When I moved to New York and was trying to get it together Will Lee, the well-known bass player, told me, “Go to is many jam sessions as you can.” He was right. I did some research, went to a bunch of jam sessions, kept practicing and after a while I got with some great musicians. We put a band together and called it Slickaphonics. We all wrote tunes, both individually and collectively. We were together for five years, made five albums and toured all over the US and Europe. Check us out:
Slickaphonics at the Montreux Jazz Festival, 1985. Ray Anderson, tb; Steve Elson, tnr sax; Al Jaffe, guit.; Mark Helias, bass; Jim Payne, drs.
The School Of Funk Team
Putting together the School of Funk felt like that - putting the Slickaphonics together. Of course I put in lots of hours making videos and lesson plans, etc., etc. but that wasn’t all. I needed a team to make it happen.
I checked things out, sort of like going to some jam sessions. I did some research online and hung out at PASIC, the super drum convention. Eventually I found two guys, Thomas Claesen and Jim Toscano (JT). And guess what? They’re both drummers! The School Of Funk Team.
Thomas is in Nashville. He was the main designer of the site and put it together technically. Thomas teaches some very well-known drum lines. He also performs with them in the US, Europe and even Australia! Thomas made the site happen technically and design-wise and had some great ideas along the way. Without him… impossible! He works for www.boldlyfine.com
Thomas
Jim Toscano is in Staten Island, New York. He’s the social media expert and he’s also an accomplished, dedicated drummer with a large student roster. He has a new book out, Filling In The Grooves: The Ultimate Guide To Drum Fills. www.jimtoscano.com
What does it take to put this all together? Teamwork, of course. Just like in a band. These guys know drums and drummers. They’re experts and they know their instruments. We worked, we listened, we rehearsed, we practiced and we worked some more. Here are the tunes we wrote. I tried to give them the freedom to do their thing, but it had to be FUNKY!
And these guys are very FUNKY! I hope you enjoy the show we put together.
PS - And wait a minute! I also have to mention Chris Haag (also a drummer!) who did the Intro and Sample Lesson videos and also several of the videos in the course, shot both in the US and at the House of Funk in France. He was great!
Thanks to all!