- Alan Dawson
Alan Dawson (
14 July ,1929 -23 February ,1996 ) was a respected jazz drummer and widely influential percussion teacher based inBoston . He was born inMarietta, Pennsylvania and raised inRoxbury, MA . Serving in theArmy forKorean War duty, Dawson played with the Army Dance Band while stationed atFort Dix from 1951-1953. During his tenure, Alan explored the post-bop era by performing with pianistSabby Lewis . After being released from the Army, Alan toured Europe withLionel Hampton .Dawson is best remembered as an early teacher of
Tony Williams . Other former students include:Terri Lyne Carrington ,Vinnie Colaiuta , Steve Smith,Kenwood Dennard ,Gerry Hemingway and many others. He began teaching atBerklee College of Music in 1957. Dawson suffered a ruptured disc in 1975 which led to him halting his touring schedule, to leave Berklee and limit his teaching to his home inLexington, MA .His teaching style emphasized the music as a whole rather than concentrate on percussion alone. He stressed the importance of learning the melody and structure of the tune to better fulfill the role of accompaniment. For this purpose, he had students play over standards while also singing the melody out loud. He constantly strived for balance between musical ideas and strict technique. He was big on rudiments and wrote extensive exercises intended to be practiced with brushes. He believed using brushes with his "Rudimental Ritual" would reduce stick rebound allowing the sense of "picking up" the sticks. While teaching, Alan also maintained a prolific performing and recording career.
Dawson was the house drummer for Lennie's On The Turnpike in
Peabody, MA from 1963 through to 1970. This gig allowed him to perform with a diverse group of jazz artists. Around this time, Dawson was Boston's premier jazz drummer for local acts as well as bigger name touring artists.Throughout the 1960's Dawson recorded exclusively with saxophonist
Booker Ervin onPrestige Records . In 1968 Dawson replacedJoe Morello in theDave Brubeck Quartet and continued until 1975. His performance credits also included stints withBill Evans ,Jaki Byard ,Booker Ervin ,Sonny Stitt ,Dexter Gordon ,Lee Konitz ,Quincy Jones ,Charles Mingus ,Tal Farlow and many other top jazz artists.Dawson's teaching methods have been passed on by many of his former students. Books on his approach have been written by John Ramsay and Osami Mizuno, both former students. One of the exercises he is best known for is the "rudimental ritual", playing variations of the traditional
rudiments , Swiss rudiments, and his own rudimental innovations while maintaining a Latin ostinato on drum set pedals.Alan Dawson died of leukemia on February 23, 1996.
elect Discography
"As a sideman:"
* "
Bopstacle Course " byTerry Gibbs (1974;Xanadu Records )External links
* [http://www.drummercafe.com/featured-musician/drummer-percussionist/alan-dawson-1929-1996.html Alan Dawson - In Memoriam (Drummer Cafe)]
* [http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Alan_Dawson.html Drummerworld's Alan Dawson page]
* [http://www.pas.org/About/HofDetails.cfm?IFile=dawson Bio from the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame]
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