Friday, February 16, 2018

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Dave Weckl Band

Artist:Dave Weckl Band
Song:The Chicken
Album:Live (And Very Plugged In)





Drummer Dave Weckl is best known for his days with Chick Corea from 1986-1994. But he has also recorded as a leader since the 90s. He was born Jan. 8, 1960 in St. Louis. He taught himself to play drums as a child by listening to Buddy Rich records. He studied jazz at the University of Bridgeport. After two years, he left for New York City to start his career. His early bands included Nitesprite where Peter Erskine saw him and got him into French Toast with pianist Michel Camilo. He got into session work in the early 80s. In 1986, he was performing with Bill Connors and Corea invited him to join his Akoustic Band. And he stayed in that band until 1994. Weckl recorded a couple of albums for GRP while was still with Corea. After he left, he formed a band with guitarist Mike Stern and he signed with Corea's Stretch label. He formed Dave Weckl Band in 1998. The Chicken is from the the 2003 2CD set Live (And Very Plugged In) recorded live at the Catalina Bar & Grill in Los Angeles. Musicians are Gary Meek on sax, Steve Weingart on keyboards and Tom Kennedy on bass. Kennedy is from St. Louis too and he works a lot with Weckl. Though most of the songs were written by the band, The Chicken is a classic James Brown song written by sax player Pee Wee Ellis. Weckl's latest album as a leader is the 2015 CD Of The Same Mind by Dave Weckl Acoustic Band. Meek and Kennedy are in this band too along with Japanese pianist Makoto Ozone. Weckl continues to work with Corea, Stern and plenty of others. He has also written several books and released instructional DVDs and he even has an online drumming school on his website. And he does drum clinics around the world. Later this year he will tour with the Chick Corea Akoustic Band. Weckl has had a long association with Drummerworld. That's where I found this video of the Dave Weckl Band performing The Chicken at the Drummer's Collective 25th Anniversary Concert Oct. 2012. This concert is available on DVD but it isn't on Youtube.

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