NAMM 2007 - Straight Outta Anaheim

Welcome to On the Beat, a drum and percussion blog. In my drumming career I've played music ranging from ska versions of bar mitzvah favorites to samba reggae to free jazz. As well as being player I'm also a compulsive percussion collector and in my day job as a writer for Musician's Friend, I get to check out a range of both new and traditional tools of the drumming trade. This drum blog is intended to further explore the boundry country where words, drums, and percussion come together.

On this first flight we’ll check out a few of the new drum and percussion products of the Winter NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) Show held in Anaheim last month.

The Buddy Rich Drum Company, in collaboration with Buddy’s daughter Cathy Rich, exhibited a series of drum sets that recall those played by the jazz legend, but with the strength and durability demanded by contemporary players. Their top-of-the-line Buddy Rich Signature Set is a drool-worthy kit designed after Buddy’s personal specs, including all-maple shells, dual 16” x 16” floor toms, and vintage-style hardware that’s beefed up for modern use.


Pearl’s Vision Series drums have many features found on Pearl's classy Masterworks and Reference series drums at quite affordable prices. The "Vision thing" is all-birch shells of differing thicknesses designed to coax the perfect tone out of the various drums relative to each other in the sonic spectrum. The rack toms are relatively thin while the floor toms and bass drums are thicker. The concept is that the floor tom and bass drum shells will deliver depth and power while the thinner rack toms provide greater sensitivity and more delicate tonal shadings.

You're trodding around in a daze from NAMM's sensory overload, thinking you'll freak if you hear one more massive drum fill, when you behold it and you can only stand awestruck: Yamaha's 40th Anniversary Washi Drum Set. Based on the vaunted Recording Custom Series, the drums are finished in Washi paper (used in traditional Japanese arts), featuring intricate artwork depicting scenes from the Genpai War that rocked Japan from 1180 to 1185 and ushered in the shogunate era. These elaborate battle depictions were patterned after a hand-painted screen in the Takamatsu Historical museum in Japan. This limited edition, playable work-of-art will ships in July.

If you've been considering getting into electronics, Yamaha’s DTXpress IV Electronic Drum Set just might tip you over the edge, with all-new sound samples taken from both Yamaha’s Motif Series synths and their fine acoustic drums, including the Maple Custom, Oak Custom, and Beech Custom Series. An advanced built-in programmable metronome with Groove Check and Rhythm Gate tools let you work on your groove and timing skills.

Other NAMM drum standouts included: Omar Hakim playing the daylights out of a set of Roland V-Drums; the reintroduction of the Rogers drum line by Yamaha; a truckload of percussion introductions by Meinl; Taye's versatile GoKit; striking new Force sets from Sonor, and some lust-inducing new snare drums from DW including a gorgeous bamboo model. Apologies to those not mentioned, so many great drums, so little time!

Percussion Discussion: “You play with passion and you do things for certain effects for certain reasons, but I don’t sit down with a freaking meter on my leg to see how many singles I can play.” – Vinnie Colaiuta, in Modern Drummer, March 2007

Drum track of the week: New Elephant on “Absolute Quintet” featuring Dafnis Prieto. Hailing from Cuba, Dafnis has been tearing it up in the New York jazz scene over the last few years. A drummer with unreal skills who also writes great tunes—what's not to love?