Born in the holy city of Brooklyn, I grew up in a musical family. I started playing at the age of 4. Drum corps for 14 years – parades, competitions, the whole bit. When I was around 12, I filled in for my dad’s drummer for some shows in Brooklyn and around the city. I was hooked. I did the usual things, rock bands, punk bands, blues and jazz. But I kept longing to play a bit funkier than my friends did, so I began exploring ways to bridge the gaps between genres, rock and funk, hip hop and jazz. I’m largely self-taught, but I took a few lessons with Franklin Kiermyer in 2005, these were invaluable to me. Franklin is an amazing teacher and friend.
I started out as a leftie, but after breaking my left elbow, I had to relearn drums as a right-handed player. It was tough going, the transition from leftie to rightie, but I think it gave me a good opportunity to focus on playing for the groove and I’ve never looked back.
I think the turning point in my musical path was when I hooked up with the now-defunct Subterrain. The first four tunes posted here are from a recording session that we did in 2004. Scott Kacenga plays guitar on these tracks, Joel Lederer is the bassist and the DJ is Rob Flow.
I recorded these tracks with my Pearl Masters kit (Big Red); I have a diagram of it that I’ll post soon (including all my percussion toys). After the Subterrain gig ended, I retired the old girl - she now resides in a recording studio. I’ll have to stop by and visit if I ever get the chance. Maybe take her home again, we’ll see.
These days I am playing a kit that I built myself in 2005 – very thin shells, very melodic sounding. I call this one Antonio. I am playing Antonio on the live tracks posted here. These are from Oddfather's debut show at a club called Artanas. Oddfather consists of Greg Gordon on piano, Joel Lederer on bass, and yours truly.
Create your own visitor map
This is cool:
HowManyOfMe.com
