Kyle Poehling’s Notion Music Blog - Percussion, Production, and Composition

I’ve had the distinct pleasure and luck to play with some amazing musicians over the course of my musical career, and around the turn of the century (99′-03′) I remember thinking to myself “my peers are REALLY good, and one day everyone is going to see that the spirit of what WAS considered “jazz” IS still alive and these guys are the one’s carrying the torch.”


Ever since jazz took a turn down “fusion lane” the art has suffered. I’m not saying that there hasn’t been quality jazz produced since then, but the idea of combining virtuosity and a fresh approach to improvisation within composition suffered as jazz became either a vehicle to play as fast and furious as possible in a “look what I can do” type way or taking the classical approach claiming “I’m playing this JUST like (fill in your favorite jazz icon) did…” It just seems that the passion had been replaced by intellectual property. Then in the 90’s there were a crop of artists who seemed to restore the passion in jazz. Beginning with artists like; MMW, Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, and Brian Blade who in turn influenced another group of musicians (namely a number of the folks I was sharing gigs with around 2000). Which brings me to the topic of this post. The documentary “Icons Among Us” which will be debuting on the Documentary Channel April 20th outlines the renaissance that jazz has experienced over the past 15 years or so.


Ken Burns and PBS put together a great documentary on jazz a while back which I felt was pretty well done aside from the fact that the documentary seemed to stop with Wynton Marsalis in the 80’s. At the time I was quite upset as it seemed to disregard a what I saw as a “rebirth” of jazz. I understand that Burns purposely left out the recent developments in jazz because as a historian observing recent events as such dilutes the objectivity. Playing gigs with groups like the Benevento/Russo Duo, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, The Slip, and many others was extremely exciting and although there were plenty of people enjoying the shows it seemed that the jazz community at large wasn’t paying attention. Over the past few years it seems that the jazz community HAS been paying attention covering the developments of many new artists which leaves me with a real nice “warm and fuzzy” feeling knowing that I was in some small way a part of the renaissance. Now that we’re a little further into this rebirth of jazz it’s pretty wonderful to hear how things have developed. If you haven’t heard many of the groups covered in this wonderful documentary I’d suggest digging in….you will NOT be underwhelmed.

SOOOOO Probably my favorite drummer Matt Chamberlain is releasing a new ride cymbal with the Istanbul Cymbal Company. Given that Matt has recorded some of my favorite cymbal sounds to date (granted some of that…well quite a bit of that is his touch on the instrument) I’m thinking this item is moving up on my “wish list.”

Matt Chamberlain - Istanbul Cymbal Ad

Here’s a description of the cymbal from Istanbul’s site:

Matt Chamberlain Signature Ride

The exaggerated, umbrella like profile, malleability and larger hammering give this ride a quality as unique as its namesake. Clean, focused sticking with a complex yet mellow wash combine with a unique and exotic crash. Great for all musical applications with space, where the unique qualities of this ride can really enhance the music as either a main ride, a crash, an effect, or all.

Anyhoo…I know I’m looking forward to hearing the cymbal, and if you haven’t checked out any of Matt’s playing on Marco Benevento’s new album go to the site now and listen!!!

Marco Benevento - Home Page

So…my blog is titled “Blogging on the 1″ which is a reference to both The Cosby Show and James Brown.

If you’re not familiar with the phrase “Jamming on the 1″ not only are you missing out on one of the most interchangable verbs/adjectives out there (interchangeable with terms like “that’s awesome!” or “I’m doing great!,” but you’re missing out on an important musical reference!

The Cosby episode (Cosby Show “Jammin’ on the 1″) I’m referring to involves the entire family going to the recording studio with Stevie Wonder and recording a song. Basically Stevie gets the whole family to say one phrase which he samples and uses to construct a brief jam. Theo’s line is “Jammin’ on the 1″ which Mr. Wonder then turns into a one minute sample masterpiece, and further giving us the gift of the phrase “Jammin’ on the 1.”

I picked up the James Brown reference while watching an interview with Bootsy Collins where he mentions that when he first joined Mr. Brown’s band he was told “I don’t care what you play as long as you just NAIL the “1″….it’ll always be funky if you just NAIL the “1.” If you listen to any of the JB’s stuff from the late 60’s early 70’s you’ll hear what I’m talking about.

about 5 minutes in Bootsy explains all about the “1″



Feel free to include “Jammin’ on the 1″ in your everyday verbiage…I know I do!

So I recently had the opportunity to attend PASIC 08′ in Austin, TX to represent at the Notion Music booth. I had a great week meeting some great percussionists, showing off Notion and Progression, and playing some great instruments (in the little “down” time I had). A little pictorial review….

Just as we finished setting up the booth:

NOTION Booth at PASIC 2008

First up was a new Vibraphone from Malletech! Kind of difficult to improve on an instrument that’s been around as long as the vibraphone without “gimmick,” but the folks at Malletech seem to have done just that. There is no motor to create the vibrato, but a pedal that rests on top of the damper pedal which controls “flaps” that move over the resonators to control the vibrato. It’s similar to a “wha-wha” pedal for guitars, but controlling the vibrato! Great idea and it works very well. I’m not sure that you could successfully perform a fast vibrato without breaking your ankle, but still the flexibility of controlling the vibrato is an adequate trade-off.