#373 Brian Dunne- Drummer for Hall and Oates, Chuck Loeb, Session Musician & More
This week’s guest is Brian Dunne. Brian says, I’m the current drummer for Hall and Oates and have been touring the world with them for the past 7 years. As the drummer for Live From Daryl's House I've been fortunate enough to record shows with Joe Walsh, Billy Gibbons, Sammy Hagar, Aloe Blac, Gavin Degraw, Cheap Trick, Wyclef Jean, Daughtry, Todd Rundgren, Patrick Stump, Booker T. Jones, Grace Potter, Parachute, Guster, Daryl Hall, Chiddy Bang, Rumer, Nick Waterhouse, Minus the Bear, Johnny Swim, Amos Lee, Brett Dennen, Darius Rucker, Ben Folds, Kandace Springs, Kitty Daisy and Lewis, Elle King, Anderson East, Grace, Mayer Hawthorne, Allen Stone, Butch Walker, Jason Mraz, Shelby Lynne, Kenny Loggins, The O'Jays, Rob Thomas, Neon Trees, Cee Lo Green...
I've also had the good fortune to be a band member/perform/tour/record with many other artists before my tenure with Hall and Oates: AWB, Patti Austin, Chuck Loeb, Alana Davis, Bobby Caldwell, Jason Robert Brown, Ariana Grande, Nelson Rangel, Special EFX, Jeff Lorber, Everett Harp, Keiko Matsui, Michael Franks, Jeff Kashiwa, Willie Colon, Gerald Veasley, Bob James, Jay Beckenstein, Dave Samuels, Cory Glover, Chieli Manucci, Kim Waters, The Sax Pack, Steve Cole and Paul Jackson Jr.,
Concerts and TV shows backing: Patti Labelle, Chaka Khan, Florida, Ashanti, Jarule, Bell Biv Devoe, Envogue, JoJo, Stephanie Mills, Sharon Jones, Donnie Mcclurkin, Floetry, The Impressions, Anthony Hamilton, Sting, Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Bob James, Peter White, Jessica Simpson, Carly Rae Jepsen, Hezekiah Walker, The Main Ingredient, Leni Stern, Jeff Golub, Phil Perry, Be Be Winans, India Arie, Eddie Levert...
In addition to my touring/performance schedule, I've played on a number of major motion film tracks as well as independent films and jingles.
I also have a production facility (Back of the Bus Productions) where I record drum tracks (remote sessions) for those in need of Live Drums for their projects.
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday to Clayton Cameron! Los Angeles, California native Clayton Cameron began showing an interest in drumming at the young age of seven. According to Clayton, his parents were always supportive of his pursuits and they bought him a drum kit and had him taking lessons by the time he was twelve. After High School, Clayton went on to earn a degree in Music from California State University. While in school he played around the Los Angeles area with some of his mentors and early influences such as Ernie Andrews, Teddy Edwards, Larry Gails and Gerald Wilson. After graduating from college, Clayton settled in Las Vegas where he played regularly with a small Jazz trio known as The Kirk Stuart Trio and continued to develop his skills as a brush player. Clayton quickly found that the small jazz club settings and trio groups called for mostly low volume playing, and as a result, Clayton developed a distinct and potent style of brush playing. Today, Clayton is widely known as a brush master.
During his time in Las Vegas, Sammy Davis Jr..'s musical Director George Rhodes hired Clayton to be his drummer. Clayton cites Sammy Davis' tap dancing as an influence on his brush playing. Clayton also played drums for Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra during this time. In 1988/89, Clayton toured with the three members of the "Rat Pack" an experience he will always treasure.
In 1990, Clayton completed and released his instructional video entitled "The Living Art of Brushes". This was the first drum instructional video dedicated to brush playing. At this time Clayton also toured with Jazz legends Joe Pass, Joe Williams and George Shearing.
In 1993, Clayton became the drummer for music legend Tony Bennett. He has recorded six Grammy nominated albums and played on many world tours with Tony. In 1994, Clayton shared in the honor of Tony Bennett's Grammy award for his "Tony Bennett Unplugged" album. This was the first Grammy awarded for a live recording.
Clayton has also released the book Brushworks, a comprehensive text on the subject. Aside from being the definitive reference book on the art of brushes, Brushworks will for the first time allow novice brush players insight into the mechanics of the art form. Clayton continues to tour and record, and work on his many drumming education projects.
Gig Alerts
Attention High School percussion/music students and those seeking graduate assistantships for an MM degree in percussion performance!
Do you want to expand your musical universe and develop skill sets to allow you to collaborate with musicians the world over? You are invited to audition for admission and music scholarship with one of the most diverse percussion programs in the nation at Eastern Kentucky University and the EKU School of Music. Contact Jason Koontz for more information about setting up your personal meeting and audition time. All inquiries welcome! Jason.koontz@eku.edu
The Montreux Jazz Festival Miami is happening March 1-3.
Darryl Hall with Brian Dunne will also be in attendance at the aforementioned festival.
Here is a Jazz Festival guide to a lot of the major ones in the USA.
Damon will be part of the Encores Orchestra for a two week run of Jelly’s Last Jam at the NY City Center in Manhattan, NY from Feb 21-Mar3.
Educational Spotlight
Brody Simpson is offering creative Drum Mixing classes! MARCH 16th, Sept 30th & Oct 1st. Tix available HERE. Join him as he mixes one of his videos from start to finish. Live-streamed for your viewing pleasure. Ask questions. Make suggestions. You’ll also receive a download link for the video of the class in the days following the event.
Iconic Recording
Brian picked the iconic recording for the week. It is Chaka Kahn’s “What Cha Gonna Do For Me”.
Music News
Believe’s TuneCore is suing CD Baby over allegedly stolen trade secrets, and as part of the heretofore little-discussed lawsuit, a federal judge has “temporarily enjoined” the defendant company “from knowingly disseminating and/or using any of TuneCore’s confidential information.” -Article
The American Federation of Musicians has reached a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers over streaming residuals and the misuse of AI. -Article
Brian Dunne Interview
The song leading into the interview is, “Onward and Outward” by Mike Pope featuring the late great Michael Brecker on sax.
Damon and Brian start the interview with sorting out how they are connected.
Brian Dunne was the student teacher for friend of the show, Andy Sanesi.
Brian went to school for music education.
Damon and Brian talk about the Long Island and Fairfield County CT music scene.
Shout-out to Doobie H. Powell.
Damon clarifies the Bomb Squad and Deep Banana Blackout personnel for Brian.
Brian talks about his brothers getting him started on the drums.
Zach Danziger playing with Michel Camilo left an imprint on Brian because they were about the same age when he saw him.
Brian talks about the Buddy Rich Memorial concert with Dave Weckl, Steve Gadd and Vinnie Colaiuta.
and also Vinnie’s performance at Zildjian Day 1984.
Brian talks about the lack of technology advancements in learning drums back in the 80’s and 90’s.
Brian talks about music education for learning to be a band director.
Brian attended Nassau Community College and then Long Island University.
Brian studied with Ron Gould.
This is the Albright book Brian mentioned.
Brian talks about approaching songs.
Brian talks about how he joined the house band for Cafe Wha.
Shout-out to Michael Sgouros.
Brian talks about getting the gig with the Average White Band from playing in the Funk Filharmonik.
Shout-out to Casey Benjamin.
Brian talks about some of the musical directors he has worked with, including Ray Chew.
Damon brings up the Apollo.
Shout-out to Artie Reynolds.
Brian talks about reading and writing charts. Shout-out to Mike Ciro and Helen De La Rosa.
There is an article in Drum magazine about chart writing.
Brian has a home studio and has been doing remote drum sessions for people for over two decades.
You can contact him and Back Of The Bus Recording.
Shout out to A.J. Hall.
Damon talks about some business and marketing tools.
Brian picks the iconic recording for the week.
Brian uses, DW Drums, Sabian Cymbals, Evans Drumheads, Vic Firth Drumsticks, Big Fat Snare Drum, Lisciel Franco’s compressors, Audio-scape, and Beyer Dynamic Microphones.
You can follow Brian on his Website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
The song leading out of the interview is, “Rhythm Ace/Funky Stuff” by Chuck Loeb.
