"Clam Chowder" - DeLorenzo, Crews & Dragon (Jazz/Funk/Reggae)

**delo054** · 07-19-2024, 08:46 PM

**Bop Head** · 07-19-2024, 10:48 PM

Very nice Ernest Ranglin vibe.

Only critique I have: Tell your drummer to restrain a little less. Part of an authentic reggae sound is a drummer really banging on his set. But his groove is great apart from that.

(Disclaimer: In another life I used to play in a band for 10 years that played e.g. festivals with The Wailers and Burning Spear and I used to work at concerts for 18 years, saw lot of Reggae then as well.)

**delo054** · 07-20-2024, 02:38 AM

Originally Posted by Bop Head

Very nice Ernest Ranglin vibe.

Only critique I have: Tell your drummer to restrain a little less. Part of an authentic reggae sound is a drummer really banging on his set. But his groove is great apart from that.

(Disclaimer: In another life I used to play in a band for 10 years that played e.g. festivals with The Wailers and Burning Spear and I used to work at concerts for 18 years, saw lot of Reggae then as well.)

Cool! Thanks for taking a listen and taking the time to comment.

**Bop Head** · 07-20-2024, 03:34 AM

Originally Posted by delo054

Cool! Thanks for taking a listen and taking the time to comment.

You are welcome.

BTW I somehow got reminded of one of the weirdest jobs I ever did.

I once did the monitor sound for a reggae band that played for six hours almost non-stop accompanying various singers. The monitor desk was next to the backstage room entrance and passively smoking the clouds of ganja smoke coming out every time the door opened made me more and more relaxed over the course of the evening.

The drummer was a young guy with a kit that looked totally beat up and he would tie the bass drum somehow with a cord to his chair to keep it from slipping away despite his use of a drum carpet because he was hitting it so hard!!! And he would get a gorgeous sound out of that pile of junk. (I had this impression already during the soundcheck, before passively inhaling from the ganja clouds.)

And on the above mentioned festival The Wailers' drummer (my whole band was sitting behind his set which was a memorable moment anyway -- wow, we are sitting right behind the guys who played for Lee Scratch Perry and with Bob Marley!) had a snare as deep as your drummer's rack tom and sticks almost half as thick as baseball bats. And his sound was exactly the sound from the records we all loved and that everybody knows. (Add to that the smell from Europe's biggest strawberry cultivation area surrounding the festival compound -- Strawberry Fields Forever LOL.)

The secret of the true reggae bass sound on the other hand is playing a Fender Jazz bass very softly through an Ampeg stack with the volume cranked up to 11. When an African or Jamaican sings a bassline to you he goes: "Don, don-don-don-don, don, don, don." Which shows the origin of the basslines from rasta drumming.

**delo054** · 07-20-2024, 07:14 AM

Originally Posted by Bop Head

You are welcome.

BTW I somehow got reminded of one of the weirdest jobs I ever did.

I once did the monitor sound for a reggae band that played for six hours almost non-stop accompanying various singers. The monitor desk was next to the backstage room entrance and passively smoking the clouds of ganja smoke coming out every time the door opened made me more and more relaxed over the course of the evening.

The drummer was a young guy with a kit that looked totally beat up and he would tie the bass drum somehow with a cord to his chair to keep it from slipping away despite his use of a drum carpet because he was hitting it so hard!!! And he would get a gorgeous sound out of that pile of junk. (I had this impression already during the soundcheck, before passively inhaling from the ganja clouds.)

And on the above mentioned festival The Wailers' drummer (my whole band was sitting behind his set which was a memorable moment anyway -- wow, we are sitting right behind the guys who played for Lee Scratch Perry and with Bob Marley!) had a snare as deep as your drummer's rack tom and sticks almost half as thick as baseball bats. And his sound was exactly the sound from the records we all loved and that everybody knows. (Add to that the smell from Europe's biggest strawberry cultivation area surrounding the festival compound -- Strawberry Fields Forever LOL.)

The secret of the true reggae bass sound on the other hand is playing a Fender Jazz bass very softly through an Ampeg stack with the volume cranked up to 11. When an African or Jamaican sings a bassline to you he goes: "Don, don-don-don-don, don, don, don." Which shows the origin of the basslines from rasta drumming.

Neat! Thanks for sharing that!

If you're interested I also play in a more reggae focused group called "DUBLORENZO". It's a mixture of original music and classic riddims with jazz/funk/dub influences. dubLorenzo - YouTube

**ccroft** · 07-20-2024, 01:48 PM

Fun stuff delo! Interesting to see the guy holding down bass & skank on 7 string.

Lorenzo is eerily familiar to me. I played in a band some 50 years ago that did similar ska/reggae/dub + jazz. Lots of sax, flute, synth, and even steel pan! I really wanted trombone but we never found the right guy. Opened for Peter Tosh a couple of times when he came to town. The brick joint even looks exactly like some of the clubs we used to play.

Thanks for reminding, and keep up the good work!

(my only advice is get out of the chairs and start moving. Some audience members might pick up on that and get a party started. Parties are popular and good for the wallet! :)

**delo054** · 07-21-2024, 05:16 PM

Originally Posted by ccroft

Fun stuff delo! Interesting to see the guy holding down bass & skank on 7 string.

Lorenzo is eerily familiar to me. I played in a band some 50 years ago that did similar ska/reggae/dub + jazz. Lots of sax, flute, synth, and even steel pan! I really wanted trombone but we never found the right guy. Opened for Peter Tosh a couple of times when he came to town. The brick joint even looks exactly like some of the clubs we used to play.

Thanks for reminding, and keep up the good work!

(my only advice is get out of the chairs and start moving. Some audience members might pick up on that and get a party started. Parties are popular and good for the wallet!

Thanks for the nice words and checking out the tunes!

**Bop Head** · 07-22-2024, 02:50 AM

Originally Posted by delo054

Neat! Thanks for sharing that!

If you're interested I also play in a more reggae focused group called "DUBLORENZO". It's a mixture of original music and classic riddims with jazz/funk/dub influences. dubLorenzo - YouTube

I liked it very much as well.

Have you ever seen Mad Professor or Bim Sherman working on a mixing board and "dubbin' it" live with a band? Do you have someone like that as a steady sound guy? It is really worth it.

**delo054** · 08-15-2024, 02:24 PM

Originally Posted by Bop Head

I liked it very much as well.

Have you ever seen Mad Professor or Bim Sherman working on a mixing board and "dubbin' it" live with a band? Do you have someone like that as a steady sound guy? It is really worth it.

Sorry I missed this Bop Head,

I have seen those guys dubbin! Our melodica/flute/sax player also has a "dub station", it's really fun!