This week’s guest is Bryan Garbe. Bryan Garbe is an award-winning composer, producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who specializes in drums, guitar, and steel pan. Over the past two decades, he has toured worldwide, recorded with Grammy Award-winning artists, and performed in some of the most notable venues in New York City, including Madison Square Garden and The Beacon Theater.

Most recently, Bryan was a Score Producer for the feature film, On The End, recorded drums and percussion for HBO’s documentary Wild Wild Space, working as an additional composer under Gil Talmi. He was selected as a featured composer for the 2024 ASCAP Columbia University Film Scoring Workshop, winner of the 2023 BMI Pete Carpenter Fellowship, participant in the 2022 NYU Screen Scoring Summer Workshop and mentee in the 2020 Society of Composers and Lyricists Mentorship Program. He is an active composer for Film, TV and Advertising, working with music houses such as
Warner Chappell.

Bryan’s project, CASTOFF, composes for film and tv, crafting emotionally driven scores for narrative, documentary, and commercial work. Known for blending creative steel pan with modern production, his work has expanded into an ongoing search for distinctive textures and collaborative sonic worlds.

Bryan is endorsed by Remo Drum Heads, Vater Sticks, Dream Cymbals and Luna Guitars and Ukuleles.
As an educator, Bryan has been teaching privately and as a clinician for over 20 years. He has given clinics and master classes on drum set, percussion, and steel pan at several universities and private schools in London, Italy, Trinidad, Ireland, China, and the US. For the past decade, he has also been teaching acoustic and electric guitar, ukulele, bass, and piano.

From 2011 to 2017, Bryan was the Vice President of the Connecticut Percussive Arts Society, an international group of drummers and percussionists focused on enhancing music education and connecting drummers and percussionists from around the world. He is the creator of the CT PAS Artist Spotlight Series, a monthly feature that aims to promote and connect Connecticut drummers, percussionists, and ensembles.

At eight years old, Bryan began taking drum lessons at the Jim Royle Drum Studio in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he was introduced to the world of percussion. At the studio, he learned at a young age to read music and play a wide variety of percussion instruments. Bryan dedicated ten years to studying under Jim Royle before returning to the studio as an instructor for the following five years.

In 2011, he toured across Trinidad and Tobago as the Assistant Director of the Jim Royle Drum Studio Steel Band, accompanied by steel pan virtuoso and close friend, Tracy Thornton. His time in the country where the steel pan was born brought his passion and admiration for the instrument to a whole new level.

Bryan is currently playing drums for NYC based indie rock band, London Plane, while maintaining a busy schedule as a session drummer and
film composer.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Terry Gibbs! Terry is 100 years old at the time of this interview. Terry Gibbs began his career at the age of 12 after winning the Major Bowes Amateur Hour Contest and subsequently began touring professionally. He spent many years as a drummer and percussionist playing gigs until his affinity for bebop motivated him to turn down a scholarship to Julliard as a timpanist and return to the vibes. Six decades of inspirational vibe playing and technique, Gibbs is recognized as one of the best ever to grace the genre of bop.
After World War II, Gibbs toured with Chubby Jackson, Buddy Rich and Woody Herman. He co-led a sextet with Louie Bellson and Charlie Shavers; and in 1950, he formed his own band for Mel Torme's TV show. In 1951, he joined the Benny Goodman Sextet. Subsequently, he toured with his own quartet where he won acclaim as "# 1 Vibraphonist in the world," in both the down beat and Metronome polls from 1950 to 1955. Gibbs also played a role in breaking down the sex barrier in music, using pianists Terry Pollard, who he often featured in vibe duos, Pat Moran, and Alice McLeod, who later married John Coltrane.
Settling in Los Angeles in 1957, he formed his big band known as "The Dream Band" in 1959. Comprising top notch LA talent such as Mel Lewis, Joe Maini, Frank Rosolino, Conte Candoli and Richie Kamuca, the band was named "Best Band in the World" in the Downbeat '62 Critic's Poll.
Gibbs returned to New York in the early sixties only to move back to LA to take a position as Music Director for the Regis Philbin Show. This gave him the opportunity to compose the music and conduct a sextet. He later served as Music Director/Composer for the ABC TV show, Operation Entertainment and for Steve Allen, building a substantial ASCAP rating. Gibbs also taught Steve Allen to play the vibes.
Gibbs, throughout his illustrious career has enjoyed world acclaim playing with greats such as clarinetist Buddy DeFranco, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Horace Silver, Max Roach, Art Blakely, Elvin Jones and Tito Puente. Co-leading a quintet, he had an unprecedented nomination in four categories of the Playboy Jazz Poll: Best Vibraphonist, Best Quartet, Best Big Band and Best Band Leader. His association with DeFranco has spanned 18 years and is still an invigorating collaboration today.
With 65 albums to his credit, winner of 3 major jazz polls and creator of 300+ compositions (recorded by Gibbs, Nat Cole, Les Brown, Cannonball Adderly, Count Basie, George Shearing, etc.), Gibbs has left an indelible mark in the world of vibes.

Happy birthday to Dr. Julie Hill. She is the Department of Music and Faculty Evaluation Coordinator at the University of Tennessee-Martin, has received worldwide recognition as a performer and scholar. Hill has presented workshops, concerts, and lectures extensively throughout the United States on Brazilian Music and the topic of music and social transformation for black women and at-risk children in Northeastern Brazil. As a member of the award winning Caixa Trio and X4 quartet, Julie has performed in Peru, Poland, Mexico, Brazil, France, Puerto Rico, South Korea, across the United States, as well as the Percussive Arts Society International Conventions (PASIC). Hill is also principal percussionist with the Paducah Symphony Orchestra.

Julie is a winner of the University of Tennessee at Martin's Cunningham Outstanding Teacher/Scholar Award, the Hardy Graham Distinguished Professorship Award, the UT Alumni Association Outstanding Teacher Award, and the inaugural recipient of the University of Tennessee President’s system-wide Educate Award. Julie has also received Member Laureate distinction from the Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity. She is a Past-President of the International Percussive Arts Society.

Hill is the co-author of an audition method book entitled All Inclusive Etudes (Row-Loff Productions) and a collection of solos/duets entitled Music for Multi Percussion: A World View (Alfred Publications) and has numerous percussion ensemble publications with Innovative Percussion and Row-Loff Productions. Her scholarly research has been published in Percussive Notes and the Garland World Music Encyclopedias.

She holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Kentucky, a Master of Music degree in Percussion Performance from Arizona State University, and a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Tennessee at Martin.

Happy Birthday to Yoel Del Sol! Yoel graduated from The National School of Music in Havana, Cuba. There had the opportunity to study under some of the world's most renowned Percussion educators, such as Jose Luis Quintana (Changuito), Reynaldo Fernandez, Roberto Vizcaino, Roberto Concepcion, among others.

From 1993 until 1995 he had the oppurtunity to teach percussion at The National School of Music where he studied. In 1995, Yoel won 1st Place at the PERCUBA Percussion Competition. This is one of the most prestigus awards in Cuba.

In 1999, Yoel relocated to Miami, Florida for more opportuntities to preform and record. He has performed with top artists including: Celia Cruz, Cachao, Raul DiBlasio, LENA, Malena Burke, Afro-Cuban Jazz Group ORIENTE, Luis Bofill, Roselyn Sanchez, Alicia Machado, Luis Enrique, Palo, Spam All Stars, Rebeca Mauleon, Arturo Sandoval & many more. In addition, Yoel has performed at Jazz Festivals in Cuba & around the globe with the group Havana-Sax (saxophone quartet & percussion) also with Chucho Valdez, Carlos del Puerto, Miguel Anga Diaz, Enrique Pla , Frank Emilio.... among others. He has also recorded with very important names in the Latin Pop Industry : Alexander Pires, Raul DiBlasio, Garage H , Eddy Thomas, Dj LAZ , Jose Luis Rodriguez ”El Puma” & his work can be found on the soundtrack album of the independent film LA MALA" ( Spain/Puerto Rico production).

Happy Birthday to Ray Levier! Professional drummer Ray Levier is a veritable Swiss Army Knife on the kit, facile at finessing jazz-fusion grooves, swinging a jazz combo, laying down rugged hip-hop beats and nasty funk, accompanying singer-songwriters with subtle grace, and bashing away at rock beats with panache and precision.

As a career musician, Ray is in an in-demand sideman who also divides his time with teaching, clinics, and speaking dates; and composing for film and TV. When he’s not hard at work in one or more of these outlets, Ray can be found woodshedding his chops, or composing for his solo career.

“You always have to be ready to adapt; sometimes on the spot, just like a chameleon,” Ray says. “You also have to be an intuitive person and get out of your way to really understand who the artist is as a person and what they want. You have to be well-versed in many styles, and you have to work really hard because there’s always someone behind you lined up ready waiting for your gig.”

The Nyack, New York-based artist has had the rare feat of being a sideman to urban folk and jazz artist KJ Denhert for 20 years. He’s the co-producer and co-founder of a successful music production company, composing TV tracks for such esteemed networks as TLC, Discovery, FOX Sports, CBS, NBC, History Channel, National Geographic, and the Oxygen Network. In this realm, Ray fields a diverse barrage of TV cues, and intuitively composes music that strongly translates in the audiovisual medium. He conducts this work, and live drum track sessions for other artists, at his state-of-the-art professional production recording studio 30 minutes from Manhattan. In addition, Ray has earned endorsements from Yamaha, Paiste, Vater and Evans. -Read More

Happy birthday to Valerie Dee Naranjo. Valerie is known for her pioneering efforts in West African keyboard percussion music, is originally from Southern Colorado. She moved to New York City after completing studies in vocal and instrumental music education (University of Oklahoma) and Percussion Performance (Ithaca College). In 1988 her playing of the gyil's traditional repertoire in Ghana's Kobine Festival of Traditional Music led to the declaration of a chiefly decree in the Dagara nation that women be allowed to play the instrument for the first time.

She plays percussion for NBC's Saturday Night Live Band, and has recorded and performed with Broadway's The Lion King, The Philip Glass Ensemble, David Byrne, The Paul Winter Consort, Tori Amos, Airto Moreira, and the international percussion ensemble, MEGADRUMS, which includes Milton Cardona, Zakir Hussein, and Glen Velez.

On six continents she endorses Avedis Zildjian (cymbals) Pearl/Adams (Latin and concert percussion) and Vic Firth products as a soloist and clinician.

Her recent film score recordings include Final Fantasy - The Dream Within and Frida. Her work and music have been written about in Modern Drummer, Drum!, Rhythm, Percussive Notes, and World Percussion Rhythm. She was named World Music Percussionist of the Year in 2005 and 2008, as winner of DRUM! magazine's Reader's Poll in that category. She has recorded several CDs of traditional gyil music with Kakraba Lobi and Barry Olsen, and the CD Zie Mwea with Mr. Olsen and Bernard Woma. Her solo Native American CD Orenda is on the Ellipsis Arts Label, and her series of 16 written transcriptions and CDs, West African Music for the Marimba Soloist, Traditional World Music for Western Percussion Ensemble, and Lewaa's Dream (Ancient and Contemporary Music for West African Marimba) are published by Mandara Music.

Valerie has apprenticed with some of America's and West Africa's strictest master percussionists, including Leigh Howard Stevens, Gordon Stout, Dave Samuels, Godwin Agbelli, and Adama Drame, and continues to spend summers in Ghana to further her perucussion study with maestros Yotere Baere and Kofi Misiso. She has also researched and studied in Botswana, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Morrocco, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, where, in 1994 with Thuli Dumakude, she opened Johannesburg’s Civic Theatre to its first post-apartheid audiences in the production Buya Africa.

Gig Alerts

Friend of the show, Jeffrey Barudin, has posted new jobs/auditions on his website.

Aerosmith and Friends concert is happening at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on Oct 29th and Nov 1st.

The Big Blues Bender tickets are on sale now. This will take place Sept 9th-12th 2027 in Las Vegas, NV. A couple of friends of the show will be performing there. Tyler “Falcon” Greenwell with the Tedeschi Trucks Band, as well as Josh Kiggans with GA-20.

John Mayer has added more dates at the Las Vegas Sphere for the spring of 2027.

Educational Spotlight

The Nashville Marimba Sessions will be happening from May 24-29, 2027 in Nashville, TN. Joining Artistic Director Ji Hye Jung are guest faculty members Eric Sammut, Momoko Kamiya and friend of the show, Michael Burritt.

Iconic Recording

The iconic recording is “Young Funk” by the Derek Trucks Band, from the ‘Out of the Madness’ album.

Music News

All of the Exhbitors for PASIC have been secured. If you still need to get a badge and/or secure your lodging, feel free to do that as well.

The “Always Hip: Verve at 70” album is coming out on November 20th. It features some friends of the show in Marcos Torres, Marcos Lopez, Stefon Harris, Felipe Fournier, and more.

Friend of the show, Brad Dutz, has released a new video from a chamber project he was involved with.

Bryan Garbe Interview

The song leading into the interview is called, “Nation Nation" performed by London Plane, from the forthcoming London Plane album "Villains Heroes Ghosts".