds of career opportunities that have multiplied that network of artistic influence incalculably.
“Without his taking note of me and my musicianship when I was a teenager, and without his mentoring and introducing me to an enormous network of likeminded artists, I would not have had access to the kinds of life-changing professional opportunities that guided my direction during all of my adult professional career,” Spencer states. “He simply has no equal, in my experience, when it comes to tapping people’s potential, creating opportunity, fostering personal and musical growth, and leading the way with his own unbelievable energetic and optimistic and foundational precepts of what it means to be an artist, to be professional, to be the best possible version of yourself, and to never give up on improving day after day, with a focus on community building for all percussionists.” -Read More
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday to Johnny Lee Lane!
Happy Birthday to Scott Kettner (Episode #9 and Episode #285). When Scott Kettner looks at a map, he sees a direct line that connects the rivers of northeastern Brazil to the parishes of New Orleans and the streets of Brooklyn. A master percussionist, bandleader, producer and songwriter, Kettner is the guiding force behind Nation Beat, a band whose teeming, vibrant rhythms find common ground in the primal maracatu rhythm of Brazil’s northeastern region, the Big Easy’s funky, hypnotic second-line and strolling Mardi Gras Indians, and the unfettered freedom of big-city downtown jazz.
For Kettner, the discovery of maracatu was a life-changing experience. The great jazz drummer Billy Hart, who served as Kettner’s instructor at New York’s New School University, first informed him of the mysterious music. “He was turning me on to African music from different regions,” says Kettner, “and we started getting into Afro-Cuban rhythms and Brazilian rhythms. After a couple of years studying samba and bossa nova, I asked him, ‘Are there any other rhythms from Brazil that I should be learning?’ He said, ‘Yeah, man, there’s this music called maracatu!’ I pointed to his drumset and said, ‘Show it to me,’ and he said, ‘I don’t know how to play it! I just know it’s a badass rhythm and you have to go learn it, then come back and teach it to me.’”
Intrigued, Kettner began asking Brazilian musicians based in New York how he could learn about maracatu. Even most of them knew nothing of it. The only thing to do, Kettner reasoned, was to go to Brazil and find maracatu. Upon graduating in 2000, he spent a year living in the country, based primarily in the northeastern city of Recife, living in a favela, studying maracatu and other, even more obscure Brazilian rhythms with his new mentor, Jorge Martins. Upon his return to the USA, Kettner implemented maracatu in NYC and began performing and conducting workshops throughout the country.
As a side-man, Scott Kettner has performed and/or recorded with Willie Nelson, Cyro Baptista, Stanton Moore and Galactic, Frank London, The Klezmatics, Cascabulho, Vieux Farka Toure, Maracatu Nação Estrela Brilhante and many more.
His new book entitled “Maracatu for Drumset and Percussion” is now available by Hal Leonard Publishing. This is the first in-depth percussion book about the rich culture and music of Maracatu de Baque Virado from Brazil, with photos, history, recordings and an instructional CD-Rom.
Scott is also a recent recipient of a prestigious NEA (National Endowment for The Arts) award for his project entitled “A Tale of Two Nations” which brought together his group Nation Beat and the traditional maracatu group from Recife, Brazil Estrela Brilhante. The grant helped fund a tour that had it’s world debut at Lincoln Center Out of Doors in the summer of 2013. This tour was historic in that it was the first time that a traditional maracatu group from Brazil had ever performed in the United States.
Happy Birthday to Payton MacDonald! Payton is a composer, percussionist (specializing in marimba), singer, and filmmaker. He explores the frontiers of art in a variety of settings, from Carnegie Hall to remote wilderness locations. He spent his early years drumming along with jazz records, while exploring the Rocky Mountains near his home in Idaho by foot, bicycle, and skis. Eventually he was shaped into a percussionist who plays marimbas, snare drums, bicycles, plants, pots and pans, and anything else that might produce an interesting tone. Along the way Payton discovered Indian classical music, and has studied that music for over 20 years. He often dreams up and executes large-scale, ambitious projects, such as his film Sonic Divide, which shows Payton pedaling his mountain bike 2,500 miles along the Continental Divide, while performing 30 new pieces of music, or his Sonic Peaks project, in which Payton hikes to the summit of hundreds of mountains and creates new music reflecting those experiences. He has released over 100 recordings. Payton studied music formally at the University of Michigan (BFA) and Eastman School of Music (MM and DMA), as well as with the legendary Gundecha Brothers (Dhrupad vocal) and Pandit Sharda Sahai (tabla). He teaches music at William Paterson University, and tours nationally and internationally as a percussionist, singer, and speaker.
Happy Birthday to Marcos Torres! A versatile percussionist, producer, and Grammy Award-Winning engineer, Marcos has been at the forefront of creating a fresh new sound within the Salsa genre for over a decade. His respect for the tradition and trajectory of this music, as well as his love and knowledge of Hip-Hop, R&B, and aptitude for sound curation as a whole, have led to him to help push the boundaries of the genre as we know it today.
Born into a musical family of Puerto Rican and Mexican heritage, Marcos was gifted a bongo at the age of three, and never looked back. He has since turned into one of his generation’s most respected and sought after percussionists, performing with salsa superstars La India, Tito Nieves, Ismael Miranda, Jerry Rivera, Obie Bermudez, and the legendary Issac Delgado among many others.
He is currently working out of New York City in varied roles as a percussionist, producer and engineer with rising artists from across Latin America including Jeremy Bosch, Fer Casillas, Tania Matus and Flaco Navaja.
Gig Alerts
Jeffrey Barudin has a page on his website for percussion job postings. From education to performance and more! You can use the buttons to navigate the different sections, and click the buttons below to share updates, jobs not currently posted, winning applicants, or anything else relevant to the page.
Here is a list of places that go all out for NYE if you’re looking to get away. Edinburgh and New York City made a lot of the lists for destinations as well.
Karol G is going on tour through South and Central America as well as Europe. Shout out to her drummer, Giulliana Merello.
Educational Spotlight
The educational spotlight is that PASIC Artist Applications are now open.
Soon to be friend of the show, Eric C Hughes posted a list of Do’s and Dont’s for submitting your application.
Iconic Recording
The first iconic recording this week is Frank Arsenault’s performance of the 26 International Drum Rudiments.
The other iconic recording is “Seven Steps to Heaven” performed by Miles Davis (trumpet), George Coleman (sax), Herbie Hancock (piano), Ron Carter (bass) and Tony Williams (drums).
Music New
The movie Immediate Family is out now!
Shout-out to Elmo Lovano and everyone at JammCard for helping make this happen!
Johnny Lee Lane Interview
The song leading into and out of the interview is called “Layers for Percussion Ensemble” Recorded live at the Illinois Music Educators All-State Conference(1998). Professor Johnny Lee Lane conducting the Eastern Illinois University Percussion Ensemble.
Johnny was inducted into the PAS (Percussive Arts Society) Hall of Fame.
Johnny talks about some monumental events in U.S. History.
He mentions at the time of one of these events, he was at Texas Southern University.
Johnny is originally from Vero Beach, Florida.
He talks about some motivating factors and inspiration when MLK was assassinated.
Johnny taught at Tennessee State University for two years when he was 22 years old. That is where he got his nickname “Prof Lane”.
He got the job at Tennesee State after completing grad school at Southern Illinois University.
He talks about the controversy in getting the job at Tennessee State vs. Western Michigan University vs. University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee.
Shout-out to Dr. Clifford Watkins and Frank T. Greer.
If Johnny wasn’t a percussionist or educator, he would be driving for Greyhound Bus Line.
After teaching at Tennessee State University, Johnny taught at Eastern Illinois University.
Shout-out to Bill “Trinity Lane” Wiggins.
Damon brings up the U.S. Percussion Camps that Johnny used to host. Three friends of the show in particular, attended these camps. Dr. Nick Terry, Taku Hirano, and Terreon “Tank” Gully.
Shout-out to the band director Ron Carter (not the bass player).
Johnny talks about some of the inner workings of the U.S. Percussion Camp from 1987-1999.
Johnny now teaches at Butler University.
Shout-out to the late, great, Ndugu “The Ocean” Chancler.
Shout-out to Raynor Carroll and the other members of ABOP (Alliance of Black Orchestral Percussionists).
Johnny was a singer and pianist first before drums.
His cousin John Lee Johnson aka Jaimoe was inspirational in Johnny learning and excelling in the drums.
Johnny talks about interactions with his cousin Jaimoe, and some of the adventures in his career.
Johnny talks about the Frank Arsenault inspiration for his “Rudiments in Slow Motion”.
Johnny picks the iconic recordings for the week.
Johnny talks about his work with HBCU drumming.
Johnny was the Director of Education and Senior Education advisor for Remo Inc for 15 years.
Johnny talks about his relationship with Remo Belli.
Johnny uses Dynasty Percussion, Vic Firth Sticks and Mallets, Zildjian Cymbals, Remo Drumheads.
Special shout-out to Latin Percussion, Mike Balter Mallets, Pearl Drums, Ludwig Drums and Gretsch Drums.
Shout-out to Jaimoe, Lawrence E. Trapp, James Taber, Leonard Cutty, G. David Peters, Frank Arsenault, Don Dillon, Mike Haynes, Tom Siwe, Bobby Christian, Alan “Awesome” Dawson, and Sam Denov.
You can follow Johnny on Facebook as well as his Groove Network.
