Virgil Donati

pity wy. you could really give us some insight into his philosophy etc. i would be guessing, but i think virgil knows he's not mainstream and that his drumming doesn't suit everybody. i would think he's fine with that...he knows what he does is incredible.

as i stated much earlier in this thread. it is nonsense to believe that virgil cannot do a great job on a simple (or simpler) drum beat...that's like saying someone who walked to the north pole is going to struggle walking down to the shops. its just that virgil prefers the long frozen wasteland hikes while at most i'm a ben nevis man.

i think its down to taste and style. virgil's taste in drums just isn't mine ...though...having said that, i have not i admit really sought his music out and given it a fair listen. but from the clinic i attended and the clips i've seen i know that, like with bozzio, i am amazed but not enduringly interested. if that makes sense.
 
Allan Holdsworth
Jeff Richman
Frank Gambale
Bunny Brunel
Mitch Forman
Mick Jagger
Dave Stewart
Brett Garsed
Steve Vai
Billy Sheehan
Dean Taba
Steve Weingart
Branford Marsalis
Scott Hendersen
Gary Willis
Tony Macalpine
Tina Arena
Mike Keneally
Jon Stevens
Rufus Philpot
Vivien Lalu
Neal Schon
Marco Mendoza

Just a SMALL list of the incredibly diverse musicians Virg has and still works with. This list does not even include most of the pop/rock/r&b artists that Virg worked with many years ago. Some still do not get it? What you see at a clinic is not representative of what CERTAIN artists are capable of doing. For some maybe not for Virg and other drummers.
Why do the MAJORITY of guys go to see Virg in clinic. Very simple to see what elevates him vastly over most drummers, outrageous technique and concepts, simple as that. He is not there to sound like Bernard Purdie or Carlos Vega. He knows ait and most in attendance obviously know it. Some still do not want to get that fact. But make no mistake
he can and does play pretty much anyway he wants to. Again not that it matters a great deal to him. Who knows how much it matters.

He can play great r&b/pop with Tina Arena and he can play heavy fast instrumental Ala Steve Vai, he can do the very complex progressive rock/fusion of Planet X and he can lay down simple and straight forward pop tracks for a movie score with Jagger and Stewart and he can go to India as of recent and tear it up with Brunel, Gambale and Mitch Forman an incredible fusion band. THAT is reality not what some would like reality to be for Virgil Donati. Oh and by the way he is doing a 4 month stadium tour in Europe with some really popular French artist this spring and summer. The guy stays so busy his head is spinning. For a guy who cannot groove and only can do extreme clinics he has seemed to build a resume that far surpasses even most of the so called groove drummers who do not play with half the artists and have half the gigs that Virg has. My gosh the guy constantly has half a dozen projects he is working with in the backdrop that nobody knows about.
Oh well I think he is too busy making great music with great musicians to worry about what some guys who obviously need to practice and get more work and with not even 10% of his past and current resume think of his ability.
 
I would have to agree with Aidan that Virgil can groove and groove very well.
Check out the Tina Arena stuff....

Also, I guess he's best know for the more complicated playing. He may actually enjoy playing it too.. in which case there's really nothing wrong with it.

I have varied musical taste. Sometimes I'm in the mood to listen to Planet X or Virgil's solo albums... sometimes, it's King's X, sometimes it's Buddy Rich, sometimes it's Chick Corea, sometimes it's the Black Crowes, sometimes it's classical music, sometimes it's The Police, sometimes it's Led Zepplin, sometimes it's Jamiroquai.....etc... (lot's more)

I read through some of the thread.... and some of it seems more like a critique of a musical style... maybe some people don't like that style of music. That's great.

Music is about personal taste, I'm not sure if that gets forgotten from time to time.

If anyone wants to hear a different side of Virgil's playing, check out the toned down gigs.
 
Virgil Donati double live dvd out soon

For those of you who might be interested:
Virgil Donati Double DVD out soon

Virgil has collected a handful of his most fiery performances from the last few years. They will be available as a double dvd set from 15th of March over at www.virgildonati.com

The main feature, the Stocholm performance will be in 5.1 surround sound.
Enjoy!
news-swedenback05.jpg
 
i ve spent two days with virgil in 2004 during his clinic tour in China for interpretation. been a big fan for yrs.(also mangini's in 2002)

now the most memorable part is the most basical part-- watch that video showing single stroke roll in his website, highlights motreal fest~~~ crazy.
imagine what gadd will response to that "how about a single stroke roll" ~~
"humm, i dont think it's the most important thing for speed"

virgil never attend WFD like mangini did, but i m sure he does put a lot effort on that and don wanna be behind ~~
 
Hmmm... yes - Virgil is the Buddy Rich of our time (in the sense that he does things which seem to be impossible to imitate - or even to comprehend). However, in terms of pure musical genius, there's no comparison between them. Buddy had hands like butterflies... sooo smooth, his phrasing qualities daily stand the test of time (as we can see as far as enthusiastic youtube.com comments go...).

Virgil's feet revolution is unbelievable; Buddy's hand techniques, total smoothness in his single strokes and buzz rolls (and so forth) are unmatched. Both are great in my book, but no one beats buddy as far as spontaneous creativity goes - not just that, he actually had all the technical proficiency needed to execute whatever he might have though at any given moment. Virgil is unbelievable, but Buddy was a genius. That's my understanding on the subject (and Planet X totally kills, definitely).
 
Hmmm... yes - Virgil is the Buddy Rich of our time (in the sense that he does things which seem to be impossible to imitate - or even to comprehend). However, in terms of pure musical genius, there's no comparison between them. Buddy had hands like butterflies... sooo smooth, his phrasing qualities daily stand the test of time (as we can see as far as enthusiastic youtube.com comments go...).

Virgil's feet revolution is unbelievable; Buddy's hand techniques, total smoothness in his single strokes and buzz rolls (and so forth) are unmatched. Both are great in my book, but no one beats buddy as far as spontaneous creativity goes - not just that, he actually had all the technical proficiency needed to execute whatever he might have though at any given moment. Virgil is unbelievable, but Buddy was a genius. That's my understanding on the subject (and Planet X totally kills, definitely).

I like this quote:

I think Buddy would be knocked out of his seat by the technical prowess of someone like Thomas Lang or Vinnie Colaiuta (insert Virgil Donati here etc edited). Bellson and Chapin are two living old cats who know that the bar has been raised. Go ask them.

Buddy was great, but sometimes people like to idolize him too much
 
I like this quote:



Buddy was great, but sometimes people like to idolize him too much

The funny thing is that it was Mr. Bellson himself who once stated that "a hundred years will pass until people start to understand what he (Buddy) was doing...".

I can speak from all the videos I saw from him. I'm talking from an experienced point of view. I've experienced many videos from Virgil and Buddy, and I personally always stay with the later. Buddy was smooth like butter. If you have the chance, I recommend you to try to understand his hand rudiments in his "Buddy Rich 1970" video... that was a work of a Genius - in MY understanding of what I've heard and saw in that video (and so many others of him...).

I truely believe that Buddy deserves all the enthusiastic praise he oftenly gets - but, again, that's just my perception of what I saw and listened to. With that said, there's possibly no doubt that, in some areas, the bar has been raised to sky-levels beyong what Buddy's single bass pedal could possibly do and create/achieve. Yes. There's no doubt at all.

I really like to emphasize what really deserves to be (imo); in this sense, Buddy's hands and genius once upon a drumset soloing are still unmatched (for me), as much as are Virgil's magnificent feet. :]
 
Virgil Donati is by far the best drummer I've seen. Many people say that he has no feel, but I think they're wrong, just download some videos of Virgil grooving instead of the typical drumsolo videos everyone downloads and you will see that Virgil can groove extremely well. In the technical aspect he is the best of the best, and if you want to learn a thing or two just watch some online masterclasses on his site.

Virgil never stops to amaze me, his control, power, speed, coordination is way over the leagues. I believe that many future generation will be heavily influenced by this great drummer.
 
Ash, you are a drummer who has found a comfort zone and settled.

To restart this thread, it was a search for the "New Buddy", which if you ask me, is a fast set of rudimentary hands. Buddy never had any startling foot work. He had Moeller down before drummers even really knew to learn it. He inspired many of todays drummers to be who they are, but he was in a time where things were swing, jazz, or big band.

These genres aren't too different.

Comparing a fast jazz to fast prog metal is flat out mind boggling.

Virgil Donati, is a better drummer. There is no way around it. He had Buddy as an influence and in no way has his hands, but his foot work along with his hands takes many inspirations and alot more hard work and coordination. Virgil has this unfair advantage.

No, you can't tap your feet to his music and no, he's not a showman.

What you guys are looking for is Mike Mangini's hands on a guy who has little foot knowledge.

So I say todays Buddy Rich is Jeff Queens behind the set. Drumcorp speed, rudiment, and perfection with who knows how much footwork.

Overall, drummers of today inspire different crowds of drummers. This little battle to us means nothing to a Greenday/Wolfmother fan, because they listen to generic beats and melodies. We have Kenny Aronoff to fill those venues.

To Jazz people today, Dave Weckl is the first to mind.
Stanton Moore in Funk, well, New Orleans Jazz, but I'd say he's pretty funky.
Jojo Mayer is all over the European techno scene?
Thomas Haake, Mike Portnoy, etc. own the "musical" prog.

Back then, there was Buddy, then maybe Ringo... who doesn't compare to anyone on this list at all. He inspired with the Beatles, but should have gotten inspired by Buddy, because his technique etc isn't too good.

Lang, Mangini, and Donati are the guys who get paid by drummers to be better then us. Frankly, I don't sit down and say "Lets listen to a 19:16 time signature", but wow am I impressed to know somebody figured it out. Mangini's solos lose a musicality, but when I did the one handed snare roll, non-drummers thought it was cool. I wish I could do a double stroke roll with my feet, so I'm working on it, thanks Virgil. I also wish I had Buddy's hands.

I've rambled on long enough,
-Creez
 
There is FAR more to having great hands then being rudimentally impressive on the snare. Buddy had insane hands but his diversity with his hands does not blow me away at all. I have Virgil's new dvd and he is doing things with his hands utilizing the WHOLE kit that I have never seen anyone pull off. Virgil's hands are FAR better then what some think. The dexterity, the speed, the power, endurance, and precision that it takes to pull off what he does with his hands is astounding. From top to bottom technically he is the most advanced IMO period. Virgil has the hands and the feet and the insane interdependence and he grooves his Ass off. It might not be the music one likes but he spends 90% of the time laying down insane grooves instead of blowing chops. He is far more these days into extreme rhythm then showing how many licks he can throw in over 4 bars. I hear far more guys blowing needless and repetitive chops in the song context then Virg ever has. He would rather let his bandmates shred while he is modulating and subdividing time and displacing the beat. His clinics are not what he does on record. People should know his main influence on his writing/drumming is actually classical and what he does comes from a source having a strong harmonic influence.
 
To Jazz people today, Dave Weckl is the first to mind.
Stanton Moore in Funk, well, New Orleans Jazz, but I'd say he's pretty funky.
Jojo Mayer is all over the European techno scene?
Thomas Haake, Mike Portnoy, etc. own the "musical" prog.
Dave Weckl and jazz? He's all about fusion, latin-fusion type of music, but by no means jazz!
Jeff Hamilton, Peter Erskine, Brian Blade etc those are some brilliant jazz cats!
Jojo Mayer is top notch if you talk about modern music, wheteher hip-hop, d'n'b, techno, r'n'b, also, he's an awsome jazz drummer, just check out his playing with Depart http://youtube.com/watch?v=OPQVtIz3zkE

also, I love those two pics, a teacher and his pupil :)
 

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Virgil is coming to South Africa next month for a drum clinic. Should be pretty damn good. Can't wait.
 
Virgil Donati is not from this planet. He is in his own league when it comes to creativity, innovation and interdependence. He has mastered the drum solo, IMO.
He also has tremendous groove, which people tend to overlook because of his ridiculous time signatures. His clinics are the most entertaining I've ever seen, it's like a freak show.
 
Virgil Donati has got amazing technique and extrudinary musical ability!

I love how he adapts to the bands he has worked with although I aint much a fan of his solos! (exept the one during 'Incantation - Steve Vai')
 
His clinic last night was out of this world. I agree that his complex time signature work is not stuff I'll go out and buy or choose to listen to, but to see it in action is something else. I also love the way he breaks some of it down afterwards (and gets the audience to try some really simplified, slowed down versions) and then he speeds it up to show you where it could go. And that a complex kind of groove can actually emerge from all this madness. He's also got a great dry sense of humour and everyone left the venue totally entertained. And quite humbled by their new insights into independence.
 
To break time down and to stretch it, is something Indian percussionists have been doing for centuries...What Virgil is doing on the drumset is what people like Zakir Hussien & Tilok Gurtu were doing 20 years ago

check Zakir out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_XFE43cP_E&mode=related&search=

Though the video was pretty cool, I fail to see how this relates to Virgil in anyway, or the things he's done, or is currently doing.

And what Zakir, and Tilok were doing has been going on for a lot more than 20 years.
 
Though the video was pretty cool, I fail to see how this relates to Virgil in anyway, or the things he's done, or is currently doing.

He is subdividing rhythms and doing polyrhythmic figures by accenting the un-obvious ( e.g.the 2 or the 4) , a 5/4 pattern with his feet under a 4/4 with his hands. If the 1 is hidden, or shifting over the course of many bars, this creates some incredible textures.

I think Thomas Lang and Steve Smith are exploring the same areas too. A time signature only means where a note is accented, or where a pattern begins to repeat itself.

Indian percussion principles have always operated on similar theories. Rhythms are based on the accented notes, or groupings of accented notes.instead of just a meter. You could almost look at them as a melodic phrase.

You are right on about all this being much older than Zakir and Trilok, but these are the guys who have brought this music to the world stage which, in my opinion, is inspiring drumset players to delve into this universe, really for the first time.

I
 
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I can't say I like Virgil donati, I find his drumming very mechanical and boring, and constant doublebass in solo's gets to me after awhile. I tried really hard to get into him, but he just isn't my type of drummer.
 
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