Here are Russ Miller and Pete Lockett, both in two director cuts of their live video of 'Rhythmic Conversation'. It is a track taken from Russ Miller's album 'Arrival' and re-written as a duet for their collaborative album 'Rhythm-Sphere'. The video was recorded at the 2016-edition of the Wienfelden International Drum Festival in Switzerland. The live version is without comments, but we recommend listening to Pete and Russ to get great insights on how drummers on the highest level work. And these percussive masters go far, in technical terms, playing and phrasing rhythms. All valuable lessons to watch.
Russ Miller commentary on Rhythmic Conversation Russ Miller talks and takes you through the whole video on what they are actually playing. He explains how this piece got a new musical shape for him and Pete on drums as well. Notice how he talks about the Korvai set-up of this piece. Korvai's are rhythmical compositions from South India. Think of them as miniature rhythmic compositions.
Russ and Pete recorded on several records together. One of those releases is Russ Miller's 'Arrival' on which you can hear both Russ and Pete with the legendary Steve Smith. Their Rhythmic Conversation is the second track on 'Arrival' and one that blows you away after the first poppy song Mosquito Bite, featuring Canadian singer Haydain Neale. Drummerszone considers 'Arrival' one of the best all-round, creative and musical drummer solo albums of the past 20 years.
Pete Lockett commentary on Rhythmic Conversation
Konnakol Topping the track in the video below, and even more impressive, is that at the end of the piece both are singing Konnakol while playing the drums. Russ Miller explains how this works in his commentary video. The Konnakol skills among drummers are rare. Of course Pete has them down, and Steve Smith is well known for it. Russ Miller, with his already amazing drum tracking record and his solo albums, shows here live he mastered the skill as a second nature as well.
The art of singing Konnakol and how to play Indian Rhythms on the drumset is explained in Pete's method 'Indian Rhythms for Drumset'. A method that we highly recommend to drummers. This method provides and shows concepts of other realms of rhythm and music that will improve your playing. Even if you only get to page 20, listening to their album 'Rhythm-Sphere' will at least inspire you to try out some new stuff on the drumset.
Rhythmic Conversation - without comments
Cool Name-Dropping with Russ & Pete Both Russ and Pete have an extensive and royal list of references that include many of the greater artists on the planet. While both have many movie scores on their resume, Russ Miller can be heard in movies like Avatar, and all the upcoming sequels, on many TV series and performing on more than 400 albums and over 60 international movies. Russ Miller is a Multi-Platinum recording and multiple Grammy award winning artist with a total sales of over 26 million copies.
Pete Lockett has a resume that you can actually add Bollywood to, because of his Indian tours and concerts. Pete recorded for several James Bond movies, Björk albums, Genesis' Peter Gabriel, Jeff Beck, Steve Gadd, Vikku Vinayakram, Zakir Hussain, The Verve, Ronan Keating, Evelyn Glennie, Rory Gallagher, the Pet Shop Boys, Mike Mainieri and Sinead O'Connor to just name a few. Pete is Honorary Professor at Shanghai Conservatory of Music, China.
Russ Miller endorses
Vic Firth
Mapex drums
Zildjian cymbals
Remo drumheads
Meinl Percussion (the Russ Miller Artist Series 8" Big Mouth Cowbell)
