The Environmental Rhythm Ensemble
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The Environmental Rhythm Ensemble

Hollywood, California, United States | INDIE

Hollywood, California, United States | INDIE
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"Big Black, Artist In Residence, Presents "Environmental Rhythms" Workshop"

Harrison House Artist Residency is pleased to welcome the legendary hand drummer "Big Black" aka Daniel Ray, who will conduct a percussion workshop that he calls "Environmental Rhythms" on Saturday, September 4, 2010 from 3-6pm followed by a drum circle from 7:30 - 9:30pm. This event will be held at Harrison House, located at 6881 Mount Lassen Avenue in Joshua Tree, CA. This event is open to people of all levels and is a rare opportunity to learn from a master and hear some of his great stories! Advance tickets are $25 and are available at Wind Walkers in Joshua Tree Village.


Big Black is a walking history of world percussion. He is the musician responsible for bringing the sounds of African Drum into Modern Jazz, performing with jazz giants such as Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, Fredie Hubbard, Oscar Peterson
and Randy Weston. Black's multi-faceted career also includes collaborations with music icons such as Muddy Waters, Richie Havens, and BB King. His earliest performances included working clubs in Nassau with Calypsonian legend Lord Flea.
Through the course of his epic career Big Black developed his own theories of rhythm which are based upon the concept of "Shangu" or "the single heart beat."

Big Black's ~ "Environmental Rhythms" for the Drum Circle...

Heartbeat, "The internal drum"

The heart beat is one continous beat. The heart is the internal drum that plays the life giving source through our bodies.This beat is called "Shango", the african diety of the drum rhythms. These rhythms are directly associated with the exterior environment. Our goal is to bring into harmony both interior and exterior environments, so that we may acheive oneness with natures total environment. Oneness in ourselves as a people, oneness in all things expressed through nature and through drumming.


The Native Americans like no others; play what I call, the external heart beat, or the 1:1 beat. This beat repetively draws you into a mental state of trance. It is in this mental state that you are allowed to grasp the "Environmental Rhythms" crucial infusion, of total oneness in the environment and self. The dance that the native american performs depicts the environment that feeds the rhythms of the heartbeat that one continuos beat - boom, boom, boom boom ...


"Environmental Rhythms" are collected through our senses and are fed to our heart rhythmically. As we move through this sea of "immortal rhythms", we began to collect and connect our spirits with our heart, we transmitt these rhythms from our heart to our hands, and from our hands to the drums. At this point you are well on your way to becoming an "Environmental Rhythmist".


To be an environmental rhythmist is to play the rhythms of your environment, in a way that you and only you can percieve. There is no right or wrong in this matter, unless it is a composition written for an ensemble or an arrangesd piece. Simply put, it is all free-form meaning that, you can play whatever you are thinking at that time, as long as you are focusing on the heartbeat. In-order to achieve harmony in a drum circle, the director should be in command. He or she should know all of the rhythm parts or patterns, so that they may be distributed correctly among the players.


One only needs a few crossing rhythms to achieve the beauty and harmony in the circle.
The director should be familiar with the time signatures that will be played and if those in the circle do not understand these, he should be ready to demonstrate or play these for the players. The circle should be divided into sections, 2 to 3 or more. Each section should be given their respective parts to be criss-crossed by all of the other parts harmoniously. This is the organized version, on the other hand is the freestyle circle, where everybody plays whatever they want, while focusing on the heartbeat. This is where the environmental rhythms kick-in, "freestyle from each individuals own perception; controlled by "Shango".


(Note: For more information on the Harrison House Artist Residency
Contact Eval Soltes, Founder/Director) - JOSHUA TREE STAR LEDGER


"AMERICUS AFRICAN"

BIG BLACKS’ creativity, ear and pitch allow him to experience, or become submerged in any particular instrument, thus developing, an almost singular sound, within a musical collaboration. These musical transitions, unlike most drummers, invites BIG BLACK to experiment with the octaves. BIG BLACKS’ drums are tuned in a Dorian Mode. Dorian being the note D or neutral; BIG BLACKS” drums, the three of them, are tuned in D, G, F, respectively, and his vocal keys are D, B, G and A. Music critics and serious listeners, often comment, that there are moments when the drum ,instruments and sometimes the voice are difficult to tell apart. “This distinctive feel of melody and harmony, are what distinguishes BIG BLACK from all other hand drummers and percussionist”, truly the “AMERICUS AFRICAN”!

While working for an Independent Record Distributor in the sixties, I was introduced to the Folkways catalog. I quickly learned, the fabulous versatility and range, of the ethnic origins of almost every form of music. I was delighted, when The Smithsonian acquired Folkways, a truly worldly, catalog. The Smithsonian, is clearly the Educational and Historical Institution, of the Archives of The United States. It is our opinion that, BIG BLACK, creative Artist and Master of the hand drum is worthy of The Smithsonian Institutes’ recognition. BIG BLACKS’ catalog is diverse, uncommonly innovative and musically boarders on genius. Surely, the addition, of this musician and or his catalog, would only enrich The Smithsonian Institutes’ current properties. The procedure necessary to incorporate this National Treasure, would be our pleasure (to do) and a tribute to this art form. We simply feel that BIG BLACK, this native born musician, should be noted! -PAXTON WHITEHEAD

- SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE


""BIG BLACK BACK AT DRUMS" & "ON THE TOWN""

Please go to URL below to see photos of these two
reviews by Critics John Wasserman and Ralph J Gleason
- SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE 5/2769 & 3/10/69


"THE INFLUENCE OF BIG BLACK 108 DRUM! July 2008 drummagazine.com"

The Influence of Big Black. "In the early ’90s Rudolph met one of the most important influences on his music – the master hand drummer Big Black. According to Rudolph, Big Black’s drumming is completely based on the jazz tradition. “That really blew my mind,” he says. “Because I had been, as I said, developing my own language on hand drums and there was really no precedent for it. I had been listening to people like Don Alias with Miles and Mtume with Miles and Juma Santos and really appreciated what they were doing, but I was trying to reach beyond the Afro Cuban tradition to develop a real language in socalled jazz. When I heard Big Black, it was the first time I heard somebody who really had developed a uniquely American – or Afro American – approach to hand drumming. “When I met him I saw that he had a lot of finger technique that he had developed,” Rudolph explains. “I was able to adapt a lot of that – because I had been studying tabla, so I already had finger technique – and bring a lot of finger technique into the hand drumming. Also, his approach was such that you could really be free on the hand drums to play your own ideas in the moment. You weren’t locked into playing patterns. “His approach allowed me to go further toward developing my own voice. It wasn’t like I was going to sound like him or play like him, but that approach, the fundamental hand positions and hand movements and the integration of finger technique into it, liberated me further toward developing my own voice on the instrument.” Big Black also inspired Rudolph to make some major changes in how he approached his whole setup. “First of all, he played standing, which I found out was a much more practical way to do things, so I started playing standing up,” Rudolph explains. “And he also had his low drums on the left, so he set his drums up like a piano – low to high – where Afro Cuban drummers usually put their low drums on the right. That opens up your right hand to do a lot of these things like from tablas and to develop more independence and equality in the functionality between your left and right hand.”



Biography of Adam Rudolph

Composer/hand percussionist Adam Rudolph was born in Chicago in 1955, and as a teen was mentored by the likes of Don Cherry, Fred Anderson, and Malawi Nurdurdin. After receiving a self-designed undergraduate degree in ethnomusicology from Oberlin College, Rudolph went on to earn his M.F.A. from the California Institute of the Arts; in 1977 he traveled to Ghana and met the famed griot Foday Musa Suso, and a year later they reunited in Chicago to form the Mandingo Griot Society, pioneering a fusion of traditional African music with jazz and R&B. Rudolph additionally spent 15 years studying North Indian tabla drums under the renowned Pandit Taranath Rao, also regularly collaborating with L. Shankar and Hassan Hakmoun. His extensive research throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa allowed Rudolph to master a vast range of percussion instruments, including the congas, djembe, bendir, dumbek, tabla, talking drum, kalimba, udu; in addition to appearing on sessions by everyone from Herbie Hancock to Jon Hassell to Shadowfax, he collaborated extensively with Yusef Lateef from 1988 onward. Rudolph debuted his own group, Moving Pictures, with a self-titled 1992 LP; in 1995, he premiered his first opera, The Dreamer. In the early part of the 21st century, Rudolph became a founding member of Build an Ark in Los Angeles, a multi-generational group of musicians that also includes Carlos Ninos, Dwight Trible, Phil Ranelin, and a dozen others. They issued two fine albums, 2004's Peace with Every Step and 2007's Dawn. Rudolph also collaborated with Leni Stern on her 2007 effort Africa. Dream Garden followed in 2008. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

Content provided by All Music Guide Copyright © 2008 All Media Guide, LLC
Interview of Adam Rudolph -See Page 108 on the Influence of Big Black in drummagazine.com July 2008. DRUM! 108.. By Kristin Bartus. - DrumMagazine.com. Content provided by All Music Guide Copyright © 2008 All Media Guide, LLC


Discography

Black has been in the studio for the past year resulting in three new albums - a rap album, A New Age album and a Blues Album. Check Musicforte or his website for samples

Anybody Got A Hot Meal ? album released 2/1/2010 on ChicCherry label. Title rap song timely comment on the state of the nation as much as "Buddy Can You Spare A Dime " was in the 1930's - done only as Black can do it - from the gut !

Hello Africa , the title tune of his New Age Album was the one he performs in the Sony Classic"SoulPower", which lit up the movie and then YouTube -

His third production is the blues album "People Are Talking" which captures the singing of Big Black - while a legendary hand drummer, Black's vocal talents are not to be dismissed - if you like Delta and Chicago styled blues catch an earful of the title tune
Black now records on the ChicCherry Label

UNI ALBUMS:
Big Black & The Blues

Elements of Now

Message To Our Ancestors

Lion Walk

If Your're Digging What You Are Doing Keep on Doing What You're Digging...

ARCH ALBUM

Ethnic Fusion

Photos

Bio

Daniel "Big Black" Ray Inducted Into The Coastal Jazz Association of Savannah Hall of Fame
(posted by The Creative Coast Alliance)

Master musician, percussionist and hand drummer (and actor), Big Black, was born Daniel Ray in Savannah, Georgia in 1934, and grew up as a child in the Carolinas.

Ray got his nickname from an older brother when he showed interest in drumming as a child. Unfortunately, "Big Black" has gotten far more noteriety for his colorful name than for his importance as an exceptional percussionist and one of the better practitioners of Afro-Cuban jazz rhythms in the 1960s.

After high school, Mr. Ray spent five years alternating between Florida and the Bahamas. During these formative (but inventive) years he played with Lord Flea's Calypso band in the Bahamas and with the Calypso Eddy Trio. He worked in Miami with Jack Contanzo, Moe Coffman and the Contemporary Jazz Orchestra.

Ray later formed a band with Jamaican trumpeter Billy Cook in Nassau and began mixing Caribbean and jazz rhythms.

During the 1960s he often worked with "jazz giants" Randy Weston, Freddie Hubbard, Ray Bryant, Johnny Barracuda, Junior Cook, Eric Dolphy and Dizzy Gillespie. He subsequently was dubbed "The king of Congas".

A recording contract with UNI/MCA, led to the release of "Message to our Ancestors," ('67) "Elements of Now," ('68) "Lion Walk," ('68) and "Big Black and the Blues in 1972. These musical statements introduced collaborations with Dizzy Gillespie, Randy Weston, Hugh Masekela and Freddie Hubbard with Art Blakey on the collectors, essential recording, "Night of the Cookers."

Big Blacks' recording and acting careers soared afterwards, to even greater heights. The next two decades would prove to be truly eventful, on the theatrical level as well, as a musician in international films such as, Dizzy Gillespies' Havana Bop, and When We Were Kings.

He has been in demand at international festivals such as: The Montreal, Monterey, Newport, The Playboy Jazz and Music Festivals, and at the Zaire Music Festival, prior to the Muhammad Ali Fight in 1974 (it was Big Black on congas in Ali's corner that night to open the fight's festivities).

Big Black continues to advance musically. His technique, is considered unorthodox for a drummer, because he prefers to set out and approach the drums as a pianist would approach their instrument, left hand being bass or lower keys and the right hand, treble or the high keys. When Big Black is accompanying a pianist the tonal exchanges, reminds one of listening to mallets being played on the piano strings. His distinctive feel of melody and harmony, is what distinguishes Big Black from all other hand drummers and percussionist.

In consideration of global influence of Big Black and his participation in the many variations and mutations of jazz and African drum influenced music over the past fifty years, he is being recognized for his musical contribution and achievements by being inducted into the Coastal Jazz Association of Savannah Hall of Fame for 2008. Mr. Ray will be performing at the 2008 Savannah Jazz Festival (www.savannahjazzfestival.org) with the Coastal Jazz All-Stars.