Virgil Donati

Ah no, I listen to Planet X in the car! All of his works including his solo album and Derek Sherinians Planet X.

Get it whacked up loud, everyone freaks out as there is no hardhouse anthems pumping through the speakers!! :D
 
Re: Virgil Donati is the Buddy Rich of our time ("IMO"...I suppose)

No offense, but I don't think speed is the issue it's feel and showmanship, Feel being something that Virgil Lacks. I think that speed is something that can be mstered easier these days... look at the WFD competitions you got guys who you have never heard of scoring pretty high in the speed category. The drummers mentioned above have speed.

Your take on speed is right on the money.. but saying that Virgil Donati lacks feel is a ridiculous statement. If you judge all of his work, then you should see that somewhere down the line that Virgil has feel.
 
Why is it that it is reguarded as being "unmusical" to play complicated music? Odd time signatures and polyrhythms are viewed upon as unatural, mathematical and pathetic for listening use. The truth of the matter is, it is more musical to play these complex patterns.

Now I realised a statement like that obviously seems barbaric, so let me explain. People listen to the complicated rhythms and say they are unmusical, but as a matter of fact, they use more music theory, knowledge and understanding to play, composed and execute them perfectly. Why is it that old Joe playing in the pub down the road has more feel then a giant like Virgil because he plays what every other drummer plays, that laid back groove. So many of you "groove guys" look at the same grooves over and over and think, "wow, he is so musical." But the problem is most of these grooves are unoriginal, have been played thousands of times over and generally playable in the hands of 2-4 year drummers (years playing, that is.) Obvious exceptions include Garibaldi, Weckl, and Colauita.

So when Virgil Donati comes onto a stage and plays rhythms with stick twirling showmanship and vast musical techniques such as dynamics, rhythmic modulating, accents, contrast and multiple tempos, he is not being unmusical. He is pushing the conceptual view of what drums are meant to do to other drummers. People state, "you couldn't put a song to what he plays." Well of course not, its a drum solo. That entitles the artist to perform what ever he or she wishes.

Added to this, those of you- Particularly Finn, advise us, "I have listened to his stuff, the videos and the planet x blah blah. He doesn't groove." Look at some of the videos of him playing with Steve Vai or Tina Arena. He completely lays back and lets the leads shine while he compliments the music with subtlety. But the interesting thing is, even though he is playing that simple, uncomplicated, repetitious (these are all the words that apparently make something musical) groove, you can still tell its Virgil Donati playing. And its because he has gone further beyond the ballistic patterns and phrases to also create himself a unique sound, the true work of a musician.

So please, before the comments come rolling back saying, "but... it would sound better as a drum machine/ this stuff should be left offstage etc." really think about what I have just said. What Virgil is playing is a very fine genre of music. It is not popular, nor is it widely accepted by even drummers (the head of rhythm), but because of its mathematics it is unmusical? Maths, science and music were considered the same thing in ancient greece!

Virgil is pushing the limits of music. If it isn't your taste to listen to the music then fair enough, but to say that a man who has been globally recognised for pushing the boundaries of music isn't very musical, that seems pretty absurd, doesn't it?
 
Anyone remember the Southern Sons?? (Mediocre Aussie oufit in the early 90's). No odd time signatures or complex polyrythms there......yet Virgil was musical as hell playing with them. In fact, he was the ONLY reason I decided to see them live.

Yep, there's not a lot Virg can't do. His technicality is mind blowing, but I've never seen cause to doubt his musicality either. Seen him live a couple of times.....the man has got the goods!!
 
Interesting point, Ben.
I still think guys who flame Virgil the most only know bits of his playing from drum clinics and solo performances. Besides being hard to follow in this situations, I can understand musicians who don't see that as specifically "musical", as I suppose meant in the sense of "telling" something, including tension and release phrases, overall dynamics etc. Even as a big fan of Virgil's I have to say, those alien solo performances lack a bit of those things. He could lay down more accessible performances by playing simple grooves and forms, and build up to complicated stuff from there. He could approach it more as a "telling stories" thing.
But for the record, I second: Virgil has great groove, sense of time and sense of musicality. And he has absolutely no problem playing simple 2 and 4 beats, as he states himself, and as he's proven a lot.
 
I picked up his latest DVD of a clinc in Portugal as part of a bootleg series. I have to say, I love watching him playing along to the PlanetX stuff, I really love Matrix Gate, Poland and Kingdom of Dreams.
 
People who flame Virgil are morons. He was the greatest teacher I ever had and I saw him play many many styles. When any of these idiot flamers play with someone like Steve Vai and Frank Sinatra, maybe then I'll pay attention.

Until then they are just a joke.

Sadly the world is overly populated by try hards and jealous fools. Never mind. They do not matter.
 
But for the record, I second: Virgil has great groove, sense of time and sense of musicality. And he has absolutely no problem playing simple 2 and 4 beats, as he states himself, and as he's proven a lot.

May I just add - now that you mention that - one thing people do tend to forget is Virgil's level of mastery in regards to time keeping. He knows how all of his complicated patterns, modulation etc. all relate to each other on a level that I have not see many other drummers display. He can start grooving at a given tempo, modulate all over the place and come back to that tempo he started at. He really excels at this and he does master time in that sense.
 
Does anyone know the sizes on Virgil's old double bass kit that he used with Steve Vai live in London in 2003?

It's really the floor toms I was wondering about. I'm guessing that it might be a 16, 18 and 14 to his left.

Anyone know if this is right?

Best

SonorPlayer
 
Does anyone know the sizes on Virgil's old double bass kit that he used with Steve Vai live in London in 2003?

It's really the floor toms I was wondering about. I'm guessing that it might be a 16, 18 and 14 to his left.

Anyone know if this is right?

Best

SonorPlayer

That was a Premier Genista kit. 10,12, 16, and 18. I think he had a 14 ft on the left side too. Should be 18x22 kicks.
 
Does anyone know the sizes on Virgil's old double bass kit that he used with Steve Vai live in London in 2003?

It's really the floor toms I was wondering about. I'm guessing that it might be a 16, 18 and 14 to his left.

Anyone know if this is right?

Best

SonorPlayer

That's right on the money.
And it was a Gen-x kit, not at Genista kit in that particular video.

(In Virgil's 1997 MD Festival video he did however play a Genista kit)
 
There are some new clinic dates from Virgil's website:

Virgil will be on the road again over the next month playing some clinics and festivals around the world.
The first is coming up on Oct 2nd in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Here are all the dates:

October 2nd, 2010 - Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
October 12th, 2010 - California Percussion - San Francisco, CA
October 21st, 2010 - Feedback Rotterdam - The Netherlands
October 22nd, 2010 - Key Music - St. Niklaas Belgium
October 23rd, 2010 - Clinic Rock Tools - Luxembourg
 
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Virgil is taking Allan Holdsworth with him on tour to India this coming week!
Should be a killer show!
 
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