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Modern Drummer
Date: March 2005
American Drummer Achievement Awards: honoring Steve Gadd
[FIVE STARS]
Renowned record producer Phil Ramone sums up this much-deserved, six-plus-hour tribute by stating, “You’ve got to study Steve Gadd for a long, long time to realize how brilliant he is.” This lengthy program, from the Zildjian-sponsored 2003 American Drummers Achievement Awards, allows the viewer to do just that. A biographical documentary on Steve’s amazing career and a heartfelt video tribute to the late Armand Zildjian are informative and inspiring. Guest speakers include bassist Anthony Jackson and Louie Bellson. Musical highlights include performances by Rick Marotta and Vinnie Colaiuta driving and all-star band. The show culminates in a dynamic performance by Gadd with James Taylor. High-profile interviews (Eric Clapton, Chick Corea, etc.), rehearsal footage, and a lengthy discussion with Gadd make this a valuable piece of drumming history, well worth the investment.
Mike Haid
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excerpted from DavePrior.com
Posted 2003-12-12
On the evening of September 13th 2003, Zildjian presented Steve Gadd with the American Drummer Achievement Award at the Berklee Performance Center in Boston. Also included that evening was a special tribute to the late Armand Zildjian. I don’t think anyone would dispute Steve Gadd and Armand Zildjian’s contribution, not only to the drumming world but to music overall.
This double DVD contains over six hours of footage including performances by Vinnie Colaiuta, Rick Marotta and of course Steve Gadd with the evenings events hosted by the very funny Bill Cosby.
The evening, with its all-star audience including, Elvin Jones, Roy Haines and Louis Bellson, themselves recipients of the award, starts with Craigie Zildjian explaining why the awards are given and how special Zildjian’s relationship with Steve is. Debbie Zildjian, the Vice President of Human Resources, Lee Berk, the President of Berklee Music College and Mrs Armand “Andy” Zildjian also talk about their special relationship with Steve and the special relationship enjoyed by Armand Zildzian and Steve. A tribute video of Armand Zildian follows including tributes from drummers Elvin Jones, Kenny Arnoff, Louis Bellson, Roy Haines and Peter Erskine concluding with a very funny interview with the great Armand himself.
This DVD is recorded at the Berklee Performance Centre and there is no shortage of people paying tribute to Steve and Armand as well as some funny stories from Louis Bellson on how he first met Steve. As well as the personal tributes to Steve, there is also a chance to see some of the recordings Steve has played on and some of the artists Steve has played with including Chick Corea as well as with his army band, the band Stuff and The Gadd Gang. Although these examples are very interesting some are rather short.
Of course the evening would not be complete without some great playing and both Rick Marotta and Vinnie Colaiuta do a great job playing tracks, Steve himself recorded including Stuff’s “Subway” and a track Steve wrote called “Dukes Lullaby” which both Vinnie and Rick play together.
It’s then time for the man himself to take the stage being joined by James Taylor to perform “October Road” which really cements the reason Steve received the award, If we needed any confirmation, the drum solo Steve performs on “Things ain’t what they used to be” does it for me.
To top off this DVD there is extra rehearsal footage as well as interviews with Chick Corea, James Taylor, Eric Clapton, Vinnie Colaluta, Will Lee and Rick Morotta as well as a 35 minute interview with Steve where he talks about how he felt being honoured, who he’s worked with and who influenced him.
So this DVD is over six hours long and is packed with interesting stuff about Steve and of course Armand Zildjan. What it isn’t, is over six hours of Steve playing or giving tips on how he plays. If you are however genuinely interested to learn a little about why people hold Steve and Armand in such high esteem, then you won’t be disappointed although you could be forgiven for noting the fairly evident promotional DVD feel in places. There’s far more of people talking about Steve and less of Steve doing what he does best. That said, there are some great moments and it’s good to learn about these guys.