SOUND PROJECTIONS
AN ONLINE QUARTERLY MUSIC MAGAZINE
EDITOR: KOFI NATAMBU
SPRING, 2019
VOLUME SEVEN NUMBER ONE
WADADA LEO SMITH
Featuring the Musics and Aesthetic Visions of:
CINDY BLACKMAN
(March 23-29)
RUTH BROWN
(March 30-April 6)
JOHN LEWIS
(April 7-13)
KOKO TAYLOR
(April 14-20)
PUBLIC ENEMY
(April 21-27)
BLIND WILLIE JOHNSON
(April 28-May 4)
MODERN JAZZ QUARTET
(May 5-11)
DE LA SOUL
(May 12-18)
KATHLEEN BATTLE
(May 19-25)
JULIA PERRY
(May 26-June 1)
HALE SMITH
(June 2-8)
BIG BOY CRUDUP
(June 9-15)
CINDY BLACKMAN-SANTANA
(b. November 18, 1959)
Cindy Blackman Santana
is a virtuoso drummer whose artistry spans the realms of jazz and rock.
As a bandleader and as a musician, Cindy is a sound innovator with a
passion for pushing creative boundaries and exploring movement and
change. She is as known for the nuances and colors she brings to her
beats and fills as she is for the sheer power of her soulful playing.
“Some drummers act, some react. Some keep time, others create it. Cindy
Blackman Santana is among the few who can,” writes Mike Zwerin of the
International Herald Tribune.
Cindy has been creating magnificent musical time and space since the beginning of her career as a busking street performer in New York City in the ’80s through the present day, touring the globe and making albums at the top of her game—including the critically acclaimed Another Lifetime (2010). In addition to collaborating onstage and in-studio with her own group—also known as Another Lifetime—she has toured and recorded with artists including Pharoah Sanders, Cassandra Wilson, Bill Laswell, Joss Stone, Joe Henderson, Buckethead, Don Pullen, Hugh Masakela, and Angela Bofill. From 1992 to 2007 and again in 2014 & 2015 she was the drummer in Lenny Kravitz’s band, performing through multiple world tours and hit albums. In 2010, she was part of the all-star line-up performing “Bitches Brew,” a tribute to Miles Davis’ seminal album staged at the San Francisco Jazz Festival and NYC Winter JazzFest.
“I think of playing as controlled freedom, and in jazz, especially, that’s exactly what you have. I love it,” says Cindy. “You know the forms of the songs, but you have the freedom to stretch over them. You want the music to grow and breathe, and you want to invite creativity from all the musicians. As you’re going along, you can change the color, the feel, the mood in different ways, or go off the chart and open it up to something new. Controlled freedom is an incredible discipline requiring a lot of focus. Improvisation like that is art in its highest form.”
More recently, Cindy has become the regular touring drummer for Santana. Having met several years earlier at a festival in Europe while she was touring with Kravitz, Cindy first played with Santana in spring 2010, when drummer Dennis Chambers had a previous commitment. "They have a great band vibe. It's nice to play with people who have grown together, built a sound together, and stayed together," she says. "When that happens, you can create so many different levels of communication. That's what they've done, and I love interacting with it."
Electricity onstage generated chemistry offstage—Carlos proposed to Cindy during a July 2010 concert, and they married in December. Looking ahead, they will collaborate artistically as well, on projects that will no doubt reflect their shared passion for improvisation, and belief in the transcendent nature of music. “To me, music is completely spiritual, it’s the way you connect with your higher self, with the universe,” says Cindy. “It’s also a way to share light with millions of people. They don’t need to speak your language, have your beliefs, or be in the same place you are. The music speaks, it channels good energy, and makes a difference in people’s lives. Carlos and I are both conscious of doing that.”
On her own, Cindy is continuing to develop the heady jazz-rock fusion that she drives so powerfully on 2010’s Another Lifetime. The tour de force album is a tribute to her mentor, the legendary drummer Tony Williams, and features reimagining’s of eight songs from his seminal ’70s group Lifetime, as well as three original tracks by Cindy. In its review, All About Jazz wrote, “Blackman's sonic explorations take jazz-rock beyond where the late drummer envisioned it when he was putting heads to bed with guitarist John McLaughlin, bassist Jack Bruce and organist Larry Young… Jazz-rock as performed by Williams, and now Blackman, is very much alive and well.” The Guardian (U.K.) review called it “a fire breathing session,” adding “the mad-axeman guitar and boneshaking drumming this style invites is certainly present…but Blackman balances it with tonal splashes of abstract color.”
“I loved everything about Tony’s playing. He changed the sound of music several times with different tunings and configurations, and innovated with every limb,” says Cindy, who first met Williams in her teens when he did a clinic at the drum shop near her home in Connecticut. “His attitude and bravado behind the kit were incredible, and his technique was impeccable.” Another Lifetime was recorded on both coasts, with New York sessions featuring Mike Stern, Doug Carn, Joe Lovano, and Benny Reitveld accompanying Cindy, and L.A. sessions including Vernon Reid, Patrice Rushen, and David Santos. Going forward, Cindy is planning to incorporate more of a vocal element into her music.
Cindy remembers first asking for drums when she was three years old—“My mom says I was born hitting things and making rhythms,” she says. She graduated from a toy drum kit at age 7 to her first professional set at age 13, and went on to play in the jazz band, concert band, and orchestra in high school. Cindy was living in New York just a few years later, and took advantage of the abundant opportunities to see legendary drummers perform live, including Art Blakey, Max Roach, Roy Haynes, Philly Joe Jones, Jimmy Cobb, Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, Jack Dejonette, and Al Foster among them. Outside of the jazz realm, other greats she admires include Clyde Stubblefield (James Brown), John Bonham (Led Zeppelin), and Mitch Mitchell (Jimi Hendrix).
Her recording career began in the late ’80s, and she has released albums with an acoustic ensemble—the Cindy Blackman Quartet—as well as with her electric outfit. One she cites as among her favorites is 2000’s Works On Canvas. “I like where the band was at that point, our sound was becoming really cohesive,” she says. The review in Jazz Times noted that the album “proceeds like an impressionistic suite in which she not only functions as the main rhythmic engine of the music, but also a magnificent colorist…Works on Canvas is an amazing portrait of one of this generation's most colorful drummers.”
Cindy is currently featured on the Santana/Isley Brothers release Power of Peace, featuring the song “I Remember” which she wrote and sings. In 2016, she connected with fellow drummer and world-class producer Narada Michael Walden (Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Aretha Franklin) and together the two have been working on new material. Cindy Blackman Santana will release the new single titled “Fun Party Splash” on Narada Michael Walden’s Tarpan Records in the summer of 2017, and continues to build a body of work and artistic legacy that make her one of the finest drummers, and recording artists of this or any generation.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/cindy-blackman-mn0000102398/biography
Cindy Blackman-Santana
(b. November 18, 1959)
Cindy has been creating magnificent musical time and space since the beginning of her career as a busking street performer in New York City in the ’80s through the present day, touring the globe and making albums at the top of her game—including the critically acclaimed Another Lifetime (2010). In addition to collaborating onstage and in-studio with her own group—also known as Another Lifetime—she has toured and recorded with artists including Pharoah Sanders, Cassandra Wilson, Bill Laswell, Joss Stone, Joe Henderson, Buckethead, Don Pullen, Hugh Masakela, and Angela Bofill. From 1992 to 2007 and again in 2014 & 2015 she was the drummer in Lenny Kravitz’s band, performing through multiple world tours and hit albums. In 2010, she was part of the all-star line-up performing “Bitches Brew,” a tribute to Miles Davis’ seminal album staged at the San Francisco Jazz Festival and NYC Winter JazzFest.
“I think of playing as controlled freedom, and in jazz, especially, that’s exactly what you have. I love it,” says Cindy. “You know the forms of the songs, but you have the freedom to stretch over them. You want the music to grow and breathe, and you want to invite creativity from all the musicians. As you’re going along, you can change the color, the feel, the mood in different ways, or go off the chart and open it up to something new. Controlled freedom is an incredible discipline requiring a lot of focus. Improvisation like that is art in its highest form.”
More recently, Cindy has become the regular touring drummer for Santana. Having met several years earlier at a festival in Europe while she was touring with Kravitz, Cindy first played with Santana in spring 2010, when drummer Dennis Chambers had a previous commitment. "They have a great band vibe. It's nice to play with people who have grown together, built a sound together, and stayed together," she says. "When that happens, you can create so many different levels of communication. That's what they've done, and I love interacting with it."
Electricity onstage generated chemistry offstage—Carlos proposed to Cindy during a July 2010 concert, and they married in December. Looking ahead, they will collaborate artistically as well, on projects that will no doubt reflect their shared passion for improvisation, and belief in the transcendent nature of music. “To me, music is completely spiritual, it’s the way you connect with your higher self, with the universe,” says Cindy. “It’s also a way to share light with millions of people. They don’t need to speak your language, have your beliefs, or be in the same place you are. The music speaks, it channels good energy, and makes a difference in people’s lives. Carlos and I are both conscious of doing that.”
On her own, Cindy is continuing to develop the heady jazz-rock fusion that she drives so powerfully on 2010’s Another Lifetime. The tour de force album is a tribute to her mentor, the legendary drummer Tony Williams, and features reimagining’s of eight songs from his seminal ’70s group Lifetime, as well as three original tracks by Cindy. In its review, All About Jazz wrote, “Blackman's sonic explorations take jazz-rock beyond where the late drummer envisioned it when he was putting heads to bed with guitarist John McLaughlin, bassist Jack Bruce and organist Larry Young… Jazz-rock as performed by Williams, and now Blackman, is very much alive and well.” The Guardian (U.K.) review called it “a fire breathing session,” adding “the mad-axeman guitar and boneshaking drumming this style invites is certainly present…but Blackman balances it with tonal splashes of abstract color.”
“I loved everything about Tony’s playing. He changed the sound of music several times with different tunings and configurations, and innovated with every limb,” says Cindy, who first met Williams in her teens when he did a clinic at the drum shop near her home in Connecticut. “His attitude and bravado behind the kit were incredible, and his technique was impeccable.” Another Lifetime was recorded on both coasts, with New York sessions featuring Mike Stern, Doug Carn, Joe Lovano, and Benny Reitveld accompanying Cindy, and L.A. sessions including Vernon Reid, Patrice Rushen, and David Santos. Going forward, Cindy is planning to incorporate more of a vocal element into her music.
Cindy remembers first asking for drums when she was three years old—“My mom says I was born hitting things and making rhythms,” she says. She graduated from a toy drum kit at age 7 to her first professional set at age 13, and went on to play in the jazz band, concert band, and orchestra in high school. Cindy was living in New York just a few years later, and took advantage of the abundant opportunities to see legendary drummers perform live, including Art Blakey, Max Roach, Roy Haynes, Philly Joe Jones, Jimmy Cobb, Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, Jack Dejonette, and Al Foster among them. Outside of the jazz realm, other greats she admires include Clyde Stubblefield (James Brown), John Bonham (Led Zeppelin), and Mitch Mitchell (Jimi Hendrix).
Her recording career began in the late ’80s, and she has released albums with an acoustic ensemble—the Cindy Blackman Quartet—as well as with her electric outfit. One she cites as among her favorites is 2000’s Works On Canvas. “I like where the band was at that point, our sound was becoming really cohesive,” she says. The review in Jazz Times noted that the album “proceeds like an impressionistic suite in which she not only functions as the main rhythmic engine of the music, but also a magnificent colorist…Works on Canvas is an amazing portrait of one of this generation's most colorful drummers.”
Cindy is currently featured on the Santana/Isley Brothers release Power of Peace, featuring the song “I Remember” which she wrote and sings. In 2016, she connected with fellow drummer and world-class producer Narada Michael Walden (Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Aretha Franklin) and together the two have been working on new material. Cindy Blackman Santana will release the new single titled “Fun Party Splash” on Narada Michael Walden’s Tarpan Records in the summer of 2017, and continues to build a body of work and artistic legacy that make her one of the finest drummers, and recording artists of this or any generation.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/cindy-blackman-mn0000102398/biography
Cindy Blackman-Santana
(b. November 18, 1959)
Artist Biography by Ron Wynn
An accomplished, yet not flamboyant or showy drummer, Cindy Blackman
has become a well-respected drummer and occasional bandleader in a
short time. Both her mother and grandmother were classical musicians and
her uncle a vibist. Blackman began playing drums as a child and studied classical percussion at the University of Hartford and Berklee. Alan Dawson and Lennie Nelson were two of her instructors. Blackman moved to New York in the early '80s, and played with Freddie Hubbard and Sam Rivers. She became Jackie McLean's regular drummer in 1987, and began recording as a leader that year for Muse. Blackman was a big attraction at jam sessions organized at the Blue Note by Ted Curson, and played with Don Pullen's trio in 1990 at several festivals. She has a few sessions available on CD.
https://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/cindyblackman
Born in Ohio and raised in Connecticut, Cindy began her musical career as a New York street performer. She spent three semesters at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts and also studied with legendary teacher Alan Dawson.
Cindy moved to New York City in the 80's and since that time, she has been seen and heard by millions of people all over the world performing with her own group and during her 11 year stint with retro funk rocker Lenny Kravitz, since 1993.
In 1998, Cindy released her first drumming instructional video entitled, “Multiplicity” through Warner Brothers publications. Cindy has been touted as “one of the hottest drummers in the business, by the Star-Gazette and is regarded as one of the top drummers in the world. She is a solid, dependable drummer who can easily move from straight-ahead jazz to rock to funk and back again.
She's upheld the backbeat and created texture for a veritable “Who's Who” in jazz: Jackie McLean, Joe Henderson, Don Pullen, Hugh Masekela, Pharaoh Sanders, Sam Rivers, Cassandra Wilson, Angela Bofill, Bill Laswell, Buckethead. In early 2000, Cindy released the latest of her several acclaimed solo albums entitled “Works on Canvas.” She released her seventh solo release “Someday” in 2004.
“Some drummers act, some react. Some keep time, others create it. Cindy Blackman is among the few who can....” says Mike Zwerin of the International Herald Tribune. One listen to her latest release, Works On Canvas (featuring J.D. Allen-Tenor Saxophone, Carlton Holmes-Piano/Fender Rhodes, George Mitchell-Bass) and you'll agree.
Talking Drum said, “You can be assured that Ms. Blackman will be around for a long time to come..” She is thunder. She is fire. She is energy. She is passion. She is Cindy Blackman.
According to Cindy herself, “The life of music is bigger than all of us.”
https://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/cindyblackman
Cindy Blackman
Born in Ohio and raised in Connecticut, Cindy began her musical career as a New York street performer. She spent three semesters at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts and also studied with legendary teacher Alan Dawson.
Cindy moved to New York City in the 80's and since that time, she has been seen and heard by millions of people all over the world performing with her own group and during her 11 year stint with retro funk rocker Lenny Kravitz, since 1993.
In 1998, Cindy released her first drumming instructional video entitled, “Multiplicity” through Warner Brothers publications. Cindy has been touted as “one of the hottest drummers in the business, by the Star-Gazette and is regarded as one of the top drummers in the world. She is a solid, dependable drummer who can easily move from straight-ahead jazz to rock to funk and back again.
She's upheld the backbeat and created texture for a veritable “Who's Who” in jazz: Jackie McLean, Joe Henderson, Don Pullen, Hugh Masekela, Pharaoh Sanders, Sam Rivers, Cassandra Wilson, Angela Bofill, Bill Laswell, Buckethead. In early 2000, Cindy released the latest of her several acclaimed solo albums entitled “Works on Canvas.” She released her seventh solo release “Someday” in 2004.
“Some drummers act, some react. Some keep time, others create it. Cindy Blackman is among the few who can....” says Mike Zwerin of the International Herald Tribune. One listen to her latest release, Works On Canvas (featuring J.D. Allen-Tenor Saxophone, Carlton Holmes-Piano/Fender Rhodes, George Mitchell-Bass) and you'll agree.
Talking Drum said, “You can be assured that Ms. Blackman will be around for a long time to come..” She is thunder. She is fire. She is energy. She is passion. She is Cindy Blackman.
According to Cindy herself, “The life of music is bigger than all of us.”
Cindy Blackman Biography
| Name: Cindy Blackman | Drums: Gretsch |
| Born: November 18, 1959 | Cymbals: Istanbul |
| Origin: Yellow Springs, Ohio | Sticks: Vic Firth |
Official Facebook, Official Myspace, Official Twitter |
Who Is Cindy Blackman?
Cindy
Blackman was born in Yellow Springs, Ohio to a very musical family.
Cindy Blackman’s mother and grandmother were both classically trained
musicians, playing violin in classical orchestras and piano,
respectively. Cindy Blackman’s uncle played
vibraphone, her father was a jazz buff, his older sister was really into
Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Sly and the Family Stone, and James Brown,
and his older brother was a big fan of John Coltrane’s music.
Cindy Blackman’s interest in drumming began at a very young age.
Whenever she heard music, live or on records, drums were always the
instruments that stuck out to her the most. Cindy Blackman loved rhythm
and the role a drummer played in the music. At the age of 7, Cindy Blackman
had her first experience with a drum set while attending a pool party
at a friend’s house in Yellow Springs. While making her way to the
host’s house bathroom, Cindy Blackman stumbled upon a drum set.
“Just looking at them struck something in my core, and it was
completely right from the second I saw them. And then, when I hit them,
it was like, wow, that’s me. That’s completely natural for me. It’s like
breathing for me. It didn’t feel awkward at all.” – Interview to Glenwood Spring’s Post Independent, July 16, 2008.
Upon hearing of Cindy Blackman’s new found passion for drums, her
mother thought she would grow out of it eventually. However, she didn’t.
Cindy Blackman
immediately began playing in the school band and was able to convince
her parents to buy a drum set she could call her own. It was a toy drum
set so it didn’t last long.
When Cindy Blackman was 11 years old she moved with her family to
Bristol, Connecticut. There, Cindy Blackman joined the junior high
concert and jazz bands. She was part of the percussion section whenever
the band did plays and performances, and was also given the opportunity
to play timpani and lead snare drum in the school orchestra. Cindy
Blackman even attended a summer session at the Hartt College of Music,
Hartford, and visited Jackie and Dollie Mclean’s Artists Collective.
Cindy Blackman’s love for drumming led her to a local fife and drum
corps, where she enlisted her services at the age of 12 and learned how
to play the drum rudiments accurately.
“We used to take each rudiment and start playing it as slowly as
we possibly could, then we’d speed it up, still keeping the sticks the
same distance and height from the drum. When we got to top speed, we’d
slow it back down, still keeping the sticks even – a very difficult task
for a kid. It meant that I had to get my hands together really early,
though, and it was a great opportunity. I may only have been twelve at
the time, but I still draw on that experience today.”
After realizing what could be gained from being taught privately by a
good and experienced drum teacher, Cindy Blackman begged her parents
for some drum lessons.
Soon after, her wishes were acknowledged and she began taking her first
drum lessons. Cindy Blackman was around 13 years old when a friend of
hers changed her musical life forever, by introducing her to the
drumming of Max Roach.
At the time, Cindy Blackman was more of a pop/rock drummer. Learning
about jazz, Max Roach and what he was accomplishing on the drum set with
4-way independence, really intrigued her because of the challenge that
was involved in it.
“The first time that I focused on a particular drummer was when a
family friend – a drummer himself – turned me on to Max Roach. He took a
passage that Max had played on a certain record and he wrote it out on
paper for me. He explained what Max was playing with his right hand, his
left hand and his feet (…) I realized that there was a lot more to it
than I’d thought and I began to have more respect for players like Max
Roach and Elvin Jones. Then I started listening to Art Blakey and Philly
Joe Jones.”
Seeing her interest in drumming grow, and after going through several
toy drum sets, Cindy Blackman’s parents decided to give her a student
model drum set at the age of 13. Prior to that, Cindy Blackman’s only
experiences with a real drum set were at her boyfriend’s house, where
they’d take turns playing along to records.
Cindy Blackman’s musical career was once again shook up buy another great jazz drummer, Tony Williams.
Once again, one of Cindy Blackman’s friends played a huge role in this
new discovery of hers by exposing her to records where Tony Williams’
playing was featured. Cindy Blackman was floored by Tony’s touch, sound
and very innovative and creative approach to drum set playing. At the
age of 16, Cindy Blackman attended a Tony Williams drum clinic in the
basement of Bob Gatzen’s “Creative Music” drum shop that significantly
changed her posture, her concepts and attitude towards drum set playing.
“Tony was incredible. His technique was blistering. The sound of
his drums was amazing. His musicality with all that technique was mind
boggling, and his intelligence on top of that was incredible. I had
heard him on record and was extremely impressed and excited by what I
had heard. That’s why I went to hear him.” – Interview to DRUM! Magazine, December Issue, 1999.
Cindy Blackman ended up relocating to Boston, Massachusetts where she
studied for three semesters at the Berklee College of Music. There,
Cindy Blackman worked primarily under the supervision of Lenny Nelson,
transcribing and playing drum parts from records. Cindy Blackman also
took that opportunity to take private drum lesson from Tony Williams‘ former drum teacher, the legendary Alan Dawson.
In 1982, Cindy Blackman dropped out of Berklee and moved to New York
City to take on drumming duties for The Drifters. Living in New York
enabled her to watch and learn from all of her favorite jazz drummers: Art Blakey, Elvin Jones,
Philly Joe Jones, Roy Haynes, Tony Williams, Ed Blackwell, Billy Hart,
Billy Higgins, Louis Hayes, Al Foster and Jack DeJohnette. Cindy
Blackman actually worked as a New York street performer as well.
“It was not that I left school in order to be a street performer,
but I just wanted to move to New York. I played in different clubs and
places but I did not have a main gig (…) I met these guys who were
playing on the street, they asked me to play (drums) and I said ‘of
course’. Then I loved it because every day you play from noon to
midnight, sometimes even to 7 a.m.” – Interview to Today’s Zaman, November 27, 2007.
It didn’t take too long for Cindy Blackman to start making a name for
herself in the New York City jazz scene. In 1984, Cindy Blackman was
showcased on Ted Curson’s “Jazz Stars of the Future” on King’s Crown
Radio (WKCR-FM). In 1987, and after an executive at Muse Records heard
her compositions for Wallace Roney’s album Verses, Cindy Blackman was offered a recording contract as a band-leader. The following year saw the release of Arcane,
Cindy Blackman’s first effort as a band-leader. However, it would take 5
more years until Cindy Blackman got her first humongous break.
Surprisingly, it came from the world of rock music by the hands of Lenny
Kravitz.
At the time, Cindy Blackman and Lenny Kravitz had a mutual friend in a
saxophone player. One day, Cindy Blackman got a call from that friend.
He had Lenny Kravitz on the line and asked if she would mind talking to
him. Although Cindy Blackman didn’t have the slightest idea of who Lenny
Kravitz was, she agreed to talk to him since her friend had told her
that he was a big fan of Gretsch drums and K Zildjian cymbals, much like
her. After chatting for a while, Lenny Kravitz asked her to play on her
drum set over the phone. After she’d played, Lenny Kravitz asked her to
fly straight to Los Angeles (L.A.) to meet him.
“I went to L.A. and ended up auditioning with thirty other
people. I packed for two days and ended up staying for two weeks. At the
end of those two weeks we did ‘Are You Going To Go My Way’ and I shot
my first video with Lenny. He asked me to join the band, I said yes and
asked when I started. He just turned round and said, ‘You already have…’
”.
Career Highlights & Musical Projects
Cindy Blackman has recorded 9 studio albums as a band-leader: Arcane (1988), Code Red (1990), Telepathy (1992), The Oracle (1995), In The Now (1998), Works On Canvas (1999), Someday (2001), Music For The New Millennium (2005), and Another Lifetime
(2010). Besides her personal musical endeavors, Cindy Blackman has been
part of Lenny Kravitz’s supporting band since 1993, the year she
recorded drums for Are You Gonna Go My Way. It was Lenny
Kravitz’s first album to achieve worldwide success, selling over 4
million copies worldwide. Cindy Blackman was a member of Carlos
Santana’s touring band in 2010 as well, filling in briefly for Dennis Chambers.
In 1998, Warner Brothers publications released Cindy Blackman’s first drumming instructional video entitled, Multiplicity.
In 2001, Cindy Blackman was one of the many drummers that played on the
Modern Drummer Festival. Cindy Blackman has also worked on signature
products with the companies she endorses. Istanbul Cymbals released the
“Cindy Blackman OM Series”, a collection of cymbals designed especially
to capture the sound of the golden era of jazz drumming. With Vic Firth,
Cindy Blackman has helped develop her line of signature drumsticks as
well.
Getting to know and befriend guys like Art Blakey and Tony Williams
were among the greatest highlights of Cindy Blackman’s career.
“I was introduced to Art Blakey, who befriended me. Meeting him
was just amazing – he started calling me his daughter, and even his
children acknowledged me as part of the family! (…) I got to meet so
many people – Elvin Jones, Billy Higgins and Tony Williams. Meeting Tony
was the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
What Can We Learn From Cindy Blackman?
The fife and drum corps Cindy Blackman was a part of was substantial
in helping her develop great facility with her hands while playing
traditional grip. This was the direct result of how she and her
colleagues were taught by the drum corps master. While using drum rudiments
as basic exercises for developing technique, the drum corps master
instructed the students to go from slow to fast while keeping the same
stick-height and dynamic value happening. This was done from the softest
to the loudest of strokes. This equipped Cindy Blackman with the
ability to play loud, soft, and all the dynamic levels in between at
various speeds with confidence, control, and accuracy.
This is a great idea that you can apply to your practice regime as
well. Instead of practicing drum rudiments and warm-ups at a single
dynamic level, play them with different volumes. Being able to play them
at any dynamic level, regardless of the speed at what you’re playing is
crucial in attaining mastery over you hands. No matter the style of
music you play, this is a very important concept. Playing with dynamics
is crucial if you want to be a musical drummer. Besides dynamics, Cindy
Blackman feels that there’s a lot that one can do to be as musical as
possible.
“Playing in the moment and not just playing what you practice in a
drum room is one key. Learning harmony, or at least root motion, melody
and phrasing is another. Listening and reacting to the music and
soloists, and not just playing back every lick you hear them playing is a
very important key as well. Playing with dynamics, intellect and heart
are yet other very important elements.” – Interview to AbstractLogix.com, April, 2010.
Cindy Blackman’s love for Tony Williams’ drumming has fueled her
playing throughout the years with endless inspiration and ideas. Tony
Williams’ drumming concepts vastly permeates Cindy Blackman’s whole
approach to the drum set. A great example of that is the drum solo from
the song “40 Years Of Innovation” taken from the album Another Lifetime,
an album devoted to the memory of Tony Williams, his music and his
playing. The tune features traits of Tony Williams’ playing with the single stroke roll
crescendo and decrescendo, the flammed triplets played around the
drums, and the fast consecutive strokes played on the bass drum with a
single bass drum pedal.
Although she was highly influenced by Tony Williams’ approach to the
drum set, Cindy Blackman was still able to find a voice of her own on
the instrument. Getting inspired by other drummers, using their concepts
and licks as a starting point to your own studies on this beautiful
instrument won’t be detrimental to the development of your own style. It
will only be detrimental if learning those concepts and licks are your
main objective, and not means to an end. Expanding on them and
elaborating new ideas and concepts through them is what will set you
apart from those who inspire you, those who came before you. This is
what will have you working on your own voice. So whenever you learn
anything from your favorite drummers be creative with it afterwards.
The drum set is a very demanding and physical musical instrument. As
we grow older we may start losing some of our abilities if we’re not
careful with ourselves. Being well aware of this, Cindy Blackman takes
care of herself by keeping her body in top physical shape by practicing
yoga and karate, and by eating healthily.
“I eat completely organic, take a lot of sea minerals, try to eat
natural foods. I eat nothing out of a can, I don’t drink soda and I
usually juice my own juices. When I see my peers we talk about different
things and I know it pays off.” – Interview to TheStar.com, June 7, 2008.
Taking care of yourself, eating properly and exercising regularly
will not only safeguard your drumming abilities, but also guaranty that
you’ll be drumming for years to come. Living healthily can actually
expand the number of years you live with quality. This means you’ll be
able to spend more years drumming and having fun. Think about this the
next time you put your hands around a beer and a greasy burger.
BY NICOLAS GRIZZLE | PHOTOGRAPHY BY FRANCIS GEORGE | FROM DRUM! MAGAZINE’S MAY 2018 ISSUE
Through jazz, rock, and Latin music, Cindy Blackman Santana’s powerful drumming is easily identifiable on records and in person. But she’s not one to rest on her laurels. On her new album, Give The Drummer Some, the drumstress proves she’s still evolving as she not only showcases brilliant drumming on original songs and imaginative covers, but tackles a new instrument: Her voice.“I sang a song on Carlos [Santana’s] last record, Power Of Peace (2017). That’s the first time I’ve ever sung on record,” says the 50-something drummer, sitting in a conference room at Santana’s business office in the San Francisco Bay Area. “Usually I just sing in the shower, sing around my house, you know. I like melody, I like singing solos by people whose playing I love, whether it be drummers, horn players, bass players.”
It was one of her drumming idols, Tony Williams, who subconsciously coaxed her voice to the surface. She sings in snippets on Another Lifetime, her 2010 tribute featuring original songs and covers of the iconic drummer who left an indelible mark on jazz starting at age 17 with his time in Miles Davis’ quintet. Though Williams passed away in 1997 at the age of 52, his style and presence are captured beautifully by Blackman Santana on that record and remain as fresh and modern-sounding as ever.
“There were a couple songs I would sing on my Another Lifetime tour, we were doing a tribute to Tony Williams, and so a couple songs he sang, I sang on. But I never considered myself any kind of singer or that I would do anything like that. I [only] did that because I love Tony so much,” says Blackman Santana.
“Carlos [Santana] was saying, ‘You should really sing.’ He was saying, ‘Oh, you know, Narada Michael Walden would be a great producer for you,’” she says. Walden is a superstar drummer in his own right who can be heard on records with Mahavishnu Orchestra, Jeff Beck, and many others. But he’s equally, if not more lauded for his production with such celestial voices as Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey, Diana Ross, and Whitney Houston. One of his Grammy awards is for producing the 1994 album of the year, the soundtrack for The Bodyguard.
“At one point, Narada heard the song I did with Ronnie Isley on Power Of Peace, and he said, ‘Cindy, I want to produce you.’” She continues with a laugh, “And I said, produce me doing what?” When he said he wanted to work with Blackman Santana as a singer, it took some convincing to bring her around.
“The process was different for me, and fun, because I’ve been playing drums since I was, what, three or four? So that comes naturally for me, to play. But singing is not a natural thing for me to do in that realm,” she says. She found a vocal coach, stretched out her pipes, and got in shape, so to speak, for the recording. “[My coach] helps me with all the things that a singer needs to know, including how not to hurt yourself, which is key.”
She and Walden were working on original songs, and at one point he floated the idea of doing a cover tune. “I chose ‘Imagine’ because I love those lyrics, and I love John Lennon. And those lyrics are still so relevant today,” she says. “There’s so much negativity (in the world) and people get caught up in the negativity . . . My whole demeanor, wish, and command for myself is to put out positivity.”
Infographic: Juan Castillo
Forging A Path
As a creative artist, Blackman Santana has already had success at the highest level of so many genres of music. She’s an acclaimed jazz drummer who’s recorded tributes to Tony Williams; she’s a badass rock drummer who spent years touring with Lenny Kravitz; and now she’s the drummer for legendary Latin rock group Santana, sharing a stage with her husband of eight years, Carlos.Her playing reflects her own life story in so many ways. The influence of her mentors — jazz greats like Art Blakey, Tony Williams, Wallace Roney, and so many others — is clear as a ride bell. The power of her playing, particularly reminiscent of Williams’ innovative fusion style, was a natural fit for rock, and her time with Lenny Kravitz in the ’90s cemented her status as a great crossover artist. Now begins a whole new chapter in Latin rock with Santana.
Paoli Mejias, who plays congas with Santana, agrees. “She is amazing,” he says. “[She’s] an incredible drummer. She has a lot of energy.”
“I had heard jazz prior because I used to raid my father’s record collection,” she says with a laugh. “He had Miles Davis records, he had Ahmad Jamal records, so those were my favorite records that he had and I used to sneak in and listen to those records all the time.”
Many family members, including her mother, both grandmothers, and an uncle, were professional or amateur musicians, but it was a family friend — a drummer — who got her hooked on jazz. “He played a Max Roach record for me and he wrote out a little transcription, just a couple bars,” she says. “Prior to that, I had been playing three-limb style. And when he played that and he showed me what it was, I said, ‘Whoa, oh my gosh, how do you do that?’ And he said, ‘That’s called four-way independence, that’s called coordination — that’s a four-limb style, that’s what jazz drummers do.’ I was like, I gotta get that.”
Like a message in a bottle, that one short transcription brought about a journey that nobody could have imagined. “I still have that little paper that he wrote that out on for me. It’s amazing, he drew this tree on the back of it, and on the other side he wrote out two bars — just two bars — and that set me on a whole other course.”
She started devouring every bite of jazz she could find, gorging on Art Blakey, Elvin Jones, and Roy Haynes before discovering her ultimate muse. “Then I heard Tony Williams and that just completely blew my mind. So from those moments, I was completely hooked.”
Cindy Blackman Santana plays with Santana at
the House Of Blues in Las Vegas earlier this year.
Photo: Francis George
the House Of Blues in Las Vegas earlier this year.
Photo: Francis George
Learning From The Masters
Living in New York in her 20s, Blackman Santana not only met several of her idols, but played with them and their bands, went to shows with them, and flourished under their tutelage. Befriending Blakey was particularly impactful to her. “To this day, it’s one of the most amazing things that has ever happened to me,” she says.“Art used to call me his redhead friend, because he didn’t remember my name at first,” she says with a laugh, before doing a husky-voiced Art Blakey impression: “Ey, where’s my redhead friend?” [Laughs.]
The two became very close. Blakey would pass on his drumming knowledge to her, even have her rehearse his band at times. “And I would go to the gigs, and he would have me sit next to the drums, and I would watch him. And he would have me sit in,” she says. “He was like a dad to me. I called him Papa and he called me his daughter. His kids and his family, they recognized me as that, and I identified with them as that to me, because Art was like my daddy. And he still is.”
His influence is audible in her own artistry. “Art is one of our innovators who created jazz,” she says. “He created the drumming that I love for its drive, its aggressiveness, its passion, its fire, the sound of the drums, the veracity with which he hit the drums. Art made all of that happen, he created all of that.” It’s no coincidence that the way she describes Blakey’s drumming is not far from how many music critics would describe her own.
Her voice sparkles with excitement and her pace slightly quickens when she tells stories from her time in New York, hanging out with legendary jazz drummers as a young woman. Because she is such a vibrant storyteller, we’re going to let you read one in her own words, which she told with a smile that did not fade once during the entire story.
“I went to the Vanguard to see Tony Williams play. He was playing there — this was in the ’80s. And in the Vanguard — I don’t know if you’ve ever been there, to the Village Vanguard in New York — there’s a little balcony they call Drummers’ Row. And the stage is right here [points], and Drummers’ Row is right here [points]. There’s a partition here [points], so you want to get as close to this side of the stage as possible so you can see. And so, drummers were racing down there to get those spots, and I was in line to get that spot early. And I did. And I was sitting right there, watching Tony, and I don’t know who was sitting next to me; I wasn’t even paying attention — it didn’t matter. And all of a sudden, I feel somebody plop down in the seat, and it was Art Blakey. And he pushed the cat away who was there and he sat down. ‘Ey.’ And then he put his arm around my shoulder and we’re watching Tony Williams. And he starts — Tony is playing one of these tempos [taps very quickly]. Maybe he was playing blues or something, with his quintet, but it was of those fast tempos. So, Art had his hand on my shoulder, and he was tapping to where he felt it. And Tony was playing, obviously, where he felt it. So to feel those two different times happening, those two different interpretations of that happening at the same time, that blew my mind. It was incredible. Because Art was so far behind the beat, but [still] in the beat. Like, if the quarter-note is as thick as this bottle of water [holds up bottle], Tony was on this side of it, the upper end of it. He was really pushing it. Not rushing, but pushing. Art was way back here, on the back side. So, Tony was on the front side of the beat, Art was on the backside. It was incredible to feel that. It was amazing.”
So, where was she feeling the beat? “I felt it where Tony was feeling it, obviously,” she says with a laugh.
Plays Well With Others
Blackman Santana has a strong musical identity as an artist, but understands the importance of adapting her own style to fit the song. Where she feels the beat, for example, depends on the artist she’s playing with. “Every band, every musician, and every song needs a different thing, maybe,” she says. “And that’s one of the joys of music, is finding those different things. It’s very colorful. It’s like getting your crayons out and making a beautiful collage of different colors.”
Cindy Blackman Santana. Photo: Francis George
And taking on new projects is something she enjoys. “I like the challenge of it, I like learning new things. I like the excitement of taking different pathways, because [then] music and life are not boring.”
A different pathway opened up in 2010, when Cindy Blackman was playing with Santana on tour. She had just finished a drum solo during the show, and Carlos turned to her and proposed, right there on stage. They married less than a year later. Now, Blackman Santana has been playing regularly with Santana since 2016, including the band’s four annual residencies at the House Of Blues in Las Vegas.
She continues to write her own music, and that, too, is evolving. Tunes recorded for her new album range from straight-ahead jazz to upbeat pop, with some rock-and-roll groove and world music flavor thrown in for good measure. “For me, it’s a very natural thing to have a feeling for the different kinds of music,” says Blackman Santana.
There’s also some experimentation that came into play. “I was on my way to the studio and I thought, I’m going to do some layering and just have some drum stuff,” she says. “I’d been listening to Tony Williams’ record Ego and I love the drum pieces he did on that. So I called [the engineers] when I was in the car, and I asked, ‘Do you guys have any percussion? I don’t care if it’s real percussion, just grab me some stuff to hit. Grab me some bottles, cans, trashcan tops, pieces of paper, pots, just grab anything that you’ve got. Wood, pieces of wood, hollow chairs, give me anything!’ [Laughs.]” They rigged up a percussion tree with both legitimate and found instruments, and the sounds wound up making their way into two tracks on the album.
Blackman Santana also invited guest musicians to add their own musical voices, including Carlos Santana and [guitarist] John McLaughlin. “Carlos’ playing is incredible,” she says. “And he really knows how to play around a vocal to make me sound better than I sound.” [Laughs.]
Other guests include Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett and Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid. “Those two play together. [The song is] called ‘Evolution Revolution.’ Those two are killing it,” says Blackman Santana. Neil Evans, Matt Garrison, Benny Rietveld, Bill Ortiz, and others are also featured on the album. Instrumental parts were recorded in Vegas, with vocals tracked in Walden’s studio in the San Francisco Bay Area. They recorded much more than one album’s worth of music, and Blackman Santana hinted at a “part two” that could be released down the road.
But no matter how far she branches out, or what instruments she chooses to use to express herself, jazz will always be the music that makes her heart sing the loudest.
“You take Charlie Parker, and you take 32 bars that he played of that song — one chorus today, one chorus tomorrow, one chorus from last month, and one chorus from last year, and they’re all going to be completely different and completely great,” she says. “[But] it’s the same tune. So that, to me, is what makes creative music, jazz music, improvisational music at its highest, that’s what makes it, to me, the greatest music on the planet.”
434 – Cindy Blackman-Santana: Connecting to the Divine
Podcast: Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS
Cindy Blackman-Santana talks about:
- Being fascinated by drums from an early age
- The expressive and the technical aspects of music and the importance of both
- How to imbue your drumming with substance
- Why she approaches every band situation like it’s her band
- How she easily brushes off naysayers and people who doubt her
- Her current goals as a drummer and as a human
- Her upcoming solo record, featuring Carlos Santana, John McLaughlin and many others
- Much more
Resources / Links mentioned:
- Contact Cindy Blackman-Santana: Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
- Cindy’s upcoming album
https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/cindy-blackman-santana-20178.php
Blackman
was the drummer for some of the shows of the famous Mexican-American
musician Carlos Santana and they dated for a while. Santana proposed to
Blackman after her drum solo during a concert at Tinley Park, Illinois,
on July 9, 2010. On December 19, 2010, the two got married at Maui,
Hawaii. Blackman lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Cindy Blackman Santana
Birthday: November 18, 1959
Nationality: American
Famous:
Drummers
Jazz Musicians
Age: 59 Years, 59 Year Old Females
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Also Known As: Cindy Blackman
Born in: Yellow Springs, Ohio
Famous as: Drummer
Height: 1.78 m
U.S. State: Ohio
Cynthia R. Blackman,
better known as Cindy Blackman Santana, is an American rock and jazz
drummer known for her albums, ‘Works on Canvas’ and ‘Another Lifetime.’
Female jazz percussionists are rare and she is considered to be one of
the best among them. Born in Ohio, she spent her later childhood in
Connecticut, where she attended the ‘Hartt School of Music’ and then
studied under Alan Dawson at the ‘Berklee College of Music,’ Boston.
Blackman has been creating great music since the beginning of her career
as a street performer in New York during the 1980s, to the present day.
Her recording career as a drummer started in the late 80s. Apart from
producing critically acclaimed albums such as ‘Another Lifetime’ (2010),
she has toured and recorded with other artists like Don Pullen, Hugh
Masakela, Angela Bofill, Pharoah Sanders, Bill Laswell, and Cassandra
Wilson among others. She was the tour drummer of Lenny Kravitz’s band
for a number of years. In 2010, she was one of the artists at the
all-star show, ‘Bitches Brew,’ at ‘San Francisco Jazz Festival’ and ‘New
York City Winter Jazz Fest.’ Blackman married well-known guitarist
Carlos Santana in 2010.
Recommended Lists:
Childhood & Early Life
- Blackman was born on November 18, 1959, in Yellow Springs, Ohio. She spent her later childhood years in Bristol, Connecticut. She has a strong musical background as her mother and grandmother were classical musicians, while her uncle played the vibraphone. Her mother played violin in orchestras during her young days, and her grandmother was a classical pianist. Her mother took young Cindy for classical concerts.
- From very early, she was attracted toward the drums and asked her mother for drums at the age of 3. At 7, she played drums for the first time at a friend’s party. Blackman got her first professional set at 13 years of age.
- Her family relocated to Bristol, Connecticut, when she was 11 and she played in jazz band, concert band and orchestra during her high school years. She attended the ‘Hartt School of Music’ in Hartford, Connecticut.
- At 12, she participated in local drum corps and learnt the ‘drum rudiments.’ She also learnt controlled movements of hands, which was difficult for a 12 year old.
- Blackman developed interest in jazz after listening to Max Roach. She attended famous drummer Tony William’s clinic at Bob Gatzen’s local drum store, ‘Creative Music,’ and it had a lot of impact on her.
- She joined the ‘Berklee College of Music’ in Boston, where she studied under Tony William’s former teacher, Alan Dawson. She left her studies after 3 semesters, and in 1982 went to New York City, where she worked as a street performer. Initially she faced resistance due to racial as well as gender prejudice, but she overcame all this with her talent. In New York, she attended performances of many great drummers, including Billy Higgins, Ed Blackwell, Roy Haynes, Art Blakey, and Louis Hayes among others.
Recommended Lists:
Career
- In 1984, Blackman was featured on New York’s ‘King’s Crown Radio’ (WKCR – FM) in Ted Curson’s ‘Jazz Stars for the Future.’ Her compositions were included in Wallace Roney’s album, ‘Verses,’ in 1987. After listening to these compositions, ‘Muse Records’ offered her a recording contract. 'Arcane,’ her debut creation as a band leader was released in 1988.
- In 1993, Lenny Kravitz heard her play, and invited her to Los Angeles. She appeared for auditions along with 30 others and got selected. She recorded with him for his ‘Are You Gonna Go My Way.’ Blackman continued to play mainly as his touring drummer (Kravitz usually played his own drums while recording an album).
- In 2004, she stopped playing for Kravitz’s group as she wished to concentrate on her own music. In 2014 she returned to play for Kravitz’s promotional tours for his tenth studio album, ‘Strut.’
- Her first recording with a working group was for the album, ‘Telepathy,’ in 1994. Blackman’s first drumming instructional video, ‘Multiplicity,’ was brought out by ‘Warner Brothers’ publications in 1998. With her own label, ‘Sacred Sound Label,’ she released the album, ‘Music for the New Millennium,’ in 2005.
- Blackman has released nine studio albums as band leader – ‘Arcane’ (1988), ‘Code Red’ (1990), ‘Telepathy’ (1992), ‘The Oracle’ (1995), ‘In the Now’ (1998), ‘Works on Canvas’ (1999), ‘Someday’ (2001), ‘Music for the New Millennium’ (2005), and ‘Another Lifetime’ (2010). Some other albums she has worked on include ‘Organ Monk’ (2012), ‘Spectrum Road’ (2012), and ‘Power of Peace’ (2017).
- Her well-known 2010 album, ‘Another Lifetime,’ is a tribute to her mentor and inspiration, legendary drummer Tony Williams. It features three original tracks by Blackman and eight songs from Williams’ 1970s group, ‘Lifetime.’
- Blackman enjoys playing jazz in small clubs. She tours around and conducts drum clinics. She traveled around South America in September 2007 and held clinics in Chile, Brazil and Argentina. She performed with her quartet at the ‘Art After 5’ at ‘Philadelphia Art Museum’ on November 30, 2007. At the ‘2011 Montreux Festival,’ Switzerland, she was the drummer for the combined show of Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin.
Recommended Lists:
Personal Life
https://www.allmusic.com/album/telepathy-mw0000113585
Drummer Cindy Blackman's third Muse album shows a maturity, confidence, and assertiveness that her two previous sessions lacked. She is the unquestioned leader, sparkling in her playing and punctuating the songs with the vigor you'd expect from a veteran percussionist. This is an ensemble sound, with Blackman's drums prominent but no less important than any other element on the 11 numbers; among them are sharp readings of "Tune Up" and "Well You Needn't," plus her own "Persuasion," "Spank," "Missing You," and the title cut. While hard bop as well as some funk tinges are present, Cindy Blackman shows signs of being much more than another neo-bop follower on this date.
AllMusic Review by Ron Wynn
Drummer Cindy Blackman's third Muse album shows a maturity, confidence, and assertiveness that her two previous sessions lacked. She is the unquestioned leader, sparkling in her playing and punctuating the songs with the vigor you'd expect from a veteran percussionist. This is an ensemble sound, with Blackman's drums prominent but no less important than any other element on the 11 numbers; among them are sharp readings of "Tune Up" and "Well You Needn't," plus her own "Persuasion," "Spank," "Missing You," and the title cut. While hard bop as well as some funk tinges are present, Cindy Blackman shows signs of being much more than another neo-bop follower on this date.
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/cindy-blackman-changing-jazz-cindy-blackman-by-bill-leikam.php?width=1920
Cindy Blackman
The Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society
Half Moon Bay, California
December 7, 2008
Jazz has been in cycles of change almost from its inception, and I see another of those changes happening now. Jazz drummer Cindy Blackman's recent performance at the Bach is a prime example of this change. Some writers refer to her style as post-bop but that's too nebulous a term to distinguish it from other modern jazz forms. Let's tell it like it is: Blackman's style is power-jazz.
From the moment that she sat down before her trap set, Blackman launched into the first tune with a surge of energy that engulfed the house with a fiery passion that is hard to find in most jazz drummers. Because there was no introduction, no naming of the tunes, Blackman slid from one piece to the next with hardly a break. Her drumming was crisp, dynamic, and delightfully edgy. She dominated the first cut that almost became a drum solo.
By the third piece, Blackman gracefully took the backseat and let her band have the limelight for a few moments. Carlton Holmes split his time between his Fender Rhodes and the house Steinway Baby Grand, while Antoine Roney, tenor sax, came through with riffs that reminded me of a mix between the soul of Coltrane and a laid back Kidd Jordon. Behind them was George Mitchell on upright bass holding the groove solidly in place but letting it breathe.
By the end of the first set, it was obvious that Blackman's drums were the principle instrument. During the break someone asked, "Aren't the drums supposed to support the other instruments and just keep time?" That's the way it tends to be, but here's where power-jazz defines itself: drums become the lead instrument of the band and the other instruments most often support the drummer as a working unit, together. Blackman directed the group with vivid hues, shifting tempos, and thoughtful dynamics. She never merely kept time but played the rhythms within it.
This
could, with some drummers, become a problem because drums can overwhelm
all of the other instruments involved unless the band is well rehearsed
and of a professional caliber. The Cindy Blackman Quartet was certainly
in the groove with each other. The balance between sax, keyboards, and
bass came through extraordinarily well no matter how passionately or
dynamically Blackman played. Cindy Blackman: Changing Jazz
by
Cindy Blackman
The Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society
Half Moon Bay, California
December 7, 2008
Jazz has been in cycles of change almost from its inception, and I see another of those changes happening now. Jazz drummer Cindy Blackman's recent performance at the Bach is a prime example of this change. Some writers refer to her style as post-bop but that's too nebulous a term to distinguish it from other modern jazz forms. Let's tell it like it is: Blackman's style is power-jazz.
From the moment that she sat down before her trap set, Blackman launched into the first tune with a surge of energy that engulfed the house with a fiery passion that is hard to find in most jazz drummers. Because there was no introduction, no naming of the tunes, Blackman slid from one piece to the next with hardly a break. Her drumming was crisp, dynamic, and delightfully edgy. She dominated the first cut that almost became a drum solo.
By the third piece, Blackman gracefully took the backseat and let her band have the limelight for a few moments. Carlton Holmes split his time between his Fender Rhodes and the house Steinway Baby Grand, while Antoine Roney, tenor sax, came through with riffs that reminded me of a mix between the soul of Coltrane and a laid back Kidd Jordon. Behind them was George Mitchell on upright bass holding the groove solidly in place but letting it breathe.
By the end of the first set, it was obvious that Blackman's drums were the principle instrument. During the break someone asked, "Aren't the drums supposed to support the other instruments and just keep time?" That's the way it tends to be, but here's where power-jazz defines itself: drums become the lead instrument of the band and the other instruments most often support the drummer as a working unit, together. Blackman directed the group with vivid hues, shifting tempos, and thoughtful dynamics. She never merely kept time but played the rhythms within it.
After the audience's standing ovation, I met with Ms. Blackman and asked her what the difference was between playing such an intimate room as the Bach and other rooms she'd played on her tour. She said, "In such a close environment the band can feel the nuances of the audience and that influences how they play. We can more easily tell that the audience is listening and enjoying the band." She added, "And we could tell that this was a sophisticated audience."
Cindy Blackman
Jacques Lowe. Cindy Blackman
Cindy Blackman is a potpourri of contradictions. Slightly built, carefully coifed and very feminine, she is a powerful, even volcanic, drummer. A city dweller who often longs for the countryside, Blackman loves to rent a small convertible whenever she can for the sheer pleasure of driving. A world traveler, Blackman is also a homebody who loves to cook and is zealous about keeping her home clean. Deeply religious, she is a certified member of the rock world-a place not known for its piety. And her taste in music ranges from Jimi Hendrix and James Brown to Scottish fife and drum corps.
Cindy moved to Brooklyn because it is “just a little more laid back” than Manhattan, where she lived most of her professional life. “It’s a tiny bit of the country, but eventually I need three residencies: a city apartment, a country home and a beach house. I’m working on it.”
Blackman’s loft, in a former warehouse, is bare save for a giant untitled painting, a ’50s drum set-her prized possession-a Rhodes keyboard and a sophisticated audio system. “When I moved in to the loft and told my predecessor that I was a drummer and practiced daily, he told me that wasn’t a problem. He had installed a stage quality stereo system, seven huge speakers, which he played at top capacity. ‘The neighbors never complained; it was cool,’ he said. Well, he lied and I like to live in harmony so I now practice under stereo volume, which, by the way, is great discipline.
“I’m a night owl, so my day starts slowly. I take my [vitamin] concoctions, get out my juicer. I like omelets, so I prepare my breakfast, take a shower, listen to the radio and then get into my music. “
Blackman was born in Yellow Springs, Ohio, into a musical family. Her dad was a music fan, but her mom was a classical violinist who played with orchestras around the state. “Dad’s mom, in her 90s, still plays the piano,” her uncle played the vibraphone and her older sister sang in the church choir and in local bands. Cindy’s family moved to Connecticut when she was 11 and, after she finished high school, they settled in Boston, where she attended Berklee School of Music.
For the past seven years Cindy has been drummer with rocker Lenny Kravitz and she has traveled the world with his group. “Sometimes the road is hard; there is so little time.”
During her world travels, Blackman fell in love with art. “In Amsterdam, when I had a day off, I went to the Van Gogh museum. It blew my mind. The energy just jumped off the paintings.”
Currently off the road, Blackman says, “Right now I have a little time to relax and I am very happy to be in my own place, in my own country for a while. I can change my hair from time to time, see my friends, experiment with cooking meals and practice and write. On the road I’m always surrounded by people, but I often get lonely. Also, I can’t trust everybody. I am, after all, a woman.”
The Personal Files
Audio/Video System?
Krell amplifiers and preamps; B & W speakers and NBS cables; Hitachi and Sony video records; a 27-inch Hitachi TV.
Computer/Software?
Macintosh G3 laptop; AOL; language studies
Last Movie?
Man on the Moon; The Matrix
Last Book?
The Cure for All Cancer by Hulda Regehr Clark, M.D., Ph.D.
Favorite Drink?
Lemon and water and Cristal; Veuve Cliquot champagne
Watch/Jewelry?
Just lost my Gucci watch; silver Scarab ring; nose diamond
Clothing Style?
Casual (jeans) to Roberto Cavalli; Dona Karan and Gucci for accessories
Desert Island Picks?
A drum set; lots of music; a man
http://www.kennedy-center.org/Artist/A19510
Cindy Blackman
Biography
Drummer/composer Cindy Blackman is known as a powerful percussionist from the hard-bop mold. Born in Ohio, but raised in Connecticut, Blackman decided at the age of eight that she was going to be a drummer, beginning her musical career as a New York street performer. She spent three semesters at Berklee College of Music in Boston studying under legendary teacher Alan Dawson. Stints with school orchestras and bands and a spot in her local fife and drum corps helped her to develop her technique and informed her unique understanding of her chosen instrument. After college, her love of jazz drew her to New York City, where in the 1980s, she became friends with many of her drumming heroes, including Art Blakey, Elvin Jones and Tony Williams. Since those early years, she has been seen and heard by millions the world over in performances with her own group and also in concert with Lenny Kravitz.
Cindy Blackman: Of A Lifetime
In drum demigod Tony Williams, Cindy Blackman finds endless influence and inspiration
If you’re serious about being a drummer,” he told her, “you have
to hear the greatest drummer alive.” Cindy Blackman was only 15 in 1975,
but she was serious about being a drummer. She’d been playing for eight
years and was already gigging around the Hartford, Conn., area with a
teenage funk band. Who was the greatest drummer alive, she asked Greg
Chappel, and how could she hear him?
Chappel, the guitarist in a band with Cindy’s big sister Anasa, invited the kid sister over to his house and down to the basement. He put an LP on the turntable and left her alone with it while he went upstairs to eat Sunday dinner with his family. The album was Miles Davis’ In Europe, and Tony Williams, the drummer, was pitting time signature against time signature in a hurricane of beats that the young listener had never imagined possible. “When Greg came back downstairs,” Blackman remembers, “my jaw was resting on the floor. I had never heard of Tony Williams, but now I wanted to find out everything I could about him. I wanted to do what he was doing. And when Greg told me Tony had only been 17 when he recorded that, I couldn’t believe it, because I was 15.”
Blackman’s latest album, Another Lifetime, is an explicit tribute to Williams featuring six tunes that he recorded plus another three that Blackman co-wrote in honor of him. But all her recordings, she insists, have been implicit tributes to Williams. Ever since that Sunday in Connecticut she has been pursuing the same level of energy, the same independence of different parts, the same degree of invention that she heard on that basement stereo. She has succeeded enough to release 10 albums as a bandleader and to record with such jazz artists as Wallace Roney, Mike Stern and Charnett Moffett, and pop artists like Lenny Kravitz, Joss Stone and Patti LaBelle.
In the weeks and months after that Sunday afternoon in Chappel’s basement, Blackman would gush to anyone and everyone about this incredible drummer she had discovered. One day one of her friends said, ‘Hey, that guy you’ve been talking about is doing a drum clinic this Sunday.’ Blackman’s single mom, a classical violinist, didn’t have much money, but there was no resisting her daughter’s enthusiasm. Cindy showed up at Creative Music in Weathersfield, Conn., to find Williams accompanied only by bassist Bunny Brunel. Williams had just released Believe It, a studio album with guitarist Allan Holdsworth, and was sporting a healthy afro around his baby face. “In those two hours,” Blackman recalls, “I heard the sound I wanted to have, the technique I wanted to have and the direction I wanted to go. It surpassed what I’d heard on record because I was able to see it. He was taking questions, and I half-heartedly raised my hand. He looked over to me, as if to say, ‘What is your question?’ I opened my mouth and no words came out. But I really wanted to talk to him, so I waited upstairs until everyone else had left. He came upstairs with this brown leather jacket and this beautiful leather stick bag that looked 200 years old. He had a scarf on and a hat; he looked like a king. As he was walking by, I said, ‘Hi,’ really softly, and he said ‘Hi,’ just as softly. It wasn’t until our second meeting that I actually talked to him.”
In the meantime, Blackman listened to Williams’ records obsessively, trying to pick out all the different things he was doing and then going to the drums and trying to duplicate what she had just heard. On the one hand, it was difficult, arduous work; on the other hand, Blackman never got tired of hearing those tracks. She soon discovered that Williams wasn’t innovating by replacing the past but by adding onto it. “He studied the history of the drums, from Sid Catlett and Papa Jo Jones to Max Roach and Art Blakey to Roy Haynes and Elvin Jones,” she declares. “He picked out all the things he liked from all those drummers and put them into one thing. If you listen to Art Blakey, he’s all about drive and energy; no one swung like he did. He worked with a lot of triplets and six over four. Elvin Jones and Roy Haynes came out of that and were working with triplets in a different direction. Tony took that concept of time within time but just didn’t do them in three; he’d do them in five, seven or nine. He would play snare patterns on the sock cymbal or the bass drum and syncopate them. Tony and Elvin studied African drumming, where a multitude of rhythms are happening. So, yes, when you heard Tony, it sounds like you’re hearing a multitude of drummers. One of those drummers might be a rock drummer; one might be a bop drummer; and another might be a free-jazz drummer. He wouldn’t be those drummers one at a time but all at once.”
You can hear what Blackman means on “Vashkar,” the Carla Bley composition that Williams completely reinvented for Emergency!, the 1969 debut album by the trio Lifetime. Once a lyrical piece recorded by pianist Paul Bley, it now began with John McLaughlin’s low guitar rumble and a series of snare drum rolls that seemed to detonate at the end of short fuses. As the rolls moved to the toms and McLaughlin articulated the captivating melody, there was a simultaneous cymbal commentary and a syncopated bass drum pattern. As the tune ascended into screaming variations on guitar and then on Larry Young’s organ, Williams seemed to be playing a non-stop solo, moving his flurry of sticks around the kit, pushing the beat with his pedals. It really did sound as if more than one drummer were playing-perhaps a rock drummer hammering the main pulse with tremendous physicality and a jazz drummer dancing all around that pulse.
Blackman loved that track so much that she recorded three versions of it for her new album, with a quartet including herself, guitarist Mike Stern, organist Doug Carn and bassist Benny Rietveld. The opening track on Another Lifetime is the version of “Vashkar” closest to the original, though Blackman’s arrangement adds unison riffs at regular intervals to reinforce the structure. She also has a tendency to vary her dynamics within each phrase more dramatically than Williams. And the presence of Rietveld encourages Stern and Carn to play in higher registers than McLaughlin and Young did. The album’s fourth track is “Vashkar Reprise,” a snippet from a studio jam given a hip-swiveling feel by Blackman’s funk groove. The seventh track is “Vashkar-The Alternate Dimension Theory,” a title reflected in the eerie, sci-fi arrangement. Stern plays squealing bird cries and string-scraping growls; Carn plays his effects-laden organ in curt phrases as if speaking an alien language; and Blackman plays rising-and-falling figures that imagine rumbling spaceships passing by. “The heart of those Lifetime records is organ, guitar and drums,” Blackman acknowledges, “but I thought it would be cool to play some of those trio tunes with bass, because Tony added Jack Bruce on bass a year later, and I’m a huge Jack Bruce fan. Benny Rietveld has been with Santana for 15 years now, and I gig with him whenever he’s available. Doug Carn was a friend of Larry Young and comes from that era, and I’ve wanted to play with Mike Stern ever since I was a student at Berklee and he was gigging around Boston. He’s got really big ears, and he’s got a lot of energy-which you need to play these tunes, because John McLaughlin wasn’t messing around.”
The rest of this article appears in the November 2010 issue of JazzTimes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cindy_Blackman_Santana
Chappel, the guitarist in a band with Cindy’s big sister Anasa, invited the kid sister over to his house and down to the basement. He put an LP on the turntable and left her alone with it while he went upstairs to eat Sunday dinner with his family. The album was Miles Davis’ In Europe, and Tony Williams, the drummer, was pitting time signature against time signature in a hurricane of beats that the young listener had never imagined possible. “When Greg came back downstairs,” Blackman remembers, “my jaw was resting on the floor. I had never heard of Tony Williams, but now I wanted to find out everything I could about him. I wanted to do what he was doing. And when Greg told me Tony had only been 17 when he recorded that, I couldn’t believe it, because I was 15.”
Blackman’s latest album, Another Lifetime, is an explicit tribute to Williams featuring six tunes that he recorded plus another three that Blackman co-wrote in honor of him. But all her recordings, she insists, have been implicit tributes to Williams. Ever since that Sunday in Connecticut she has been pursuing the same level of energy, the same independence of different parts, the same degree of invention that she heard on that basement stereo. She has succeeded enough to release 10 albums as a bandleader and to record with such jazz artists as Wallace Roney, Mike Stern and Charnett Moffett, and pop artists like Lenny Kravitz, Joss Stone and Patti LaBelle.
In the weeks and months after that Sunday afternoon in Chappel’s basement, Blackman would gush to anyone and everyone about this incredible drummer she had discovered. One day one of her friends said, ‘Hey, that guy you’ve been talking about is doing a drum clinic this Sunday.’ Blackman’s single mom, a classical violinist, didn’t have much money, but there was no resisting her daughter’s enthusiasm. Cindy showed up at Creative Music in Weathersfield, Conn., to find Williams accompanied only by bassist Bunny Brunel. Williams had just released Believe It, a studio album with guitarist Allan Holdsworth, and was sporting a healthy afro around his baby face. “In those two hours,” Blackman recalls, “I heard the sound I wanted to have, the technique I wanted to have and the direction I wanted to go. It surpassed what I’d heard on record because I was able to see it. He was taking questions, and I half-heartedly raised my hand. He looked over to me, as if to say, ‘What is your question?’ I opened my mouth and no words came out. But I really wanted to talk to him, so I waited upstairs until everyone else had left. He came upstairs with this brown leather jacket and this beautiful leather stick bag that looked 200 years old. He had a scarf on and a hat; he looked like a king. As he was walking by, I said, ‘Hi,’ really softly, and he said ‘Hi,’ just as softly. It wasn’t until our second meeting that I actually talked to him.”
In the meantime, Blackman listened to Williams’ records obsessively, trying to pick out all the different things he was doing and then going to the drums and trying to duplicate what she had just heard. On the one hand, it was difficult, arduous work; on the other hand, Blackman never got tired of hearing those tracks. She soon discovered that Williams wasn’t innovating by replacing the past but by adding onto it. “He studied the history of the drums, from Sid Catlett and Papa Jo Jones to Max Roach and Art Blakey to Roy Haynes and Elvin Jones,” she declares. “He picked out all the things he liked from all those drummers and put them into one thing. If you listen to Art Blakey, he’s all about drive and energy; no one swung like he did. He worked with a lot of triplets and six over four. Elvin Jones and Roy Haynes came out of that and were working with triplets in a different direction. Tony took that concept of time within time but just didn’t do them in three; he’d do them in five, seven or nine. He would play snare patterns on the sock cymbal or the bass drum and syncopate them. Tony and Elvin studied African drumming, where a multitude of rhythms are happening. So, yes, when you heard Tony, it sounds like you’re hearing a multitude of drummers. One of those drummers might be a rock drummer; one might be a bop drummer; and another might be a free-jazz drummer. He wouldn’t be those drummers one at a time but all at once.”
You can hear what Blackman means on “Vashkar,” the Carla Bley composition that Williams completely reinvented for Emergency!, the 1969 debut album by the trio Lifetime. Once a lyrical piece recorded by pianist Paul Bley, it now began with John McLaughlin’s low guitar rumble and a series of snare drum rolls that seemed to detonate at the end of short fuses. As the rolls moved to the toms and McLaughlin articulated the captivating melody, there was a simultaneous cymbal commentary and a syncopated bass drum pattern. As the tune ascended into screaming variations on guitar and then on Larry Young’s organ, Williams seemed to be playing a non-stop solo, moving his flurry of sticks around the kit, pushing the beat with his pedals. It really did sound as if more than one drummer were playing-perhaps a rock drummer hammering the main pulse with tremendous physicality and a jazz drummer dancing all around that pulse.
Blackman loved that track so much that she recorded three versions of it for her new album, with a quartet including herself, guitarist Mike Stern, organist Doug Carn and bassist Benny Rietveld. The opening track on Another Lifetime is the version of “Vashkar” closest to the original, though Blackman’s arrangement adds unison riffs at regular intervals to reinforce the structure. She also has a tendency to vary her dynamics within each phrase more dramatically than Williams. And the presence of Rietveld encourages Stern and Carn to play in higher registers than McLaughlin and Young did. The album’s fourth track is “Vashkar Reprise,” a snippet from a studio jam given a hip-swiveling feel by Blackman’s funk groove. The seventh track is “Vashkar-The Alternate Dimension Theory,” a title reflected in the eerie, sci-fi arrangement. Stern plays squealing bird cries and string-scraping growls; Carn plays his effects-laden organ in curt phrases as if speaking an alien language; and Blackman plays rising-and-falling figures that imagine rumbling spaceships passing by. “The heart of those Lifetime records is organ, guitar and drums,” Blackman acknowledges, “but I thought it would be cool to play some of those trio tunes with bass, because Tony added Jack Bruce on bass a year later, and I’m a huge Jack Bruce fan. Benny Rietveld has been with Santana for 15 years now, and I gig with him whenever he’s available. Doug Carn was a friend of Larry Young and comes from that era, and I’ve wanted to play with Mike Stern ever since I was a student at Berklee and he was gigging around Boston. He’s got really big ears, and he’s got a lot of energy-which you need to play these tunes, because John McLaughlin wasn’t messing around.”
The rest of this article appears in the November 2010 issue of JazzTimes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cindy_Blackman_Santana
Cindy Blackman Santana
Cindy Blackman Santana (born November 18, 1959), sometimes known as Cindy Blackman,[1] is an American jazz and rock drummer. Blackman has recorded several jazz albums as solo act and has performed with Pharoah Sanders, Sonny Simmons, Ron Carter, Sam Rivers, Cassandra Wilson, Angela Bofill, Buckethead, Bill Laswell and Joe Henderson. She was influenced early in her career by seeing Tony Williams perform. In 1997 she recorded the instructional video Multiplicity. "To me, jazz is the highest form of music that you can play because of the creative requirements", says Blackman.[2] Blackman is married to rock guitarist Carlos Santana.
After her introduction to drums at her friend's house, Blackman began playing in the school band and persuaded her parents to get her toy drums when she was seven.[5][6] "Of course those would be broken up in a matter of days", Blackman says.[6] "The only thing I heard at home was, 'we don't know if you can play drums because one, they're noisy, and two, they're very expensive".[6] Some people ask why she didn't study violin or flute like other girls.[2] "I learned very early on – when I was 13 – that when I concentrate on those attitudes, I don't make progress for myself", says Blackman.[2] "If they're not paying my mortgage, I don't care what they think".[2]
Drummer Tony Williams was an early influence.[8] "The first drummer I ever saw, where I got to feel the impact up close, was Tony Williams", Blackman said.[8] "When I was 16, Tony came to my local drum store with a bassist and did a [drum] clinic that left a powerful impression on me. And that's what I thought drumming should be: drummers should have a lot of impact and a great sound, without being limited to a conventional role in the band—the drums should speak just as freely as anybody."[8] Blackman says that the way that Williams used all four limbs to attack the drums strongly influenced her.[5] "I just love and loved everything about Tony", says Blackman.[5] "To me, not only was he a master technician, a master drummer, the innovator of the age, but also, he was a sound innovator. He had so many things that elevated the sound and the level of skill required to play this kind of music."[5] But although Blackman is sometimes referred to as a disciple of Tony Williams, she follows her own path.[9] "On the one hand, it doesn't bother me at all to be associated and in line with a master of the instrument like that – Okay, I might not be where I want to be, but I'm on the right track", says Blackman.[9] "On the other hand, I don't plan on being a clone. What I'm doing is always looking to expound on something that he's done, or push the music in a different way".[9]
Blackman moved to Boston to study at the Berklee College of Music with Alan Dawson, one of Tony Williams' teachers.[3][4] "Alan's method was incredible in terms of getting your independence together, getting your hands together". says Blackman.[4]
While she was at Berklee a friend recommended her for a gig with The Drifters[6] so Blackman left college after three semesters and moved to New York City in 1982.[3] Blackman worked as a New York street performer[10] but also got a chance to watch and learn.[6] "I looked for Art Blakey, I looked for Elvin [Jones], I looked for Philly Joe Jones, for Roy Haynes, for Tony Williams. I saw so many great drummers, like Ed Blackwell and Billy Higgins, Louis Hayes. I saw Al Foster play quite a bit, Billy Hart, Jack DeJohnette. All these people, they're in New York so I got a chance to watch them do their thing".[6]
While in New York, Art Blakey became a significant influence.[11] "He really was like a father to me. I learned a lot just watching him. I asked him a lot of questions about the drums and music – and he answered all of them. He was fantastic", said Blackman.[11]
Blackman initially encountered resistance to a woman playing drums in the jazz world.[6] "I'm a black woman, so I've encountered racial prejudice, and I've encountered gender prejudice. I've also encountered prejudice against my afro when I wore that out. But I've also encountered prejudice against my musical opinions. What I've learned to do is completely ignore that".[6]
In 1993, Blackman had an opportunity to work with Lenny Kravitz.[6]
From New York, Blackman talked over the phone with Kravitz in Los
Angeles, and played drums for him as he listened. Kravitz immediately
asked Blackman to fly out to LA.[6] "Lenny asked me can you play something for me over the phone", Blackman says.[2]
"So I put the phone down and I started playing something like,
BOOSH-bat-bat, BOOSH-BOOSH-BOOSH-bat, and I went back to the phone and I
said, 'Can you hear that?' He said, 'Yeah. Can you fly out to L.A.
right now?'"[2]
"I flew out the next morning. While I'm downstairs waiting for the
instruments to come from the studio, these people started coming in.
First 12, and then like 30 more. I was like, 'whoa, this is an audition'.
I ended up playing and instead of staying for one or two days, I stayed
for two weeks and did the first video that I did with him, "Are You Gonna Go My Way". Apart from 2004, I played with him ever since."[6]
Blackman had previously only played jazz shows and was unprepared to play for an entire arena.[6] "The first time I played in a really large concert with Lenny was at an outdoor festival called Pinkpop. We played for like 70,000 people. It was in the summer so most people had just t-shirts or tanks, a lot of guys had their shirts off, so you just see skin and hands and they're doing this wave thing. I almost lost it, my equilibrium was teetering. I wasn't used to seeing that many people; I was disoriented; I just had to stop looking and start focusing."[6]
Blackman's work for Kravitz is primarily as a touring drummer, to support Kravitz in live concerts. Kravitz usually plays his own drums when recording his albums. The only Kravitz song that Blackman recorded in the studio is "Straight Cold Player" from the album 5.[citation needed]
Blackman says that playing with Kravitz and playing jazz are different.[10] "My job with Lenny is a different thing. My job is to play a beat for hours, and make it feel good, and add some exciting fills and exciting colors, when it fits tastefully", Blackman says.[10] "My job in my band or in a creative situation is a totally different thing. We may start with a groove that feels great, I may play that for hours too, but I'm going to explore and expand and change that, play around with the rhythm and interject with the soloists."[10] "I like dance music and I like making the music feel good", says Blackman.[9] "To drive an audience of 100,000 into complete oblivion by playing a groove so strong ... I love doing that. I love the chance to show versatility."[9]
In an article published May 1, 2004, NPR reported that Blackman had left Kravitz's group to focus on her own music.[12] "I love danceable music, and I love big fat beats and I really dig rock 'n' roll", says Blackman.[2] "But jazz is my heart, it's my love, and I've never left jazz in mind or spirit".[2]
In 2014, Blackman returned to touring with Lenny Kravitz in support of his tenth studio album, Strut.
In 1994 Blackman made her first recording with a working group and called the album Telepathy because of the tight communication in the band.[13] "I wanted to do a quartet record because of the amount of space you get with fewer players", she said in Telepathy's liner notes.[13]
"It's intimate, but more dimensional than a piano trio. I'm really into
this sound, and it was nice to play with a group that was a group. You
can't help but have a better feel when the musicians know each other,
are headed in the same direction, and have the same goals. You can make
most everything work. You get chances to play a lot of colors, and
really stretch your ideas."[13]
In 2005 Blackman released Music for the New Millennium on her Sacred Sounds Label.[10] "It's rooted in tradition, but it's not traditional music. It's explorative, very creative, very expressive, and we really try to expand any ideas we have that everything is played over the forms, but we like to stretch it, and really see the colors and make the music grow and move", says Blackman.[10] "We experiment – but it's never free. Everything is written out. I have charts for all the songs. We expand on what's there, and stretch harmonics and note choices".[10]
Blackman continues to make her home in Brooklyn in New York City.[10] "It's always such an amazing place, with every level of musical accomplishment, you can see complete beginners and you can see innovators. That's why I live in New York. Not only is it tough, but all the greatest people have come through New York", says Blackman.[10] Blackman prefers to play jazz in small, intimate clubs.[14] "It's an acoustic situation. You are close-knit and you are creating one hundred percent of the time – so to me it just doesn't really get any better that!"[14] Blackman also travels extensively conducting drum clinics.[15] In September 2007, she made a tour of South America, teaching clinics in Argentina, Chile, and Brazil,[15] and on November 30, 2007, Blackman and her quartet performed at Art After 5 at the Philadelphia Art Museum.
In 2010 she released a first tribute album to her mentor and dominant inspiration Tony Williams. Another Lifetime featured Mike Stern on guitar and organist Doug Carn following the line-up of the original Tony Williams Lifetime. As guest musicians appear Joe Lovano, Patrice Rushen and Vernon Reid. Reid is the lead guitarist on the second Williams tribute album Spectrum Road (2012), a collaboration between Blackman, Reid, John Medeski on organ and former bassist of Lifetime and Cream Jack Bruce. Bruce also sings on three tracks of the album and Blackman lend her voice to "Where", originally written by (then Lifetime guitarist) John McLaughlin and sung by Williams (Emergency!, 1969), which already appeared on Another Lifetime in an instrumental version. She appeared at the 2011 Montreux festival, Switzerland, playing drums for husband Carlos's one off reunion with John McLaughlin, after which she helped mix the sound for the video.
Blackman says her goal is to become a musical virtuoso.[16] "I want to become a virtuoso", says Blackman.[16] "To me, virtuosity is the ability to say anything on your instrument you want to at any given moment."[16] Blackman describes her music as "completely creative".[16] "I want to push the envelope. I want to really expound on some concepts that, to me, are the highest in the improvisation of music", says Blackman.[16] Blackman loves jazz and wants to delve into its intricacies.[5] "Oh my gosh, it's the best thing in the world", says Blackman.[5] "I feel so blessed, and I'm so thankful to be able to play music. It's an honor, and it's a blessing".[5]
On July 9, 2010, Carlos Santana proposed to Blackman on stage during a concert at Tinley Park, Illinois.[17] Blackman is Santana's touring drummer; he proposed right after her drum solo. They were married on Maui, Hawaii on December 19, 2010.[18]
Blackman is adamant that musicality has nothing to do with gender.[19] "The gender question is not even worth bringing up because the drums have got nothing to do with gender", Blackman says.[19] "I'm there because I love to play music. And I'm in support of anyone who wants to play the instrument. I wouldn't care if Art Blakey was pink with polka dots and wearing a tutu. I wouldn't care if Tony Williams was green."[19] "There are people who have opinions about whatever and whoever, in terms of gender, in terms of race and weight, hairstyle, religion", says Blackman. "But to me, your personality influences what you play and what you do, but everything else is for you to develop and to nourish and to take further, and that's where I'm at. In terms of my goals, me being a female drummer has nothing to with anything except for the fact that I wear bras and panties and guys don't."[16]
https://www.moderndrummer.com/2008/04/cindy-blackman/
by Ken Micallef
Modern Drummer
May 2008
Last year, drumming dynamo Cindy Blackman left behind her big-ticket rock gig with Lenny Kravitz to unleash the jazz devil inside. Her drumming prowess is simply astounding–and is now finally on full display.
Serial jazz and rock drum killer Cindy Blackman is the kind of ultra-talented, well-trained, and dynamically inspired musician who could only exist in the new millennium. Her tenth, double CD, Music For The New Millennium, shows a creative force to be reckoned with, revealed in the album’s amalgam of late-’60s Miles Davis–inspired compositions (in classic quartet format) fired by drumming that could fairly be described as jazz toxic shock therapy.
Undaunted by pedigree, gender, or era, Blackman takes on a challenge many drummers have taken on but few have risen to. Describing her hero Tony Williams as “the technology of the drumming world,” she goes about making his innovations her own. Blackman makes no bones about her total fascination and admiration for the heroic figure who not only inspired some of Miles Davis’s greatest recordings but who practically invented jazz-rock (i.e., fusion) with his 1969 album, Emergency! Her drumming reflects everything (and every era) that Tony Williams had to offer.
Performing recently with her crack quartet at New York’s Jazz Standard, Blackman came on like a whirlwind, driving her group’s atmospheric treatments with fulminating flam combinations, outrageous single stroke–roll meltdowns, and full-set phrases all within a boiling pulse. Never saying a word, Blackman looked fierce on her small Gretsch set, kicking her quartet with explosive drumming that left nothing to the imagination. Music For The New Millennium extends the music heard at the Jazz Standard, with Blackman coupling blast furnace drumming styles modeled on Believe It, Four & More, and Million Dollar Legs with an abstract melodic and compositional approach.
That Blackman would become a Tony Williams disciple wasn’t a sure thing when she was growing up in Hartford, Connecticut. Attracted to the instrument early on, she became active in the local Forestville Fife & Drum Corps at age eleven, studied at the nearby Hart School Of Music during high school, then enrolled at Berklee School Of Music, where she studied classical snare drum, harmony, and drumset (eventually with legendary instructor Alan Dawson). It was during her later high school years that Blackman was exposed to Tony Williams, an epiphany that inspires her to this day.
“When I first heard Tony on Miles Davis’ Four & More, I was trippin’,” she recalls from her Brooklyn apartment. “A friend who played it for me told me Tony was sixteen when he recorded it. He was my age and playing like that?! Then he put on Miles’ Live In Europe. I was completely hooked into Tony from that moment on.”
Post Berklee, Blackman headed to New York in 1982 where she became a first-call player, working with Sam Rivers, Jackie McLean, Joe Henderson, George Benson, Wallace Roney, Patti LaBelle, and Rachel Z. Her first solo album, 1987’s Arcane, proved her talent went well beyond drumming. To expand her horizons further, Blackman donned an Afro wig and a fierce countenance for what was to become a fifteen-year association with Lenny Kravitz, joining the retro rocker’s band in the early ’90s. But her jazz allegiance never waned, as further albums Code Red, The Oracle, and Telepathy adhered to post-bop logic and terrific Tony stylings.
Cindy Blackman’s Brooklyn loft is evidence of someone who knows how to enjoy the finer things in life. A beautiful ’50s-era Gretsch round-badge Broadkaster set sits in one corner, across from an otherworldly looking, $100,000 high-tech sound system. Her good taste is evident in every aspect of the loft’s design, from Moroccan styled tile work to a multi-volume Miles Davis DVD collection. But Blackman’s drumming remains first and foremost in her consciousness, and every ounce of her being is focused on advancing her art. There’s no doubt about it, Cindy Blackman comes to play.
MD: Whether you’re playing rock or jazz, you always project a great sense of presence on the drums. You are there to play.
I once heard Ron Carter ask, “What do young musicians have to do other than play their instrument and be ready to play when they’re called upon”? I never forgot that. What else do you have to do but that? If you have something else to do, then maybe you’re in the wrong field.
MD: How do you maintain that level of energy and exuberance? You sound like you’re ready to go full bore every time you sit at the drums.
Cindy: Just by loving what I do. I love playing the drums and playing music. When I think that I’m chasing the legends of Art Blakey, Tony Williams, and Elvin Jones, I’d better be ready. You better smack those drums, because those cats weren’t messing around. I’ve seen Art Blakey play and the whole stage shake. I’ve seen Elvin play with brushes and the snare drum popped off the stand. I’ve seen Tony play and everything bowled over like a big Mac truck.
MD: Is that insistence on laying it down missing in some younger players, or is it that they just didn’t get the chance to experience those masters?
Biography
Early musical training and influences
Born November 18, 1959 in Yellow Springs, Ohio, Blackman comes from a musical family, both her mother and grandmother were classical musicians and her uncle a vibist.[3] "My mom, when she was younger, played violin in classical orchestras, and her mom, incidentally, was a classical musician. My mom used to take me to see classical concerts", says Blackman.[4] "My dad was into jazz – Miles Davis, Ahmad Jamal, people like that."[4] Blackman's first introduction to the drums happened when she was seven years old in her hometown of Yellow Springs, Ohio and attending a pool party at a friend's house, she went to use the bathroom and saw a drum set and just hopped onto the set. "Just looking at them struck something in my core, and it was completely right from the second I saw them", says Blackman. "And then, when I hit them, it was like, wow, that's me. That's completely natural for me. It's like breathing for me. It didn't feel awkward at all."[5]
After her introduction to drums at her friend's house, Blackman began playing in the school band and persuaded her parents to get her toy drums when she was seven.[5][6] "Of course those would be broken up in a matter of days", Blackman says.[6] "The only thing I heard at home was, 'we don't know if you can play drums because one, they're noisy, and two, they're very expensive".[6] Some people ask why she didn't study violin or flute like other girls.[2] "I learned very early on – when I was 13 – that when I concentrate on those attitudes, I don't make progress for myself", says Blackman.[2] "If they're not paying my mortgage, I don't care what they think".[2]
Influences
When Blackman was 11, she moved to Bristol, Connecticut[4] and studied at the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, Connecticut.[4] Blackman began to have an interest in jazz at age 13 after listening to Max Roach and got her first professional drum kitset at 14.[4][7] "Jazz was the thing that was most intriguing because of the challenge that was involved", says Blackman.[4] "When I was shown that the drummers on these records were playing independently with all four limbs, I was like: 'Really?! Is that what they're doing? Is that what Max Roach is doing on that record? Oh! Okay!'"
Drummer Tony Williams was an early influence.[8] "The first drummer I ever saw, where I got to feel the impact up close, was Tony Williams", Blackman said.[8] "When I was 16, Tony came to my local drum store with a bassist and did a [drum] clinic that left a powerful impression on me. And that's what I thought drumming should be: drummers should have a lot of impact and a great sound, without being limited to a conventional role in the band—the drums should speak just as freely as anybody."[8] Blackman says that the way that Williams used all four limbs to attack the drums strongly influenced her.[5] "I just love and loved everything about Tony", says Blackman.[5] "To me, not only was he a master technician, a master drummer, the innovator of the age, but also, he was a sound innovator. He had so many things that elevated the sound and the level of skill required to play this kind of music."[5] But although Blackman is sometimes referred to as a disciple of Tony Williams, she follows her own path.[9] "On the one hand, it doesn't bother me at all to be associated and in line with a master of the instrument like that – Okay, I might not be where I want to be, but I'm on the right track", says Blackman.[9] "On the other hand, I don't plan on being a clone. What I'm doing is always looking to expound on something that he's done, or push the music in a different way".[9]
Blackman moved to Boston to study at the Berklee College of Music with Alan Dawson, one of Tony Williams' teachers.[3][4] "Alan's method was incredible in terms of getting your independence together, getting your hands together". says Blackman.[4]
Arrival in New York
Cindy Blackman plays at the Iridium on December 9, 2007.
While in New York, Art Blakey became a significant influence.[11] "He really was like a father to me. I learned a lot just watching him. I asked him a lot of questions about the drums and music – and he answered all of them. He was fantastic", said Blackman.[11]
Blackman initially encountered resistance to a woman playing drums in the jazz world.[6] "I'm a black woman, so I've encountered racial prejudice, and I've encountered gender prejudice. I've also encountered prejudice against my afro when I wore that out. But I've also encountered prejudice against my musical opinions. What I've learned to do is completely ignore that".[6]
First compositions and recording contracts
In 1984, Blackman was showcased on Ted Curson's "Jazz Stars of the Future" on WKCR-FM in New York.[3] In 1987, Blackman's first compositions appeared on Wallace Roney's Verses album.[3] When an executive at Muse Records heard Blackman's recordings, he offered her a recording contract to lead her own project.[3] In 1988 Blackman released Arcane, her debut as a bandleader.[3] Her band included Wallace Roney on trumpet, Kenny Garrett on alto saxophone, Joe Henderson on tenor saxophone, Buster Williams and Clarence Seay on bass, and Larry Willis on piano.[3]
Work with Lenny Kravitz
Blackman performs with Kravitz in concert in Chile on March 9, 2005.
Blackman had previously only played jazz shows and was unprepared to play for an entire arena.[6] "The first time I played in a really large concert with Lenny was at an outdoor festival called Pinkpop. We played for like 70,000 people. It was in the summer so most people had just t-shirts or tanks, a lot of guys had their shirts off, so you just see skin and hands and they're doing this wave thing. I almost lost it, my equilibrium was teetering. I wasn't used to seeing that many people; I was disoriented; I just had to stop looking and start focusing."[6]
Blackman's work for Kravitz is primarily as a touring drummer, to support Kravitz in live concerts. Kravitz usually plays his own drums when recording his albums. The only Kravitz song that Blackman recorded in the studio is "Straight Cold Player" from the album 5.[citation needed]
Blackman says that playing with Kravitz and playing jazz are different.[10] "My job with Lenny is a different thing. My job is to play a beat for hours, and make it feel good, and add some exciting fills and exciting colors, when it fits tastefully", Blackman says.[10] "My job in my band or in a creative situation is a totally different thing. We may start with a groove that feels great, I may play that for hours too, but I'm going to explore and expand and change that, play around with the rhythm and interject with the soloists."[10] "I like dance music and I like making the music feel good", says Blackman.[9] "To drive an audience of 100,000 into complete oblivion by playing a groove so strong ... I love doing that. I love the chance to show versatility."[9]
In an article published May 1, 2004, NPR reported that Blackman had left Kravitz's group to focus on her own music.[12] "I love danceable music, and I love big fat beats and I really dig rock 'n' roll", says Blackman.[2] "But jazz is my heart, it's my love, and I've never left jazz in mind or spirit".[2]
In 2014, Blackman returned to touring with Lenny Kravitz in support of his tenth studio album, Strut.
Return to jazz
Blackman performing Federation Square, Melbourne,
May 2008
In 2005 Blackman released Music for the New Millennium on her Sacred Sounds Label.[10] "It's rooted in tradition, but it's not traditional music. It's explorative, very creative, very expressive, and we really try to expand any ideas we have that everything is played over the forms, but we like to stretch it, and really see the colors and make the music grow and move", says Blackman.[10] "We experiment – but it's never free. Everything is written out. I have charts for all the songs. We expand on what's there, and stretch harmonics and note choices".[10]
Blackman continues to make her home in Brooklyn in New York City.[10] "It's always such an amazing place, with every level of musical accomplishment, you can see complete beginners and you can see innovators. That's why I live in New York. Not only is it tough, but all the greatest people have come through New York", says Blackman.[10] Blackman prefers to play jazz in small, intimate clubs.[14] "It's an acoustic situation. You are close-knit and you are creating one hundred percent of the time – so to me it just doesn't really get any better that!"[14] Blackman also travels extensively conducting drum clinics.[15] In September 2007, she made a tour of South America, teaching clinics in Argentina, Chile, and Brazil,[15] and on November 30, 2007, Blackman and her quartet performed at Art After 5 at the Philadelphia Art Museum.
In 2010 she released a first tribute album to her mentor and dominant inspiration Tony Williams. Another Lifetime featured Mike Stern on guitar and organist Doug Carn following the line-up of the original Tony Williams Lifetime. As guest musicians appear Joe Lovano, Patrice Rushen and Vernon Reid. Reid is the lead guitarist on the second Williams tribute album Spectrum Road (2012), a collaboration between Blackman, Reid, John Medeski on organ and former bassist of Lifetime and Cream Jack Bruce. Bruce also sings on three tracks of the album and Blackman lend her voice to "Where", originally written by (then Lifetime guitarist) John McLaughlin and sung by Williams (Emergency!, 1969), which already appeared on Another Lifetime in an instrumental version. She appeared at the 2011 Montreux festival, Switzerland, playing drums for husband Carlos's one off reunion with John McLaughlin, after which she helped mix the sound for the video.
Musical goals and personal life
Cindy Blackman performs at Sesc Pompéia on August 1, 2007.
Blackman says her goal is to become a musical virtuoso.[16] "I want to become a virtuoso", says Blackman.[16] "To me, virtuosity is the ability to say anything on your instrument you want to at any given moment."[16] Blackman describes her music as "completely creative".[16] "I want to push the envelope. I want to really expound on some concepts that, to me, are the highest in the improvisation of music", says Blackman.[16] Blackman loves jazz and wants to delve into its intricacies.[5] "Oh my gosh, it's the best thing in the world", says Blackman.[5] "I feel so blessed, and I'm so thankful to be able to play music. It's an honor, and it's a blessing".[5]
On July 9, 2010, Carlos Santana proposed to Blackman on stage during a concert at Tinley Park, Illinois.[17] Blackman is Santana's touring drummer; he proposed right after her drum solo. They were married on Maui, Hawaii on December 19, 2010.[18]
Spirituality of music
Blackman attended a Baptist church during her teenage years, but became a follower of the Bahá'í Faith at the age of 18; she also started studying Kabbalah in the 2000s.[9] Blackman cultivates spirituality in her musicianship.[9] "I believe that music is so sacred that once you're playing music you are doing the work of prayer, whether you're conscious of it or not, because you have a focused intent", says Blackman.[9] "You transcend, because you're crossing barriers that a lot of people and even us as musicians don't normally venture to, because we don't think about it. When you can learn to move those energies, even if they're sad, into something that is of benefit, like focusing on bringing light to people who are listening, or just to the universe in general, then you can do something good with it. I don't keep that in mind 100 per cent of the time – I'm human – but I try to."[9]
Role as female musician
Blackman is a rarity as a female jazz percussionist.[9] "In the past, there were a lot of stigmas attached to women playing certain instruments", Blackman says.[9] "I think a lot of women stick to particular instruments, like piano, that are acceptable, so that lessens the playing field in terms of how many women are out there. And let's face it, boys' clubs still exist. But I care nothing about that at all. I'm going to do what I'm going to do musically anyway."[9] However Blackman draws on the role models of her mother who played violin in an orchestra and her grandmother who was a classical pianist and does not let stereotypes deter her.[9] "God forbid I should be limited to only play my drums in my basement; but if that's all I had, that's what I would do", says Blackman.[9] "Any woman, or anyone facing race prejudice, weight prejudice, hair prejudice ... if you let somebody stop you because of their opinions, then the only thing you're doing is hurting yourself. I don't want to give somebody that power over me."[9]
Blackman is adamant that musicality has nothing to do with gender.[19] "The gender question is not even worth bringing up because the drums have got nothing to do with gender", Blackman says.[19] "I'm there because I love to play music. And I'm in support of anyone who wants to play the instrument. I wouldn't care if Art Blakey was pink with polka dots and wearing a tutu. I wouldn't care if Tony Williams was green."[19] "There are people who have opinions about whatever and whoever, in terms of gender, in terms of race and weight, hairstyle, religion", says Blackman. "But to me, your personality influences what you play and what you do, but everything else is for you to develop and to nourish and to take further, and that's where I'm at. In terms of my goals, me being a female drummer has nothing to with anything except for the fact that I wear bras and panties and guys don't."[16]
Discography
- Trio + Two with Santi Debriano, David Fiuczynski plus Greg Osby and Jerry Gonzalez (Free Lance, 1991)
- Arcane with Wallace Roney, Joe Henderson, Kenny Garrett, Larry Willis, Buster Williams, Clarence Seay (Muse, 1987)
- Code Red with Steve Coleman, Wallace Roney, Kenny Barron, Lonnie Plaxico (Muse, 1990 [1992])
- Telepathy with Antoine Roney, Jacky Terrasson, Clarence Seay (Muse, 1992 [1994])
- The Oracle with Gary Bartz, Kenny Barron, Ron Carter (Muse, 1996)
- Black Night – Deep Purple Tribute According to New York with TM Stevens, Stevie Salas, Corey Glover, Richie Kotzen (Revolver, 1997)
- In the Now with Ravi Coltrane, Jacky Terrasson, Ron Carter (HighNote, 1998)
- Works on Canvas with J. D. Allen III (tenor sax), Carlton Holmes (keyboards), George Mitchell (bass) (HighNote, 1999)
- A Lil' Somethin' Somethin' – The Best of the Muse Years (compilation, 32 Jazz, 2000)
- Someday with J. D. Allen III, Carlton Holmes, George Mitchell (HighNote, 2001)
- Music for the New Millennium with J. D. Allen III, Carlton Holmes, George Mitchell (Sacred Sound, 2005)
- Another Lifetime with Mike Stern and Doug Carn featuring guests Joe Lovano, Vernon Reid, Patrice Rushen, Benny Reitveld and David Santos (4 Q, 2010)
- Organ Monk with Greg Lewis and Ron Jackson (Greg Lewis Music, 2010)
- Spectrum Road with Jack Bruce, Vernon Reid and John Medeski (Palmetto, 2012)
- Power of Peace with Carlos Santana, The Isley Brothers (Sony Legacy, 2017)
- Intuition (Muse, 1988)
- The Standard Bearer (Muse, 1989)
- Obsession (Muse, 1990)
References
- "Blackman, Cindy". Current Biography Yearbook 2010. Ipswich, MA: H.W. Wilson. 2010. pp. 42–45. ISBN 978-0-8242-1113-4.
- Windsor, The (February 8, 2008). "the Windsor Star. "Drummer trades Kravitz for jazz" by Patrick Cole. February 8, 2008". Canada.com. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved 2011-10-06.
- Wynn, Ron. "Cindy Blackman". AllMusic. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- "The Boston Phoenix. "Limbering Up: Cindy Blackman's rock and jazz" by Jon Garelick. February 21, 2000". Weeklywire.com. Retrieved 2011-10-06.
- Stieg, Stina (16 July 2008). "Glenwood Springs' Summer of Jazz features drummer Cindy Blackman". postindependent.com. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
- Vargas, Andrew (17 May 2007). "Cindy Blackman". archive.li. DRUMHEAD Magazine. Archived from the original on 17 May 2007. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
- Stewart, Zan (12 May 2007). "Dedicated to her drums - Entertainment - NJ.com". archive.is. New Jersey Star-Ledger. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
- Code Red. Liner Notes. 1992.
- Infantry, Ashante (7 June 2008). "Cindy Blackman's got the beat | The Star". thestar.com. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
- "The Village Voice. "Cindy Blackman plays for Bird" by Rick Mark. August 24, 2005". Thevillager.com. Retrieved 2011-10-06.
- "Jazz House. "New York Drummer Cindy Blackman" interviewed by Natasha Nargis. 2001". Jazzhouse.org. Retrieved 2011-10-06.
- Schulman, David (1 May 2004). "Musicians in Their Own Words: Cindy Blackman". NPR.org. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
- Telepathy. Liner Notes. 1994.
- "Cindy Blackman". archive.org. 11 October 2007. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
- "Report for the Road - Cindy Blackman South America Clinic Tour". archive.org. Zildjian. 12 October 2007. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
- Reguero, Anna (June 8, 2008). "Drummer Cindy Blackman brings her force to jazz". Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Rochester, New York. p. 36.
- Vozick-Levinson, Simon (12 July 2010). "Carlos Santana and Cindy Blackman get engaged onstage". EW.com. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
- Laudadio, Marisa (5 January 2011). "PHOTO: Carlos Santana Weds Drummer Cindy Blackman". PEOPLE.com. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
- Mitter, Siddhartha (7 September 2008). "Festival snares compelling drummers". Boston.com. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
External links
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https://www.moderndrummer.com/2008/04/cindy-blackman/
Drummers
Cindy Blackman: The Lady Comes To Play
by Ken Micallef
Modern Drummer
May 2008
Last year, drumming dynamo Cindy Blackman left behind her big-ticket rock gig with Lenny Kravitz to unleash the jazz devil inside. Her drumming prowess is simply astounding–and is now finally on full display.
Serial jazz and rock drum killer Cindy Blackman is the kind of ultra-talented, well-trained, and dynamically inspired musician who could only exist in the new millennium. Her tenth, double CD, Music For The New Millennium, shows a creative force to be reckoned with, revealed in the album’s amalgam of late-’60s Miles Davis–inspired compositions (in classic quartet format) fired by drumming that could fairly be described as jazz toxic shock therapy.
Undaunted by pedigree, gender, or era, Blackman takes on a challenge many drummers have taken on but few have risen to. Describing her hero Tony Williams as “the technology of the drumming world,” she goes about making his innovations her own. Blackman makes no bones about her total fascination and admiration for the heroic figure who not only inspired some of Miles Davis’s greatest recordings but who practically invented jazz-rock (i.e., fusion) with his 1969 album, Emergency! Her drumming reflects everything (and every era) that Tony Williams had to offer.
Performing recently with her crack quartet at New York’s Jazz Standard, Blackman came on like a whirlwind, driving her group’s atmospheric treatments with fulminating flam combinations, outrageous single stroke–roll meltdowns, and full-set phrases all within a boiling pulse. Never saying a word, Blackman looked fierce on her small Gretsch set, kicking her quartet with explosive drumming that left nothing to the imagination. Music For The New Millennium extends the music heard at the Jazz Standard, with Blackman coupling blast furnace drumming styles modeled on Believe It, Four & More, and Million Dollar Legs with an abstract melodic and compositional approach.
That Blackman would become a Tony Williams disciple wasn’t a sure thing when she was growing up in Hartford, Connecticut. Attracted to the instrument early on, she became active in the local Forestville Fife & Drum Corps at age eleven, studied at the nearby Hart School Of Music during high school, then enrolled at Berklee School Of Music, where she studied classical snare drum, harmony, and drumset (eventually with legendary instructor Alan Dawson). It was during her later high school years that Blackman was exposed to Tony Williams, an epiphany that inspires her to this day.
“When I first heard Tony on Miles Davis’ Four & More, I was trippin’,” she recalls from her Brooklyn apartment. “A friend who played it for me told me Tony was sixteen when he recorded it. He was my age and playing like that?! Then he put on Miles’ Live In Europe. I was completely hooked into Tony from that moment on.”
Post Berklee, Blackman headed to New York in 1982 where she became a first-call player, working with Sam Rivers, Jackie McLean, Joe Henderson, George Benson, Wallace Roney, Patti LaBelle, and Rachel Z. Her first solo album, 1987’s Arcane, proved her talent went well beyond drumming. To expand her horizons further, Blackman donned an Afro wig and a fierce countenance for what was to become a fifteen-year association with Lenny Kravitz, joining the retro rocker’s band in the early ’90s. But her jazz allegiance never waned, as further albums Code Red, The Oracle, and Telepathy adhered to post-bop logic and terrific Tony stylings.
Cindy Blackman’s Brooklyn loft is evidence of someone who knows how to enjoy the finer things in life. A beautiful ’50s-era Gretsch round-badge Broadkaster set sits in one corner, across from an otherworldly looking, $100,000 high-tech sound system. Her good taste is evident in every aspect of the loft’s design, from Moroccan styled tile work to a multi-volume Miles Davis DVD collection. But Blackman’s drumming remains first and foremost in her consciousness, and every ounce of her being is focused on advancing her art. There’s no doubt about it, Cindy Blackman comes to play.
MD: Whether you’re playing rock or jazz, you always project a great sense of presence on the drums. You are there to play.
Cindy:
I do come to play, and whatever I’m doing I want to make it the best
that I can make it for that moment. If I’m playing rock within somebody
else’s concept, then for that moment I own it like it’s mine. If I’m
playing my own music, I own that already.
I once heard Ron Carter ask, “What do young musicians have to do other than play their instrument and be ready to play when they’re called upon”? I never forgot that. What else do you have to do but that? If you have something else to do, then maybe you’re in the wrong field.
MD: How do you maintain that level of energy and exuberance? You sound like you’re ready to go full bore every time you sit at the drums.
Cindy: Just by loving what I do. I love playing the drums and playing music. When I think that I’m chasing the legends of Art Blakey, Tony Williams, and Elvin Jones, I’d better be ready. You better smack those drums, because those cats weren’t messing around. I’ve seen Art Blakey play and the whole stage shake. I’ve seen Elvin play with brushes and the snare drum popped off the stand. I’ve seen Tony play and everything bowled over like a big Mac truck.
MD: Is that insistence on laying it down missing in some younger players, or is it that they just didn’t get the chance to experience those masters?
Cindy: That is missing
sometimes. There’s an urgency that drummers and musicians and people in
the ’60s had, and it’s to do with what’s happening socially. In the ’60s
when all those people that I mentioned had their incredible bands and
playing situations, the times were very tumultuous. That lends itself to
everyone having a certain kind of urgency when they play. The ’60s is
my favorite period. The music was on edge and cutting. People knew they
had to do individualized thinking and get away from the norm. And that
was reflected in the music. I love that energy, and I think about that a
lot. I tap into that.
Read the rest of this interview with Cindy Blackman in the June 2008 issue of Modern Drummer available at your favorite music store, bookstore, and newsstand in May 2008.
Read the rest of this interview with Cindy Blackman in the June 2008 issue of Modern Drummer available at your favorite music store, bookstore, and newsstand in May 2008.
Cindy Blackman
Musicians in Their Own Words
AUDIO: <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1866563/1867716" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"></iframe>
Musicians in Their Own Words: Cindy Blackman
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https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Drummer-Cindy-Blackman-inspired-by-her-idol-3214652.php
Drummer Cindy Blackman inspired by her idol
Drummer Cindy Blackman
Cindy Blackman had been playing drums for seven years when, at age 15, she first heard the phenomenal drumming of Tony Williams on a couple of Miles Davis albums recorded a decade earlier, when Williams himself was a teenager. The experience changed her life. "I was just freaked out by Tony and loved him from that day forward," says Blackman, now 49, by phone from her home in Brooklyn, N.Y Several months later, Blackman attended a drum clinic given by Williams at a music store in Wethersfield, Conn. "I went and I was floored," she recalls
"That was the most incredible thing that I had ever seen in my entire life. I knew right away that was the direction I had to go for sound, for technique, for concept, for just general attitude behind the kit. I was so taken by everything that he played. He took questions, and I halfway raised my hand to ask a question, but no words came out. I couldn't even say anything to him."
Williams was 51 when he died of a heart attack at a Daly City hospital in 1997. He had been a Bay Area resident - first of Fairfax, then Pacifica - during the last two decades of his life.
Although perhaps best known as a rock drummer due to the 13 years (1993-2003 and 2004-07) Blackman spent touring the world with Lenny Kravitz, her approach to jazz remains profoundly affected by Williams' unique, multidirectional style. She currently leads three jazz groups of her own: the Cindy Blackman Quartet featuring tenor saxophonist J.D. Allen; Cindy Blackman's Explorations featuring alto saxophonist Antoine Roney; and Cindy Blackman's Another Lifetime, a quartet inspired by Tony Williams' Lifetime, the pioneering jazz-rock combo led by the drummer from 1969 to 1980.
The original edition of Williams' Lifetime combined the energy of a rock power trio with the improvisational freedom and harmonic sophistication of jazz, and featured guitarist John McLaughlin and organist Larry Young. Jack Bruce, the bassist and singer from Cream, later joined the lineup.
Jazz rock
"Tony called his music 'jazz rock'; he didn't call it 'fusion,' " Blackman says of Williams' Lifetime "To me, fusion is a boring, watered down version of what he was doing. It doesn't involve or include or require the technical level that it requires to play Tony's stuff if you're gonna play it properly."
First album in 1988
"I thought it would be a fun chance to play some rock 'n' roll with some cats and meet some new people," the Yellow Springs, Ohio-born drummer says. "I had never been to Los Angeles. I thought it would be cool. I'd hang out for a day or two and come back."
The gig lasted more than a dozen years. There were, however, breaks of a week or month and, once, a whole year, during which she performed and recorded with her own jazz group.
Playing with Kravitz was a lot different from the jazz she was used to. She was required to play the drum parts exactly as they were on his recordings. If the material was new, he would sit down at the drums, show her a rhythm pattern and ask her to copy it.
"It didn't always stimulate the brain cells," she explains, "but it certainly requires a lot of discipline to play something the same way every night and making a groove happen and keeping a stadium full of 50,000 or 100,000 people popping and rocking. That's a responsibility in itself. It was really cool from that perspective. It certainly wasn't the same kind of stimulus intellectually that you get from playing jazz."
Since leaving Kravitz, Blackman has been leading her own jazz groups and doing drum clinics in the U.S. and Europe, including one last month in Germany, another in Spain. She also has done non-jazz recording dates with Joss Stone, Melinda Doolittle and Sly Johnson, as well as an album by Dionne Warwick of songs associated with Frank Sinatra. "Dionne sounds great," the drummer says. "Her voice is just really, really lush and beautiful."
Keeping her mind in shape
San Francisco Jazz Festival: Sat.-Nov. 21 at various locations.
Cindy Blackman's Another Lifetime: 8 p.m. Oct. 28 at the Great American Music Hall, 859 O'Farrell St., San Francisco. $30. (886) 920-5299, www.sfjazz.org.
A PORTRAIT OF CINDY BLACKMAN SANTANA
January 4, 2017 by Rusty Aceves
San Francisco Jazz.org
Cindy Blackman Santana - photo by Jimmy Bruch
If there is one artist on today’s music scene with the passion, fire, and percussive mastery to do justice to the legacy of the late Tony Williams, it is undoubtedly Cindy Blackman Santana.
Made famous by her 10+ years providing the bone-deep grooves behind Lenny Kravitz, Blackman has distinguished herself as a highly versatile player and composer who is as comfortable leading post-bop sessions with Joe Henderson and Wallace Roney as she is touring with pop stars like Kravitz and husband Carlos Santana.
Making a life-defining connection with the drums at age 7, Blackman Santana attended Connecticut’s prestigious Hartt School as a pre-teen and discovered jazz at 13, taking inspiration from the hyper-speed polyrhythms of bop master Max Roach. A visceral experience with the power and grace of Tony Williams at a music store clinic exploded Blackman Santana’s notions of the role of drums in jazz, and inspired exploration of the limitless possibilities of the instrument when played by a force of nature like Williams. It was seemingly inevitable that while attending Boston’s Berklee School of Music, Blackman Santana would seek out the tutelage of renowned drummer and educator Alan Dawson, who mentored many of the world’s most accomplished jazz drummers over his four-decade educational career including Tony Williams.
Upon moving to New York City in the early 1980s, Blackman Santana was exposed to the jazz scene at a pivotal time for the music, when established veterans like Elvin Jones, Art Blakey, Philly Joe Jones, Roy Haynes, Ed Blackwell, Billy Higgins, Jack DeJohnette, Louis Hayes, and others were still actively performing at the same time that a rising crop of young lions were establishing themselves. Blackman Santata certainly counts among the very best of that younger generation, blazing new trails while seeking the counsel of many of her heroes, Blakey and Williams looming large among them.
The drummer began an illustrious tenure with trumpeter Wallace Roney in the late 80s, contributing a pair of compositions to Roney’s 1987 debut Visions – a record featuring none other than Tony Williams as a guest artist. She made her own debut as a leader the following year with 1988’ Arcane, a powerful hard bop session boasting an all-star lineup of Roney, Kenny Garrett, Joe Henderson, Buster Williams, and Larry Willis. As Blackman Santana’s profile as a bandleader grew in the 90s, she got the call from Kravitz, and an audition over the phone catapulted her to worldwide recognition – appearing in the hugely popular video for Kravitz’ “Are You Gonna Go My Way.” The clip cemented her fiery musicality and signature visual style into pop culture history. Capitalizing on this recognition, the Volkswagen corporation featured her in a number of memorable television ads for their cars in 2008.
Several of Blackman Santana’s records bear the marks of Williams’ influence, including her stellar 1998 HighNote quartet session In the Now, which included Williams’ legendary Miles Davis quintet rhythm section partner Ron Carter on bass. In his review for JazzTimes, critic Bill Milkowski wrote: “In many ways, Tony Williams was Cindy Blackman's spiritual father, certainly her biggest role model. His passing has inspired the drummer-composer to go deep within and reflect on Tony's contribution as well as her own gifts. The result of that introspection is her most profound and heartfelt statement to date.”
In 2010, Blackman Santana paid tribute to the influence of Williams in a most direct way, releasing Another Lifetime, an explosive salute to Williams’ electrified Lifetime period with a band including guitarist Mike Stern, organist Doug Carn, and saxophonist Joe Lovano, among others. The album balanced material from the Lifetime songbook with a pair of new compositions dedicated to the late Williams entitled “40 Years of Innovation” and “And Heaven Welcomed a King.”
Another Lifetime was followed in 2012 by the all-star band project Spectrum Road, which revisited the Lifetime material with a group consisting of Blackman Santana with Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid, keyboardist John Medeski of Medeski, Martin and Wood fame, and bass legend Jack Bruce, who was a founding member of Cream and also performed with Williams’ Lifetime band in the 1970s.
Here's Cindy Blackman Santana and her band, performing the music of Tony Williams:
THE MUSIC OF CINDY BLACKMAN SANTANA: AN EXTENSIVE VIDEO OVERVIEW, A CROSS SECTION OF RECORDINGS, MUSICAL ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY PLUS VARIOUS INTERVIEWS WITH CINDY BLACKMAN SANTANA:
