Terry Bozzio

Hi all,
new to this forum, 45 year old player from the UK. Playing for 30 years.
Had the great fortune to attend a Bozz clinic in Birmingham, England a few weeks ago.
I am still trying to find the words that can even come close to describing it!
It truly opened my eyes to a new world of drumming. I've since bought "Solo Drum Music vol 1,2 and 3" and "Chamber Works"
Just makes me smile to think of it! I loved Bozz from Zappa, UK etc. but this man is something so special, it's like a door has opened to a whole new era of drumming.
If I ever hear any guitarist, keyboard player etc. come out with some cheap drummer joke again I will simply produce "solo drum music" and watch their smug face turn to one of confused wonder, and how I will laugh!!!!!

Mapex user, DW dreamer!!
 
if you like bozzio, listen to the robbie robertson album: some where down the crazy river
its manu catche and bozzio drumming............
 
...in a semi-profile which emphasized the pootched out succulence off his insolent, pouting rictus, the sight of which drove the helpless drummer mad with desire!

Take it away Don Pardo...

finnhiggins said:
If you want to go one better, there's always "Punky's Whips" which is a much more involved song about Terry's obsession with a glam rock guitarist. Contains the cracker of a line "His hair is so pretty / I want to bite his neck / I've heard a rumour / He's more fluid than Jeff Beck".

The arrangement is better too, T&B is more of a comedy sketch.
 
a little bit of an odd guy, ill have to admit. extremely creative however, his approach to drumming is very innovative. in listening to him i noticed he makes good use of his pedals as the backbone of his melodic solos with very intricate patterns. as for his kit, he obviously has the skills to get up to a level where dw will make you such a monster (i highly doubt he paid a cent for it)
 
finnhiggins said:
If you want to go one better, there's always "Punky's Whips" which is a much more involved song about Terry's obsession with a glam rock guitarist. Contains the cracker of a line "His hair is so pretty / I want to bite his neck / I've heard a rumour / He's more fluid than Jeff Beck".

The arrangement is better too, T&B is more of a comedy sketch.
i actually read that the story was a bout bozzio's "relationship" with an older zappa groupie who was into, er, "odd" insertions and the like. i could always be wrong though.
 
lapa said:
You mean the kit he used in some instructional video? it sounds like someone is throwing basketballs against a wall.
That was the Remo kit that was triggered and the sound was extremely edited. If you heard the set played acoustically, without the triggers, it sounded even worse!

You have to remember that Terry was one of the main drivers of electronic drums when they first came out! I think the two best things about Terry's time on the electronic set were that:
1.) it forced him to perfect his meter because you can hear every little mistake on an electronic kit
2.) he learned so much about sound... how to HEAR it and how to CHANGE it.
lapa said:
And what's up with those sloppy singlestrokes with his feets?
Um... have you ever heard of flams or drag notes? Do an online search for Terry's "rudiments from hell."

I've been a fan of his for some time and have seen his drum clinic. Zappa's "Live in NY" is my all time favorite album!
Terry's drumset is no longer a drumset, it is a percussion section. It looks massive but just think of it as combining all the different instruments in a percussion section into something playable by one person. Replace the bells/xylophone/marimba with pre-tuned concert toms and there you go! Just like a piano player doesn't use all the keys for every song, Terry doesn't use all the instruments on every song either. He has taken what most people think of as "drumming" and taken it past "percussion." His ideas aren't wholely unique but there are very few drummers with his amount of exposure doing the same thing.

He is a very good technical player with very good 4-way independance and an awesome knack for using the mathematical approach for breaking apart/layering drum parts/music. I have always enjoyed listening to his rhythmic approach to songs; not just the typical 2 & 4 stuff.

Kudos to Bozzio for doing as much as he has for the drumming world. I hope to see him again soon!
 
i think that every single drummer have something to l.............everything to learn from bozzio just listening 10 sec of any song..........he is the master, the lord of the drums and if someone say that other drummer can beat him..............i really want to know the guy
 
Terry Bozzio is in a class all by himself. His innovative approach to the drumset as tonal instrument is inspired, for sure. His chops and technical wizardry never outshadow the musical essence of any piece he plays on. Check out The Brecker Brothers' "Heavy Metal Be-Bop" album for a fine example of a young, developing post-Zappa Bozzio. His work with Levin & Stevens is incredible, too. If you want to hear Terry in a real "out" situation, dig out his Polytown album with David Torn & Mick Karn. No doubt, Terry is a unique & passionate artist.

TOMANO
 
Re: Terri Bozzio

It does look like overkill at first glance, but my understanding is that the kit is tuned to a chromatic scale on the left side (the piccolo toms) and a diatonic scale on the right (regular toms). Likewise, the cymbals are arranged tonally, along with the percussion stuff (not sure if those are crotales or what...)

I accept any drummer's right to have as big or as small a kit as they want/can afford. It IS a shame to see a drummer with a massive array of drums and cymbals that don't get used... but hey, if being surrounded by a bunch of superfluous hardware fulfills some need for them, more power to 'em.

Bozzio, from my understanding at least, makes use of every drum, cymbal and widget.
 
Here's a shot of Terry Bozzio's "smaller" kit last week at NAMM before the show, and two shots of the same kit the next night at a different show:
 

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I was fortunate to catch Terry Bozzio performing in Singapore with Indian percussionist Ustad Zakir Hussain and Giovanni Hidalgo 2 weeks ago

The whole gig lasted for about 4 hours and at the end of it, everybody is still asking for more. The jam towards the last part was excellent, started trading 4s and 2s and 1s, 1/2 and 1/4..:)

Terry rocks!!!
 
the videos iv seen of him on the vic firth website were mightily impressive.
how much would a kit that size AND made by dw cost??? probably about as much as my house!
 
Terry is currently in bombay,India studying Indian rhythms.
Steve Smith was here last year, studying with the same Indian percussionist.
i got to sit in for a class, yesterday.
Terry was superb.
 
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