Groove Alchemy

Stanton Moore | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 13, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 2010
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Telarc
• ASIN: B003A6C6JE
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,173 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

In medieval times, alchemy was a mystical pursuit based on a belief that gold could be created from common raw materials. It's an ancient practice, an idea that has long since been debunked by centuries of scientific evidence to the contrary. Or has it? Attempts to derive precious substances from lead or tin may have been dismissed by modern-day science as a fool's errand, but the belief that something of great value can come from something common persists. For drummer Stanton Moore, it's just a matter of finding the right groove.

Moore proves his theory many times over with the release of Groove Alchemy. The 12-track set is the culmination of Moore's multimedia project that also includes an instructional book and DVD of the same name. All three facets of the project are designed to explore the roots of funk drumming by examining the work of pioneers like Jabo Starks, Clyde Stubblefield, and Zigaboo Modeliste - each of whom made their mark at different times throughout the 1960s as the engines driving James Brown's and the Meters' legendary rhythm sections - and in turn tracing their influences back to the rhythms coming out of New Orleans in the earlier part of the 20th century.

"I'm showing how to not only understand the roots of funk and the history of funk," says Moore, "but also how to understand the creative processes behind it, and then how to learn from those creative processes so you can begin to make new grooves with the drums out of what was done in the past. With this project, I've kind of lifted the lid off the process that I go through and what's involved whenever I put together a record."

But Groove Alchemy is anything but a strictly academic exercise. "If you're just a listener and a music fan, you can pick up the record and totally dig it for the music itself," says Moore. "There's nothing about that experience that has to be instructional. But if you're a drummer, and you want to understand how I came up with these beats and understand the history of the music as I know it, in the hopes that you might deepen your knowledge and come up with new grooves as a result, then you can check out the book and the DVD."

Groove Alchemy runs the gamut of emotions - from the upbeat and festive to the broken-hearted and even spooky. It's a cache of precious material that results from the mating of traditional and timeless elements with new and fresh musical ideas. "This is the process I go through with any record I make, although the process has been more in-depth this time," says Moore. "I've explained it in detail so that people can hopefully learn something from witnessing the steps that I go through. I guess what I've tried to do is pull back the curtain a little bit and show what's going on in my mind as I make a record."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars These Grooves are Solid!, April 28, 2010

By 

Kevin Currie-Knight "Education Grad Student" (Newark, Delaware) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Groove Alchemy (Audio CD)

As if I didn't already know it, I must say that Stanton Moore, Robert Walter, and Will Bernard have some serious chemistry. This trio, that has also appeared on Stanton's CD III and other projects, moves very well together, and this disc is no exception. Intended to be a tour of funk drumming's history, Stanton makes sure that many different types of grooves, from old New Orleans swingin' ones to fatback syncopated ones, are represented here.

The songs are great. Two favorites of mine are the first two tracks. Squash Blossom is a slightly swinging forceful mid-tempo song. Pie-Eyed Manic is so syncopated that I almost dare you to find where beat 1 actually is! It is guaranteed to get your neck and hips shaking. Keep on Gwine is an ultra-slow New Orleans number reminiscent of something out of a speak-easy, but MAN it grooves! Up to Here is a mid-tempo, powerful, shuffle you'd hear in a Texas Road House. Neeps and Tatties is all Meters. And that is only, I think, half the songs.

The playing is fantastic. Walter's syncopated organ lines really gel with Moore's booming bass and snare. Will Bernard is as versatile as ever, comfortable playing slide guitar as he is getting jazzy. For an album by a drummer, Moore does not hog much of the spotlight by way of solos, which is (as a drummer myself) as it should be. He earns attention just by grooving. There aren't many who can groove like he.

So, if you like funk, you really need to hear this album. It is every bit as good as III and Will Bernard's latest Blue Plate Special. These grooves are solid!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Groove-a-licious!, April 17, 2010

By 

Flipkid (Cockeysville, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Groove Alchemy (Audio CD)

Yet another amazing, groove-laden set from Stanton Moore, Will Bernard and (the incredible) Robert Walter. If you don't tap your foot and bob your head to every track on this album, just take yourself straight to the morgue... 'cause you're a goner.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Effortless well-played grooves, July 9, 2010

By 

OffBeat Magazine - See all my reviews

This review is from: Groove Alchemy (Audio CD)

Groove Alchemy the CD is only one part of Groove Alchemy, the larger project that comes with a DVD and instructional book. The project takes drummers and those interested in funk drumming inside Stanton Moore's process of developing grooves, and the CD presents those grooves in action. The drummers who infuenced him the most are James Brown drummers Jabo Starks and Clyde Stubblefeld, and the Meters' Zigaboo Modeliste; not surprisingly, most of the tracks on Groove Alchemy draw from Brown and the Meters' traditions.

The relative lack of concept means that there's not a lot of news on the album, but it's also Moore, Robert Walter and Will Bernard at their most relaxed. As a result, it's also Moore's trio at its most straightforward and funky. The closest thing to a curveball is a dirge-like version of George Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today," led by Walter's organ. Walter switches to the piano for a version of James Booker's "Keep on Gwine," but the track's more about Moore's loping version of a second line groove than about Walter's dexterity.

Those tracks are the exceptions, though. Groove Alchemy's funky, and because it's part of an educational project, it's not showy. Instead, the trio is modeling how effortless a well-played groove can sound and how effective it can be with sympathetic players.--OffBeat Magazine, April 2010 issue