PETER ERSKINE HAS HAD A “FORREST GUMP” OF A CAREER, BEING WITH AT LEAST TWO BANDS THAT REACHED POPULAR APPEAL. HE JOINED MAYNARD FERGUSON’S BAND JUST AT THE TIME THE FAMOUS “ROCKY” THEME BECAME UBIQUITOUS, AND THEN HELD THE DRUMMER’S SEAT FOR WEATHER REPORT DURING THE FAMED SEASON WITH BASSIST JACO PASTORIUS AND THE CLASSIC “BIRDLAND” THEME.
THIS YEAR HAS HAD ERSKINE LOOKING BOTH FORWARD AND BACK. HE WAS INSTRUMENTAL (PUN INTENDED) IN PUTTING TOGETHER THE 4 CD SET OF WEATHER REPORT CONCERT RECORDINGS. NOT ONLY WAS HE FEATURED IN THE ACCLAIMED JACO DOCUMENTARY BY ROBERT TRUJILLO, BUT HE’S RECENTLY WRITTEN AN INFORMATIVE BOOK CHRONICLING HIS YEARS WITH JACO AND WEATHER REPORT.
HE’S RECENTLY PUT TOGETHER A WONDERFUL FUSION-THEMED ALBUM “DR. UM” WHICH WILL BE LIKE MANNA FROM HEAVEN FOR WEATHER REPORT FANS.
WE’VE RECENTLY CAUGHT UP WITH ERSKINE, WHO PUTS HIS CAREER IN PERSPECTIVE.
YOUR CAREER BEGAN WITH STAN KENTON’S ORCHESTRA. HOW DID THAT COME ABOUT?
I actually started with Stan when I was seven years old. I met him at one of the National Stage Band Camps that he and his band hosted in 1961. Cannonball Adderley’s band had also set up a residency at this camp, so that’s where I met Joe Zawinul along with Louis Hayes.
Check this out: some of the students at this camp included Keith Jarrett, Dan Grolnick, Randy Brecker and David Sanborn. Pretty incredible mix of the next generation of players.
In these days, jazz was a little bit of a dirty word when we were growing up. You couldn’t call it “jazz;” it was called “stage band” or some other euphemism. This was in the early days of jazz education.
Anyway, eleven years later I ended up playing drums for Stan, and I got the gig by auditioning. I left college, went on the road for 3 years with Stan; tried going back to school for a year, but then I got lured out to play with Maynard Ferguson. I spent 2 very enjoyable years with him, and that lead to my joining Weather Report.
What did I learn from Stan? I had a lot to learn; I was literally continuing my college education on the road. At the time, when you’re playing, you’re just doing the best you can. You’re trying to keep the boss happy and have as much fun as you can playing, exploring all of the possibilities and hopefully meet a few cute girls along the way! (laughs)
Most of the lessons learned seemed like they kicked in down the road later. Just like those things that your teacher tries to tell you; you take it in, but you don’t really absorb it. Or realize what you’ve learned what you’ve learned until you’ve had a chance to kind of put it into motion.
I think I learned how to play for the music. Kenton’s was a loud band.
NEITHER HE NOR FERGUSON’S BANDS WERE EXACTLY THE JIMMY GIUFFRE TRIO
Exactly. And by the time I joined Weather Report, that was a very loud band, too.
All of this eventually lead to my moving to New York and then working more with musicians that were based in Europe, developing a lighter touch and sound.
A lot of musicians and listeners began to know me for what I call “anti-drumming” where I play very lightly, trying to achieve more by playing less.
WITH YOUR FIRST THREE BANDS BEING SO MUSCULAR, THEY MUST HAVE ALL SEEN THE SAME THING IN YOU.
For Weather Report , Jaco Pastorius heard me and got me into the band. Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter hadn’t heard me until I flew out to LA to play with them. They hadn’t heard me with the big bands; I’m pretty certain that if they had, they wouldn’t have hired me. (laughs)
I think they liked the idea that this guy had played with a big band, kind of remembering the Kenton bands of the 50s, and in fact they both had played in Maynard’s band at the very start of their careers.
Big bands were not just a rite of passage; they were pretty much the portal for young musicians to become professional players. Just about everyone I know that is my age or older all either began playing in a big band or went to the big band camps.
SURE, GUYS LIKE JOE LA BARBERA AND JEFF HAMILTON…
The day I auditioned for Stan Kenton it was actually at the Newport Jazz Festival. He had me sit in for part of the set where they were accompanying June Christy. It was a split bill with Woody Herman’s band, and Joe La Barbera was playing with Woody Herman. So, we’ve been friends since July of 1972; he was and he remains one of the nicest people on earth.
HE’S ALSO IN GREAT SHAPE. HE DOES A LOT OF STRETCHING AND RUNNING TO KEEP HIS BACK IN SHAPE FROM ALL THAT SITTING BEHIND THE DRUM SET
I have a sore low back, and before you called I was doing MY stretches! Getting old is not for sissies!
I PLAY THE SAX AS WELL AS STRETCH, AND I ALWAYS SAY THAT “STRETCHES ARE LIKE LONG TONES; YOU DON’T LIKE DOING THEM, BUT THEY BUILD UP YOUR TONE LIKE NOTHING ELSE.”
Interestingly enough, long tones are a thing that I work on with my students. We don’t tend to associate long tones with the drums. But, I’ll have them play whole notes on a cymbal. This helps them get really comfortable not only with the space, but to begin to understand the quality of the tone that they are getting.
When I was in college, I think some times my teacher wanted to cut a lesson short so he’d hand me a triangle beater, he’d point to a triangle in the studio, and he’d say “mezzo piano; you’ve got one chance.” It was all about controlling that one note.
So this became “my thing.” I remember playing this one drum-oriented festival, and they begged me just before I went on stage “Don’t do any of that sensitive drumming (stuff)” (laughs).
The power is always there In reserve, but I always have a lot of fun doing that sensitive drumming kind of stuff, particularly with Alan Pasqua who with me for the past 20 years we’ve been sharing a trio. He’s wonderful.
YOU’VE BEEN BUSY THIS YEAR CATCHING UP WITH YOUR PAST WITH THE JACO DOCUMENTARY, YOUR BOOK ON WEATHER REPORT AND PUTTING TOGETHER THE 4 DISC LEGENDARY LIVE WEATHER REPORT TAPES.
LET’S START WITH THE TAPES. HOW DID THEY COME ABOUT?
That came about because I was the only guy in the band who seemed interested in documenting the music. So, I’d go into the booth of the sound guy, Brian Risner, and I’d take my Sony cassette deck (I usually had the latest Sony cassette recording deck)and ask “Brian, would you mind recording this show tonight?” So, he’d just plug in the board feed, and he’d make me a tape, and I wound up collecting quite a large number of cassette tapes.
I played a few of them for friends now and then, but I became concerned that if I played them on crappy tape machines something might happen to the quality of the cassette. So I pretty much just put them away.
I tried to interest Joe Zawinul on more than a couple of occasions, “Hey, Joe-you should really think about putting this stuff out.” Joe wasn’t interested; he’s the type that always wants to look forward, not backward.
Then, Stanford University, through a friend of mine, requested that I donate my entire tape library. The deal was that they would digitize everything and send me hard drives so I could copy stuff off of those drives. They would have the physical tapes, and I could have digital copies, and was free to do whatever I wanted to do with it. Lots of chaff, with some incredible wheat.
So I created this database and started to listening to all of this stuff, making comments and a rough kind of grading system. I wound up with more than enough material for a 4 cd set.
The idea came about, thanks to Warner’s Japan, but they learned that Sony had the legal rights to put out this stuff because I was under contract to CBS at the time. Sony/CBS did the best possible packaging.
I don’t know if I was “playing God,” but at least was playing “king” (laughs). I was playing producer. I got to choose which performances I wanted to be part of this project. So, for better or worse, the tapes are 90% from my collection, and I chose which songs from which nights to be included.
In general I could be certain that when the album came out that I could be pretty happy with at least how the drums sounded.
AND YOUR SECOND GIG WITH WEATHER REPORT IS ON THE ALBUM, WHERE YOU DO A 20 MINUTE TAKE OF “GIBRALTER”!
That’s actually some of the more impressive music, and it’s quite revealing of what the energy level was like for the band. It was my second night in Osaka, Japan. It’s hectic!
WEATHER REPORT HAD A REPUTATION AS A “STUDIO BAND” WITH A REVOLVING RHYTHM SECTION. WAS THERE A BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE BAND IN STUDIO AND IN CONCERT?
There really wasn’t a whole lot of difference. The band was very clever in the studio, especially in terms of “sweetening” the tracks. Doing audacious and wild things with the mixes, reverb, auto dubbing and editing.
The records were made very quickly in terms of tracking. Mixing took a long time. This is back in the day before Pro Tools and Automation. It was done by hand. If one fader out of 24 wasn’t in exactly the right place we had to go back and redo the whole mix again.
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS OF THE BAND NOW, WHEN YOU LISTEN TO IT IN RETROSPECT?
It sounds pretty good to me. I got to the point where “Geez, I’ve listened to this stuff often enough!” and then I’ll hear it again. I did a thing at (radio station) KCRW with Tom Schnabel, and I’m listening to it with headphones, and I was kind of dazzled. Like “Wow, this really does sound good.”
Being able to take a step away from it, even though it was a 30 year step. The gold outweighs the rocks. Like any band, we got into a couple of non-creative ruts. What I was happy about with this collection of performances is that it shows some of the occasions when the band got out of those ruts.
WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO WRITE A BOOK ABOUT WEATHER REPORT?
A combination of wanting to share the story and also a little bit of therapy to get some of these demons out! (laughs)
I thought it was an interesting story. I was witness to a great band at a particularly dynamic point in its evolution.
I’ve had very lucky timing; I think of all of the groups I was in I arrived just when enjoying a lot of success. Maynard Ferguson had his big hit, the “The Theme From Rocky.” I got to take that ride, then Weather Report had incredible success with the song “Birdland” although the original drumming was done by the great Alex Acuna.
We were all of a sudden like a rock and roll band, but playing improvised music. I think that they dealt with that challenge as well as they could; trying to put on a show and still maintaining its jazz essence and its jazz base. I hate using that term “jazz base” because it sounds too political.
Joe always went out of his way to make sure that the older jazz guys, many of whom resented the success of the band, that they would understand that would understand that we were on their side. He would always spend as much time as necessary to speak to a seething Percy Heath (laughs) that Weather Report was not out to upset the balance of jazz economics, but hopefully to bring more people to the music.
I GOT INTO JAZZ THROUGH WEATHER REPORT’S MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER ALBUM, AND THEN WENT BACK TO ZAWINUL WITH MILES AND SHORTER WITH BLAKEY, SO THAT METHOD DOES WORK.
There you go!
WEATHER REPORT HAD THREE BIG NAMES WITH THE BAND WHEN YOU JOINED. WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM ZAWINUL, SHORTER AND PASTORIUS THAT THE PUBLIC MAY NOT KNOW OR APPRECIATE ABOUT THEM?
The big lesson in Weather Report was to always compose when you p lay. Joe’s dictum and ethos was “we never solo and we always solo.”
The band wanted to break away from the tyranny of “play the melody; everybody take a few choruses; we’ll trade fours with the drums and finish the tune.” This was music from the mid 60s on, and certainly with Miles (Davis) as the nexus of all of this change.
It was incredible. Back then, every record was like if it wasn’t a postcard for the future, it was kind of a dare. “Check this out!” Each album was 35-40 minutes of adventure, and as a listener you developed a relationship with the band, took this adventure. It was much different than just sifting through 100,000 songs on a playlist.
It was a statement, and you established a personal relationship with the music.
I would say that if there were two take-aways from my book, which is entitled No Beethoven (and that title came about because Joe once bragged to me about his composing abilities, once telling me “I ain’t afraid of no Beethoven!”) would be how much these guys really cared about the music. And, despite how much macho posturing they did, what decent and everyday guys they actually were.
But on the other side, the thing with them was that I had to learn, and I’ve tried to get other people to learn (like my students) is to never personalize musical direction or even criticism. Because it can crush you.
Indeed, when I joined Weather Report I had homework. Joe actually gave me reading assignments, to read Nietzsche, which I thought was hilarious. I guess that the take-away from that was “what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.”
It wasn’t the easiest gig in the world; witness all of the rhythm section changes over the years. The drum chair was the hot seat. But the one thing I tried to remember all along was that these guys know more about this stuff than I do. There was and is still plenty to learn.
So even with “Wow! I’m in Weather Report” and I moved to New York, I’ve always viewed this as a learning experience.
Now I’m a professor at the USC Thornton School of Music, but I’m still learning. Maybe I’m not learning as rapidly or as avidly as when I was younger. I was really hungry then, and maybe that’s a bit of the take-away too. All of these bands were great learning environments.
GOOD ATTITUDE. MY DAD USED TO SAY TO ME IN HIS PHILLY ACCENT “WHEN YOU THINK LEANED EVERYTHING IS WHEN YOU’RE READY FOR THE GAS PIPE.”
(laughs) My dad used to tell me “there are no dumb questions.” He always encouraged my curiosity.
YOU’RE ALSO NOW A MOVIE STAR! TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE JACO DOCUMENTARY
I’m not exactly a movie star (laughs); I do play a bit prominently in what you could call the “Third Act” of the Jaco documentary. I think producer Robert Trujillo and director Paul Marchand did a real great job telling a difficult story with sensitivity and care as well as with a lot of insight. It’s actually an exciting and interesting film to watch. Their use of found footage makes it seem like there was a film crew following Jaco around from his earliest days.
I guess the best thing I can say about the movie is that when it was over, I turned to my wife and said, “I feel like I just got to spend two hours with my old buddy.”
YOUR LATEST ALBUM, DR. UM, SEEMS LIKE IT’S INFLUENCED BY YOUR WEATHER REPORT DAYS.
Because of the Weather Report boxed set, the book and the Jaco movie, I felt that maybe it was time for me to make my own personal statement, homage or thanks to all of that. I wanted to play some of this music again, so “Dr. Um” is kind of my return to my fusion and funk playing.
IT SOUNDS LIKE WEATHER REPORT WITH A GUITARIST
In a lot of ways, if the band were still around and I were still playing drums in it, it might have sounded much like this. I haven’t heard anything else quite like it. We’ve got a great combination of players. I also got this new drum set, the sound of which is really turning me on. The whole thing was super fun.
INSTEAD OF ZAWINUL’S BEETHOVEN, YOU’VE GOT MAHLER IN THERE.
Well, you know, that’s a bit of a personal conceit of mine, and a hobby of sorts for quite few years. I like to include one of the great composed songs written by classical composers. Downbeat (magazine)gave it a stupid review with “let’s jazz the classics.” He didn’t get it.
We treat any piece of music with respect; certainly the Mahler. For the guy to dismiss it out of hand was just atrocious.
We play it in the manner of how Weather Report would play its stately ballads. And “Speechless” is a bookend of sorts, with the same kind of approach.
Not only does the album pay homage to Weather Report, but it also provided a turning point or corner for me to turn. After this year, and all of this stuff with Weather Report …I’m 61 and going to be 62 soon…it might be time for Peter Erskine to move on a bit.
So “Dr. Um” is this alter ego, which is a play on words. It’s Peter playing what he wants to play. Now, it’s fusion, but the next one, I don’t know. Maybe we’ll do “Dr. Um on Broadway.”
IT’S AUDIBLE BY YOUR TOUCH THAT YOU’RE HAVING A GOOD TIME ON THE ALBUM
I was having a ball, feeling grateful and loving the sound. We’re having a gig with this band March 20 at the Moss Theater in Santa Monica; it’s going to be fun!
WHAT DO YOU LISTEN FOR WHEN YOU SEE A DRUMMER?
Number one, they have to have good time and good dynamic awareness. Must drummers clutter things up a little too early and that just tells me that they’re not listening.
WHAT INSPIRES YOU NOW?
A beautiful sunset, and there was a beautiful one the other day. I’ll take this question back to the drummers; when I sense ownership of a piece of music, when I sense total commitment, that inspires me.
I watched a film last night. It was a rough one, Beast of No Nation. It’s about child soldiers in Africa. The incredible commitment by these actors. I love when someone commits to what they’re doing.
STILL INSPIRED WHILE BEING INSPIRING, PETER ERSKINE IS STILL MAKING MUSICAL WAVES, SOMETIMES WITH SOFT SPACES AND OTHER TIMES WITH FLEXING BICEPS. EITHER WAY, THE MESSAGE FROM ERSKINE’S MUSIC, EXEMPLIFIED BY HIS LATEST ALBUM AND HIS UPCOMING SHOW A THE MOSS THEATRE ON MARCH 20 SHOWS THAT THERE’S STILL FAIR WEATHER AHEAD FOR JAZZ FANS.