George V Johnson Jr  

 

 

WASHINGTON DC JAZZ NETWORK - YOUR SOURCE OF JAZZ AND MORE IN ...

SPEAKIN JAZZ, TALKIN JAZZ....REAL JAZZ!!!
IT'S JAZZICALLY DELICIOUS...

August 21, 2009 to August 22, 2009
Boheniam Caverns Jazz Club
2001 Eleventh St NW, Washington DC
RSVP 202-299-0803

RALPH PETERSON'S UNITY BAND



Ralph Peterson emerged in the mid-'80s as co-leader of the high visibility ensemble OTB and as a member of the Harrison- Blanchard Group. Peterson's decade-old Fo'tet is the platform by which he expresses deeply held musical principles.

"I believe I was predestined to be a drummer." Raised in a musical family, he first hit the traps at 3. "My early playing was a basement experience. I played with records by James Brown, Earth Wind & Fire and Parliament- Funkadelics, where the beat was powerful and primal. I'd wanted to play since I saw Sonny Payne with the Count Basie Orchestra when I was 13. But my interpretation of Jazz didn't venture very far beyond Maynard Ferguson's Primal Scream until I was out of high school. I'm not a jazz baby. I'm a funk baby who came through the Fusion realm of George Duke and Stanley Clarke.



"My life condition will be apparent in my music always." His music is marked by the focus and indomitable energy of a spirit in balance. "Like a wood nickel, I keep coming back. I'm in the game for the long haul now, and I've figured out that the key to winning the game is staying in the game."

Peterson began his studies at Rutgers in Brass before moving to Percussion.

"At the percussion audition I didn't know rudiments; I had never really studied the instrument. I learned how to read what little bit of rhythms I could from my trumpet studies, which began in fourth grade.

"I've always loved soprano saxophone, and if they'd used it in my high school marching band, I probably wouldn't have played trumpet. Sopranos don't project as well as trumpets, but they occupy the same timbral area.



"Once Michael Carvin at Rutgers finally believed that I was a drummer and let me study with him, I began to learn about Art Blakey and Philly Joe Jones and Max Roach and Elvin Jones and Tony Williams, who I had heard of but didn't know why. One reason I started playing trumpet is because the horn lines were becoming more interesting in the '70s than the drum beats! After you cop, what's next? Here was drumming that I couldn't imitate after hearing it once. Discovering these guys, who were playing stuff I couldn't do, reawakened the searching spirit, and it's been awake ever since." Read More...

Ralph Peterson, Jr. (b. May 20, 1962, Pleasantville, New Jersey) is an American jazz drummer and bandleader.

Four of Peterson's uncles and his grandfather were all drummers, and Peterson himself began on percussion at age three. He was raised in Atlantic City, where he played trumpet in high school and worked locally in funk groups. He applied to Livingston College, Rutgers, for drums but failed the percussion entrance exam, and enrolled as a trumpeter instead. In 1983,



he joined Art Blakey's Jazz messengers as the second drummer, playing with him for several years.





He worked with Terence Blanchard and Donald Harrison in 1984,



and with Walter Davis (1985, 1989),



Tom Harrell (1985), Out of the Blue (1985-88),



Branford Marsalis (1986),



David Murray, Craig Harris (1987),



James Spaulding (1988),



Roy Hargrove (1989),



Jon Faddis (1989),



Dewey Redman and Mark Helias (1989),



and Wynton Marsalis (with the Count Basie ghost band).

In the 1990s, Peterson played as a sideman with Jack Walrath, Craig Handy, Charles Lloyd, Kip Hanrahan (1992), Bheki Mseleku, Courtney Pine, Steve Coleman, George Colligan, Stanley Cowell, Mark Shim,



and Betty Carter. He began recording as a leader around 1988, with a quintet V, or Volition, with Terence Blanchard, Steve Wilson,



Geri Allen, and Phil Bowler.

He also worked with Allen and Bowler as a trio in Triangular; Essiet Essiet replaced Bowler for their 1988 recording. In 1989 he recorded in quartet format as Fo'tet, with Don Byron, Steve Wilson (later Bobby Franchesini), Melissa Slocum (later Belden Bullock), and Bryan Carrott. After living in Canada for some time he returned to Philadelphia, where he worked further with Fo'Tet and also recorded as Triangular Too with Slocum and Uri Caine. He also led a group Hip Pocket, with whom he played trumpet.

Peterson has taught at Philadelphia's University of the Arts.


Ralph Peterson Quintet - Be-Bop Skerony
Don Braden, Mulgrew Miller,Terumasa Hino - Rhythm-A-Ning 2
Michael Brecker - Delta City Blues
Michael Brecker - Song for Bilbao

Exploring America's Classical Music "Jazz". Interviews with emerging, established and iconic jazz musicians, singers, playwrights, visual artists, journalist, enthusiast and other professionals

George V Johnson Jr.
Executive Director
Washington DC Jazz Network
240.691.3868

"THE GEORGE V JOHNSON JR SHOW" Blog Talk Radio Official site

THE GEORGE V JOHNSON JR SHOW  Washington DC Jazz Network


George V Johnson Jr "My Little Suede Shoes" with Larry Riddley & Jazz ...
George V Johnson Jr. "Opening Night Part II"
George V Johnson Jr "SO WHAT