October 1977 - Modern Drummer - Lenny White

More in this magazine

• OCTOBER 1977$1.75 Published Quarterly
• Join the Greatest Community in DrummingSubscribe to Modern Drummer Gear Reviews
• BEYOND FOREVER: MD talks with LENNY WHITE by ARAN WALDLenny W h i t e was born in Queens, N. Y. and travelled to Forever. Excuse the forced pun, but it was with Chick Corea's Return to Forever, that Lenny made the reputation that engendered his foray as a solo act. "I got a call from a different guitar player every day for about a month," Lenny related. "When they heard about the breakup of R T F , they all wanted to play with me. There were some people who played better than others, but I was looking for versatility." That's the key word as far as his direction is concerned - versatility. Lenny wants the group - which was formed in the beginning of 1977 "to mesh into different kinds of styles, and to play any kind of music like post bop, space bop, jazz, rock - anything." That led to the discovery of different musicians who were at home in various phases of the music. Caught up in a busy schedule, Lenny and I sat down in a borrowed office to discuss some of the finer points of his musical career.
• Page 4Great artists. Great Drummer. Great Drums. Norlin
• Page 5Clifford rented the set and experimented with it. Within a month, he owned the set and was playing them in concert. "Red Hot," the Don Harrison Band's latest recording for Atlantic Records, features Clifford playing the full set of Toms and the Bass. "The only adjustment I had to make," says Clifford, "was to get used to the smaller heads. Each drum sounds bigger than its size. The six-inch Tom is one of the most unique instruments I've ever played, and the bass keeps going deeper when some conventional drums might loose their bottom end." Clifford went on to say that the smaller heads make for tight sharp attack, but that the sound stays tight and gets rounder and mellower, particularly in the bottom ranges. He claims he can get a bassy sound out of a small Tom. "All the Toms are loud, but they are not muddy," he remarked, "they turn out clear, directional, pointed sounds, but they don't hurt the listeners. I can get five Toms in the space I used to use for three conventional Toms. "They're integrated tonally, but each one is distinguishable, either live or recorded, so I can get a lot of movement on any track." (Clifford cultivates the image of an athlete. He is very active
• Page 6JUST DRUMS by ROB COOK Over 13,000 members of the music industry converged on Atlanta, Georgia, for the annual "NAMM International EXPO". For most exhibitors the NAMM EXPO is the major advertising and promotional event of the year; they naturally try their darndest to have new (or at least improved) products to introduce. Atlanta was certainly no disappointment for drummers in that respect there were new drums, new sticks and beaters, new pedals and accessories, new hardware, new cases, and exciting new electronics. 2 to 1 snare 12 lugs on the top head, 6 on the bottom.
• REMO DISPLAYED TWO NEW PRODUCT LINESThe Balter mallet company displayed new drum set beaters. Double thickness "Pin Stripe" heads for the "heavy" sound.
• Page 8ALSO R E P R E S E N T E D AT N A M M - LATIN P E R C U S S I O N
• THE SOUND HEARDALL OVER THE WORLD LENNY WHITE
• PETER ERSKINE (Maynard Ferguson Band)JOEY KRAMER (Aurosmith DIFFERENT STROKES FOR DIFFERENT FOLKS