E. Doctor Smith's Blog

I'm psyched to be starting off 2019 with new projects, like John Wubbenhorst's Facing East with Tom Canning and Steve Zerlin; and Jason Everett's Deep Energy Orchestra with Trey Gunn, Fareed Haque, Radhika Iyer, Phil Hirschi, Rachel Nesvig, Aleida Gehrels and Chaz Hastings! Playing with these great musicians requires not only lots of shedding, but also updating my live Zendrum set-up with some new gear. Gone are the days when I needed a rack full of gear, like an Alesis D4, Alesis DM Pro, Akai S2000 Sampler, and effects like Yamaha Rev 100 or Alesis MIDIverb, and a Mackie line mixer. The modules soon gave way to laptops, stocked with VSTs, and the gear has gotten smaller, like the new Zendrum Stompblock. The iPad Pro has supplanted my MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, and the new keyboard amps that come with built in EQ and effects have all but replaced all those heavy, powered speakers and rack mounted mixers. The newest addition to my set-ups are MIDI foot controllers ...

When it comes to piccolo snare drums, I've always wanted to get my hands on one of those Nobel & Cooley 14" x 3.75" maple snare drum favored by Phil Collins, or the vintage Gretsch 14" x 4" Progressive Jazz maple snare, made famous in the late 1950s and early 1960s by the legendary drummer Max Roach. The Nobel & Cooley will cost you at least $1000, and the Gretsch at least twice as much or more. Not cheap, that's for sure. Well, I've built a bunch of snare drums before, so why not make my own version of the Gretsch drum? From 1954 to 1961, Gretsch promoted this snare as the "Max Roach Model", and later as the "Progressive Jazz Model". Finding a vintage shell was nearly impossible without spending a ton of cash, however finding a modern Gretsch 14" x 4" shell was a lot easier. After scouring ebay & Reverb for months, I got my hands on a 6 ply maple shell with bearing edges and a snare bed added. This would be...

Back in 2017, I managed to acquire a dozen of the revolutionary new wireless Versatriggers from Poland; Battery powered drum triggers you can mount inside a drum shell. Replace the acoustic drum head with a mesh head and you have yourself a v-drum. I first tried out the Versatrigger on an old Viking snare I'd converted previously with an internal Pintech trigger, and a Remo Silent Stroke mesh head. After connecting the Versatrigger wireless USB hub to my MacBook Air, I was able to tweak the sensitivity and trigger the drum surprisingly well. I also learned I needed to be able to access the trigger for adjustments and battery replacement, so double headed toms weren't practical. The kick and snare are easy enough to cut out a round hole in the bottom head, but the toms would have to be easy to access as well. A modest kit with concert toms would work perfectly. I didn't want to build just another small v-drum kit of virtually identical trigger pads either, so when ...

Legendary drummer Billy Cobham returns to Yoshi’s in Oakland for a two night stint beginning Tuesday and featuring local bassoon virtuoso Paul Hanson, guitarist Fareed Haque, keyboardist Scott Tibbs and bassist Tim Landers, an alumni from Cobham’s 1980’s group Glass Menagerie. 73 years young, Cobham continues to both inspire and amaze; his ability to inject new life into his extensive repertoire has been thrilling audiences the world over. Following the successes of his Spectrum 40 bands with Gary Husband, Ric Fierrabracci, and Dean Brown, (another Glass Menagerie alum); The NDR and Guy Barker Big Bands, as well as his European sextets with Camelia Ben Naceur, Steve Hamilton, Christian Galvez, Jean Marie Ecay, and Junior Gil, Cobham has turned his talents toward his now classic second album, “Crosswinds”. One of Cobham’s best recordings for the Atlantic label, Crosswinds featured the late saxophonist Michael Brecker, guitarist John Abercrombie, and keyboardist George Duke in what ha...

Drummer Simon Phillips returns to Yoshi’s in Oakland this Thursday night for what promises to be a most interesting show. Thursday’s show is actually a rescheduled performance, following the loss of Phillips’ home to the fires in Ventura last December. The tour has now resumed, with shows that began in New York, then off to Chicago, Indianapolis, Los Angeles and now Oakland. Those who have followed Phillips’ musical career closely, know his musical prowess knows no bounds, supporting the likes of Pete Townsend, Stanley Clarke, the rock group Toto and most recently, Hiromi’s Trio Project with Anthony Jackson. Phillips returns with the latest incarnation of his solo group Protocol, featuring new guitarist Greg Howe, keyboardist Otmaro Ruiz, and returning bassist, the ever tasty Ernest Tibbs. Phillips’ earlier versions of Protocol, (II & III), saw the fiery guitar work of Andy Timmons and the fabulous textures of keyboardist Steve Weingart propel Protocol to stand among some of t...

Billy Cobham's 1992 Mapex Saturn Ad In 1991, drummer Billy Cobham became one the newly formed, Mapex Drum Company's best known endorsements and consultants, between his previous deal with Tama Drums, and before he subsequently signed with Yamaha. Cobham was soon seen playing Mapex kits on tour with a variety of live acts: With Peter Gabriel, Terje Rypdal, Wayne Krantz and many others. A 1994 customized, Emerald Green Mapex kit that he once used with Gabriel was recently seen on eBay for a whopping $10,000, and listed a “Certificate of Authenticity” signed by Cobham himself. The CoA listed each drum, and even included a previously sold, nearly identical, Cherry Red Mapex kit that Cobham would also use whenever he needed to leap-frog from venue to venue to save time setting up his monster kit. That maple kit was a bit too pricey for me to say the least, and to be honest, I was never fond of how those vintage Mapex "low mass" drum lug and rod systems really looked. ...

Well gentle readers, it's been awhile since my last post, but now that 2018 is here, I'm ready to roll! Being an artist, and a man who likes to work with his hands, I’ve managed to build more than a few drum kits from scratch, as well as several snare drums. To date, I’ve restored 2 vintage 14” x 5.5” Gretsch maple snare drums; a 14” x 5” Ddrum birch snare; a Yamaha 14” x 6” Mahogany Rock Tour snare; and a 14” x 5.5” Mapex maple snare drum. Finding parts on ebay, adding new wraps from Jammin’ Sam in Arizona, and new Evans drum heads have breathed new life into these aged beauties. Being a fan of drummer Billy Cobham, I always dreamt of owning one of his Yamaha Signature snare drums, however they are now discontinued and the $1000 price tag for this collector’s item now seemed a bit much. Having previously built all of these snare drums, I wondered; Could I actually make my own Cobham signature snare from scratch? To quote the Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks, “I th...