This week’s guest is Dr. Andrew Veit. Dr. Andrew Veit is a composer, performer, and sought-after clinician and adjudicator. Currently, he serves as the Director of Wells-Rapp Center for Mallet Percussion Research. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Iowa and proudly endorses innovative Percussion sticks and mallets, and Pearl/Adams Percussion.

He has served as the visiting Principal Percussionist with the West Texas Symphony Orchestra and has performed with the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra, the Fox Valley Orchestra, and the Kaiju Crescendo Symphony. Dr. Veit has also appeared internationally as a soloist and ensemble member of Clocks in Motion and Heartland Marimba Quartet. Presently, he performs and records with his duo, the Veit/Jones Project, which won first prize in the Southern California Marimba International Artist Competition Open Duo division. Through these opportunities, Dr. Veit has been a guest artist at several institutions, including the University of Wisconsin – Madison, Virginia Tech, VanderCook College, Cleveland State University, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, and the Iowa Bandmasters Association.

Previously, Dr. Veit served as the adjunct professor of percussion at Grayson College in Denison, TX, and also as the director of marching percussion at North Central College in Naperville, IL.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Mike Piolet! Mike majored in Studio Music and Jazz Instrumental Performance at the University of Miami Frost School of Music where he was a Stamps Distinguished Ensemble Scholar and a member of the inaugural Stamps Jazz Quintet, Class of 2013. He studied drumset and jazz percussion privately with Steve Rucker and John Yarling. As a member of the Stamps Jazz Quintet at the Frost School of Music, he performed at the Monterey Next Generation Festival in California and the 2011 and 2012 JEN conferences in New Orleans and Louisville. He was also featured on the Stamps Jazz Quintet’s self-titled debut album on Summit Records. The Stamps Jazz Quintet was chosen as the “Jazz Group” winner in DownBeat magazine’s 34th Annual Student Music Awards in the Undergraduate Outstanding College Performances category (2011). Michael Piolet performed in a variety of other jazz groups at Frost, including the award-winning Frost Concert Jazz Band at the Coconut Grove Arts Festival in Florida with flautist Nestor Torres and at Festival Miami with saxophonist Dave Liebman, both in 2012.

Originally from Chicago, Illinois, Piolet is regularly performed with local artists throughout South Florida when attending the University of Miami and he often returned to Chicago to perform professionally. He has performed extensively with steel pan virtuoso Leon Foster Thomas. In 2018, he moved to New York City, where he joined the touring company of Hamilton.

Happy Birthday to Scott Quintana! Scott currently resides in Portland, Oregon, working full time on mobile development projects. Prior to living in the Pacific Northwest, he was living in Nashville, maintaining career in music, touring full time with artists such as Kacey Musgraves, Charlie Worsham, Kree Harrison, and several others. He has always loved working with computers though. His grandma was a COBOL programmer when he was young, and that early exposure to the tech world eventually lead to him being a web developer for most of his high school years.

The day to day tasks of his two career paths may differ quite a bit, they both really come down to working with a team to create something great, and situations like those are where he feels he’s at his best.

Happy Birthday to George Sluppick! George is an American drummer born in Memphis, Tennessee, specializing in blues, funk, soul and R&B music. In 1986, he graduated from Overton, a prestigious creative & performing arts high school, where he studied music theory, sang 2nd tenor in the concert choir and played drums for their award-winning gospel choir. Growing up in Memphis, he shared the stage with many legends, including BB King and Rufus Thomas and just one year after his high school graduation, he went on the road with blues guitarist, Albert King, which opened many doors allowing him to become a full-time musician. George was 19 years old.

He moved to San Diego, California in 1991 and quickly became a major player in the local music scene, which included a two-year gig drumming with 50’s revivalists, Sha Na Na, touring the U.S. and Japan. During their second Japanese tour, they recorded a live album which he is featured, titled Sha Na Na: Live in Japan, (Sony). In late ’99, he began touring with Robert Walter’s 20th Congress, which lasted for three years and he is featured on Giving up the Ghost, (Magnatude). In 2003, he began drumming with North Florida’s MOFRO with whom he spent nearly five years touring the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia and is featured on three of their albums: Blackwater, Lochloosa and Country Ghetto (Alligator). - Read more.

Happy Birthday to Steve Kroon! Here is his professional bio!

My name is Steven Kroon. I’ve been a professional musician for the last 50 years. I was born in Harlem, and lived there until the age of nine. In 1957, we moved to St. Albans Queens. My experience of being raised in Queens was very influential. At the time, there were many great Jazz and R&B artists living right in our neighborhood. At home I mostly listened to my father’s records, which were Tito Puente, Tito Rodriguez and Machito. Then when I would visit my friends, I would listen to all the great Jazz artists. Right in my neighborhood was Lester Young, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Count Basie and many more. Also a great influence on me was the great producer Henry Glover, who lived right on my corner. With all that diversity and style, I would say most of my musical appreciation began with those early years. At this early stage I progressed to playing percussion. My brother Bobby and I would practice along with the recordings of these great artists, then, as I progressed, I undertook studying with various music teachers. A great influence on me was the great Tommy Lopez, Sr. I took conga lessons with him for quite some time, shortly after that I studied with the great percussionist Dom Um Romao.

As my career progressed, I began working with such notables as Luther Van Dross (from 1981 to 2001). I've appeared on seven platinum albums, fifteen world tours, which include two live video performances. Also, an array of television shows from the Tonight Show to David Letterman, Jay Leno, as well as the Grammy’s. I've also performed with Ron Carter from 1987 to 2004, which included extensive tours of the U.S., Japan and Brazil, as well as the well-known NY Jazz scene. Some of the places we've performed include the Village Van Guard, The Irriidium, and The Blue Note chain from the U.S. to Japan. I've also recorded with much of the "Who's Who" in the recording business, names such as Ron Carter, Roberta Flack, Luther Van Dross, Bill Cosby, Aretha Franklin, Diana Krall, Stanley Turrentine, Bette Midler, Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga, just to name a few. I'm also proud to announce that I made the Downbeat Critics pole Rising Star for 2016, and 2017.

For the last Fifteen years, I've been working on my own solo career, which includes having released the following 6 CD’s under my own label Kroonatune Records, LLC: In My Path; Senor Kroon; El Mas Alla (Beyond) ,Without A Doubt, On The One, and my latest "In Your Dreams". At this point in my life, I have chosen to devote my time and creativity to pursue my own career.

Happy Birthday to Stephen Bidwell! Stephen was born in Washington, DC, and grew up in the Virginia suburbs. Since first being handed drumsticks in the late 80s he has studied and lived in West Virginia, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, and New York but has called Austin, Texas home since 2005. Somewhere in those travels, he earned a Bachelors’s degree in classical percussion (two of them actually) and a Master’s degree in Jazz studies. Since early 2018 he has been the drummer for the Grammy-nominated Black Pumas, a psychedelic soul group known for incendiary live shows. When not on tour with Black Pumas, Stephen plays in several diverse projects (Hard Proof, The Calm Blue Sea, Azmaris, Mood Illusion), works in any genre you can think of as a sideman and teaches lessons at his home studio.

You can see some of Steve’s interviews and other drum journalism over at ModernDrummer.com, he’s been a contributing writer since 2008.

Gig Alerts

Drummer Gordon Campbell will be hosting a show at the Mint in Los Angeles on Wednesday Jan 21st with friend of the show, Taku Hirano in the band.

It’s NAMM show week, so there are lots of releases of new gear and seminars and demos and performances and more.

The Montreaux Jazz Fest - Miami edition is happening in Miami, FL from Feb 25th-Mar 1st.

Bruno Mars breaks Live Nation’s single-day ticket sales record in North America and adds 30 more dates to his explosive new Romantic Tour. -Article

The Wells-Rapp Center for Mallet Percussion Research has some upcoming shows this year.

Educational Spotlight

The Percussive Arts Society chapter in Washington State is having their Day of Percussion on Sat. Jan 24th.

The University of Delaware Interactive Percussion Seminar is happening in Newark, DE from Feb 28th-Mar 1st.

Friends of the show participating are Colin McNutt (episode 48 and episode 89), Mike Compitello (episode 126, episode 245, and episode 466), Lalo Davila (episode 407) and Jim Ancona (episode 84)

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Gear Talk

Damon mentions the product Midian Prime this week.

The Midian Prime is a discreet, wireless MIDI trigger controller designed specifically for controlling DAW software like Ableton Live and Logic Pro.

The Midian Prime can be clipped to a belt or attached to a drum kit, acting like a PowerPoint clicker for musicians.
The Midian Prime can specifically benefit drummers who want to leave the drum kit and engage with the audience without losing control of the drum kit.

Iconic Recording

The iconic recording was chosen by Andrew. It is the song, “Moonchild - In Your Quiet Place (Live at Montreux)” performed by Gary Burton from the album, ‘Alone at Last’.

Music News

Congress votes to fund the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities, despite Trump’s efforts to shutter both. -Article

Bandcamp takes an official stance against artificial intelligence by banning AI-generated audio and music from its platform. -Article

Instagram starts rolling out a new set of controls to enable users to personalize the topics recommended to them, starting with the Reels algorithm. -Article

Dr. Andrew Veit Interview

The song leading into the interview is, “Departures by Emmanuel Sejourne” performed by Michael Jones and Andrew Veit.

Andrew was recommended by friends of the show, Leigh Howard Stevens and Tony Miceli.

Andrew talks about the World Vibes Congress that just took place.

Damon mentions the teaser for vibraphone mic-ing system that Malletech has created and Stefon Harris used at his Jazz Educator’s Network performance.

Andrew mentions the gravestone for Clair Omar Musser.

Andrew mentions the future events and that you can stream them from the YOUTUBE CHANNEL.

Andrew talks about the inception of the Wells-Rapp Center for Mallet Percussion Research. Shout-out to Will Rapp and Dr. Frank Kumor.

Shout-out to Richard Wells.

Damon mentions the 100th anniversary of the vibraphone concert at PASIC.

Andrew talks about the interaction with the university.

Andrew grew up in Egg Township, NY near Atlantic city.

He got his undergrad from the University of Delaware, his masters from the University of Texas A&M - Commerce, and his doctorate from the University of Iowa.

Andrew mentions the Miss America Parade and the Mummers.

Andrew marched the Cavaliers Drum Corps. in 2008 (below) and 2009.

Shout-out to Dr. Brian Zator.

Andrew mentions the International Percussion Ensemble Competition that happens at PASIC.

Andrew shouts-out the movie Butter.

Andrew talks about the Heartland Marimba Quartet.

Andrew taught at Sherman High School in Texas before heading to Pennsylvania.

Andrew talks about Texas music programs compared to other parts of the USA.

Damon mentions about the rubber duck stores in Amsterdam.

Andrew mentions his compositions “Unhinged” and “Rig” through C-Alan Publications.

Andrew talks about “Friday Night Lights”. Damon mentions Taylor Sheridan.

Andrew worked with the Boston Crusaders. Shout-out to friend of the show, Mike Zellers.

Andrew picks the iconic recording for the week.

Andrew uses Innovative Percussion, and Pearl/Adams Percussion.

Shout-out to Harvey Price and Orlando Cotto. Andrew mentions Orlando’s arrangement of Rhythm Song.

You can follow Andrew on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

The song leading out of the interview is, Jean Sibelius' Cinq Morceaux for solo piano Op75, “The Trees”. This is 5 movement programmatic work arranged for 5-octave marimba by Dr. Andrew Veit.