Part Seven: To Russia... with Love

Monday, February 7 was a travel day. My flight left Mumbai at 3:45 am, which a typical time for an international flight to leave India. I had a layover in Frankfurt, Germany, and then went onto Moscow, Russia. 

The weather in Moscow is freezing cold, especially shocking compared to the tropical weather in Mumbai. On the way to my hotel, I stopped at the Sonor distributor to pick out my drums for the gig that Vital Information has at the Moscow jazz club, Le Club. We played at Le Club in 2003 and it’s great to be back playing for very appreciative Russian audiences.

Tuesday, February 8 was spent resting, writing and reflecting on all that has happened in the past couple of weeks. The rest of the Vital Information band members arrived in Moscow and for the next four nights -- Wednesday, February 9 to Saturday, February 12 -- we’ll perform at Le Cub.

(As of this writing we have just finished our first night at Le Club and we’re off to a very good start.)

By the second set of our first night in Moscow, the club was completely packed and the audience was responding in a very heartfelt and unrestrained manor. They were going nuts!! The seating arrangement at Le Club has tables right in front of the band, and there is also a bar area to one side where the folks who can’t get a table stand to hear the music.

By the end of the night the lines were quite blurred and we had a large crowd of fans sitting on the floor in front of the band grooving away. The audience wouldn’t let us leave the stage and brought us back for a rousing encore. As we tried to leave the club we ended spending at least 40 minutes signing autographs on various CD covers and having our pictures taken with our wonderful Russian fans. It’s going to be an exciting weekend!

Typically, my schedule is very dense, and it has been a whirlwind couple of weeks, with no end in sight to the travel and gigging... 

Next up: A weekend in Salt Lake City with Buddy’s Buddies, more West Coast touring with Vital Info, an East Coast tour with Buddy’s Buddies, a Sonor Asia clinic tour, a big band tour of New Zealand and then all summer on the road with a Steps Ahead reunion band featuring Michael Brecker, Mike Stern, Mike Mainieri and Richard Bona.

But my first trip to India stands alone as one of the most influential and transformative experiences I have ever had. I believe, more than ever before, that one of the best ways for Western drumset players to advance their rhythmic abilities in ways that are inherently musical and usable, is to study the Indian rhythmic systems. For the West, they are a largely untapped resource, a highly developed wellspring of rhythmic information and inspiration.

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