DIZZY AND FIRENDS AT THE MONTEREY JAZZ FESTIVAL"

AllMusic Record Review by Jeff Tamarkin
Dizzy Gillespie was a regular at the Monterey Jazz Festival, but the audience at the 1965 edition was witness to one very special performance. By this time Gillespie and the core members of his current band had already been together for a few years, and while they had jelled to a point that all bands hope to reach, where their interactions become wholly intuitive, they were also open to new innovation. From the first notes of "Trinidad, Goodbye," written by pianist Kenny Barron, the Gillespie group is locked into high gear, with the bandmembers feeding off one another's cues swiftly and creatively. Gillespie's trumpet plays tag with James Moody's blistering saxophone, and Barron keeps the sprightly melody moving atop the proceedings. "A Night in Tunisia," a highlight of any Gillespie set, is modernistic in its funky rhythm, Moody (on flute here), bassist Christopher White, and drummer Rudy Collins opening things up wide enough for Diz to jump in and take over, which he does in a freewheeling, jovial way. Over the course of its nearly 11 minutes, everyone gets a chance to shine, but in the end the piece belongs to the rhythm section.
Speaking of which, not everything is taken at NASCAR speed here; there's plenty of breathing space, and in fact virtually all of the 11-plus-minute "Ungawa" is given over to guest conga player Big Black, a virtuoso on that instrument if ever there were one. Gillespie peeks in for a few moments, but even he must have wanted to stand by and watch, because he soon disappears and lets the drummer do what he's gotta do.(Emphasis Added).
The ballad "Day After" is a smooth respite following the fiery "Trinidad, Goodbye" opener, a shining example of Diz as bluesman, and the Caribbean-tinted "Poor Joe," on which Gillespie dares to sing, is a light note in an otherwise weighty affair. The only downside (other than the less than crisp sound quality, understandable for a 1965 live recording) is the five-minute comedy sketch midway through. Oh, it's funny, and the audience was in stitches. But on CD it's not something one needs to hear more than once, and it will cause many to reach for the fast-forward button to get on with the music.

Biography by Jeff Tamarkin
Jeff Tamarkin, is the Assistant Editor of Jazz Times and the former editor of Goldmine, CMJ, Relix, and Global Rhythm. As a writer he has contributed to the New York Daily News, Jazz Times, Boston Phoenix, Harp, Mojo, Newsday, Billboard, and many other publications. He is the author of the book Got a Revolution: The Turbulent Flight of Jefferson Airplane and has contributed to The Guinness Companion to Popular Music, All Music Guide, and several other encyclopedias. He has served as a consultant to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, NARAS, National Geographic Online, and Music Club Records. He has written more than 75 liner notes and press bios for CDs by artists such as the Beach Boys, Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, Tom Jones, J. Geils Band, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Chubby Checker, Anoushka Shankar, Jesse Colin Young, Hot Tuna, Sandie Shaw, the Jive Five, Dean Martin, Commander Cody, and others. - AllMusic Record Review by Jeff Tamarkin - ALL Music Record Review

Los Angeles Times by Mike Downey

August 5, 2015 3:35 PM PT

Plimpton, over lunch 20 years later at a Los Angeles bistro, recounted that one fellow , hired as a chauffeur, was paid $50,000 for what Ali described ad “driving and jiving. another was a large man identified simply as Big Black, who was a professional drummer whose job was to beat on a drum whenever Ali landed a punch.

Around Round 7, Ali struck back. Foreman was exhausted. His punches, even Dunphy observed, lacked the snap of those earlier in the fight.

Hide original message

“He did it on purpose” Mailer said. “He made Foreman tire himself out!”

Plimpton asked, ”Aren’t you glad we came?”

Ali’s personal drummer, Big Black, began keeping time on his conga, bopping it with every Ali punch. Bundini Brown began hopping up and down”.

Dunphy shouted, “A right to the jaw and George Foreman goes down”.

Cut like timber, Foreman toppled head forward.

A bald , African-American referee, Zack Clayton, bent over Foreman’s body and counted to 10. Ali danced.

“He has regained the heavyweight championship of the world!” Dunphy cried, “Ali has done the impossible!”.

And the clouds burst. - Los Angeles Times

Soul Power - Big Black
61,721 views Jul 1, 2009


74Zaire
Check out this film clip featuring Big Black from the upcoming movie Soul Power - http://www.sonyclassics.com/soulpower... I wish I was around during Rumble in the Jungle to see soul brotha numba one James Brown perform at Zaire74.

BTW, this is public domain footage. YouTube, please do NOT take this down.
251 Comments
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ddrumdude
ddrumdude
12 years ago
This guy is a true musician man. You can tell he's loving what he's playing, and I'm loving that drumming too.

1


DaleBlackBass
DaleBlackBass
8 years ago
That groove at 0:18!

5


Jimmy Ungerman
Jimmy Ungerman
12 years ago
love it i love how much energy he puts into it and you can tell he really loves what he does great job big black



Kulu Sadira
Kulu Sadira
5 years ago
This guy had a huge impact on me and my drumming. Saw him in concert with Muddy Waters and others at an L.A. blues festival in '68 w his Afro-Soul Jazz group. Completely sefl-taught and self-invented. Awesome power and presence on stage. Still have his second vinyl disc "Elements of Now". I believe these are some kind of hybrid-style modern ceremonial drum that he designed and had built.

3


Adam Rudolph
Adam Rudolph
12 years ago
What a pleasure to see true mastery at work...
Big Black is a prototypical drummer playing environmental rhythms from the cosmos!

2


Jenn Boyer
Jenn Boyer
12 years ago
this sounds so sweet. the rythyms sound awesome. this must take so much practice to be able to solo that good



Jake Weber
Jake Weber
12 years ago
I love it when drummers take full advantage of/ master certain aspects or parts of the large canvas that is percussion. This video is truly a great example of a killer musician looking as though not playing a set piece but just showing a pageant of what he has mastered. Amazing video of rythm, skill, and style! The beats were great too, right at 18 secs a smile came to my face that didn't go away till it was over. Sucks that it ended at such short notice-gotta check out more of this



Jay Romero
Jay Romero
12 years ago
this man is a genius. lots of time and effort had to be put in to come up with a jam like that. solid vid



drumsaremypassion
drumsaremypassion
12 years ago
that was really well done 5 stars, liked it alot



Anisio Sioux
Anisio Sioux
12 years ago
muito bom!



pother101
pother101
12 years ago
Yo, the groove he started at 0:19 was ill but the growls he was doing on one of that groove were powerful.



Vanta
Vanta
12 years ago
these types of drummers are so underrated. 5stars buddy



Thesoundofmuzak
Thesoundofmuzak
12 years ago
Pretty good work. i like the beats. very awesome drumming!



Chris Garrett
Chris Garrett
12 years ago
absolutely amazing!!!!!!



Geoffrey Weber
Geoffrey Weber
12 years ago
1:50 is pure awesomeness

1


Mike Gevers
Mike Gevers
12 years ago
Dude, the drums should have fallen down, or the heads should have snepped or something, This guy is freakin' AMAZING



Simen Nesset Elstad
Simen Nesset Elstad
12 years ago
That's a drummer right there. Quite damn good.



luvetohate
luvetohate
12 years ago
This is great drumming!



Benas B
Benas B
12 years ago
Good rythm , very good ending :) +5



Richard Doody
Richard Doody
12 years ago
1:17 unbelievable!
wow!

very talented!
5/5



Christina Fry
Christina Fry
12 years ago
that was great. really enjoyed it!



Andrew Thomas
Andrew Thomas
12 years ago
This guy is amazing



pepetriny
pepetriny
12 years ago
muy bueno. amazing!!!!!!!



Adam Rudolph
Adam Rudolph
9 years ago
the master drummer speaks to 40 thousand Zaireians!

1


ozzy1351
ozzy1351
12 years ago
Oh yea.....this is AWESOME! What SOUL....what POWER!



giwrgos PAPADOPOULOS
giwrgos PAPADOPOULOS
12 years ago
it is fantastic i love it



Daniel Franco
Daniel Franco
12 years ago
this man is a genious in rhytms, he know what too play, it will be a little more cool if he sings, whatever, he is good



SAM NSOUL
SAM NSOUL
12 years ago
great rythm



Marshall
Marshall
12 years ago
nice, and damn good playing



James Jesberger
James Jesberger
12 years ago
cool, like it, has a lot of soul and heart in it



Ramon Andrade
Ramon Andrade
11 years ago
Incredible!!!! very good



techristian
techristian
12 years ago
Very nice. I could get into that groove!



rockx1011
rockx1011
12 years ago
very good indead! he really gets into it!



Mark Petrick
Mark Petrick
12 years ago
hes really good. i´m impressed



doctorc380
doctorc380
12 years ago
His playing is very skillful. Nice to see some playing instead of programming.



ALXanderKODIAK
ALXanderKODIAK
10 years ago
better late than never .... here is my comment: COMPLETELY AMAZING!! CONGRATULATIONS! im sending this link to a friend in percs ASAP



Tom Conroy
Tom Conroy
12 years ago
awesome man youve got speed and accuracy and i loved it

good job



Julian Graf
Julian Graf
12 years ago
awesome, you can see that he loves it :9 godlike skills, too^^



Stefan Jonsson
Stefan Jonsson
12 years ago
Wow he's really good :) keep it up



Udo Matthias drums
Udo Matthias drums
6 months ago
wow love it!!



Pullalamus
Pullalamus
12 years ago
He does it very good^^



Kerry Brooks
Kerry Brooks
12 years ago
im not too into this but its awesome!!



André Neves
André Neves
12 years ago
WOW!
5/5
I <3 it!



Josh Evans
Josh Evans
12 years ago
awesome video very good drumming:)



domopro
domopro
12 years ago
this is.......fucking amazing!!! wow good job!!!!



Lauri J
Lauri J
12 years ago
This was absolutely stunning! Damn, did this dude play for JB?



Randen
Randen
12 years ago
the drumming is amazing! It has a but of a hip hop feel to it even though its african i like it :D



Alex Fulda
Alex Fulda
11 years ago
VERY VERY GOOD!!!! i like it.



TissieBacke94
TissieBacke94
12 years ago
just can say that it was awesome...



Josephthecrazyguy
Josephthecrazyguy
12 years ago
man hes really good thank who ever sent me this link 5 stars *****



Villy Ramos
Villy Ramos
12 years ago
whoa what a nice groove dude!



Dan R
Dan R
12 years ago
Awesome drummin man. Very nice.



ondra miller
ondra miller
11 years ago
He is the greatest

1


Stewart Nicol as BILLY CONNOLLY
Stewart Nicol as BILLY CONNOLLY
12 years ago
You have definitely got the skills!



tallboywitshortpants
tallboywitshortpants
12 years ago
dang that was sick man 5/5 now i wanna do it! lol



Monchis92bpm
Monchis92bpm
12 years ago
so much energy! nice
is this really gonna be a movie? like in theaters and everythig?



Scar626
Scar626
12 years ago
African drumming ain't my thing, but this guy kicks ass. Very creative and he feels the beat.



diemelie
diemelie
12 years ago
i really like it!!!!!



Martijn D
Martijn D
12 years ago
cool soulful drumming!



Gemini Singer
Gemini Singer
8 years ago
Just saw this at a friend's house,interesting,as Miriam makeba and JamesBrown were on it also,both are dead now,but Big Black is still drummin"!



MysteryClown000
MysteryClown000
12 years ago
He's good at rudiments for sure. Very nice.



Ricardo Dudda
Ricardo Dudda
12 years ago
such a BEAST!!
awesome



Roberto Massa
Roberto Massa
12 years ago
WOW! AMAZING!!!



SaturdayMmrs
SaturdayMmrs
12 years ago
wow that's awesome :D
i wonder how he moves his hands so fast like that.^^



jasperberlinsim
jasperberlinsim
12 years ago
Wow, he is verry good man !



Naama Danoch
Naama Danoch
12 years ago
Amazing!!



PrastoMx
PrastoMx
12 years ago
I love the last part, he is fast!



Eternal Mist
Eternal Mist
12 years ago
that was bad ass!!!



jjokerri112
jjokerri112
12 years ago
holy shit that was damn nice !



Stephen Roberts
Stephen Roberts
12 years ago
god damn that was pretty cool



Vocavit Cruenti
Vocavit Cruenti
12 years ago
genius is the best drummers there is very good this is one of the best yeah!



twinjet
twinjet
12 years ago
It takes power to play those drums... I was invited by a salsa band to fill in for the conga player (he went to the bathroom, and I know all the band crew real well), and man oh man it's hard to slap those congas! They are very hard on the hands.

good vid! thanks



Drumster18
Drumster18
11 years ago
freakin amaing!!!



DimitrisRadis
DimitrisRadis
12 years ago
great funky drumming



ManiacDrummer1212
ManiacDrummer1212
12 years ago
FUCKING AWESOME!!!!!!!



joshuasound
joshuasound
12 years ago
Big Black is one of the greatest percussionists ever. he has innovated hand drumming like no other drummer before him. at about 1:20 it sounds like an oud. i hope he makes a solo dvd.

2


Jacob king
Jacob king
12 years ago
Fantastic. Thanks for sending.



Da King Nothing
Da King Nothing
12 years ago
AWESOME MAN!!



HoobtheNoob
HoobtheNoob
12 years ago
that was awesome =)



sean lawlor
sean lawlor
12 years ago
fucking amazing!



JamieDrums
JamieDrums
12 years ago
Awesome!
Makes my tiny pair of Bongos look even smaller xD
Man he has fast hands.



Mic Macartney
Mic Macartney
12 years ago
that human been is on a high state of spirit

1


Flávio Lopez
Flávio Lopez
12 years ago
Awesome!!!



issanel
issanel
12 years ago
Wow, that was great! Must be painful on the hands, although I am sure you get used to it.



Tchyrizel
Tchyrizel
12 years ago
Fantastic!



cdsback
cdsback
12 years ago
awesome hand work !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



satchbooggy
satchbooggy
12 years ago
its amazing what a couple of hands can do. nice!



Dharam GongYogi
Dharam GongYogi
12 years ago
Definite highlight from the Movie! Anyone know his full name? It was in the credits but it went by too fast



Anthelm
Anthelm
12 years ago
Very good!



inou
inou
12 years ago
really really really nice!



Nach eit or
Nach eit or
12 years ago
VERY GOOOOOOOOOOD VERY GOOD



Aldo Daniel Rivera Rentería
Aldo Daniel Rivera Rentería
12 years ago
wow i think this guy is good
he plays good



Daniel Kitchka
Daniel Kitchka
12 years ago
nice this is awesome i can play on these things too lol i play combat drums ^^

but this is a really expert guy
awesome!



deine mutter
deine mutter
12 years ago
Nice rythm



batistabomb310
batistabomb310
12 years ago
that is some nice stuff!



prbryan11
prbryan11
12 years ago
Wow this is really good



hiperson641
hiperson641
12 years ago
wow. that was great.



J0KKI
J0KKI
12 years ago
Awesome!



oliridon
oliridon
12 years ago
Yeah that guy is pretty amazing



zandalear
zandalear
12 years ago
wow thats amazing



Cristo García
Cristo García
12 years ago
wooow he is crazy but it's awesome (y)



miniphil2007
miniphil2007
12 years ago
He's very nice!!!



Evan Churchill
Evan Churchill
12 years ago
fucking amazing



Bianca Baterna
Bianca Baterna
12 years ago
intresting .... quite nice ... AWESOME :))



michal3466907
michal3466907
12 years ago
WOW!!!!! Cooooooooooooool



Nicklas Gunnarsson
Nicklas Gunnarsson
12 years ago
this was pretty cool :)



john babaganosh
john babaganosh
12 years ago
Man that guy is in the zone



Koshey245
Koshey245
12 years ago
NICE!!!!!!!!!!!! starting at 1:00 for the rest of
the video is pretty cool



Lincoln White
Lincoln White
12 years ago
wow that was really cool



P0P357UR3
P0P357UR3
12 years ago
Pretty good.



Kennedy Cody
Kennedy Cody
12 years ago
that was pretty sick



FuckThaFreeworld12
FuckThaFreeworld12
12 years ago
WHAT THA FUCK!? that's insane!!!



s0ptA
s0ptA
10 years ago
AWESOME :D



IndestructibleRuler
IndestructibleRuler
12 years ago
He was pretty good. But at some points it seems like he is just whaling away at the drums. I like what he does From 1:03 till the end.



Michael Barber
Michael Barber
12 years ago
Great !



Lehtisieni22
Lehtisieni22
12 years ago
kickass. nice big black



crashrevival
crashrevival
12 years ago
interesting :)
not my style, but i appreciate his enjoyment of music/rhythm



totipe
totipe
10 years ago
spiritual tappin' for sure



jamesroydavies
jamesroydavies
12 years ago
Awesome man :D



DistortedV12
DistortedV12
12 years ago
yeah.. hes very skilled, its almost like this dude makes my uh.. random hand beats on a table look pretty mediocre, compared to i guess the "power" in his drumming



lotrcdefender
lotrcdefender
12 years ago
that was great lol



RosyN8
RosyN8
12 years ago
very very nice video!
5/5
8-)



Topp Fonzarelli
Topp Fonzarelli
11 years ago
i want the Muhammad Ali footage right before this scene

1


Tony Holroyd
Tony Holroyd
12 years ago
5/5 Not bad.. Skills! i'll have to hand it to the guy :)



Benedikt Kapferer
Benedikt Kapferer
12 years ago
yes...awesome!



Sailor Barsoom
Sailor Barsoom
12 years ago
Nice. Have I mentioned that I love drums?



Omar Méndez
Omar Méndez
12 years ago
o.O he is so good



Kro Ko
Kro Ko
12 years ago
awesome



Shine
Shine
12 years ago
damm i realy like this



Ryan Monahan
Ryan Monahan
12 years ago
dudes got fucking attitude +10



levinetranslator
levinetranslator
12 years ago
Ha ha, "this is public domain footage"? Are you seriously going to try to claim that? Do you even realize that the very reason this movie took 35 years to release is because of arguments over who owned the rights to what footage?

And this guy is great, I wish there was more about him on the Internet.



alexxb115
alexxb115
12 years ago
saweet this guy is awsome!!!!



chavedappelle
chavedappelle
11 years ago
@superjules Haha, when I saw "Big Black" listed on the cover of this DVD I was like "There's no way it's THAT Big Black"



Soulsplatter
Soulsplatter
12 years ago
what are these drums called? they aren't real congas i think...

but AWESOME guy...like this VERY much



ikarooz
ikarooz
12 years ago
THAT IS WHAT I MEANT! He is warming up as the best is yet to come..... yikes...



twinjet
twinjet
12 years ago
warm up i'd say. he's goooood, judging from this



Dom Kennedy
Dom Kennedy
12 years ago
wow amazing :O



psychocollapse5721
psychocollapse5721
12 years ago
you great man!!!



60 second musical review
60 second musical review
12 years ago
pretty sweet.



pattientjuh
pattientjuh
12 years ago
He's good xD



ViniJamonini
ViniJamonini
12 years ago
very good and very fast O_O wow - Youtube

ADAM RUDOLPH'S INTERVIEW ON THE INFLUENCE OF BIG BLACK IN DRUMMAGAZINE
Content provided by All Music Guide Copyright © 2008 All Media Guide, LLC Interview of Adam Rudolph -See Page 108 on the Influence of Big Black in drummagazine.com July 2008

The Influence of Big Black
"In the early ’90s Rudolph met one of the most important influences on his music – the master hand drummer Big Black.
According to Rudolph, Big Black’s drumming is completely based on the jazz tradition.
“That really blew my mind,” he says. “Because I had been, as I said developing my own language on hand drums and there was really no precedent for it. I had been listening to people like Don Alias with Miles and Mtume with Miles and Juma Santos and really appreciated what they were doing, but I was trying to reach beyond the Afro Cuban tradition to develop a real language in so called jazz. When I heard Big Black, it was the first time I heard somebody who really had developed a uniquely American – or Afro American – approach to hand drumming. “When I met him I saw that he had a lot of finger technique that he had developed,” Rudolph explains. “I was able to adapt a lot of that – because I had been studying tabla, so I already had finger technique – and bring a lot of finger technique into the hand drumming. Also, his approach was such that you could really be free to play your own ideas in the moment. You weren’t locked into playing patterns.
“His approach allowed me to go further toward developing my own voice. It wasn’t like I was going to sound like him or play like him, but that approach, the fundamental hand positions and hand movements and the integration of finger technique into it, liberated me further toward developing my own voice on the instrument.”
Big Black also inspired Rudolph to make some major changes in how he approached his whole setup. “First
of all, he played standing, which I found out was a much more practical way to do things, so I started playin standing up,” Rudolph explains. “And he also had his low drums on the left, so he set his drums up like a piano – low to high – where Afro Cuban drummers usually put their low drums on the right. That opens up your right hand to do a lot of these things like from tablas and to develop more independence and equality in the functionality between your left and right hand.”


Biography of Adam Rudolph
Composer/hand percussionist Adam Rudolph was born in Chicago in 1955, and as a teen was mentored by the likes of Don Cherry, Fred Anderson, and Malawi Nurdurdin. After receiving a self-designed undergraduate degree in ethnomusicology from Oberlin College, Rudolph went on to earn his M.F.A. from the California Institute of the Arts; in 1977 he traveled to Ghana and met the famed griot Foday Musa Suso, and a year later they reunited in Chicago to form the Mandingo Griot Society, pioneering a fusion of traditional African music with jazz and R&B. Rudolph additionally spent 15 years studying North Indian tabla drums under the renowned Pandit Taranath Rao, also regularly collaborating with L. Shankar and Hassan Hakmoun. His extensive research throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa allowed Rudolph to master a vast range of percussion instruments, including the congas, djembe, bendir, dumbek, tabla, talking drum, kalimba, udu; in addition to appearing on sessions by everyone from Herbie Hancock to Jon Hassell to Shadowfax, he collaborated extensively with Yusef Lateef from 1988 onward. Rudolph debuted his own group, Moving Pictures, with a self-titled 1992 LP; in 1995, he premiered his first opera, The Dreamer. In the early part of the 21st century, Rudolph became a founding member of Build an Ark in Los Angeles, a multi-generational group of musicians that also includes Carlos Ninos, Dwight Trible, Phil Ranelin, and a dozen others. They issued two fine albums, 2004's Peace with Every Step and 2007's Dawn. Rudolph also collaborated with Leni Stern on her 2007 effort Africa. Dream Garden followed in 2008. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
. - ALLMUSIC AND DRUMMAGAZINE