#326 Munyungo Jackson- Percussionist for The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Miles Davis and More!
This week’s guest is Munyungo Jackson. Percussionist, Composer, Arranger, Producer, Author and four time Grammy Winner Darryl Munyungo Jackson possesses an ever-increasing collection of instruments with which to execute his craft. That is one of the reasons this warm and unassuming West Coast artist can be found in virtually any musical setting—whether it’s Funk, Pop, Jazz, Latin, Reggae, or traditional dance music of such countries as Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana, Haiti, Brazil and Cuba.
Despite his youthful appearance, Munyungo is no newcomer: in his over thirty years of playing, he has developed an awesome versatility and became a well-respected and much requested session, concert and tour player. He has performed with Miles Davis, Stevie Wonder, Sting, Kenny Loggins, Herbie Hancock, Dianne Reeves, the Zawinul Syndicate, George Howard, Ronnie Laws, The Temptations, Four Tops, The Supremes, Bennie Maupin, Bill Summers, Marcus Miller, and dozens of others, including numerous ethnic music and dance troupes.
Munyungo was born in Los Angeles, California, into creative surroundings: his parents, Arthur Jackson Jr. and Genie Jackson, both maintained various involvements in music, dance and writing, and Munyungo is the nephew of the legendary jazz, pop and blues singer and pianist Nellie Lutcher who was on Capital Records.
As a child, Munyungo was required to take classical piano lessons, and did so until he was nineteen years old. But in his high school years, when one of his buddies started a Latin jazz band, seventeen-year-old Munyungo found himself uncontrollably attracted to the sound of the timbales, and his interest in piano began to fade. He began spending more and more time with the percussionist in that band, soon discovering that he was quite skillful at observing and remembering the techniques. His first opportunity he purchased his very own set of timbales.
During this period, Munyungo’s father was program director of a jazz radio station. The benefit to Munyungo was the constant exposure to much music. He happily surrounded himself with the albums of the many Latin artists of the day such as Mongo Santamaria, Willie Bobo, and Tito Puente, and practiced by playing his timbales along with these albums. Soon, his system of observation-plus-practice proved to be an effective method of self-training, and it wasn’t long before he formed a Latin jazz band with his classmates.
Munyungo’s passion for the timbales was only the beginning. From that point, he made the natural progression to Congas, Bongos, Latin Percussion and beyond, eventually to religious Bata Drumming, and numerous drums and percussion from many different cultures.
Subsequently, he met and worked with traditional drummers from Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, China and Japan resulting in a collection of over four hundred percussion instruments and drums from all over the world — all of which he plays proficiently.
Why that name? On several occasions, he performed with some players from Africa and the Caribbean, who would shout “Munyungo!” (Which is a Zulu word meaning “door” or “entrance”) to cheer him on as he played — and it wasn’t long before the word attached to him as a nickname.
Now, for him, the name means “Gateway to Heaven.” -Bio
R.I.P.
Rest in peace to Jorge Gonzalez. Jorge has played professionally for over 30 years and has recorded over 150 albums, Four which were Grammy winners & Five which were Grammy nominated. He has had the privilege of performing and recording with a number of artists including Ruben Blades, Willie Colon, Celia Cruz, Johnny Pacheco, Larry Harlow, Ray Barretto, Juan Luis Guerra, Fania All Stars, Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Pete “Conde” Rodriguez, Papo Lucca, Cheo Feliciano, Chico Mendoza, and numerous others. He has also performed on Paul Simon’s Capeman and Enrique Iglesias Play “4 Guys Named Jose and Una Mujer named Maria,” Jorge has recorded jingles and commercials for Dunkin Donuts, Met Life, 1-800 Cable and many others.
Jorge also appears on the LP instuctional DVD, “Drum Solos Revisited and on The Rhythmic Construction of a Salsa Tune – Vol. 2. Jorge has had the privilege of performing for President Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton at the White House. Jorge has performed in numerous Countries including Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Israel, Spain, Turkey, Argentina, England, Australia, and the Caribbean.
Jorge cites his father, Juan Gonzalez Jr., a noted percussionist in his own right, who always encouraged and supported Jorge’s musical pursuits, as being the person most responsible for inspiring his musical career.
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday to Bruno Esrubilsky! Bruno is an Argentine born-Brazilian raised drummer and percussionist based in Brooklyn, NYC.
Graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Bruno moved to New York in 2011. Since then, Bruno has toured every continent of the world, played drums on the hit Broadway show Hedwig and The Angry Inch (4x Tony Awards winner), appeared on many TV shows (credit list below), has performed at festivals such as Coachella, Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, Bonnaroo, Outside Lands, Java Jazz Festival (Indonesia), Fuji Rock Festival (Japan) and legendary concert venues such as Radio City Music Hall (NYC), Red Rocks Amphitheater, Ryman Auditorium (Nashville), Kennedy Center (DC), Central Park SummerStage (NYC) and The Filmore (San Francisco). Recording credits include records in the USA, Japan, Argentina and Brazil (more in MUSIC section).
Bruno has played on countless headlining and supporting tours (including Lorde, Adam Lambert, Amos Lee, Grouplove, Neon Trees and more). During the Fall 2018, Bruno wrapped MITSKI’s sold out Be The Cowboy 2018 Europe/North America Tour, including a 4 night sold out stint at Brooklyn Steel.
Throughout 2019, Bruno toured the world twice over with indie-rocker Mitski, performing at some of the world’s biggest stages and festivals, while also touring on the side with Jake Clemons of Bruce Springsteen’s band and performing with British artist YUNGBLUD. Bruno also taped Austin City Limits Live at The Moody Theater in Austin, Texas, with Mitski, which aired on January 18th 2020; and was featured on the September issue of Modern Drummer Magazine.
Gig Alerts
Beach Road Weekend Festival is taking place on Martha’s Vineyard August 25th-27th. One of the acts performing is Gary Clark Jr. Gary’s drummer is friend of the show, J.J. Johnson.
Lao Tizer is performing at this year’s NAMM show with Munyungo on percussion.
The Blue Note Jazz Festival Napa is happening July 28th-30th and has announced their lineup. Friends of the show Weedie Braimah and Nate Werth will be there with their bands, The Hands of Time and Ghost Note respectively.
Friend of the show, Giovanni Hidalgo, is hosting a festival in Puerto Rico on April 22nd called “Tribute to the King”.
Life is Beautiful Festival is returning to Las Vegas, and has announced their lineup for September 22nd-24th.
Damon and friend of the show, Eric Kalb, will be playing with Fuzz at the FTC Warehouse in Fairfield, CT on Cinco de Mayo.
Educational Spotlight
The Connecticut Day of Percussion is happening April 22nd featuring Tony Miceli and Jeremy Smith among other percussionists and ensembles.
Iconic Recording
The iconic recording was mentioned by this week’s guest, Munyungo. It is from an album mentioned in the past, ‘Top Percussion’ by Tito Puente. The track is Ti-Mon-Bo, for Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria and Willie Bobo.
Music News
First up for music news, Bandcamp Friday is coming up on April 7th. On the first Friday of the month since March of 2020, they’ve waived their revenue share to help support artists on Bandcamp. Over the course of just those 27 days, fans have paid artists and labels more than $93 million USD. If you’re among the nearly 1.5 million fans who have participated, thank you.
The next Bandcamp Friday is April 7th, and Bandcamp Fridays will continue in 2023 on May 5th, August 4th, September 1st, October 6th, November 3rd, and December 1st. As always, isitbandcampfriday.com has the details.
After Robert Smith convinces Ticketmaster to issue partial refunds for overpriced tickets, the singer forces the ticketing giant to refund and cancel scalped tickets while donating the fees to charity. -Article
Munyungo Jackson Interview
The song leading into the interview is “Wednesday Morning” from Munyungo’s album ‘Morning Sun’.
Damon and Munyungo first tried to record the interview at Bossa Nova in Los Angeles. After the SD memory card was corrupted, this is another attempt at an interview.
Damon asks where Munyungo comes from. It is a Zulu word meaning “door” or “entrance”
He talks about performing with The Supremes.
Munyungo talks about his musical family (his grandfather, mother and father).
Munyungo talks about getting into Yoruban music, bata drumming and rumba jams.
Munyungo talks about his family getting into real estate. Specifically his aunt.
Munyungo talks about Black Beverly Hills.
One of the jobs outside of music that Munyungo had was at the May Company.
Munyungo talks about his mom teaching him to be fiscally responsible.
Another job Munyungo had was a paper route delivering the Evening Examiner. He saved his money from that to buy his first set of Timbales.
Shout-out to Harrold Johnson.
Munyungo mentions Carmelo Garcia. Carmelo was a Dominican drummer and timbales player. Born in 1935, he worked for a long time with Mongo Santamaria and in the 70s he formed the latin rock group Riot. Other artists with whom Carmelo recorded were, among others: George Shearing, Don Ellis, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Stevie Wonder, Cal Tjader, Mickey Hart, Bobby Bland, Hubert Laws and many others.
You can see Munyungo playing with Carmelo below.
Munyungo first learned from playing to records and seeing people play in the park.
Munyungo talks about black R&B percussionists like Master Henry Gibson playing with Curtis Mayfield and Eddie “Bongo” Brown playing with Marvin Gaye.
Munyungo talks about spending time with his friend Bill Summers from the Headhunters.
Munyungo tells how he got the gig with Miles Davis’ Electric Band. He got the gig from playing with Joe Zawinul Syndicate on a recommendation from the late Wayne Shorter. He mentions some members from Weather Report (including friend of the show, Alex Acuña).
Shout-out to the late Don Alias.
Munyungo talks about some other artists he worked with.
Munyungo talks about one of the first gigs (and rehearsals) he had with Miles.
Munyungo talks about some stage direction from Miles with minimal words.
The song in between the first half and second half of the interview is called “Morning Sun” from Munyungo’s album with the same title.
Munyungo talks about how he got the gig with Stevie Wonder, thanks to Nate Watts.
Damon brings up this interview (PART 1 - PART 2) with Greg Phillinganes, where Greg talks about riding in a car while Stevie Wonder drives.
Munyungo talks about some of his audition experiences.
Munyungo talks about how friend of the show, Fausto Cuevas got the gig with Stevie as well.
Shout-out to Roland Garcia.
You can get Munyungo’s albums and his book on HIS WEBSITE HERE.
Munyungo uses Latin Percussion Instruments, Paiste Cymbals, Vic Firth Sticks and Mallets, and Remo Drumheads.
Shout-out to Don Alias, (friend of the show) Joey DeLeon, (friend of the show) Luis Conte, Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, Tata Guines, Big Black, Orestes Vilato, Eddie “Bongo” Brown, Master Henry Gibson, Tiki Pasillas and Bill Summers.
You can find Munyungo on his Website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
The song leading out of the interview is “Testify” by Dianne Reeves from the album with the same name, with Munyungo on percussion.
