{"id":9360,"date":"2014-01-09T15:07:00","date_gmt":"2014-01-09T23:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=9360"},"modified":"2014-01-10T10:15:39","modified_gmt":"2014-01-10T18:15:39","slug":"no-one-has-an-album-thatll-sound-like-this-says-big-brother-drummer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/no-one-has-an-album-thatll-sound-like-this-says-big-brother-drummer\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018No one has an album that\u2019ll sound like this,\u201d says Big Brother drummer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Dave Getz with a drum or two.<\/p><\/div>\n

Dave Getz and I were relaxing on a stone bench outside Peet\u2019s in San Anselmo\u2019s Red Hill Shopping Center some time ago.<\/p>\n

My friend sported his usual: a baseball cap, a mischievous smile and twinkling hazel eyes. He was so excited chatting about his new passion that an hour and a half had zoomed by before we realize our butts ached.<\/p>\n

To a stranger, Dave might be an anomaly.<\/p>\n

The public face of the longtime drummer for Big Brother and the Holding Company, legendary rock \u2018n\u2019 roll group, isn\u2019t sensitivity, introspection and judiciously selected phrases.<\/p>\n

But they\u2019re familiar to any who know him.<\/p>\n

That afternoon, however, his words reverberated with passion, like quivering cymbals. He was talking about premiering his original melodies instead of replicating those popularized by Janis Joplin.<\/p>\n

And he did it, following through with a Global Recording Artists album titled \u201cCan\u2019t Be the Only One\u201d \u2014 which also happens to be the name of its lead track, which features Dave\u2019s music and previously unheard lyrics by Joplin.<\/p>\n

The CD\u2019s available at WWW.gragroup.com<\/a> and www.cdbaby.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Not so long ago, over lunch on the deck of a Thai restaurant in Larkspur, I listened one more once \u2014 to a new jump-start of excitement. Dave again sported a baseball cap, a mischievous smile and twinkling hazel eyes.<\/p>\n

The \u201cconsummate sideman,\u201d as the Fairfax resident has called himself, had been thinking about a fresh CD \u2014 featuring the balafon, a West African instrument that looks like a xylophone made of gourds but plays an uncommon five-note pentatonic scale.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one has an album that\u2019ll sound like this!\u201d he exclaimed, his words once again reverberating with passion.<\/p>\n

In addition to some traditional African melodies, he planned \u2014 and, in fact, is still planning \u2014 updates on some antique tunes such as \u201cButtons and Bows,\u201d an Oscar-winning pop song that appeared in a Bob Hope film of the \u201840s, \u201cThe Paleface,\u201d<\/p>\n

Dave has long possessed the instrument, but it just as long was relegated to his home \u2014 until he showcased it at a Fairfax Library opening of an exhibit featuring the montages of, yes, Dave Getz, fine artist.<\/p>\n

Since then, his schedule continually has been overcrowded with gigs, so he had to delay the CD.<\/p>\n

Release date: Still undetermined, despite several tracks having been completed.<\/p>\n

When it finally comes out, listeners can expect a revelation.<\/p>\n

Not unlike the revelation they experienced with \u201cCan\u2019t Be the Only One,\u201d which, just as he had imagined it, became a \u201cprogressive, world mix \u2014 a little jazz, a little rock, elements of African, some funk.\u201d<\/p>\n

All \u201crhythm-driven.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019d chuckled when he\u2019d first used that phrase. What else could anyone expect from the drum guy?<\/p>\n

As the sun had bounced off Dave\u2019s white hair and white van dyke back then, I could almost feel his mind racing, hurdling all the simultaneous details required to arrange rehearsals, dodge financial perils and draw an in-person crowd for the debut of The Dave Getz Breakaway.<\/p>\n

He had grinned broadly as he told me about the players, who turned out to include Tom Finch on guitar; Peter Penhallow on keyboards; Kate Russo on violin; Chris Collins on guitar; John Evans and Peter Albin on bass; and James Gurley on guitar.<\/p>\n

Dave, naturally, was the drummer.<\/p>\n

The new group\u2019s lead singer was Kathi MacDonald, a blues diva who died a short time later.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d been attentive as Dave painted word-pictures, reeling off the multiple bands his musicians had played in, how he\u2019d jammed and toured with them. He radiated while reminiscing about Mika Scott and him performing, as a duo for five years, \u201ca lot of exotic percussion material.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he admittedly was skittish about segueing into bandleader and producer.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of a sudden,\u201d he said, \u201cI\u2019m<\/em> doing the calling, the hiring \u2014 in the past, I\u2019ve always been<\/em> called.\u201d<\/p>\n

Obviously, everything worked \u2014 after having dreamed \u201cfor 10 or 15 years\u201d about cutting loose like that and creating a fresh \u201cvehicle for expression.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nowadays, most of his gigs lean heavily on jazz. Upcoming dates include Jan. 18, when his trio will play for the annual 6-9 p.m. \u201cArt from the Heart\u201d auction at the Sonoma State University art gallery; Jan. 19, when his jazz quartet will be playing at the Sleeping Lady in Fairfax from 6:30 to 10; and Feb. 10, when the jazz trio will be at the Panama Hotel in San Rafael.<\/p>\n

Being the main man has been a huge shift.<\/p>\n

Dave had worked as a sideman himself for five decades, having others (such as Joe McDonald of Country Joe and the Fish, with whom he did two extended tours) \u201ctell me what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019d also worked solo \u2014 as a painter (after having earned a master of fine arts degree and won a Fulbright), despite unfounded fears that his red-green colorblindness would be discovered.<\/p>\n

To be honest, it had felt odd watching his bandleader gland throb; I was used to him being mellow.<\/p>\n

I was used to him gabbing breezily about yesterday<\/em> (including getting his first musician\u2019s card more than 50 years ago, at age 15), not tomorrow<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The stickman\u2019s never been shy about his immersion in a historic clich\u00e9 \u2014 sex, drugs and rock \u2018n\u2019 roll. But lately he\u2019s been cutting down on his globe hopping with Big Brother.<\/p>\n

The road\u2019s not so easy anymore.<\/p>\n

And Dave \u2014 who still stays fit by climbing the 88 steps of his Ross Valley home (the same number as piano keys, which he also noodles with) \u2014 is always the realist. He accepts, in fact, that he\u2019s \u201cknown as a \u201960s rock musician and my epitaph will be \u2018The drummer who played with Janis Joplin.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He also accepts that after all those rock gigs, his hearing isn\u2019t what it used to be.<\/p>\n

Dave also knows, though, that he still \u201ccan play a lot of styles and cover a lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, clearly, more than one instrument.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dave Getz and I were relaxing on a stone bench outside Peet\u2019s in San Anselmo\u2019s Red Hill Shopping Center some time ago. My friend sported his usual: a baseball cap,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9360","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-woody-weingarten"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"