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Dedicated to Dan... The UnReel Drum Book
A drumming book for drummers...
DEDICATION...
I sincerely dedicate this book to the people who struggled on a daily basis to help
me make it happen: Dan Bodanis, my teacher and constant inspiration for always
achieving the very best; to Ron and Hilda Atkinson for always being there for me;
and to Andrea,Alexandra, and Cole for their constant support and love.
Marc Atkinson
FOREWORD...
With this drum book you now hold in your hands, Marc Atkinson has discovered a
great way to share the hidden secrets of drumset master Vinnie Colaiuta. If any person
deserved the title of best drummer, in almost any category, it would be Vinnie. From
playing with Frank Zappa and Sting, to recording every track on the UnReel CD on the first
take, Vinnie is the undisputed heavy-weight champion of the drumset!
Marc is a very dedicated student of polyrhythms, metric modulation, phrasing over the bar
line, and, of course,Vinnie’s drumming.As a matter of fact, he has accurately transcribed
more than 350 tracks of Vinnie’s drumming. I have had the pleasure of witnessing first-hand
how Marc takes these concepts, reinvents them, and then applies them musically.The great
thing about Marc’s accomplishments with his playing, teaching, this book, and all of his previous
work is his ability to communicate very complex ideas in relatively simple terms.
Don’t get me wrong, this book will not be easy to master. No doubt you will spend huge
amounts of time working on each transcription, but that is not the end, it is just the beginning.
I encourage you to take this book and make it your own.What I mean is this: Upon
mastering each transcription, go back over the material and change it.Think through and
apply different sticking patterns, tom-voicing, and foot patterns. If a fill that sounds really cool
starts on the first beat of the bar and ends on the first beat of the next bar, experiment with
displacing or moving the fill over by half a beat. In other words, start the fill on the “and” of
beat 1 and end on the “and” of beat 1 of the next bar. Use dynamics. One of the best ways to
evoke an emotional response in a listener is to exaggerate dynamics.
Don’t be satisfied just “playing through” this book. If you are sincerely interested in developing
your drumming to your highest potential, while mastering the concepts that Marc
shares, push yourself to think beyond the limits of this material! It is then and only then that
you will begin to truly develop your own unique voice as a drumset artist.
I wish you success beyond that which you wish upon yourself!
INTRODUCTION...
The concept of the UnReel recording was to bring my favorite musicians together and then have them play the most tricky, fun, and challenging arrangements I could come up
with.The goal was to have a great time and feature the virtuosity of these great players.As
you will hear, they far exceeded my greatest expectations, as usual!
When Marc Atkinson first approached me and explained that he had transcribed all of
Vinnie Colaiuta’s drum solos from this recording, I thought he must be either crazy, a genius,
or someone with way too much time on his hands.
Vinnie is the master of extremely complex polyrhythms, beat displacement, and all-around
unfathomable rhythmic inventiveness.Trying to capture his playing on paper is a frightening
thought and close to impossible. Marc has done it with amazing accuracy and great attention
to detail.
Even though the solos represented in this book are rhythmically technical and very
advanced, Marc has broken down the elements of the material to the most basic level with
simple exercises and explanations. He shows you how to take it one step at a time, enabling
anyone with basic musical training and the ability to read music to learn and incorporate
these techniques into his or her own playing.
Start slow, be patient, have fun, and practice.
A special thanks to Brian Benison (copyist for my charts),Warner Bros. Publications, and
Dan Bodanis.
Enjoy!
VINNIE COLAIUTA...
One of the most influential drummers of all time,Vinnie Colaiuta took the world by
storm in the late 1970s with his work with the late, great Frank Zappa and has never
looked back.
Born and raised in Brownsville, Pennsylvania,Vinnie began drum lessons at the age of 14.
While enrolling in drum corps, he started to work with local bands until he finished high
school. In 1974 he attended Berklee College of Music where he began studying with Gary
Chaffee. He stayed at Berklee for two years, during which time he hooked up with Al
Cooper and toured and recorded with him. In 1978 Vinnie left Boston for Los Angeles
where he started to play with Tom Fowler.Tom informed him that Frank Zappa was auditioning
drummers, and from there Vinnie began his two-year musical relationship with
Zappa. During this period,Vinnie recorded the now classic albums Joe’s Garage, Shut Up ’n’
Play Yer Guitar, and Tinsel Town Rebellion.
In 1981 Vinnie left Zappa and, with recommendations from Neil Stubenhaus and Jeff
Porcaro, began his illustrious studio career that involved playing with Joni Mitchell, Pages,
Gino Vannelli,Tom Scott, Eric Marienthal, Chick Corea, Bill Evans, John Patitucci, and Alan
Holdsworth, as well as countless TV contracts and movie scores.
In 1990 Vinnie left Los Angeles to audition for Sting in London, England. He recorded and
toured with Sting for the next eight years, during which time he played on Sting’s Ten
Summoner’s Tales, Mercury Falling, and the Soul Cages live video. It was also during this time
that he recorded his self-titled debut solo album.
In 1997 Vinnie recorded Randy Waldman’s first solo album entitled Wigged Out and the
follow up CD UnReel.
After leaving Sting in 1998,Vinnie moved back to Los Angeles, where he now resides and has
become the most in-demand studio drummer. He continues to tour and record with many
artists including Faith Hill, Kimo Williams, Karizma, Jack Russell, SheDaisy, Joe Nichols, Jennifer
Paige, Laura Pausini, LeAnn Rimes, Lee Ritenour,Take 6, Lee Ann Womack, Mike Stern, Robben
Ford, Quincy Jones, and Marcus Miller.Vinnie’s recording credits are too numerous to list,
encompassing literally thousands of album recordings and many DVDs and videos.
Vinnie’s work on Randy Waldman’s UnReel CD captures his brilliance in a unique recording
session for you to listen to and study over and over again.
RANDY WALDMAN...
At the age of five, Randy’s future was already set in stone.While
all the other children his age were out playing baseball, running
around, and doing what kids do at that age, Randy was sitting
at the piano.
At the age of 12, Randy was hired for his first professional job,
demonstrating pianos at a music store, and from there he was
hired to play at parties and accompany singers.
As a junior in high school, Randy was already a very busy musician,
playing for shows, backing up singers, and playing all types of musical
jobs.At that point he told his parents he wanted to quit high
school because it was taking up too much time and getting in the
way of his career.
After much bargaining, his parents made a deal with Randy, his high school principal, and the
head of music at Northwestern University. If Northwestern would let Randy play in their
college jazz band for the next year, Randy agreed to finish high school.
After finishing high school at the age of 21, he was hired to go on tour as the pianist for
Frank Sinatra. Not a bad first gig! Shortly after that, Randy was hired to tour with the
Lettermen, which brought Randy out to the West Coast.
Within one year of moving to Los Angeles, Randy was hired to tour with various artists,
starting with Minnie Ripperton, then Lou Rawls, Paul Anka,O.C. Smith, and then George
Benson. Randy toured with Benson for seven years as his pianist, conductor, and arranger.
The word started to spread about Randy on the LA studio scene, and he was beginning to
get more and more calls to do recording session work on various records and movie
soundtracks.What followed were ten years of nonstop session work, doing records, movies,
TV, jingles, songwriting, and arranging.
Some artists whose records Randy’s talents can be heard on are Barbra Streisand, Celine
Dion, Michael Bolton, Madonna,Whitney Houston,Vanessa Williams, Patti LaBelle, Michael
Jackson, and many others. Motion picture soundtracks he has performed on are Forrest
Gump, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Hoffa, Back to the Future, The Bodyguard, Father of the Bride,
and Beetlejuice.
Randy became a regular on all of Barbra Streisand’s recordings. He co-arranged (and performed
on) the Streisand hit song “Somewhere,” which won a Grammy for best arrangement.
His work was also nominated for Best Vocal Arrangement for a song he co-wrote for
the Manhattan Transfer. Randy was voted Most Valuable Player by NARAS during this time,
and he received this nomination three other times.
Lately, Randy has been wearing the producer hat,working with Johnny Mathis, Bobby
Caldwell, Patti LaBelle, Kenny G, the Stylistics, Mary Wilson, and others. He has done numerous
orchestra arrangements for Whitney Houston, Gladys Knight, Nancy Wilson,Teddy
Riley, the team of Jimmy Jam/Terry Lewis, and many others.
In addition, Randy has recorded three of his own CDs, Wigged Out, UnReel, which inspired
this book, and, most recently, Timing Is Everything.
Visit www.jazzpilot.com for more information.
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