#328 James Campbell- Percussionist, Educator, Composer and More!
This week’s guest is James Campbell. Member of the Percussive Arts Society, Drum Corp International, and Bands of America Halls of Fame, acclaimed performer, pedagogue, composer, and author, James Campbell is the Provost’s Distinguished Service Professor of Music and Director of Percussion Studies at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. A respected figure in the development of the contemporary percussion ensemble, Mr. Campbell served as President of the Percussive Arts Society, and is a recipient of its prestigious Lifetime Achievement in Education Award. Furthermore, his award-winning works for percussion are published with Meredith Music, C. Alan Publications, Innovative Percussion, Row-Loff Productions, Bachovich Music Publications, Alfred Publications, and Tapspace Publications.
Having worked with several DCI member drum and bugle corps, Mr. Campbell is well known for his long past association with the internationally renowned Rosemont Cavaliers, with whom he served as Principal Instructor, Arranger, and Program Coordinator; and also served as Percussion Director for the McDonald’s All-American High School Band. An artist and endorsee for Innovative Percussion, Evans Drumheads, Meinl Percussion, and a member of the Black Swamp Percussion Educator Network, he is also an Artist and Educator for the Avedis Zildjian Cymbal Company, and a Performing Artist for Yamaha Corporation of America – Band & Orchestra Division, who presented him with their Legacy Award.
Along with having toured extensively throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia, he is also the Principal Percussionist with the Lexington Philharmonic, and drummer with the Kentucky Jazz Repertory Orchestra. Mr. Campbell has also appeared at the International Society of Music Education World Conference, International Patagonia Percussion Festival, Journèes de la Percussion, PercuSonidos Percussion Festival, Swedish Arts and Musicians Interest Organization, Australian Percussion Eisteddfod, MENC National In-Service Conference, Midwest Band & Orchestra Clinic, MusicFest Canada, All-Japan Band Clinic, The Music for All World Percussion Symposium, State MEA Conventions across the country, and frequently appears as an artist at the Percussive Arts Society International Conventions.
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday to Jacquelene Acevedo! Jacquelene is a Grammy Award-winning percussionist who is respected in her field and creating waves. She has recorded/toured with Jeremy Pelt, Alicia Hall Moran, and Mentor/Father, Memo Acevedo, among others. She’s performed at The Apollo, Lincoln Center, Radio City, National Sawdust, Toronto Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Bluenote: China and across jazz clubs in Europe and the U.S. She was also a part of the Ladies Roundtable episode.
Happy Birthday to Paulo Stagnaro. Paulo has established himself as an innovative voice in today's generation of creative young artists. Hailed by jazz great Ralph Peterson as "a young master percussionist," Stagnaro has been a force on the ever-evolving New York scene since moving to Brooklyn in 2012. This year alone, he has performed and/or recorded with NEA Jazz master Paquito D'Rivera, Grammy-Winner Angelique Kidjo, Jazz Legend Dave Liebman, and formed part of the all-star rhythm section for Sting’s 25th Anniversary Rainforest Fundraiser at Carnegie Hall featuring James Taylor, Paul Simon, and Stephen Stills. Paulo also runs the lesson subscription site: Conga Chops.
Happy Birthday to Elena Bonomo! Elena is a drummer, percussionist, band leader and music educator based in the NYC area. A graduate of Berklee College of Music, she holds a Bachelors Degree in Performance.
Actively involved in both the pop/rock and musical theater scenes, Elena strives to create fluidity across all musical genres. She has performed at venues across NYC including Feinstein’s/54 Below, Birdland, The Blue Note, Symphony Space, The Green Room 42, Rockwood Music Hall, Pianos, The Bitter End, and many others. She is currently in the house band for FEMME Jam, and all-female led jam session that takes place once a month at Brooklyn’s C’Mon Everybody (led by Camille Trust, Melissa McMillan, Alita Moses and Miranda Joan).
In the theater realm, Elena has toured across the United States as the drummer for the 1st National Tour of the hit Broadway musical, Waitress (music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles). She originated the drum chairs for two Off-Broadway shows including The Hello Girls and A Strange Loop, and appeared as the drummer on both of their Original Cast Recordings. An active sub in the NYC Theater scene, her Broadway and Off-Broadway sub credits include Waitress, Be More Chill, Cagney, For Colored Girls, and A Taste of Things to Come.
Elena has shared the stage with Jordin Sparks, Brandy, Hillary Scott (of Lady A), Tony-award winning actress Patina Miller (Pippin, Sister Act), Annie Golden (Orange is The New Black), Nikki Renee Daniels, Constantine Maroulis, Desi Oakley, Christine Dwyer, Solea Pfeiffer, Natalie Walker, Heath Saunders, and jazz vocalist Jacqui Naylor. In addition to her US appearances, Elena has performed throughout the Caribbean, South America, Australia, New Zealand and Europe while working as band leader for Holland America Cruise Lines. She has toured nationally with Boston based Americana/Folk group, The Novel Ideas, with whom she also recorded an album.
After two successful runs at the American Repartory Theater in Cambridge, MA and at The Ordway in St. Paul, Minnesota, Elena currently holds the drum chair for Broadway's newest hit musical, SIX (by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss).
Happy Birthday to Robert Marino! Robert was named Principal Timpanist of the United States Army Field Band, Washington, D.C., in 2006. He has been a featured soloist with the band at The American Bandmasters Association Convention and The Pennsylvania Music Educators Conference. In 2010 Robert was a guest soloist at the Interlochen Summer Music Festival.
He is a 2005 graduate of the Eastman School of Music with a double major in percussion performance and music education. While at Eastman, Robert earned the coveted Performer's Certificate, was named principal percussionist for the Eastman Wind Ensemble's highly acclaimed 2004 Asian tour, and was the timpanist for the Wind Ensemble's celebrated appearance at Carnegie Hall in 2005. Marino began his graduate studies at Boston University where he was the timpanist for the Boston University Symphony Orchestra's Carnegie Hall appearance. After leaving Boston University to join the Army Field Band, Robert completed his Master's Degree in Percussion Performance at the University of Maryland in 2010.
Robert Marino has also been active in the marching arts activities as a performer, instructor, arranger, and adjudicator. Since 2007 he has been an instructor for the nine-time DCI world champion Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps. He has also taught the Madison Scouts and Capital Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps. Robert has been the caption head and arranger for the Boston University Marching Band and its award-winning winter percussion ensemble, as well as for many award-winning high school marching bands. As a marching member of the Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps from 2000-2003, he won a DCI World Championship in 2000 and the three-peat high percussion trophies from 2001-2003.
Robert Marino is a Vic Firth Educator and Endorser and can be heard on Summit Records 2006 recording of Danzante where he was the principal percussionist, as well as on the Footprints album by Michael Udow. His instructors include John Beck, Tim Genis, Joe Periera, John Tafoya, Tony Ames, Gordon Stout, Ben Ramirez, Tom Aungst, Steve Kieffer, and John Wagner. Robert currently resides in Baltimore, MD, with his wife Elizabeth.
Happy Birthday to Drew McKeon! Drew is an NYC-based session drummer/multi-instrumentalist who has toured and performed with Rock & Roll Hall of Famers, Hall & Oates and Daryl Hall (solo), Grammy Award winner, Michael Bolton, Oscar winning duo, Pasek&Paul, Jimmy Buffett, Peter Cetera, Richard Marx, Julian Lennon, Todd Rundgren, Living Colour, Ben E. King, Dave Mason, Ron Pope, Bill Champlin, Shelea Frazier, Sam Moore, Antonique Smith, Hundred Hounds, The Broadway Boys, Darian Cunning, Harbor Party, Natalie Weiss, Carrie Manolakos, Chad Hollister Band, Jeff Tuohy and many others.
He currently serves as musical director for The Voice Season 10 winner, Alisan Porter, as well as Amanda Brown (Alicia Keys, Adele) and tours the world playing drums while conducting the orchestra for Michael Bolton in support of his latest release- A Symphony of Hits.
Happy Birthday to Eric Renick! He is the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra’s Principal Percussionist since 2010, Eric Renick began his musical studies at the age of 12. A native of Indianapolis, he received his Bachelor’s degree from Butler University, where he studied with Jon Crabiel. While at Butler, Mr Renick also won first place in the University’s Concerto Competition. He gained a Master’s degree and artist certificate from Chicago’s Roosevelt and DePaul universities under the guidance of Ted Atktatz, Eric Milstein and Ed Harrison. While in Chicago he performed with the Lyric Opera, Chicago Symphony’s MusicNow Series, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, as well as co-founding the Chicago Arts Orchestra.
In 2007 Eric Renick was awarded a Fellowship with the New World Symphony (NWS), where he performed under the batons of Michael Tilson Thomas, Osmo Vänskä, Marin Alsop, Robert Spano, John Adams and Vladimir Ashkenazy, among others; performed as part of NWS’s Percussion Consort and participated in digital media collaborations. Mr Renick has also performed with the St. Louis, Kansas City, and New Mexico symphonies, Grant Park, Breckenridge and Spoleto (USA) festival orchestras, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic and Malaysia Philharmonic orchestras.
Eric Renick is a regular collaborator with cross-genre musicians as well as film scoring. He also performs in the Antipodes Percussion Project, an ensemble focused on using percussion chamber music to educate young musicians. Mr Renick is an Artist Teacher at the University of Auckland.
Happy Birthday to Jake Chapman! Jake is a multi-instrumentalist based in Los Angeles. His specialties include vibraphone, marimba, xylophone, glockenspiel, and keyboards. He is a session musician, performer, and songwriter with a lot of experience in a wide variety of musical styles, including jazz, hip hop, R&B, funk, pop, rock, video game music, and classical. He studied at Juilliard, and until COVID was a gigging musician in the NYC and LA music scenes. He has toured in the US, Singapore, and China. Jake enjoys utilizing his craft to help musicians, songwriters, and producers achieve great tracks and live performances.
Gig Alerts
The Crossroads Guitar Festival hosted by Eric Clapton will be happening in Los Angeles on September 23rd and 24th.
The New York Salsa Festival will be happening in Brooklyn NY on June 10th. The bands will be lead by (friends of the show), Bobby Allende and Marc Quiñones.
The WasFest hosted by Don Was will be happening in Boston from June 23rd to June 25th
You can attend Zildjian Cymbals’ 400th anniversary celebration at Tipitina’s in New Orleans during Jazz Fest. It will be on May 2nd from 3-5pm!
Some friends of the show will be performing, including: Taku Hirano, Pedro Segundo, and Joe Dyson.
Damon and friend of the show, Eric Kalb, will be playing with Fuzz at the FTC Warehouse in Fairfield, CT on Cinco de Mayo.
Educational Spotlight
Two friends of the show in Tony Miceli and Jeremy Smith will be participating in the CT day of percussion, this Saturday April 22nd (Earth Day).
Iconic Recording
The iconic recording for the week is “Big Swing Face” by the Buddy Rich Big Band, recorded live at Chez Hollywood on Feb 23 1967. The album has the same name.
You can see a different live performance of the same song below.
Music News
Damon mentions junk fees. Below is the video he was referencing.
Last week Damon mentioned, Coachella is going to be streaming all 6 stages to their YouTube presentation of the festival. -Article
This week Damon mentions Stagecoach will do the same thing with Amazon.
Amazon Music becomes the official Stagecoach streaming video provider with exclusive content and an air-conditioned lounge on-site.
Country music enthusiasts unable to make it to the 2023 edition of Stagecoach in Indio, California, on April 28-30 will be able to catch the festival’s acts via Amazon Music. Amazon Music will be the exclusive live-streaming partner for the three-day event, with daily performances on Amazon Music’s Twitch channel and through Amazon Prime Video, live at 3 PM PST from the T-Mobile Mane Stage. -Article
James Campbell Interview
The song leading into the interview is the multi-percussion piece “Tork” written by James Campbell.
James attended Northern Illinois University.
James taught at the American Conservatory of Music and the Cavaliers Drum Corps.
James’ first teaching job was at Montana State University.
James also plays in the Lexington Philharmonic in between teaching at the University of Kentucky.
James is a “self-employed” musician in addition to teaching at the university. Between his clinics, royalties from sticks and mallets, playing with the Philharmonic and more make up his multi-hyphenate career.
James talks about teaching for the future. His sabbaticals have helped him expand his knowledge, like studying with John Bergamo at CalArts.
James studied with James Lane of the Chicago Symphony as well as Al O’Connor of NIU who started the Steel Band there.
James talks about the importance of the Blackearth Percussion Group who were an artist in residence at NIU while he was a student.
Shout-out to Mitch Markovich and Al Lemert.
James talks about expanding his percussion knowledge in college.
Shout-out to Larry Livingston out at USC.
James is going to retire in a month. He talks about his time spent teaching vs. performing.
James talks about how he encourages his students to study abroad and some of the other ensemble opportunities available.
James explains his nickname “Rudi” as in “Rudimental”.
James explains the Bourbon-o-phone from Woodford Reserve bottles.
Shout-out to Colin Campbell and Third Coast Percussion.
One of James’ alumnus is Glenn Kotche.
James is in the Hall of Fame for the Percussive Arts Society, Drum Corps International and Bands of America.
Shout-out to Jim Corcoran, Brian Mason, Chad Floyd, David Ratliff, and (friend of the show) Jason Koontz as well as the entire Kentucky chapter of PAS.
Umass lost to Kentucky in the Final Four while Damon was in school.
James talks about why his students have been so successful.
James talks about catering the curriculum to what the student needs. He mentions a piece by Andrea Venet.
Damon and James have a conversation on the 10,000 rule based on K. Anders Ericsson’s research.
Damon and James talk about smaller instruments not getting neglected.
James picks the iconic recording for the week. Honorable mention to “Buddy and Soul”.
Shout-out to Sheldon “Shelly” Elias who James studied drumset with.
Shout-out to (friend of the show) Steve Houghton.
Shout-out to Fred Sanford.
James uses Yamaha Drums and Percussion, Zildjian Cymbals, Innovative Percussion Implements, and Meinl Percussion.
You can follow James on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
The song leading out of the interview is “Ionisation” performed by the University of Kentucky Percussion Alumni, Directed by James Campbell.
