About the author of Roots Jam:
Collected Rhythms for Hand Drum and Percussion:
Nowick Gray has been
a teacher and workshop leader for twenty-five years, and
a drummer for ten. His popular book Roots Jam: Collected
Rhythms for Hand Drum and Percussion, and instructional
webpages have helped beginning, intermediate and performing
drummers understand and play traditional African-based rhythms
since 1996.
Nowick
has studied with a number of world drumming masters including
Mamady Keita, Babatunde Olatunji, Alpha Yaya Diallo, and
Nii Tettey Tetteh. He has composed, recorded and performed
in local drum and dance groups, and helped to organize a
variety of drumming events ranging from weekly jams and
rhythm study, to annual 24-hour drum circles and trance
dances. He currently drums for African dance classes in
Nelson, B.C.
A personal note...
My first favorite
music was Elvis's "Hound Dog." I was eight. I also liked
Louis Armstrong and so learned to play the trumpet. Unlike
some of my peers, I outgrew Elvis and moved on to the
Beach Boys, Cream, Marvin Gaye and Jimi
Hendrix, through moves between Atlanta, New York,
Baltimore and Chicago. Along the way some James Brown
and Chicago blues also crept under my skin, and Santana
got the inner drums rolling. I studied a little music
improvisation at Dartmouth College and from there not
much happened for twenty years, until my first drum workshop.
There was no turning back.
--Nowick
Gray
About Roots Jam...
This
is great to use! I've been so caught up in going through
pages and trying all the different patterns - pure joy !
Thanks a million.
How
wonderful to find your web site and be able to see the notation.
I have been a drummer all my life, primarily on the kit,
and more recently on the hand drums. I have begun to collect
hand drums from various regions, djembe, talking drum, doumbek,
clay bongos from Morocco, native america, kayum (gourd drum),
and have had the best time sitting around with my children
or by myself playing the rhythms of my soul. I listen to
Babatundi, Airto, and Mickey, among a host of others, and
have tried emulating their rhythms, but have always felt
that I was missing something. Your site has helped me to
begin filling in the blanks in my playing. Thank you for
doing this. --Peace,
Mark Wilder
