Journal #10 – Billy Drummond, Doug Hammond, Bill Stewart, Kenny Washington

I’ve been working on scheduling guests for the podcast and should have a new episode out around the end of September if all goes as planned.

Here are a few things I’ve been enjoying over the last couple of weeks.

Billy Drummond is on Instagram!

Billy Drummond is finally on Instagram. There’s a great video of him playing in his basement to an audience of legends that you should go check out. I still pinch myself that I got to interview him way back on episode 3 of the podcast.

https://www.instagram.com/billydrummonddrums/

Doug Hammond – Spaces

This is my first real exposure to Doug Hammond and it feels like a whole new world has been unlocked. My friend and mentor, drummer Phil Hey, had me check out Spaces from 1982 as an introduction to Doug. It’s just great and features a trio with Steve Coleman on alto and Muneer Abdul Fataah on cello, plus Byard Lancaster and Kirk Lightsey.

I’ve had it on repeat all week and was excited to find a documentary and a couple of drum books he’s written, so a full post is coming once I’ve had time to digest some of it. His playing, writing, and life are all very inspiring!

It’s also on Bandcamp: https://doughammond.bandcamp.com/album/spaces

Bill Stewart with Gilad Hekselman and Ben Street

Here’s a great new clip of Bill Stewart playing “Evidence,” posted a couple of weeks ago on YouTube. It’s a direct shot of Bill the whole time, and the soloing is amazing, as always.

A Young Kenny Washington!

From The Jazz Life series, filmed at the Vanguard: Johnny Griffin with Ronnie Mathews, Ray Drummond, and a very young Kenny Washington on drums—he was in his early twenties! This is so fun to watch and it’s awesome to see Kenny as a young man.

Have a great weekend.