This week’s guest is Pedro Segundo. Pedro Segundo is one of the most in-demand percussionists and drummers on the international circuit.

Known for his infectious and enthusiastic playing style in any genre, 2017 sees him on tour with Judith Owen, as well as performing with the Kansas Smittys at their own Club in Broadway market and festivals around UK and Europe.

He is releasing later this year his first album SEGUNDO STANLEY Hammond organ duo on 25th October 2017 at Kansas Smitty’s Jazz bar.

As well as his skill as a jazz drummer, Pedro is an accomplished classical artist having performed with Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Gulbenkian Orchestra working with artists including Edward Gardner, Murray Perahia, Joshua Bell, Sir Colin Davis and Sir John Elliott Gardner.

Pedro was born in Lisbon in 1988 and began drumming at the tender age of eight years old, studying at Lisbon’s Conservatoire under classical timpanists and percussionists Carlos Voss and Carlos Girao. Pedro’s passion and dedication to the performance of jazz music developed whilst visiting Barcelona for the prestigious Taller de Music Summer School, under the likes of Pablo Posa, Vicens Soler and Riqui Sabates. He then went on to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama: rehearsing during the day, and learning from the best at Ronnie Scott’s each night. He was picked up by Ronnie’s in 2010 to be the house drummer with Ronnie Scotts All stars, following in the footsteps of the late great Chris Dagley.

Recent recordings include Ronnie Scott’s All Stars Live at the Club, ‘Dennis Rollins’ Symbiosis (available on Dogwithabone Music), Judith Owens’ Ebb and Flow and as part of the debut album of the Kansas Smitty’s House Band.

R.I.P.

Rest in peace to Jim Gordon. Jim, was a famed session drummer who backed Eric Clapton and The Beach Boys before being diagnosed with schizophrenia and going to prison for killing his mother, has died. He was 77.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Jim Ancona! Jim is an Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Delaware. He is the Assistant Director of the Blue Hen Marching Band, Director of the Basketball Pep Band and Co-Director of the Symphonic Band. James received his Bachelor's Degree in Music Education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and his Master's Degree in Performance from Indiana University where he was awarded the prestigious Performer's Certificate. His former teachers include Gerald Carlyss, Thomas Hannum, William Roberts, Peter Tanner, and Leigh Howard Stevens.

James has over 20 years of experience as an arranger and instructor for world class drum and bugle corps including The Cavaliers, Star of Indiana, Santa Clara Vanguard, The Glassmen, The Crossmen and Carolina Crown. He is currently a consultant with the 2011 DCI World Champion Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps. James' honors in the activity include having been a member of the 1990 DCI World Champion Cadets of Bergen County, having been on the instructional staff of Star of Indiana's (1993) and Santa Clara Vanguard's (2004) World Champion percussion sections and having served as the Percussion Caption Head for the 2006 DCI World Champion Cavaliers. His Vanguard Percussion Ensembles and Mixed Ensembles (with brass) have won at the Drum Corps International Individual and Ensemble Championships. Several of his percussion arrangements appear on Star of Indiana's "Brass Theater" and "BLAST" (the Tony and Emmy Award winning Broadway show) compact discs and are published by Tap Space Publications. James is the co-author of Up Front: A Complete Resource for Today's Pit Ensemble. He is an endorser and clinician for the Avedis Zildjian Company, Remo, Inc., Pearl Drums and Adams Percussion, and a Signature Artist for Innovative Percussion, Incorporated.

Happy Birthday to Rusty Burge! Rusty 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 to Jon Shiffman! Jon is a drummer and Music Director based in New York City.

Growing up in Teaneck, NJ - Jon's love of drumming was forged under the tutelage of his high school band director Bob Hankle (Aretha Franklin - Trombone), and his son Matt (Blue Man Group, Tom Morello - Drums).

After jazz studies at both New School University and City College of New York, Jon began his career as a touring rock/pop drummer.

Most of his time on the road was spent with his band Steel Train - led by Grammy Award winner Jack Antonoff. Garnering a cult following throughout the States, Steel Train's performance highlights included performances at Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Conan O'Brien, and David Letterman.

After Steel Train disbanded, Jon went on to record with Antonoff's Grammy award winning, Fun, and was hired as drummer and Music Contractor and Musical Director for Antonoff's solo project, Bleachers. With Bleachers, Jon received a Gold record for his contribution to the record, "I Wanna Get Better".

Since retiring from touring in 2015, Jon maintains a busy schedule that includes drumming for various NYC artists, jingle work, drumming and bandleading in event bands (namely Atomic Funk Project).

He also writes music under the moniker, Sports and Arts, and hopes to release solo material independently in 2023.

Gig Alerts

Snarky Puppy is going on tour. Three of the percussionists that play with that group are all friends of the show. Nate Werth, Marcelo Woloski, and Keita Ogawa.

Scary Pockets is going on tour. Friend of the show, Rob Humphreys was supposed to do it, but it will now be Kyle Crane.

The Jazz Foundation of America is going to have their gala at The Apollo on Thursday March 30th.

Damon will be playing percussion with the Atomic Funk Project on April 1st at the Brooklyn Bowl (Not an April Fool’s joke).

Damon will also be playing with Fuzz on Cinco de Mayo at The Warehouse (part of the FTC - Fairfield Theater Company) and friend of the show, Eric Kalb will be on drums.

Educational Spotlight

The Percussive Arts Society’s, Diversity Alliance committee is going to have a panel discussion on March 23rd called “Percussion is for Everybody: Black Women in Percussion, Part 2”. This will feature: Terri Lyne Carrington, Gayelynne McKinney, Akhamie Kies, and Alana Weising.It is FREE to all on the PAS YouTube channel.

If you are looking to tidy up your email inbox, check out Unroll.me. Decluttering your inbox has never been so easy, or looked so good. With the new Unroll.Me, you can unsubscribe from unwanted emails, keep the ones you want, and rollup the rest into a single daily digest.

Iconic Recording

The iconic recording is “Come Talk to Me” by Peter Gabriel from the ‘Secret World Live’ tour with Manu Katché on drums.

Music News

YouTube Music may soon be adding song credits to bring it up to speed with rivals like Spotify and Tidal.

There is no way to see full album or song credits on YouTube Music right now. But that may be changing soon. An eagle-eyed reddit user spotted a change to the song menu that now includes an option to view song credits. Tapping the overflow menu next to each song will bring up options with a ‘View song credits’ to see the composer, producer, songwriters, and performers listed by the music metadata provider. -Article

This article has some suggestions of The Best Websites and Forums for Recording Artists. -Article

Damon mentions the episode he did on helpful apps. That episode is #280A.

Pedro Segundo Interview

The song leading into the interview is, “Samba Galactica” by Dennis Rollins, from the album ‘The 11th Gate’.

Damon and Pedro met at the Zildjian Cymbals 400th anniversary party in NYC.

Pedro talks about the beginning of the drumset and the contraptions involved. He talks about how that inspires his choices in his hybrid kit.

Pedro plays a lot of handpans.

Pedro talks about keeping gear around the world. He has the most of his stuff in London and also in New Orleans.

Damon and Pedro talk about traveling with gear.

Damon talks about wearing merino wool as travel clothes and on tour.

Darn Tough (socks)
Wool and Prince (they now make merino wool jeans!)
ExOfficio (specifically the undies)
Unbound
Outlier
Ice Breaker
Anatomie (for lightweight travel clothing)
Patagonia
PrAna
Sockwell (merino wool compression socks)
League of Rebels (merino wool suits)

Damon brings up Angel City Drum Works for storage and cartage in Los Angeles. Pedro Mentions, London Drum Company in London. There’s also Capitol Percussion in the DMV area (D.C., Maryland, Virginia), Drum Paradise in Nashville, and S.I.R. and Boulevard Carroll (for backline rental) in NYC.

Pedro has been touring with Cyrille Aimée.

Pedro gives a rig rundown.

Pedro studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

Pedro studied at Lisbon’s Conservatoire under classical timpanists and percussionists Carlos Voss and Carlos Girao.

Pedro talks about some of the folkloric music of Portugal, like Fado. He also mentions the types of drums.

When he was 15, Pedro studied jazz and Afro-Cuban music in Barcelona.

Pedro talks about how he went to study jazz, but ended up studying classical.

Damon uses the app Qrafter to make a QR code for his contact information.

Pedro has an album called “Segundo Stanley” on Bandcamp.

Damon mentions friend of the show, Demian Arriaga and his love of handpans as well.

Shout-out to Judith Owen.

Pedro talks about checking in (with yourself and your friends), recharging, yoga, and more tips to survive on the road.

Pedro chooses the iconic recording. Honorable mention goes to Joshua Redman, “Freedom in the Groove” with Brian Blade on drums, Mahler’s 5th by the L.A. Philharmonic and “Ponta De Areia” by Wayne Shorter featuring Milton Nascimento.

Pedro uses Latin Percussion instruments, Zildjian cymbals, and Vic Firth sticks and mallets.

Shout-out to Carlos Girao, Carlos Voss, Marco Fernandes, Michael Skinner and many more!

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

Here’s an article that Pedro did with Drumhead Magazine!

If you’d like to hear more of Pedro, here is a playlist of songs he’s played on.

The song leading out of the interview is, “Get a Move On” by Kansas Smitty from the album, ‘Kansas Smitty’s’.