Roni Kaspi - I'm Just Talking on The Drums

Roni Kaspi, you may remember, inspired one of my late-2024 “rage caves”.

I’d seen and heard her in clips with Avishai Cohen, in a drum chair with a storied list of alumni, including previous podcast Ofri Nehemaya and one Mark Guiliana.

But when Jesus Molina’s Night in Tunisia came up in my spotify in a random playlist, I was astonished at the drummer’s ability to play over the meter as if there were no bars. The tune quickly became one of the most “instagrammable” clips of early 2025, in a way that fast, technical music does.

Sure, it was showy. But I couldn’t deny that the drummer had a fluidity that I envied. Hence - rage cave. Much 11/4 for a couple of months. I only later put two-and-two together that this drummer was that Avishai drummer.

I finally caught up with Roni two weeks ago, her upcoming album and recently-released EPs providing the perfect excuse. In the ensuing time since my weeks of toil with Night in Tunisia, I’d had a chance to check out a decent amount of her original music. She plays across genres with a fearlessness that’s impossible to fake.

And speaking to her, it all makes sense.

From a small town in Israel, from non-musical parents, Roni discovered the drums at an early age when she happened upon a rehearsal room noone minded that she used in her elementary school, and formed a band with several classmates. Later, a teacher recommended she audition for a prestigious arts high school, and things almost ended disastrously when Roni, at a jazz audition, played Stairway to Heaven. Seeing potential, one of the judges jumped on the piano and asked young Roni to accompany him through some more “jazz” styles, and salvaged her audition.

Of her time in high school, Roni remembers looking up to classmates whom she says were ahead of her on the skill journey, but “still liking how [she] sounded”. It’s this attitude of willingness to reach for more, but self-acceptance, in addition to the unadulterated love of the drums, that I’d bet set her up for success.

A summer Berklee festival with Terri Lynne Carrington, a successful Berklee audition, a gig with Avishai, and a move to LA post graduation, bring us more-or-less to present-day, where Roni, still only 24, divides her time between touring and creative music like that on her EPs and upcoming album.

Some guests inspire you for their sheer spirit - Chris Turner comes to mind, and Roni is another one who I bet will remind you why you love the drums.

Hope you enjoy!

The Attitude That's Holding Drummers Back

First things first - if you want to grab your trial to JP Bouvet Method, use my affiliate link, and use the following coupon codes until Thursday, 9/11, at midnight.

SaveAnnualSep25 - $100 off annual sub

SaveMonthlySep25 - 50% off for 6 months

Time to throw another Shutterstock model under the bus. I have no idea, of course, if this drummer suffers from the very human, understandable tendency I’m discussing in today’s video. (I sometimes wonder if these models ever see themselves in youtube thumbnails and how they react. I like to think if it were me I’d be laughing about it with friends.)

We want people to think we’re good. I mean that in both senses of the word. We generally want to be regarded as good people, and it’s also nice when we get compliments about our skill in something.

The problem is that very human need to see ourselves as capable can sometimes directly interfere with the learning process, which often involves painful, public “digging” through our deficiencies.

The good news is that “thick skin” and “unflappability” that all the pros seem to have onstage - the whole “don’t they get nervous? No, not really” thing - is a direct result.

The bad news is the “getting there” can tweak all our embarrassment instincts.

Whether to a teacher or coach, or to ourselves as we listen to our own recordings or watch our own performances, confronting our deficiencies hurts.

The second problem is something Roni Kaspi alluded to in a recent podcast interview: it’s helpful if we feel at least a little bit confident in what we’re doing. Just as many experts agree the healthiest mindset for something like weight loss is a combination of self-acceptance and also striving toward a goal, it’s nice if we don’t think “I suck” every time we sit down to play.

The solution is complex, and involves identity and psychology - two things way above my pay grade. But when I learned about Carol Dweck’s concepts of “fixed” and “growth” mindset some things slotted into place for me. There’s a dance of seeing ourselves as upon a path to being better, not fixed in place, that’s helped me from time-to-time.

But whatever the path forward, we drummers need to contend with this blocker if we’re going to get better; otherwise we’ll be stuck in the “slow lane” of improvement.

Thoughts? Leave a comment. Otherwise, enjoy!

Antonio Sanchez - Pat Metheny, Birdman, and Everything in Between

Antonio is one of that small category of “drummer’s drummers” who have crossed over into “normies know about them” territory.

“I’m interviewing Pat Metheny’s drummer” will compute to some music hipster friends. “I’m interviewing the drummer guy who did the Birdman soundtrack” will compute for practically anybody.

The crazy thing is the serendipitous way the two are related. After Sanchez got the gig with Metheny, he had just finished playing a show in Los Angeles when a kindly man approached him backstage, mentioning how he loved the performance and he had “done a couple of films”. Thinking this was the average Hollywood person who had “done a couple films”, and tired after the gig, Sanchez politely sought to cut the interaction short - “anything I’d have heard of?”

“Maybe,” replied the man. “I did one called 21 Grams a few years ago, and another called Amores Perros.”

Realizing he was talking to Alejandro Iñaritu, Schanez softened. It was on the basis of this conversation that, several years later, when Iñaritu was at work on Birdman, Antonio Sanchez got the call.

Fast forward a handful of years, and now it’s Sanchez’ music we hear behind the Emmy-winning Seth Rogan show The Studio.

Obviously, there was a lot to cover in just an hour, because we hadn’t even scratched the surface of Antonio’s early development, the Berklee years, The first gigs with David Sanchez and Miguel Zenon (where a young 8020-guy saw him a umber of times at the Jazz Gallery in New York), Pat, Bela Fleck, and the tour life.

Forget about his approach to practice, his attitude about chops vs musicality, etc.

But cover we did. Luckily, Antonio is as good a storyteller away from the drums as he is behind them. The gestalt of this interview is a wise veteran still in his prime, who’s seen a lot of things, played with a lot of greats, and lived a lot of life, and is eager to share.

I’m sure you’ll enjoy this conversation.

The Left Hand Skill Good Drummers Should Have in 2025

First things first - grab your free transcription here.

It was probably always going to end up here.

The Tony Williams ride pattern with both hands.

It sounds like a circus act. Or a party trick. You’re probably wondering how it came to this. So let’s back up.

My left hand always kinda sucked. First, I had some conflicting teachers. (Hindsight 2020, I should have listened to the first, who, despite I’m pretty sure joining a militia shortly after teaching me, had the right idea about hand technique.)

Next, I did the “trad” thing for about 15 years after college. Hard to explain, and it’s not necessary, but trad is kind of a kinesthetic way to get “into the minds” of the jazz greats. If I wanted it to feel to me as much as possible how it felt for Max Roach, there was no choice.

All of that left me in the early 20-teens with kind of a wimpy left hand. I’d “bear claw” stuff, or use back fulcrum, but it had nothing like the dexterity of my right.

Of course I’ve been dabbling with stuff to improve it, but the two things that were game-changing were Gordy Knudtson’s particular encapsulation of the push pull technique many greats have used over the years, and my going “full black pill” this spring on playing the ride cymbal with both hands.

As jazzers the right hand gets so much practice playing the ride, so that any average jazz drummer probably has right hand technique that would considered rather elite in non-jazz circles. (True, the prog guys still have us when it comes to high volume stuff.) “If I could just get my left hand to do what my right does, I’d cover a lot of ground,” I thought.

Roll on 6 months of “rage caving”, and we arrived at this point.

Abi-dexterous Tony. Not that I’m particularly great at it so far. But I can do it at moderate tempos.

So I wanted to make you a video.

And now that I kinda “see the matrix”, I think this is the way. Everybody who’s serious about their weak hand should do this.

Do you agree? Leave a comment below. In any event, hope you enjoy.