Phil Maturano here!

Phil Maturano

DRUMMERWORLD PRO DRUMMER
Just dropping in to say hello. I wanted to thank Bernhard again for putting a page up for me. It's a great honor. Tonight I am chilling out at my pad... reading through the threads and find many of them very interesting. I remember in my younger days...not having this amazing tool...the internet. Sites like this are an incredible source of information and we are very lucky to have it. To watch all the these great musicians in a setting like this...wow....what would it have been like for me to have this info as a kid? Amazing!! I hope to contribute some thoughts here as well..post questions etc...as time permits.

Anyway....If anyone out there lives in the UK or Europe, please check out my site for the latest info on my November / December Clinic tour. If you are interested in Latin music please don't hesitate to drop me a line and say hello. You can hear some music on my myspace site or check out more clips from my DVD on my site.

Would love to have some more clips here. if you want to link them from my site its no problem:)

All the best.
Phil Maturano
www.philmaturano.com
www.philmaturano.com/blog
www.myspace.com/philmaturanodrums
 
Re: Hi Drummerworld

Awesome!! Welcome to drummerworld. It's seriously the greatest place on the net. And wicked drumming! I checked out your myspace and I'm really enjoying your music.
 
Hey thanks for the warm welcome guys. And thank you for the kind words about my playing. It's a great feeling when my fellow drummers enjoy the music.

I will do my best to be a part of the forums.
All the best.
P
 
Hey thanks bro! I wish i could get over to Switzerland on this upcoming tour. We could hang big time out there! hahaha.

I will look into some places and see whats going on. What town do you live in?
I was out there in Zurich last year, but gigging, and didnt get a chance to hang. On a clinic tour sometimes there is more hang time. Hopefully we can meet!!
Alright bud,
Abrazos
Phil M

PS If you want to post more clips I can send you stuff. No problem:) also...happy to answer any questions about Latin from people here on the forum. I get allot of email though and it might take a few days...But i will answer for sure!
 
great - i live in Basel - border to France and Germany

Just at the moment I left to Egypt for two weeks....talk later....

Bernhard
 
right on bud...By the way...I am cracking up so hard with that Rita Moreno and Animal clip!! HAhahaa...Thanks for posting it.
Have a great time in Egypt.
Regards
pm
 
Wow...Great to have you here !

I really want to congratulate you for your book "latin soloing for drumset".

There are so many exercises I worked on in that book. This is how I started to understand the relationship between cut-time and 6/8. Your control and feel on the demo CD is just so impressive.... I can't see the day where I'll be able to play the exercises as you do....
 
Welcome Phil. I just started working on your book Latin Soloing for Drumset again. I've had it for a couple years and use it as a reference when I get stuck in a rut. Your playing is awesome and I really appreciate the exercises in that book a lot. It's great to have someone like you on the forum since to my knowledge there is no one else at your level of expertise with an open thread as of yet. Again thank you and welcome!

P.S.

Okay I also have a question regarding the clave. When I first started listening and playing Afro-Cuban music I was very much an outsider. In the last 6 or so years I've listened, played and really tried to internalize the clave. I know in the folkloric stuff I've done, clave is very important. My question for you is this: As a kit player in a less traditional setting, how strictly do you apply clave? For instance in a Latin-Jazz setting, playing with non-percussionists who have only a peripheral understanding of Afro-Cuban music, do you stick to the clave all the time, or do you just follow the music and check in with the clave from time to time?

I hope that reads okay (it's early)

Oh, one more thing... Have you met or played with a percussionist named Chris Trujillo? He's a timbalero from LA, but now lives in the Southwest. Just curious.

Thanks Again!
 
Last edited:
Garvin said:
Welcome Phil. I just started working on your book Latin Soloing for Drumset again. I've had it for a couple years and use it as a reference when I get stuck in a rut. Your playing is awesome and I really appreciate the exercises in that book a lot. It's great to have someone like you on the forum since to my knowledge there is no one else at your level of expertise with an open thread as of yet. Again thank you and welcome!

P.S.

Okay I also have a question regarding the clave. When I first started listening and playing Afro-Cuban music I was very much an outsider. In the last 6 or so years I've listened, played and really tried to internalize the clave. I know in the folkloric stuff I've done, clave is very important. My question for you is this: As a kit player in a less traditional setting, how strictly do you apply clave? For instance in a Latin-Jazz setting, playing with non-percussionists who have only a peripheral understanding of Afro-Cuban music, do you stick to the clave all the time, or do you just follow the music and check in with the clave from time to time?

I hope that reads okay (it's early)

Oh, one more thing... Have you met or played with a percussionist named Chris Trujillo? He's a timbalero from LA, but now lives in the Southwest. Just curious.

Thanks Again!

HI bro....well first thank you for the kind words about my playing. Appreciate it:)
Glad you are enjoying the book too! That book was truly a labor of love. Took a very long time to write and was very $$$$$$$$$$ hahaha. Faaaaantastic players on there made the whole thing come to life.

Chris Trujillo. I have heard of him, but I don't think we have met. I am sure he's great. I heard he's great too so.

As far as the clave thing goes. When I am playing in a Latin jazz setting, I still keep the clave in mind of course. If anything...in the circumstances you are describing...you should try and keep it in mind because of your own phrasing. If you are always in clave it will help the tune in general. If phrasing in clave is embedded in you then you wont have any trouble with this. Also, there will be a day when you play with people in a latin jazz setting that might be into the whole clave situation allot more. Might as well be ready for that day! Keep the clave in mind always, except...for when composers are taking what is known as "clave license" - That means they write in sequences that don't line up with the clave or disregard clave altogether in their playing. I have found that it does no good to be a member of the bitter "clave police" haha...especially if playing with players who are great but don't necessarily have the knowledge. Just enjoy the grooves and keep the clave to yourself, for your most inner thoughts and expression.

Another thing that comes up allot is that maybe...(I don't know in your case) ...people have been told or have been given many strange notions about clave. What the clave really is. It may be that simply...you might have to help out your band mates and try to turn them on to the whole clave concept. If you do it in a diplomatic and friendly way, it could be more enjoyable for you to play with them. Like I said , I don't know the whole situation in that particular setting you mention, but those thoughts always helped me:) I hope that helped! Feel free to ask me any other questions you might have. I answer as soon as possible.

Clave = Key
Love = Clave

Peace
PM

www.philmaturano.com
www.philmaturano.com/blog
www.myspace.com/philmaturanodrums
 
drumbum1977 said:
Hey Phil,
Coming to Canada any time soon?

Hi drumbum, I hope soon! No gigs out there yet this year but....I am working with Taye Drums now. We are getting to know each other still but I am sure the opportunity to play out there will come around. Usually any bigger events are posted on my website or myspace site. Hope you'll stay in touch. Where are you exactly?

Best
PM
 
shuffle said:
Wow...Great to have you here !

I really want to congratulate you for your book "latin soloing for drumset".

There are so many exercises I worked on in that book. This is how I started to understand the relationship between cut-time and 6/8. Your control and feel on the demo CD is just so impressive.... I can't see the day where I'll be able to play the exercises as you do....

Wow thanks shuffle! It really means allot to me that you enjoy the book. As I mentioned in another response...that book took about 10 years to write. Tons of money to record and produce. Originally it was a Video so you can imagine!! The players on that made the whole thing just really come to life. Luis Conte, Abe Laborial, Billy Childs!! Thats only a few of the cats....WOW what a line up! I was very fortunate to have them.
My publisher wanted to make it a book. It really bummed me out at the time but ...oh well. We had no internet back then. Not good enough to distrubute the method so...I had to agree.
At the time I was exploring those concepts there was nothing to draw from. Except the music of course, but ways of explaining...exercises and the whole system...nothing. It took years and years to develop that method. Although the central action itself (the mixing of cut time and 6/8) is nothing new...there were no systems to develop this phrasing...no ways of explaning the phrasing. Especially for the western drummer, on a KIT! In researching material for that, I had the chance to speak with lots of people with a deep love for drumming - ethnomusicologists, (many specializing in African music) Historians and of course other musicians. I had to make sure that what I was saying was accurate and could be applied in a western setting. It was a great experience to write it. I learned so much by doing that. When i finally finished the whole thing and put it in a book, I took it to to one of the greatest teachers i know. Steve Houghton. He told me...re-arrange this, put that there, take this out, say this like this and so on and so on.
it's amazing how much he helped in the layout and final touches. Its amazing how many people actually...take part on each project...the phases it goes through and the unbeleivable amount of time and care that goes into books and DVD's -

I look back on those days and I think ...boy I really stuck my neck out on this one! I was pretty nervous about it. But people loved it and the drumming community received it very very well.
Man...thank you again for checking it out. If you have any questions about it. I am happy to answer.
Best to you
PM
 
Re: Hi Drummerworld

rendezvous_drummer said:
Awesome!! Welcome to drummerworld. It's seriously the greatest place on the net. And wicked drumming! I checked out your myspace and I'm really enjoying your music.

Thank you bro...Do you you have a myspace site? Please friend request me if you do.
All the best
PM
 
Phil Maturano said:
Hi drumbum, I hope soon! No gigs out there yet this year but....I am working with Taye Drums now. We are getting to know each other still but I am sure the opportunity to play out there will come around. Usually any bigger events are posted on my website or myspace site. Hope you'll stay in touch. Where are you exactly?

Best
PM

Right in the middle...Winnipeg. Great place to come in summer, but be careful if you are here in the dead of winter!
 
drumbum1977 said:
Right in the middle...Winnipeg. Great place to come in summer, but be careful if you are here in the dead of winter!

Lots of ice skating out there? hockey? Ski? ice diving! I actually love winter time! i had the chance to go ice diving in Sweden a few years back but...totally chickened out! When the boat arrived at the dive spot...it was scary! Ice frosting over the gear, mouthpeice etc...wwoohaaa!! Now i would never let a chance like that go by again. I am a bit freaked when the ol' limbs start to go numb though! hahaha
Regards
PM
 
Wegadrummer said:
Welcome welcome too drummerworld.. Love your latin stuff..

Greetings Wega'
thank you for the kind words! Lets hope we get to hear you doing the latin thing soon!!
Warm regards
Phil M.
 
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