Mazyck "Zyck" Wyatt - "I Had to Work For It"

If you know this week's podcast guest as "zyck the freak" on instagram or YouTube, you may place him as the instigator behind the latest generation of Berklee shed videos. (Those with "2023" or "2024" in the title.)

If so, you might have clocked him as just another of the groups of elite drummers who go through Berklee's system and dazzle us along the way. But according to Zyck, that's not how it happened. By his own account, Zyck was unprepared for the level of playing he encountered in the first of his "sheds" at Berklee, and had to dig deep to raise his level.

(By the time you see him on video, it's manifest that he's succeeded.)

That's just the first of multiple surprises about Zyck, a drummer unafraid to take a "first principles" approach. Zyck also says he didn't gig at all for the first several years at Berklee; something he now advises young drummers to take seriously.

He's also "self-coached" - if not self-taught, having gone long periods without lessons, and having had to figure out many of his impressive abilities on his own.

But perhaps the most "controversial" of Zyck's take is that that landed him on my radar in the first place: his unapologetic defense of young drummers on the internet.

He's tired of the "old guard" taking pot shots at the way things are now, he says. Things have changed, and to decry it won't change it. (But he gets more descriptive.)

Whatever your opinion, I can guarantee you'll enjoy spending an hour with this thoughtful - and controversial - figure.

Check Out The Brand New Jazz Course - Opens Monday Feb 17

If you like what you see, watch your inbox.

I’ll be opening the brand new Jazz Course to the general public Monday, Feb 17.

And when you join before the end of the first day, you’ll get a free custom video from me, reacting to up to 10 minutes of your jazz playing.

See you there!

The Revolutionary Drum Groove That Everybody Forgot About

First things first - download your free transcription.

Years ago, I heard Spanky McCurdy playing a funk beat in a super innovative way. He had moved his right hand to the middle of the snare instead of the hats, and was catching ghost strokes with the left hand between the snare and hats.

I didn’t think much of it at the time, but recently I was wondering “what happened to this beat”? “And who invented it?”

My very cursory look into drum history revealed a surprising precursor: Dennis Chambers.

In this lesson, I’ll trace the lineage, as I understand it, and show you some of my favorite applications.

Hope you enjoy!

Arthur "LA" Buckner on Dilla, Big Homie, and Minneapolis Pride

When you search “Dilla Beats” on youtube, the third result, right behind David Bruce, is still a video from 8 years ago from this week’s podcast guest, Arthur “LA” Buckner.

As he explains, Dilla was one of the early influences that got him passionate about drums. And Arthur knows about passion. His excitement about drums and music is palpable. Whether it’s his performances with his band Big Homie, talking about practice approaches and philosophies, or evangelizing for his city, Minneapolis, which I’m now sold is one of the most underrated music scenes in the world, Arthur can’t help but be excited.

Let’s talk about that Dilla video - at the time Arthur made it, as part of something of a thesis project at the now sadly shuttered McNally Smith College of Music, nobody was talking about this stuff on such a deep level. In every video I’ve made on the subject, I’ve shouted out Arthur’s original. I asked him about how his thinking on Dilla has evolved, and he wasn’t shy in expressing that he feels Dilla’s beats have become a bit “caricature-ized”, and that we need to embrace the subtleties. (I’ve updated my approach lately as a result of this convo.)

And the thing that put Arthur back on my radar recently is all the clips and videos of his band Big Homie, both energetic and subtle - an “alternate reality” blend of many of the influences we’ve all consumed in the “post-Glasper-Black-Radio, post-Snarky-Puppy” days, who don’t sound quiet like anything you’ve heard.

Arthur speaks about the band as both a product and showcase of what makes Minneapolis music great, and their music makes a strong case for it.

Hope you’ll enjoy this conversation - it was one of the most fun in recent memory.