E. Doctor Smith's Blog

The legendary Pete Seeger left us this week, leaving behind an amazing legacy of music and activism. " Dubbed "America's tuning fork" by poet Carl Sandburg, the banjo-player left behind folk classics like "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," "If I Had a Hammer," "Turn! Turn! Turn!" and "We Shall Overcome." Many will associate him with the 1960s, a decade of profound social and political change, when young Americans took to the streets to condemn the Vietnam war and demand civil rights for all races…" I was fortunate to work with him once, for a performance for WETA in Virginia back in 2000, when Seeger was a mere 81 years old. For this performance, Seeger was joined by his grandson Tao Rodriguez-Seeger; a very popular duo in those days. Seeger entered the theater early afternoon, perhaps a little slower and older, yet remarkably energetic. I offered him a beer, a tour of the theater; and he gladly accepted. I reminded him th...

One of the greatest bass players on the planet, the Liberian/German expatriate Kai Eckhardt, has made his home in Berkeley, after thrilling audiences around the world. His resume features a veritable who's who of the fantastic jazz and world musicians; guitarist John McLaughlin, drummer Billy Cobham, percussionist Trilok Gurtu, Stanley Clarke, Wayne Shorter, Patrice Rushen, Dewey Redman, Donald Byrd, Bela Fleck, Victor Wooten and his band Garaj Mahal, to name but a few. Eckhardt's latest album "Zeitgeist", is jazzy blend of funk, Indian ragas and straight-up, butt-kicking electric jazz. Eckhardt's band in fact released his new album at Yoshi's in Oakland a few weeks ago. For that performance, Eckhardt enlisted Baltimore's Dana Hawkins on drums, Australia's Chris Robinson on electric guitar and the North African keyboardist, Osam Ezzeldin. If you missed it, you can download it via his website . Early fans of Eckhardt's will no doubt recall his...

Lately, I've been enjoying a variety of guitar, bass and drum trios, and one of my favorites is bassist Hansford Rowe's "HR3". This is a tasty trio based in Montreal, featuring two younger players, (guitarist Julien Sandiford and Max Lazich), who seem a little wise beyond their years. With HR3, Rowe has a gentle, yet wonderfully wicked sound; 'Scooby Goes to School", and the energetic "Voix Aciennes" are among my personal favorites. HR3's website describes the group as "A wounded road warrior meets two young bucks. Together they confront the beast…." You can’t create without destroying – that doesn’t mean scorched earth is HR3’s method. They kill you softly. They take you under slowly giving you time to visit musical subtleties along the way that require a moment. Bassist Hansford Rowe has scorched with quite a variety of characters along the rocky road; guitarists for example - Allan Holdsworth, Biréli Lagrène, Mike Oldfield, David Fi...

There have been some exciting to come through San Francisco in 2013; too many to name in this space in fact. Sadly, we've also lost many musical greats, and yet we continue to see and hear some new music emerge, thrilling audiences worldwide, and making spirits dance. Here's a list of some of my personal favorites and musical moments... 10. SFJazz Center Opens San Francisco's newest venue, located on Franklin near City Hall, is the SFJazz Center which opened on January 23rd with "a star-filled line up “consecrating” the stage of the Robert N. Miner Auditorium." Hosted by Bill Cosby, the concert included pianists McCoy Tyner and Chick Corea, saxophonist and long time SFJazz Collective alum Joshua Redman, legendary vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, Esperanza Spalding, Mary Stallings, John Handy, Pete Escovedo, the SFJazz Collective, and the new SFJazz Center Resident Artistic Directors Regina Carter, Bill Frisell, Jason Moran, John Santos and Miguel Zenón among...

Back in 2006, Chesky Records released "Electric", "a blistering set of jazz, blues and classic rock anthems as performed by the pioneer of jazz-rock, Larry Coryell, with veteran 'Return to Forever' drummer Lenny White and former 'Weather Report' bass player Victor Bailey". "Coryell and friends have an all-out blast working their way through a track listing of rock and blues tunes, bending and stretching covers of well-known cuts popularized by Led Zeppelin (Black Dog), and Sly and the Family Stone (Sex Machine), as well as Miles Davis' "So What" (from his seminal Kind of Blue album) and Wayne Shorter's "Footprints" into a rockin' musical adventure. "We tried to straddle the lines between 'jazz', 'rock', 'funk' and 'fusion' and whatever other names people want to put on music," comments Bailey…" This amazing trio would go on to record another album in 2006, "Traff...

"Caught a great gig by E. Doctor Smith (aka today's birthday boy Eric Smith ) at Hotel Utah in SF last night. The master of the Zendrum performed music from his new CD Quantum, along with guitarist Jack Wright and bassist Tom Shiben. Excellent stuff crisscrossing prog, avant, funk and fusion territory. Learn more here: http://edoctorsmith.com/ (and happy birthday dude!)..." Kind words from my friend, Anil Prasad of the incredible musical archive Innerviews. We wrapped up our 2 city, CD release tour at the Hotel Utah Saloon with another long time friend, John Moremen and his Flotation Device, after playing a show Busboys and Poets in Washington, DC a week or so earlier. Great attendance with family, friends and fellow musicians made for some inspiring moments with Jack and Tom...

I was honored when Allan Leibowitz, editor of digitalDrummer magazine asked to do a feature on me for the November 2013 issue. Here's the text of the article below! "Not only is he a great drummer, but E. Doctor Smith is also a bit of an inventor. However, when he saw the Zendrum, he gave up on his own invention and showed his genius on the new instrument." -Allan Leibowitz, Editor digitalDrummer. My electronic musical journey began back in the ‘80s when I started programming sequencers, computers, and drum machines with my friend Stephen Bray, who was writing songs and working with Madonna in New York, then in LA. I also experimented with a Dynacord Rhythm Stick they had lying around. I was a big fan of Bill Bruford’s drumming and the Simmons electronic drums that he used in his groups Earthworks and King Crimson. I was really excited to get my hands on a basic 5-piece Simmons SDS9 kit, then to add 6 more pads, a Roland PM-16 interface, a Yamaha TX-7, and an A...