Drumsville! - by Robert Cataliotti (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Drumsville! The Evolution of the New Orlean Beat traces the history of drums and drumming in New Orleans, tracing more than three centuries of drumming history that shaped the city into the musical powerhouse it is today. Created as a companion to the New Orleans Jazz Museum Exhibit of the same name, Drumsville! begins its story with the Native nations of Louisiana and moves through the arrival of European colonists and enslaved Africans bringing their cultures to New Orleans. The rich array of cultures that created the Crescent City are central to this visually stunning narrative, which traces the drummer's role in the evolution of brass bands, Black masking Indians, traditional and modern jazz, rhythm and blues, rock 'n' roll, and funk. The drum set is so central to our conception of music that its origins are rarely questioned. But like all instruments, the drum set had to be invented, and New Orleans musicians-many of whom got their start by improvising and tinkering with everyday materials to create a beat-were central in its development. Drumsville! pays tribute to many of the musicians who have been important in developing the drum set and in the transmission of iconic rhythms, particularly the city's signature Second Line groove. Each section of the book draws its visuals from the historic photos, graphics, and photos of the percussion equipment and artifacts, while the text shares historical backgrounds, musicological analyses, and biographies of New Orleans musicians, including the many women drummers who have shaped and been shaped by the city's unique sound. Drummers interviewed for this book include Joseph "Zigaboo" Modeliste, Alfred "Uganda" Roberts, Willie Green, Adonis Rose, Ricky Sebastian, Johnny Vidacovich, Shannon Powell, Stanton Moore, Joe Lastie, Christie Jourdain, Joe Dyson, and Herlin Riley. Seamlessly weaving together stories of New Orleans drumming culture over the centuries, Drumsville! is a landmark study of the influence and contributions of New Orleans' unique drumming style to the musical world"--

Book Synopsis

Drumsville! The Evolution of the New Orleans Beat traces the history of drums and drumming in the Crescent City, exploring more than three centuries of the instrument and the art form that transformed New Orleans into the musical powerhouse it is today. Created as a companion to the New Orleans Jazz Museum exhibit of the same name, Drumsville! examines the drummer's role in the evolution of brass bands, Black masking Indians, traditional and modern jazz, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and funk.

Review Quotes

"Drumsville is a fascinating exploration of the groove at the heart of the city's rich musical tradition. . . . The sheer expansiveness and inclusion of the musicians featured within these pages makes this an indispensable chronicle of the history of drums and drumming in American music. . . . For anyone who loves the sounds of New Orleans and wishes to expand their knowledge of how the city's drummers, their rhythms, and their innovations have promulgated them, Drumsville is an essential and engrossing read."--Living Blues

"Drumsville! is a fantastic dive into the joys of New Orleans drumming and the rhythms that contribute to the music and culture that keep the city alive. Deeply researched and full of many great stories by and about the most important drummers of New Orleans, Drumsville!inspires, educates, and entertains."--tanton Moore, master drummer, educator, and author of Take It to the Street and Groove Alchemy

"New Orleans's innovative drummers laid the foundation for much of American popular music. Finally, Drumsville! is here to tell that story, one we should all know. It is a remarkably researched and reverent history of these drummers, both past and present, as well as a robust document of the rich culture, community, and heartbeat of the city."--Melissa A. Weber, curator of the Hogan Archive of New Orleans Music, Tulane University

"Robert H. Cataliotti and the New Orleans Jazz Museum have knocked it out of the park with Drumsville! If you play the drums, you're going to love this book."--Ricky Sebastian, master drummer, educator, and author of Independence on the Drumset: Coordination Studies for Drummers in All Styles

"The story of New Orleans music has usually been told from afar, framed as an accident, a magical mistake. This book is a rare opportunity to hear the voices of those who provided the groove anchoring American popular music for more than three centuries."--Connie Zeanah Atkinson, professor emeritus at the University of New Orleans and editor of Wavelength magazine

About the Author

Robert H. Cataliotti is a music critic and historian who teaches at Coppin State University in Baltimore. A contributing writer for Living Blues magazine, he has also published two books, The Music in African American Fiction and The Songs Became the Stories: The Music in African-American Fiction, 1970-2005. He is the producer and annotator of Classic Sounds of New Orleans from Smithsonian Folkways (2010).

Herlin Riley is a preeminent drummer on the contemporary New Orleans music scene. He has released four albums: Watch What You're Doing (2000), Cream of the Crescent (2005), New Direction (2016), and Perpetual Optimism (2019). Riley is the coauthor of New Orleans Jazz and Second Line Drumming and is adjunct drum instructor at the University of New Orleans, Northwestern University, and The Juilliard School.