Steve Ferrone still rocks!!

Stickman

Silver Member
I was watching one of those PBS fundraiser shows last night - something like a salute to Motown/R&B/Soul music at the White House... and partially because I've played most of those tunes in various bands was particularly interested to see how the drummer pulled them off. At first I didn't recognize the guy.. but noticed he was playing everything absolutely PERFECTLY.. plus his drum sound was absolutely perfect for the genre. I couldn't place him and thought maybe with the light hair, slight tan and groovy sun glasses it was Russel Kunkel.. but then when they rolled the credits it was Aha of course Steve Ferrone - 10/10 Steve!!! Couldn't have been more solid and effortless behind the kit.. it sounded like a master recording.
 
Loved his playing with AWB, and have always been able to pick him on recordings with other artists since. Hopefully the video will end up online.
 
Ha.. I wasn't that far off - I haven't seen either of these guys for many years;
Russ_Kunkel.jpg

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you can see on a small tv screen with bad lighting they could easily be mistaken..

In any case the whole video is at:
(US only) http://video.pbs.org/video/2365217043/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=pbsofficial&utm_campaign=ipwh_covefullprogram

I particularly like Steve's playing on Rock Steady (at 22:30).. that's exactly how it should be played..

For those outside the U.S, I managed to get the video working with the Hola extension in Google Chrome. Screw you geographical restrictions!
 
Ferrone is one of my favorites. Talk about a groove.
 
~

I watched the whole thing. whew!

Ferrone is so on it.

Lessons learned here.

Thanks for posting.
 
Saw him at a clinic here and what a down to earth guy. After the clinic, we talked football in England and not drums. Very cool.
 
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Mmmmmm... Ferrone makes everything feel just right! What is it about his playing?! He's got that same gift Billy Higgins had, that hand-in-glove vibe.
 
Mmmmmm... Ferrone makes everything feel just right! What is it about his playing?! He's got that same gift Billy Higgins had, that hand-in-glove vibe.

He swings, just a little tiny bit. In funk grooves, he swings the 16ths a little, and he even swings the 8ths in straight rock grooves.

Cool to see these Motown/soul tunes get a nice modern arrangement (maybe by the piano player?). The horn section is unbelievably tight.
 
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