Gary Chester

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Gary Chester (October 27, 1924 - August 17, 1987) (born Cesario Gurciullo in Saracusa, Italy) was one of the 20th century's busiest studio drummers. Gary is counted as one of the greats when it comes to studio session musicians. ^[1] His work appears on thousands of tracks, including hundreds of hit records from the '50s, '60s and '70s. He logged over 15,000 studio sessions over three decades. He is on the short list of 20th Century Drummers' Hall of Fame.^[2] Chester occupied the same position of studio prominence on the east coast recording scene that Hal Blaine did on the west,^{[3] [4]} and had the musical abilities and creative spirit to roll with all the changes in popular music flow that happened during his lifetime. Beginning with doo-wop and rhythm and blues recordings, Chester also showed a great knack for rock, folk rock, rockabilly, and pop. In 1970-1, Chester was the Musical Contractor for the Broadway musical production of Purlie. ^[5] In 1964, Gary formed a group, Gary Chester and the Beatle Beat which released its only album entitled "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!" consisting of a dozen Beatles' cover songs.

History

Chester's first successful recording session was to replace a studio drummer. He repeated his success with artists on songs that are considered to be hits. Several musical scholars who have devoted their lifetimes to the work of studio drummers have advocated the renaming of the "oldies" radio station format to "Gary Chester radio." As a result of Chester's work and instruction, a pro studio drummer can play well in any requested musical genres. In the studio, a drummer will often be given a sheet of music to read with one or two words describing the style. From this basic information, an accomplished drummer will understand the groove and feel of the song. Some of today's most famous studio drummers are renowned for their ability to adapt to any style of music. As his reputation grew, Gary became a respected teacher, with drummers searching out his expertise and demanding techniques. His drumming systems have been used and endorsed by drummers such as Kenny Aronoff, Danny Gottlieb,^[6] Max Weinberg, Chris Adams, Tico Torres, Lindy Morrison, and Dave Weckl, each having studied under Gary. The rock band Luxx features the drummer's daughter Katrina Chester, one of rock and roll's greatest modern female vocalists ^[7]. This band's debut album features a moving tribute to her father, naturally a cover version of yet another classic hit Gary Chester laid down the beat to, Lesley Gore's 1963 hit "It's My Party".

Instruction technique

Ostinato

Chester devised a system involving internalized patterns employing a drum 'melody' in an attempt to expand drummers' coordination and groove ability. His use of the ostinato ^[8][9] figure employed more than repetition; he created drum melodies for a song with variation and development of the drum phrase or motif using the entire drum kit. He advocated alternating an ostinato line to fit changing harmonies or keys to enhance the song. Chester's system also taught how to set up an ostinato with one limb or more and playing freely with the remaining limbs, allowing one drummer to sound like a small percussion section. ^[10]

Ambidexterity and Rhythmic Vocalization

Chester focused on teaching skills like creativity, improvisation, four-limb independence and ambidexterity, cross-dominance, playing solid time, alignment of limbs, and making an independent contribution to the song while playing to match the song rather than playing to show off. For example, his instructional techniques included learning to overcome their natural handedness (or laterality) by playing both right-handed and left-handed. This offered the studio pro greater flexibility, smoother groove transition, and a more complex, unbroken riff or fill. This ambidexterity also permitted the drummer to switch the ostinato from right-to-left or vice versa, thereby letting the free hand (or foot) develop a richer drum melody. One additional benefit was more open handed drumming which increases hand mobility around the set as the drummer does not need to cross and uncross his or her arms as often. The core concept of Chester's New Breed instruction style was five-way independence. The student was given a system (three parts of a rhythm) and was required to play a written melody with the bass drum. Chester also taught his students to "sing" each part that each limb played (rhythmic vocalization) while drumming to "train your ears to accept and understand what you’re doing." While coordinating and reading, the student would also be required to sing the quarter note, back beat, up beat and the melody for each system. Once the student performed each two page written melody and sang four different parts, he/she was required to play the same exercise with a left hand lead. Here, countless new rhythms were played, read, coordinated in time to a metronome, while singing.^[11] As a result of Chester's instructional techniques, the student would: (a) Develop independent four-way coordination; (b) Master sight reading ability and note recognition (c) Left hand would now be able to play ride patterns (d) Control time keeping through metronome and singing (by singing the quarter note, one could always play in time) (e) By gaining the ability to play and sing the melodies written, the student enhanced creativity and musicianship. If one could play what he/she sang, all playing situations became a breeze.^[12]

Associated artists and song performances

Published literature

Famous American jazz drummer Louis Bellson said of Gary's first drumming book published by Modern Drummer Publications, New Breed: "A classic!" "An original that uses an approach found in no other book!" "He wrote the book on drumming!"^[18]

• New Breed
• New Breed II

External links

• Gary Chester official site
• Modern Drummer
• Drum Solo Artist
• Rainbowpuddle

References

1. ^ ""The Complete Idiot's Guide to Playing Drums" 2nd edition [1]". Retrieved on 2007-11-19. 
2. ^ http://www.rhythmweb.com/drummers.htm
3. ^ http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Gary_Chester.html
4. ^ http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/159257162X/ref=sib_pdp_cap_0?ie=UTF8&keywords=Gary%20Chester&ie=UTF8&v=search-inside# | "Idiots Guide to Drumming." p.228
5. ^ http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=3514
6. ^ Danny Gottlieb: Teaching. Danny Gottlieb website. Retrieved on 2007-11-19.
7. ^ [2]
8. ^ http://www.drummercafe.com/component/option,com_glossary/func,view/Itemid,20/catid,32/term,Ostinato/
9. ^ http://classicalimprov.blogspot.com/2006/04/groovy-baby-ostinatos-part-i.html
10. ^ http://ostinato_drumming.tripod.com/id27.html
11. ^ http://www.rhythmtech.net/about.html
12. ^ http://www.rhythmtech.net/about.html
13. ^ http://theband.hiof.no/articles/the_truth.html
14. ^ http://www.bacharachonline.com/bacharach_articles/newsweek_1970.html
15. ^ http://theband.hiof.no/articles/hoskyns_ln_remasters.html
16. ^ http://www.bubblegum-music.com/jeffbarryinterview
17. ^ From "He's a Rebel" by Mark Ribowsky, http://www.caroleking.com/messageboards/viewtopic.php?p=25640&sid=5d6ea030c42e63b6046ce19932bcd082
18. ^ http://www.moderndrummer.com/books_detail/n//400002116)