Customer Reviews

Drummers Collective 25th Anniversary Celebration & Bass Day 2002

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It has been a long time since I have found something worthy of reviewing, but here it is. The DRUMMERS COLLECTIVE 25th ANNIVERSARY is great jazz/improv music and a lot of it at that. (OVER 5 hours worth!!!) The 2 disc set features 4 drummers and 2 bassists that are possibly the best at their instruments. The second disc has many bonus features that are interesting if you ever get past the first disc.
Disc one starts out with the Dave Weckl band. Weckl has always been a great drummer and ,unlike many other drummers, he can write great compostions as well. The set that his band goes through is similar to the 'VERY LIVE' 2 disc set. The cameras focus on Weckl as he shows his ability to go from Jazz/Latin Jazz/funk in a great collection of Weckl Tunes. The man can do it all. He has been called a 'Gadd Clone' but he has developed his own style that is amazing. An in demand drummer at the height of his powers.
Horacio 'El Negro' Hernandez joins John Patitucci and Oriente Lopez for a Latin Jazz set. Lopez wrote all of the music and it is great latin jazz which isn't typical of the genre. If there is a better Latin Jazz drummer than Haracio out there I'd love to hear him. John Patitucci is amazing as always. He somehow manages to play over changes while he maintains the link between bass and drums. He is one of the greatest complete bassists around. (Other than Stanley Clarke I can't think of a bassist that is a virtuoso on both upright and electric) Great Latin jazz from a trio that I'd love to catch live. Horacio defies convention and is a must for anyone to hear. What he does with his left foot is better than what most drummers do with all of their appendages. He outdoes his playing on the Montreal Drumfest DVD. A feat that I thought was impossible.
Victor Wooten does his thing next. If you have the Bass Day '98 DVD of Victor then this might disappoint.( I have it) All Victor does is solo, and there isn't even a drummer. Great for one viewing, but it doesn't hold up to multiple viewings. It would have been nice to hear him with a band and perform some of his tunes. Maybe since he does that on the other DVD he was trying to do something different. I think Victor is amazing so I shouldn't question the man. IF you're a bassist you'll probably love this because Victor gives a lifetime worth of bass techniques to figure out/practice although they are the same ones from the other DVD.
Steve Smith gives somewhat of a clinic that he gets the audience involved in. It is great to learn from, but if you're a drummer you probably know this stuff already. I don't play drums, so I found his clinic informative and impressive. Steve does some showing off on this, but I couldn't watch this part over and over. The best part is when Steve is joined by Victor Wooten for an improv/duo similar to the ones found on the 2 VITAL TECH TONES discs. This is a demonstration of improv/musicianship that is a must to be heard and it can be heard over and over. The 2 seem to be sharing one consciousness as they improv and impress. Simply amazing.
Finally, the master, Steve Gadd makes an appearance with the Gadd Gang. The set starts out with Gadd doing a couple of solos that show the style that many have tried to duplicate or add to their own personality. Is there any 'offbeat' drummer that can say they weren't influenced by Gadd?? (Colaiuta, Weckl,etc.) After the soloing, Gadd is joined by his organ player Larry Goldings for another incredible duo. This piece is amazing and can be listened to/watched per infinitum. Lastly, the rest of the Gadd Gang plays a short set of Jazz Standards. It is fitting the show ends with Gadd.
If I had a complaint about this DVD it would be that none of the Billy Cobham Power/Funk school players are here. (Cobham, Griffin, Chambers, etc.) However, when you get 4 drummers of this quality and most from the Gadd School; I am not going to complain. There are 5 hours of greatness, and the Latin Jazz/Wooten/Smith Clinic prevent anything from becoming redundant.
This disc isn't just for drummers or bassists (I don't play either) but is for anyone that appreciates Jazz/Fusion music. The rhythm section is the key to great jazz/or any type of music for that matter and this disc has some of the finest. Whether it is WECKL/KENNEDY, PATITUCCI/HERNANDEZ, GADD/GOMEZ or SMITH/WOOTEN you'll hear this point proven. Anyone can sound great if they are able to interact/solo with these duos. BUY it and see why it is all about the groove/pocket first.

This is an excellent collection of some of the world's finest players in the drumming and bass world. As a drummer (could you guess from my id?), I eat this stuff up. Dave Weckl's performance absolutely blew me away and is worth buying the DVD just to see his playing. This performance demonstrates why Dave is one of the best drummers out there. Horacio plays a good set with John Pattatucci who proves himself to be a master. Steve Smith does a fine job as well and Victor Wooten is phenomenal. The Steve/Victor sequence is a real joy to watch as these 2 talented musicians dig deep to demonstrate their capabilities. Steve Gadd plays a smooth, 'pocket-filled' set that rounds out the performance. His simple yet masterful playing highlights why he is so popular. The performances by the Collective's people are the only down side to the DVD or I would have given it a 5. They're not bad, but they're not worth putting another DVD's worth of material. If your into the backstage stuff, there's plenty of that too (I'm not but I don't mind it on there). If this was a single DVD for 1/2 the price, it would have been perfect. A must see for serious drummers.

This DVD is a must have for drummers and bass players. What an
incredible lineup. I have seen Dave Weckl perform a lot and I think this is his best recorded performance. Steve Smith and Victor Wooten are worth the price of this dvd by themselves. Horacio shows why he has raised the bar for latin drumset playing. And then there is Steve Gadd-no one plays the drums like he does and the camera work and sound make it like you are sitting in the audience. There are great interviews with
all of the performers and some really cool behind the scene footage. And for bass players John Patitucci and Felix Pastorius are amazing. At over 5 hours, sit back and enjoy the show.

a concert feature Dave Weckl , Steve Smith and Steve Gadd, three of the best role model of all drumemrs, it's always fun to see them play, and the solo of Victor Wooten is just as inspiring as always, and "El Negro" Hernandez, John Patitucci, Oriente Lopez play some odd-metre Latin songs, which is very complex, but these guys just did that like nothing....

so you can see 3 of the most important drummers and 2 of the most important bassists, on 1 DVD, excellent sound quality, what else should i say? GET IT!!

this is the best concert dvd i have ever seen. the performances are all amazing and it has the best sound and camera work to date. every angle is exactly what you want. and all of the bonus features are incredible. you get to watch Steve Smith and Victor Wooten "compose" their song.
Not only is it entertaining and inspiring to watch, but it is also educational with the behind the scenes footage.might have the best Dave Weckl performance I've ever seen. well done Hudson Music.

Yes, it's a drummer's vehicle, but I know several non-drummer musician friends who are equally knocked out over the superb musicianship on this set. Kudos to Hudson for going all out and producing a world-class documentation of this event! Put it this way: I immediately burned the audio of most of this to CD, and it's constantly playing as I'm out and about...great mix, awesome camera angles ( okay, yeah, maybe the visual does feature the drummer a lot! ), and a sense of profound camraderie...not only among the stellar musicians, but among the audience members as well ( presumably which was comprised of eighty percent drummers!). My only complaint is that, to see Steve Smith's musical ensemble, Vital Information, you have to pick up Hudson's Modern Drummer Festival 2003 DVD set. It also is worth the price of admission, but you've dropped a hundred dollars after buying both of these. Well...considering you'd pay easily that much to get a good seat to watch Britney Spears' electronic drummer, Hudson products are a good investment! Seriously...guitarists and keyboard players could learn a valuable lesson from watching what events such as Drummers Collective and the annual Modern Drummer Festival do to inspire drummers from all over the world.

This DVD shows what musicianship is all about. This is unbelievable stuff. The highlights for me are Dave Weckl, with "Wake Up" and "The Chicken". These songs highlight Dave Weckl's talent. I would say that Weckl and Gadd are the best drummers in the world. Dave Weckl has the technique, Gadd has the pocket and Omar Hakim has the feel (Omar isn't on the DVD) The highlight of the Horatio Hernandez/Patitucci trio is "Leap". This is brilliant Latin jazz with an unbelievable drum solo. Oriente Lopez was a pianist that I hadn't heard of before but after watching him I can say that he is pure class. The music can get mixed up in places but on the whole another brilliant set.
I would have to say that the biggest disappointment is Victor Wooten. Even though we all know his brilliance on the electric bass, (But after seeing Bass Day 98, which is the best Bass Concert ever!), this just doesn't seem as good and doesn't match up to that performance.
We then see an amazing Felix Pastorius solo, which reminds me very much of his famous father, using harmonics, on a Fender Jazz bass. I actually prefer this solo to Wooten. When Felix begins to slap, he sounds just like Marcus Miller, which is brill because we all know that Marcus has the best tone in the world.
The Steve Smith performance is also out of this world, where he does a solo piece in 5/4 which is great, we also see a whole load of chops, tricks and a duet with Wooten, where we actually see a rehearsal is the Special features
Another major highlight for me is the Gadd performance. He does his usual "Crazy Army" piece at the beginning of the performance but then does a brilliant duet with organ supremo Larry Goldings. This also shows the great groove of Gadd that we all know and love. I'll never know how he can play so much off the beat and then get it back.He has an internal click track, absolutely superb. He is the Drumming Legend and will probably go down as the best that has ever lived. I wasn't all that impressed with the Gadd Gang as Eddie Gomez was out of tune and Ronnie Cuber was very harsh on the reed of his baritone saxophone, but Gadd is still awesome through the whole performance.
All in all this is value for money, it is worth every penny. My favorite performance is Dave Weckl, but he is my favourite drummer so I'm biased towards him!

This is a DVD any drummer should have. The sound is great, the drummers and bass players are more then excelent and the extra features are superb. Steve Gadd plays at his best and it is very interesting to see how Steve and the Gadd Gang are doing the soundcheck. Also, the bass solo of the son of Jaco Pastorius is amazing. I give this DVD 5 stars. So buy it and have fun for more then 5 hours!!!!!

This is the best ever perfomance by Victor Wooten,Stieve Smith,overall it's perfect concert,and there is alive spirit of
JACO PASTORIUS !!!

If you ever wanted to see all of your favorite legends in one, THIS IS IT! The quality is excellent and the performances will blow your mind! With Dave Weckl, Steve Gadd, Steve Smith, Victor Wooten, John Patitucci, Tom Kennedy, and Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez, you will NOT lose your attention! I own more than 15 drum DVDs. THIS IS A MUST!!