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Today we have a tale of two generations: one master at his apogee, one up-and-comer who’s already turning hears.
Keith Carlock is one of the most universally revered “drummer’s drummers”, and also one of the most unique. Like Brian Blade, Eric Harland, Nasheet Waits, Marcus Gilmore, and JD Beck, he has many “descendants”, but no fore-bearers who sound quite like him.
He’s been Steely Dan’s most long-running drummer since their original lineup (and maybe even including that - I didn’t look that second part up), but “true fans” will know Keith as one-third of the most interesting fusion trio of the early 2000s: that of Wayne Krantz, which often included Tim Lefevbre.
And Keith’s style is, in my opinion, one of the primary “tree trunks” in the style that became “New York fusion”, which includes Mark G, Nate Wood, Louis Cole (though he’s a west-coaster), Arthur Hnatek, and possibly Maison Guidry. Though these younger players have plenty of their own ideas, it’s hard to deny Keith’s DNA is in there.
All of which makes it ripe for a video. Because surprisingly, not much has been said about exactly what makes him unique. And this is a YouTube cliche, but some of the details may surprise you.
Ofri Nehemaya, for his part, is barely in his ‘30s, but has already played and toured with Shai Maestro, Aaron Goldberg, Avishai (Bass) Cohen (the same drum chair where Mark Guiliana got his first big break), and Gilad Hekselman. He’s also no stranger to bandleading, releasing a viral, self-produced, straight-to-YouTube single called Just Sayin at age…I think it was 19;)
Ofri has been on my radar since then, and I was excited to ask him about how he practices, how he channels flow, how he approaches moving to a new scene and “fitting in”, and more.
You’ll see in the opening minutes I’m trying to pull some practice details out of him, and he just wants to talk about flow state and making music, so we go in that direction.
(I still suspect he has some juicy shed secrets. Perhaps we’ll explore those in a Part Two.)
Couldn’t be more excited about a couple of bits of content, and hope you enjoy!