This week’s guest is the great Bill Summers. To say that Bill Summers is a percussionist is like saying a Steinway is a piano: The noun conveys none of the history and quality of the owner of the title. Summers is a musician of the highest order, playing anything from traditional African instruments to pop bottles, and a cultural visionary who brings diverse people and ideas together. Whether working with Quincy Jones on the musical score for Roots, or the soundtrack to The Color Purple, or interpreting the music of the holiday Kwanza, Summers is cognizant of his heritage and its many contributions to world culture. His late-night musical soirées in his New Orleans home have often served as a lightning rod for creativity and success. Witness how Summers brought together Kim Provost and Bill Solley, winners of the 1999 BET Jazz Discovery Competition. The duo made their acquaintance at one of those late-night Summers sessions. Recognizing their alchemy, Summers asked them to join his Summer's Heat tour.

And witness the fortuitous phone call from Irvin Mayfield to Jason Marsalis, who suggested that the trumpeter call Summers about his idea for a Latin rhythms/jazz fusion-inspired group. Late-night sessions at the Summers residence resulted in the 1998 formation of Los Hombres Calientes, an overnight sensation in New Orleans and then the world. Los Hombres Calientes tore the roof off Snug Harbor, the House of Blues, and ignited the stage at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival with its searing dance music and has produced three CDs.

The success of multi-award-winning Los Hombres Calientes owes much to the knowledge of the seasoned Summers, playing with Mayfield and Marsalis, both in their early twenties. Summers, a former Detroit Observatory student, R&B star (with "Call It What You Want" in 1981) and veteran of the Walter Payton Trio and Herbie Hancock's Headhunters, knows literally hundreds of African and Cuban percussion rhythms from decades of study.

He and his musician wife, Yvette Bostic-Summers, who plays and sings with Los Hombres Calientes, steer the helm of the Summers Multi-Ethnic Institute of Art, which takes students to Cuba to study Afro-Cuban music. In 1999, Bill Summersand several of his students were initiated into the prestigious Yoruba order of sacred drummers by Estaban "Cha Chaa" Vega, the most revered drummer in Cuba.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Johnny “Dandy” Rodriguez! John grew up in New York City at a time when it was the heart and soul of Latin Jazz in this country. In 1962 at 17 years old John earned a place playing Banjo’s in the Tito Puente Orchestra. This was the beginning of John’s career and of a life time association with the King of Latin Music, Tito Puente. John spent over 30 years with the Tito Puente Orchestra, also working with Tito Rodriguez from 1965 to 1968 and with Ray Barretto from 1970 until the end of 1972. John went on to form his successful ‘Tipica 73’ band in 1972, which he was with until 1979. Following this he went back to work with Tito Puente, playing alongside him until the time of his death in May 2000. Shortly after Tito’s death the Puente estate decided to stop any further performances under the Puente name. With dedication to their music and fans John got together with Jose Madera and Mitch Frohman and they formed the Latin Giants of Jazz. Under John’s leadership the band has released three albums which have been recognized internationally, staying on top-ten charts worldwide as well as receiving awards .

Over the course of his career, John has been recognized as one of the greatest players and innovators of Latin music. Working with Martin Cohen (the founder of Latin Percussion), John has opened many doors for Latin performers, spurring a recognizable change in Latin performers’ abilities to entertain in Europe and around the world. John continues to work tirelessly to promote Latin music and further its progression worldwide.

Happy Birthday Charles Ruggiero. Charles was born to be a drummer. The son of world renowned jazz musician Vinnie Ruggiero, Charles spent his early years surrounded by the "who's who" of jazz. There was always music around, and with musicians like Art Blakey, Philly Joe Jones, Freddie Hubbard, and Jon Hendricks coming to spend time and play, it was only a matter of time before he caught the bug and asked his father to play the "bang-bangs."

As a teenager, Charles got serious about drumming, playing anywhere he could. Soon, local high schools and colleges, as well as professional theatre groups, and popular local bands throughout western N.Y. started to hire him. After winning a seat in the New York State All State Jazz Ensemble, music colleges came calling. Manhattan School of Music offered a full scholarship and a chance to study with famed jazz educator Justin DiCioccio, so he jumped at the chance. The jazz scene in New York City in the early 90's was vibrant and he was plying regularly with his own "who's who" of jazz, including Joshua Redman, Peter Bernstein, Jane Monheit, Ryan Kisor, Joel Frahm, Sam Yahel, Brad Mehldau, Myron Walden, Chris Potter, and Dwayne Burno, to name a few.

Happy Birthday to Chris Berry. Chris has performed or recorded with AJR, Iggy Pop, Hot Chip, Yeasayer, Holy Ghost!, Joakim, Roosevelt, The Juan Maclean and many more!

Happy Birthday to Adam Hanson. Northwoods aka Adam Hanson is a drummer, guitar player, songwriter and producer from Massachusetts. Adam graduated from Berklee College of Music and has since spent his professional years based out of Los Angeles. Since working in LA he’s spent as much time in the studio as the stage. Some of the artists Adam has worked with include David Ryan Harris of the John Mayer band, Anthony Ramos, JP Saxe, Julia Michaels, Lennon Stella, Will Wells, Sean Mendes, Quinn Sullivan, Amie Miriello, Kevin Garrett, Badsnacks among others.

Adam has built his career off being a musician, however also ready for a challenge no matter what the call might be. He’s been everything from a drummer, tour manager, stage tech, multipurpose engineer, producer, songwriter, guitarist, pianist, singer, production assistant, assistant engineer, and now artist. He’s been able tour nationally and internationally along with appearing on acclaimed shows such as Ellen, The Juno Awards, Dick Clark’s New Years Rockin’ Eve and many more.

As much as Adam loves playing and working with other people on multiple projects, he now has something of his own. Northwoods, is a project started in the wake of the pandemic. Debut album “This Never Happened”, was released on May 6th, 2022!

Happy birthday to conguero, percussionist, producer, songwriter and bandleader Little Johnny Rivero. Little Johnny has performed all over the U.S., Canada, Europe, Africa, Asia, Caribbean and the South Pacific. Born in New York City to Puerto Rican parents, Rivero, as young boy, was drawn to Latin jazz and the sounds and rhythms of the rumbero players in the NYC area. At age 10, Johnny began practicing percussion and joined his school band. Soon after, he took dance lessons, which eventually led to performances on stage with the bands of the era at such famous venues as the Manhattan Center, the Colgate Garden, the Copacabana, and the Palladium. At age 14, Rivero joined Orquesta Colon, the youngest Latin band in New York City, and recorded two albums with them.

In 1973, Rivero moved to Puerto Rico with his parents, and joined La Sonora Ponceña in 1974. After playing bongos with them for a year and a half, he switched to congas, which rekindled the love he had with the instrument as a small child. Rivero attributes the rhythms and professional conduct he learned from Quique Lucca and his son, Papo Lucca, as qualities that have made him what he is today. During the 16 years Rivero played with La Sonora Ponceña, he traveled worldwide and made 18 highly respected albums with them. - Read more

Happy Birthday to Roland Dénes. Roland is the timpanist for the Budapest Festival Orchestra. Roland was born in Szolnok, in 1974. He started his music studies in his hometown, then continued them in Budapest under Gábor Madarassy. In 1989 he was admitted to the Béla Bartók Secondary School of Music, where he studied with Oszkár Schwartz. In 1993 he won a prize at the National Percussion Competition and started his studies at the Franz Liszt College of Music, where he earned his degree in 1997. From 1996 until 2006 he was a member of the BM Duna Symphony Orchestra. As of 1998 he has been involved in the productions of the BFO. From 2009 he regularly gives master classes in Hungary (Franz Liszt Academy of Music, College of Music, Pécs) and abroad (University of Maryland, USA, Columbus, USA). As of 2011 he has been invited to work with foreign orchestras (Berlin Konzerthaus Orchester, l’Orchestre Symphonique de Radio France). Since 2010 he has been an official representative of the Fromme Company in Vienna. He has been a regular guest artist at the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra since 2015.

Gig Alerts

The Beach Life Ranch Festival is happening in Redondo Beach, CA from September 22nd-24th.

The Oceans Calling Festival is happening in Ocean City, MD from September 29th-October 1st.

The Ohana Festival is happening in Dana Point, CA from September 29th-October 1st.

The Sound on Sound Festival is happening in Bridgeport, CT from September 30th-October 1st.

Educational Spotlight

The Educational Spotlight for the week is The NEW CongaChops Practice Loop App Volume 2 is now available in the Google Play and Apple App Stores!!! A brand new set of Loops where you can solo, pan, mute and mix each individual instrument channel. Percussion PDF transcriptions included.

You can DOWNLOAD IT HERE!

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Iconic Recording

The iconic recording was picked by Bill. It is the “I Love Lucy” theme song and inspirational in Bill diving deeper into Afro-Cuban music.

You can read more about the song by CLICKING HERE.

Music News

Damon recorded with friends of the show: Payton MacDonald, Mark Stone, and Shawn Mativetsky for a new recording of Super Marimba. You can buy the track on Bandcamp HERE.

Concert ticket scams are soaring in 2023. Here’s a peek at some of the latest data.

Banking group Santander says customer reports of ticketing scams have more than doubled in the UK within the last year. The company, which has 14 million active customers, reports that the number of ticket scams reported by its customers has grown 141% year-on-year, with 1,905 reports in the first seven months of 2023. -Article

The US Copyright Office has ruled that streaming services must pay late fees on royalty payments in connection with the Music Modernization Act’s blanket mechanical license.

On Tuesday (September 5), the US Copyright Office issued a ruling confirming that songwriters and publishers are owed late fees when digital music providers do not pay royalties to the Mechanical Licensing Collective on time. Late fees have been hotly debated between music publishers and streaming service providers since the Music Modernization Act was passed in 2018. -Article

The Rolling Stones announce “Hackney Diamonds,” their first studio album of new material in 18 years, with details to be unveiled in a live-streamed interview with Jimmy Fallon on September 6. They had a live-streamed interview with Jimmy Fallon.

Bill Summers Interview

The song leading into the interview is “God Made Me Funky” by the Head Hunters.

Shout-out to friends of the show, Munyungo Jackson and Dr. John Wooton, as well as Donald Harrison, for connecting Bill and Damon.

Munyungo was in the first integration of Bill’s band, Bill Summers and Summer Heat.

Bill talks about touring in Europe and his album “London Style”.

Bill grew up in Detroit and went to the Detroit Conservatory of Music where he played piano first, later woodwinds like sax and flute.

Bill tells the story about quitting high school and working at Ford motors assembly line, and then at a race track and betting on horses.

When he won the Daily Double, he quit his job and moved to San Francisco.

Bill talks about how the martillo in “I Love Lucy” changed his musical trajectory.

Shout-out to Eddie “Bongo” Brown. Here are some of Eddie’s credits.

Bill talks about working with Nimrod Lumpkin.

Bill talks about playing with Bobby Womack and making the choice to switch to percussion.

Bill talks about the Ba-Benzélé people of Africa and their technique playing the Hindewhu.

Damon mentions the inspiration of the song “Watermelon Man”. Bill talks about the Mongo Santamaria version.

Bill attended Merritt College and then transferred to UC Berkley.

Bill talks about his first meeting with Herbie Hancock, and then re-acquainting with him and ultimately joining his band.

Damon mentions the Patrice Rushen song, “The Hump” from the album, “Shout it Out” with friend of the show James Gadson on drums and Bill on percussion.

Shout-out to the late Orin Keepnews for introducing Bill to Patrice and a whole host of jazz musicians Bill ended up working with.

The album Bill refers to by McCoy Tyner is called “Together”.

Bill is a priest of Ellegua in the Yoruban religion.

Damon brings up the song, “God Made Me Funky (feat. the Pointer Sisters)” by the Head Hunters from the ‘Survival of the Fittest’ album. The intro drum beat has been sampled numerous times (over 300)!

Damon brings up the Los Hombres Calientes and Bill talks about some of the issues with that group.

Bill has a non-profit organization called Klub K.I.D. which stands for Knowledge Independence Determination.

He mentions the Unity Fest being hosted in October.

Bill played on the score for the movies, “The Wiz”, “Roots” and “The Color Purple”. This was from his relationship with Quincy Jones which he talks about.