{"id":18610,"date":"2019-10-06T11:56:04","date_gmt":"2019-10-06T18:56:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/?p=18610"},"modified":"2022-08-19T12:19:36","modified_gmt":"2022-08-19T19:19:36","slug":"tony-coleman-when-dizz-threw-me-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/tony-coleman-when-dizz-threw-me-in\/","title":{"rendered":"When Dizz Threw Me In"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was 1985. I was drumming with B.B. King, and we were playing at a jazz festival in Europe during Live Aid. There were a lot of heavy jazz players there, and I mean serious<\/em> jazz players: Miss Ella Fitzgerald, Art Blakey, Freddie Hubbard, Miles Davis.<\/p>\n

After each day at the festival, we\u2019d go to the hotel bar for a jam session. I don\u2019t consider myself a jazz drummer at all, but I love to see them when they solo. They would always take those solos like they were telling a story, with all these different time signatures and precise, mind-blowing drumming that you really have to understand what it\u2019s all about to do it properly.<\/p>\n

That was not<\/em> me. So when they had these post-festival jam sessions, and guys would get up and swing and do the traditional jazz drumming and take the jazz solos, I\u2019d be thinking man, I do not<\/strong> play like that. I am not even going to think about playing like that!<\/em><\/p>\n

I admire those drummers, but it was just too intimidating to try it.
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After a couple of nights, Dizzy Gillespie walked up to me – he didn\u2019t know my name – and said, \u201cHey B.B. Drummer, why aren\u2019t you up here sitting in, young man? Never seen you do it. You gonna sit in tonight?\u201d<\/p>\n

I said, \u201cNah, I can\u2019t play jazz, man.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you mean, you can\u2019t play jazz?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just not a jazz drummer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBullshit, you can play jazz!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut these guys are so much better than me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, have you even tried?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot really.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen what are you talking about?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut those guys are so good!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, come by the side of the stage. I\u2019m going to go up there and jam, and you pay attention. I\u2019m going to call you up and you\u2019re gonna play.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I guess I\u2019ll try it.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was thinking to myself, this is going to be so embarrassing.<\/em> I\u2019d tried to play with jazz guys before, and they\u2019d go, \u201cNice try. Don\u2019t quit your day job if you wanna be a jazz drummer.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was nervous, sitting there on the side of the stage watching these guys.<\/p>\n

Ding<\/strong> dada ding ding<\/strong> dading<\/strong> dading ding<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

They were playing standards like \u201cNight in Tunisia\u201d where the drummer would go after this swing and do all these little fills. The extreme jazz guys would play it really fast. If you\u2019re a backbeat drummer like I was, I was thinking man, there\u2019s no way I can do this.<\/em><\/p>\n

The jam stopped. Dizz came over and grabbed my hand and said, \u201cC\u2019mon, let\u2019s go. Sit down. Let\u2019s get a little supple jazz swing, Art Blakey style.\u201d He figured I could play that because Art Blakey had that shuffle swing style, which was more similar to my playing.<\/p>\n

So I was up there, and before I knew it, I heard \u201cOne, two, three…\u201d<\/p>\n

I tried to play it, but the real jazz musicians on stage were like this guy sucks<\/em>! You could tell because they\u2019d kind of look back and grimace. No smiling, just looking at me like who the hell is this? That dude stiff as hell; he ain\u2019t really swinging.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Then they gave me a solo. It really exposed what I didn\u2019t know. And now I really sounded like crap. I wasn\u2019t playing a blazing jazz solo, I was playing a backbeat. And instead of swinging, I was dangling.<\/p>\n

After that experience, I felt triple bad. I went back to the bar and sat there, like damn, that was terrible.<\/em> Dizz came up to me later on and said, \u201cThat was great; you did great!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMan, those guys didn\u2019t like me. They were looking at me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo hell with those guys! Look, that was great. You know what was great about it? You got the nerve to go up and at least try. Next time you try again, and you get it a little better. And you keep doing it. You\u2019ll build up your confidence and you\u2019ll play the best you can play. Don\u2019t worry about how anyone else plays – worry about how you<\/em> play.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Don’t worry about how anyone else plays – worry about how you<\/em> play.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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He was right. I shouldn\u2019t worry about anyone else.<\/p>\n

When I first learned how to swim as a kid, I went to a lake with some older guys. Know how they taught me to swim? They threw me in. I was flippin\u2019 and floppin\u2019 trying to keep my head above water. They said, \u201cKick your legs! Use your arms! Stay afloat! You can do it!\u201d Next thing you know, I\u2019d figured it out – even though they were ready to jump in and save me from drowning.<\/p>\n

Going up on stage and jamming with those jazz guys was just like that. Dizz threw me in. Bam!<\/em><\/p>\n

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Instead of listening to others who said I sucked, he made me feel that I could do it. When I was on that stage thinking man, I\u2019m sucking<\/em>, he kept looking back and giving me affirmation that I was going to be alright.<\/p>\n

I felt like I could do anything.<\/p>\n

Sometimes people are going to say that you suck, or that you\u2019re doing it wrong – especially in today\u2019s era of social media. I have had comments on my Drumeo lesson where people will challenge me. Instead of being hurt and annoyed, I find it amusing and ridiculous. I\u2019m considered one of the leading blues drummers, but people still criticize me and say I don\u2019t know what I\u2019m talking about. \u201cThat\u2019s not the way so-and-so plays the blues\u201d or \u201cMan, that drummer sucks.\u201d What I\u2019m trying to say is that no one, even me, is immune from it. So keep your head up and take the good with the bad.<\/p>\n

I know that in some of these online videos, you see drummers doing extraordinary, technical things. But that\u2019s because they choose to be like that. If that\u2019s not you, and you\u2019re a groove maker, focus on that. You don\u2019t have to be a mind-blowing drummer to be a happy, successful one. A groovy drummer is just as worthy as a flashy drummer.<\/p>\n

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You don’t have to be a mind-blowing drummer to be a happy, successful one.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Just like Dizzy said, don\u2019t worry about someone else\u2019s opinion on how good or bad you are. Drummers are the CPU of the music. We\u2019ve got to continue to inspire each other. We should play things we wouldn\u2019t normally play, whether it\u2019s country, jazz, reggae, rock, or heavy metal. I think some of the best drummers are versatile and listen to everything and respect and want to learn things, even the styles you don\u2019t particularly care for.<\/p>\n

 
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I was working with Jamey Johnson and I told him he needed to get a country drummer. We didn\u2019t have time to rehearse a lot of the songs, and Jamey would just want to do it on stage. He\u2019d get in a mode and say he\u2019d want to do an old classic, and I\u2019d be like \u201cI don\u2019t know that\u201d, and I\u2019d be up there looking like an idiot. And I\u2019d say \u201cJamey, man, you can\u2019t do that to me, dude. You\u2019ve gotta get a guy who knows those classics.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019d say, \u201cYou know, I looked at you and you did look like somebody who was trying to solve a math problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

He still asked me to play percussion with the band because he liked me and he liked my spirit. It\u2019s not a bad thing to not be able to play something. If you want to do it, you just have to work at it. And go be around the people who do it. And study and listen and eat and drink and talk with them.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how you become versatile. That\u2019s how you learn to be a better drummer. As long as you\u2019ve got your heart and mind and soul in the right place, you\u2019re going to be fine.<\/p>\n

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Tony Coleman<\/h3>\n\n\n
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