D'MAR

The Soul Revival



Special to The Clarion-Ledger

Derrick "D'Mar" Martin will perform at the Soul Revival.





What: The Soul Revival featuring D'Mar, Dexter Allen, eZra Brown, Akami Graham and Mike Rob.


When: 8 p.m. Friday.


Where: Hal & Mal's, 200 Commerce St., Jackson.


Cost: $12.


Phone: (601) 454-3745 or www.myspace.com/soulrevival07.




The gist: A number of Jackson's best soul, jazz, funk and blues artists assemble for a revue at Hal & Mal's Friday.

Call him D'Mar: Derrick "D'Mar" Martin is a well-known Jackson musician and producer.

He has played drums for rock legend Little Richard for more than a decade, and has produced CDs for local artists ranging from rappers Children of the Cornbread to rockers Storage 24.

Who better than Martin, then, to stage a revival of the soul and R&B scene in Jackson?

Friday he plans to shine the limelight on some of Jackson's most talented and hardworking musicians who may have not gotten their due in their hometown.

"The idea was the brainchild of myself and my co-executive producer Lamond Jamison," Martin says. "The idea was to put together a show of artists who are on the same page, trying to move in the same direction in terms of garnering our own following here in Jackson."

Jamison, whose stage name is X the Unknown Drummer, performs with popular oldies act Meet the Press. He'll man the drums of the night's band, primarily composed of Martin's band The Nu Funk Society, who will back each performer.

"We're doing it with one well-rehearsed band, basically patterned on a Motown revue-like deal," Martin says.

The night's featured performers include Dexter Allen, eZra Brown, Akami Graham, Mike Rob and D'Mar himself.

Allen is Bobby Rush's touring guitarist and a talented solo performer in his own right. Brown is a jazz saxophonist who has performed with numerous artists. Rob manages Jackson soul act Compositionz and received the 2007 Jackson Music Award for R&B Vocalist of the Year. Graham is a Jackson soul singer who has developed a local following at area clubs like Freelon's and The Executive Place.

"I figured ... why don't we come together and do a highly professional, well-produced show where each of us can bring in our prospective audiences and give them a very well-rounded evening of entertainment," Martin says.

There are also plans to take the Soul Revival on tour, all part of Martin's mission to bring Jackson's rich musical history back to the forefront through the talents of its new generation of performers.

"It's all about letting the audience know that there is a thriving market here for traditional R&B, funk, jazz, smooth jazz, you know, the whole nine," Martin says.

- Carey Miller
- CLARION LEDGER

Visitor draws out musical talent at South Side
Wednesday, 11 February 2009

By Jennifer Gentile
Daily Times Leader

South Side Elementary students couldn’t help but shake and sway in their seats Tuesday as their visitor, a professional musician, provided a driving drum beat.
Derrick Martin, a drummer, producer recording artist and songwriter, was a hit with the young audience at South Side. Martin’s presentation was jointly funded by the local chapter of Clay County Alumnae Chapter, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, and the Mississippi Arts Commission.
Martin did two presentations at the school Tuesday morning as a celebration of Black History Month. Delta Sigma Theta is a charter member and annual participant in the school district’s Bright Horizons/Partners in Education program. “I’m here today to talk to you about the best instrument in the world,” Martin said as he gestured toward his drum set. By the time he was through, Martin had taught the students about the components of the drum set and its role in American music. He started with the snare drum, which he said give the drums “that rattly sound.”
He went on to demonstrate the tone of the crash cymbal, floor tom, bass drum and hi-hat.
Martin then led the audience through the evolution of American music, from jazz, blues and swing to Motown, rock and roll and hip hop. Referring to the blues, he said, “a large part of that music was created right here in Mississippi.”
If students were unfamiliar with greats like Louis Armstrong, BB King, Elvis Presley, James Brown and Muddy Waters, Martin made sure they didn’t leave Wednesday without hearing these names and those of other influential musicians.
Although Martin’s presentation was part lesson, it was hardly a lecture. He encouraged the audience to clap along to a blues beat and showed off his own skills as he kept a beat while standing on his stool and then leapt over the drum set.
Some lucky students, who were chosen for their behavior, were invited to play on the drum set under Martin’s supervision. Others received a set of drum sticks for correctly answering questions about Martin’s lesson.
For those students who were skeptical, Martin proved that people use rhythm and pitch in their everyday lives. He used speaking as an example, showing that “rhythm and pitch are the only way to convey expression.”
Martin also compared rhythm to attitude.
“Remember guys,” he said, “every day, you have a chance to give off good rhythm.”
As he wrapped up the show, Martin encouraged the students to learn more about music and to take up a musical instrument. He started his own music career playing drums in junior high, but that wasn’t how he’d planned to make a living.
“I used to want to be a computer technician,” he said. “(A counselor) told me to do something I loved, and I didn’t love anything more than playing the drums.”
Martin’s professional career now spans more than 20 years, including 14 years he spent as the lead drummer for Little Richard. He has appeared on the Tonight Show, American Music Awards and David Letterman.
“The chapter is just happy to we can bring this kind of talent to the school system,” said Naomi Kilgore, the alumnae chapter’s chairperson of the arts and letters committee, “to expose the kids to successful persons who inspire them and encourage them.”
- Daily Times Leader

Sexy Mother Funker

by Lea Thomas
Photo by Amanda Matthews
May 17, 2006

D’Mar is like a nervous prom date. Sitting underneath the AmSouth escalator as refuge from the busier-than-usual Cups downtown on this early afternoon, I get comfortable in my chair and look across at Derrick Martin, 34, better known as D’Mar. His long dreadlocks rest on his left shoulder and back. He taps his fingers on the table and fumbles with a black press folder. “I’m more comfortable in front of a crowd than in one-on-one situations like this,” he says.
It’s true—D’Mar is at home on stage. He performs with electrifying intensity and sincerity. Vocals, uncomplicated and mellow, remain intact, despite the tremendous jumping and dancing both on and off the stage.

If what you want is a show, you’ll get it with D’Mar. His concerts are filled with variety, from his own music to “Purple Rain”-era renditions like “Let Me Love You Down” by Ready for the World and “Glamorous Life” by Sheila E. He engages the audience with questions to the ladies and statements to the guys, and he peppers verse breaks with Prince-like meows.

It’s evident in his music and stage performance that D’Mar is a huge Prince fan. “I come from liking artists that are really characters, that are not superficial. You knew what they were going through from their art,” he says.

D’Mar is not new to the music business. Behind the scenes touring with Little Richard for the last 10 years as a drummer, D’Mar has cultivated quite a reputation not only as a master percussionist but also for producing, arranging and songwriting.

A Jackson native, D’Mar developed musically at an early age. “I started playing drums when I was 12,” he says. He got his professional start as a senior at Provine High School, traveling not far around the corner to Jackson State University on a music scholarship, where he meshed into the Sonic Boom’s famous drum section.

D’Mar calls himself the best-kept secret in the Dirty South. In 1995, he formed a production company, called Airtight Records, with a friend, Darryl Pete. He produced records and penned songs for artists like Eddie Seawood, Dorothy Moore, Children of the Cornbread, Wildlife Society, Compozitionz and Little Richard himself. “Little Richard has recorded two of my songs,” he says.

D’Mar has performed at just about every major music event and awards show one could imagine, including the Grammys and the American Music Awards.

After so much time behind the drum set, D’Mar feels it’s time to step out and bring his artistic abilities to the forefront. “I’ve written over 2,000 songs,” he says. “For 10 years that was my day job. I figure, with the law of averages, out of 2,000 songs, I should have 500 hits,” he says, laughing.

The songs D’Mar writes are reminiscent of the days when R&B and soul music was sexy but not overtly sexual like most records getting airplay today. Where does he get his inspiration? “Life,” he says. “Life is inspiration. I live vicariously through other people. I’m a great observer.”

His first offering, “The D’Mar Experience,” is a double CD—both studio and live—of pure Nu Funk Soul, a term he copyrighted. “I want Jackson to know that funk is not a bad word,” he says.

“I’d like to see more opportunity for diversity in the music industry, with D’Mar and the Nu Funk Society,” he says. “We are a band that can deliver the whole experience and get the vibe that I’m trying to portray across,” he says. “Consistency pays.”

“Selling a record these days is all about the money—who has the most money to by the most advertising, marketing. I want to take it back to the live experience. There are not very many musicians left that can really take it to the stage. So that was where the Nu Funk Society came in, trying to create an experience for people to follow,” he says.

D’Mar has other pots on the stove. He owns Percussive Music Studios in Clinton, where he and his wife, Faith, teach vocal and drum lessons. He does a lecture series for kindergartners through teenagers, tracing the history of the drum set in America. He starts with traditional New Orleans music and traces it all the way up to hip-hop.

“I drop a few important names like Duke Ellington during the process, and by the time they get to hip-hop, they realize it’s not new but a culmination of things that have come before,” he says. “As we are blessed, it’s our responsibility to give back,” he says.



- Jackson Free Press

Music] The New Funk
by Adrienne Hearn
Photo by Jason Jarin
November 18, 2005

Musians like James Brown carried out the funk era, while legendary bands like Parliament, the Ohio Players and Earth, Wind, & Fire kept funk's fire burning brightly. Today, though, most people aren't bumping their stereos with music from the funk era. Still, there is no lack of appreciation for the genre. To ensure the love of funk doesn't die, D'MAR combines the best yesterday's funk with today's R&B.

D'MAR, born Derrick Martin, began his education in music while in the 7th grade and continued as a freshman at Jackson State University. After performing for local greats such as Eddie Cotton, Dorothy Moore and Patrice Moncell, D'MAR's lucky break came in 1995 when he got the chance to audition for Little Richard?he got the job. Though he could play every instrument except guitar, the drums were D'MAR's forte. While a part of Little Richard's band, he wasn't just playing. He was performing and creating a one-of-a-kind experience for the audience.

"It's been an immense education," he says. "The way I think, and the way I view the world now is all as a result of being able to travel and see. I usually go to Europe twice a year, and television-wise I've probably been on every major talk show you could think of within maybe the last seven years."

D'MAR adds that having the chance to perform for shows such as the Grammys and the American Music Awards helped him to really get a grasp of the type of musician he was capable of being. After traveling around the world, D'MAR came home to Jackson as a new musical hot commodity for many local up-and-coming acts. Songwriting and producing became his day job, he says.

"I produced for the Wild Life Society and Children of the Cornbread, and I've actually produced a couple of songs for Little Richard as well," he adds.

D'MAR also helped to co-write and produce for local singing group sensation Compozitionz, whose single "Come Over" had heavy radio rotation this year.

Later, D'MAR put together his own act: a 10-piece performance band called D'MAR and the Nu Funk Society.

He says: "That's the brainchild that has taken three years to actually come to fruition, but I started about two years ago when I released a single called ?One Check Away From Being Broke,' and I actually opened up for K-CI and JoJo at Freelon's Groove when they came."

Having had two singles released this year in both France and Amsterdam, D'MAR says that he received a lot of positive feedback. Several agents were pushing the idea for the new band, but he says difficulties arose.

"I was having problems finding the right musicians here that were really willing to rehearse and were really willing to put together the kind of show that I was trying to put together," he remembers.

Finally, D'MAR found other capable musicians with the same enthusiasm to deliver an outstanding performance.

Seeing D'MAR and the Nu Funk Society is a very live experience, to say the least. He is known for coming out into the audience during his shows and pulling onlookers onto the dance floor.

"I want people to come away from our show saying ?Man, that was an experience. We were entertained. We got funked to death. We danced, and we partied.' It's a chance to come in and let all your inhibitions go," he says.

- Jackson Free Press

Derrick Martin, 32, runs his own music company, Airtight Productions, located in Clinton.


Playing drums for Little Richard has provided Clinton resident Derrick Martin with more than an eye-popping line on his resume.

It's been an education in music, business, people skills ? and surprises on stage.

"I've been with him for 10 years now," says Martin, a former member of the Provine High School and Jackson State University bands, "and you never know what he's gonna do."

Example: "We were playing a show one night about four years after I joined him, and Richard says 'They tell me our drummer has a mean dance style. So, Derrick, why don't you come on down here and show us what you can do.' "

Martin laughs out loud. "He breaks into Jenny, Jenny, Jenny and I start dancing all over the stage, and wind up dancing on top of his piano. He liked it so much, he made it a part of the show."

Little Richard, the 71-year-old rock icon whose classic hits include Long Tall Sally, Tutti-Frutti and Good Golly, Miss Molly, only does about 30 shows a year now and constantly reminds Martin: "The next person you need to work for is yourself. Strive toward that."

That's what Martin is doing with his music company, Airtight Productions in Clinton. He's working on his own music, with an R&B CD due out next year, while producing and recording other local talent. He writes songs and pitches them them to other artists. He offers drum lessons and music seminars.

And even though he's a 32-year-old husband and father of three children, Martin doesn't worry too much about tomorrow.

Fate has taught him that.

"The key is to work hard but not have an ego about all this," says Martin, who just returned home from a gig in London with Little Richard. "I grew up a black kid in Mississippi and wound up working all over the world with one of the greatest performers in rock history.


Special to The Clarion-Ledger

Derrick Martin (top left) of Clinton has been playing drums with rock 'n' roll legend Little Richard since 1994.



"Naw," he says, shaking his head, "this is all about God, not about me."

Big break in '94

Martin got his break when Little Richard came to Jackson in 1994 to play Jubilee!JAM.

"We had become friends over the phone," says Linda Jacobs, the former director of the event. "He mentioned to me in casual conversation that he was looking for another drummer. I told him about Derrick."

Jacobs knew Martin through friends and the local music scene. "I've never seen someone so committed to his art form," she says. "Plus, he's humble and dependable."

Two days after Jacobs' recommendation, Martin was on a plane headed for Los Angeles to meet with Little Richard. "I thought about all those drum lessons my mother (Linda Turner) had paid for," Martin says.

The audition didn't happen immediately, or the way Martin expected. "I was there five days and hadn't played a single song. I spent time with Danny, his adopted son, and we really hit it off."

While out on the town with Little Richard and a few of his friends, they went into a supper club.

"There was a raggedy ol' piano and some raggedy ol' drums," Martin recalls. "Little Richard got on the piano and started playing some blues. I joined in, and he just stopped and looked at me. He said, 'You play the blues?' I said, 'Man, I'm from Mississippi.'

"We played stuff by Muddy Waters, Count Basie, boogie-woogie stuff. I found out later he had planned the whole thing. That was my tryout.

"After a while, Richard closes the piano and says 'I've seen all I need to see. I've been checking you out all week. You seem like a good person. You're a good drummer.'

"That's when I knew I had the job."

Less than a month later, Martin was in Europe as part of the Legends of Rock Tour, featuring Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry.

Before the first show of the tour, Richard's lead drummer, Monkey Womack, quit.

"We got some good reviews," Martin says, "and Richard told me, 'You bailed me out when I had to have you. As long as you want this gig, it's yours.' "

Some of the things Martin has learned about Little Richard along the way:



He doesn't care for the sound of cymbals. "Just give him a solid beat," Martin says. "Anything outside of that is a distraction."


Richard can read people's intentions, good or bad. "If he says 'That guy's up to no good,' it may take a few weeks or months, but it'll come out just like he said," Martin says. "He's rarely ever wrong."

Richard is a huge country music fan. "We do a killer version of Hank Williams' I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," he says.


Everybody wants to meet Little Richard. "At the American Music Awards one year, he had me stand right beside him afterward because he knew I wanted to meet all these people," Martin recalls. "And, sure enough, they all came by to see Richard ? Dick Clark, Quincy Jones, New Edition."
Giving back

Tony Winters, assistant principal at Murrah High School and Martin's former band director at Provine High School, calls Martin "one of my all-time finest students."

"I could call him anytime, anywhere and he'd be here if I needed him," Winters says.

Martin proved that when he spoke to students at Provine the day after he performed at the 1997 American Music Awards in Hollywood.

"One girl remembered me from the telecast," Martin says, "and asked me why I was there after being in Hollywood the night before.

"I told her I was there to let her know that Mississippi isn't a bad place to call home, and that good things can happen if you just work hard and believe."
- Clarion Ledger

D'Mar live at Hal & Mal's
April 16, 2009
Don't even try to deny it: you want the funk. You gotta have that funk. Who doesn't like a little bow-chick-a-wow-wow in their step? Well, the funk was present in high quantity and quality on Thursday, April 16 at Hal & Mal's, as D-Mar and his Nu Funk Society (led by frontman -- and drummer for Little Richard -- Derrick Martin) shook every moneymaker within a 5-mile radius. Metromix sent their camera to document every last boogaloo. (Rumors of a hovering Mothership were unconfirmed at press time.)

Credit:Scott Albert Johnson - Clarion Ledger

Top line: D-Mar, lead drummer for Little Richard's band, steps out front for two shows at The Auditorium Restaurant in Jackson, leading a nine-piece band in a tribute to Prince.



"I'm a huge Prince fan - always have been," says D-Mar, given name Derrick Martin, a Jackson native. "Playing with Little Richard and with Prince kind of coming from the Little Richard school, it all kind of makes sense."

Stepping out solo in big way in his hometown, D-Mar is delivering a big sound. Prince's influences run through his music. "It truly is a tribute. ... not just a schtick."

His band boasts a three-piece horn section, backup singers and a female drummer, recent Jackson State University grad Cherita Sade.

Expect a lot of the hits - Let's Go Crazy, Purple Rain, When Doves Cry, Little Red Corvette. "Rehearsals have just been a ball," he says. Don't expect copycat costuming, however. "I won't be out in the lace pants," he laughs, and "I'm a bit too tall for the heels.

"It's D-Mar just being D-Mar but tributing Prince," he says, with a nod to Prince's style and energy.

A fan since age 5, D-Mar, 37, grew up listening to his mom's Prince records and the artist's posters and memorabilia have covered the walls of every studio he's ever owned. "It's a treat for me, and it's very ironic. Anybody who knows me, this is not a stretch at all."

D-Mar says he connects to the honesty in Prince's music and the quality of his musicianship. "He's just a genius songwriter - the way he can take the simplest things and put them together to come up with the most complex-sounding music.

"It's a lot of simple parts that are stacked in a genius way that really comes off as a lush tapestry of just beauty."

Live and lively: D-Mar's solo foray with the Nu Funk Society builds on years of experience, funneled into live performance.

"Using the band I have is kind of an outgrowth of being influenced by Prince and James Brown and Little Richard ... being able to bring the presentation of my music in the highest quality to the stage, with the horns and the dancing and high-energy performance.

"This is my time to let everybody know who D-Mar is."

- Sherry Lucas

- Clarion Ledger

URBAN APPEAL
Carey Miller/The Clarion-Ledger
carey.miller@jackson.gannett.com

By Carey Miller

carey.miller@jackson.gannett.com

Jackson is going to get hot for Memorial Day weekend, both literally and figuratively.

As temperatures are expected to reach the 90s for the holiday weekend, the urban music scene also heats up with three big concerts featuring a mix of chart-topping superstars and local talent for fans of all ages.

Kicking things off on Friday night is the return of TheSoul Revival, a show-stopping revue of some of Jackson's best performers brought to you by Derrick "D'Mar"Martin at Hal &Mal's.

"This is the third time,"says Martin, a Jackson musician and producer who is known for playing drums in Little Richard's band and for his own band The Nu Funk Society. "It's been successful both times before, and we've got the same lineup except we've added (popular local club act) Meet the Press to the bill."

The show, which also features DexterAllen, Ezra Brown, Akami Graham, Mike Rob and Martin himself, is in the classic Motown revue format, with one band backing each of the performers.

"There are no breaks, it's just a straight flow all night, ranging from smooth jazz, R&B, funk, and soul, just a real good time,"Martin says.

- THE CLARION LEDGER

January 28, 2010


The state's "Birthplace of America's Music" salute campaign takes center stage tonight with Mississippi Night at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, Calif.

The preamble to Sunday's Grammy Award ceremony will showcase the state's wealth of musical talent, including blues vocalist and guitarist Eddie Cotton Jr., singer-drummer Derrick Martin, known as D'Mar, and his 11-year-old son, Michael, all of Clinton.

Derrick Martin, well known as a recording artist, music educator and producer and a drummer for Little Richard, is the musical director for a group of musicians selected to play with Cotton and other talents such as Dorothy Moore and The Williams Brothers at the sold-out show.

Moore is a four-time Grammy nominee, and the Williamses are nominees in the Best Traditional Gospel album category for The Journey Continues...

Mississippi has more Grammy nominees and winners per capita than any other state, said Derrick Martin.

"This is a show celebrating the rich and diverse history of music in Mississippi," he said. "This (state) truly is the birthplace of America's music."

Michael Martin has been invited to represent the future of Mississippi talent, said his dad.

"This is the first time that a state has been invited to celebrate its music at a recording event," said the senior Martin. "We are going out there as ambassadors for Mississippi music and its culture."

Selecting bandmates was easy, he said. "There are so many great musicians here, and I've been fortunate to play with some of the best. They will represent our sate and our musical talents well.

"Personally, this is important not only to brand our father-son duo, but because it's truly a historical event," he said. "I am honored to be a part of it, especially with my son.

Showcasing Mississippi's blues heritage, Cotton will be joined by Mississippi native Hubert Sumlin, a first-generation Chicago electric blues guitarist who played in the Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf bands.

Also part of the blues segment of the program is David "Honeyboy" Edwards, the 94-year-old blues icon from Shaw, who was first recorded by Alan Lomax in 1942 for the Library of Congress. He won a Grammy last year in the Traditional Blues category.

This year, Edwards, along with Leonard Cohen, Bobby Darin, Michael Jackson, Loretta Lynn, André Previn and Clark Terry, will receive the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award.

Edwards also will be honored for lifetime achievement in his home state Feb. 25 with a Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts.

"From Elvis to B.B. King to Leontyne Price to Faith Hill, we cover the gamut: rock, gospel, country, blues, soul, opera," said Gov. Haley Barbour in a news release. "If it's music, it's Mississippi, and that's a big source of pride for us."

Peavey Electronics, based in Meridian, and the Mississippi Development Authority are supporting the Grammy Museum program.

Earlier in the day, Los Angeles area high school students spent time with Peavey Electronics founder Hartley Peavey to discuss career opportunities in music and allied industries.

Ward Emling, director of Mississippi's Film Office, and filmmaker Lynn Orman discussed filmmaking in Mississippi and hosted screenings of Six Generations of The Blues, a documentary produced by Front Row Music TV tracing the roots of Chicago blues back to Mississippi, featuring Honeyboy Edwards.

"With more than 40 Grammy Award winners in a wide variety of genres, the state's incredible influence is undeniable," said Jon Hornyak, senior executive director of The Recording Academy, Memphis chapter, in a news release.

"Mississippi's program at the Grammy Museum will, we're sure, confirm this fact in a very real way." - Clinton News- By Susan O'Bryan sobryan@clintonnews.com