Thursday, September 08, 2011

My Vinnie Year - part 4 - PASIC, 1985

Here is what's available of Vinnie Colaiuta's performance at PASIC in 1985, which has since become somewhat legendary, and I was lucky enough to see in person. The quality is poor- plus there is such an abundance of dazzling drum crap available now- so this probably has nothing like the impact it had at the time. But it completely wiped everyone out. This was Star Wars:



After the break, longer audio-only clips, plus another clinic performance from the same period:


Audio only - labeled parts 2 and 3; I don't know what happened to part 1:




Something else from the same period, again with Tim Landers on bass:

1 comment:

drummer808 said...

I just happened to come across this post. Here’s his set with Tim Landers that I taped that day on a Sony WM-D6C Walkman Pro. Enjoy!

VINNIE COLAIUTA DRUM CLINIC - Saturday, November 16, 1985

Robyn Flans: You go for stuff that people haven't heard.

Vinnie Colaiuta: Maybe so, or in a way. I don't know if I consciously try.

RF: That's what happened at the PASIC in Los Angeles two years ago. Can you recap what happened at the PASIC in '85?

VC: Tim [Landers] and I played along with some stuff that we put on tape to play with, and we just took it out. I played really intense.

RF: Why do you think everyone was really blown away?

VC: I really don't know. Maybe because they just couldn't figure out where I was coming from.

RF: Why not?

VC: Just because I was playing so much densely packed stuff, and rhythmically, it was pretty hard to decipher.

- from Modern Drummer Magazine (May 1987)

In November of 1985, I made my first trip to Los Angeles for the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) held at the Sheraton Universal Hotel. The clinician lineup included Tony Williams, Jim Keltner, Billy Cobham, Bob Becker, Leigh Howard Stevens, Stewart Copeland, Evelyn Glennie, Steve Smith, Gary Burton and Vinnie Colaiuta. Needless to say, the experience was nothing less than overwhelming.

I stayed with Dean Taba (he was teaching at Dick Grove’s Music Workshop and just breaking into the L.A. music scene at the time) at his apartment in Van Nuys and attended the convention with Lance Tamanaha, Eric Folk and the late, Gregg Hagiwara. In fact, Lance moved to Los Angeles on that very trip and has lived there ever since.

Of all the clinics I attended that week, the clinic by Vinnie Colaiuta knocked me out the most. At that time, I was only aware of Vinnie’s playing through Gino Vanelli’s Nightwalker and Frank Zappa’s Joe’s Garage albums. Lance and I both left Stewart Copeland’s clinic early to get good seats for Vinnie’s show. My old tape is still in pristine condition and I uploaded these files for all of you “drum heads” out there to enjoy. While Vinnie continues to be at the forefront of modern drumming (bassist Neil Stubenhaus has referred to Vinnie as “the great innovative drummer of our time"), his playing from 1985 still sounds as fresh, awe-inspiring and breathtaking as it was on that November afternoon for all of us in attendance. There are a lot of great, amazing drummers out there today with incredible facility, but there is only one Vinnie Colaiuta. He truly is in a class by himself!

1. Buddies (5:31)

https://drive.google.com/open?id=15EI0DxSFInK7qGk-syGuUU6W3B2lf-QF

2. Alice The Goon (6:56)

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1OiSNoW7QXkpscluREfGch9rFI6CSKcE0

3. Purple Toes (4:42)

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1x9ddYCd787cdGo8X74WLfkKMFR8O-Xm7

4. Jam/Broadway Blues (8:24)

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1KrOD4XsB9o_Sx2UdFlSBMn6Z3OcRDYxz

4. My Little Fanfare (5:44)

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1cpWBtbDsgUi0VwbXW_P6zY0Ej9b_Au4X

5. Final Jam, Pt. 1 (5:54)

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1m9rDgWY2ulIyXd4vG_t_ZGKus2Htcu0c

6. Final Jam, Pt. 2 (1:56)

https://drive.google.com/open?id=118rSyRGJTvB6Qb4TJohYEaZZ2I6zCNwC