Mark Guiliana
Actually, Mark Guiliana is bloody incredible. I hadn’t paid all that much attention to him until this random solo happened to catch my eye in the YouTube recommendations. I first stumbled upon Guiliana while letching at the Sabian HHX Groove Ride in this video:
Then I searched for more. This solo came up, I was flabbergasted! The dude’s coordination is amazing. His compositional skills, the dynamics, the tension and release and sense of humour are all evident here. Later on I plan to go sit at my drums and just weep…
Here’s a fantastic example of his playing with his band:
And with Donny McCaslin:
Turns out these cats are the band on Bowie’s final release, Blackstar. I’ll be giving that a listen as well as some of Guiliana’s “proper” music, daddy-o.
I should spend some time getting to know some of the young upstarts they’ve got these days.
Sabian Groove Ride
Meanwhile, I came across the HHX 21″ Groove Ride somehow and find myself wondering if this is the elusive perfect ride that is articulate at a range of volumes, has a shimmering wash and a usable crash sound that would work for the various styles I tend to play. Listen, it sounds great:
Here it is, played by the regular geezer at Memphis Drum Shop:
I feel tempted to break my rule of never buying anything new to get my hands on one of these (If you got one to sell, let me know), although I’m aware that no cymbal sounds the same as it does in a video or even in the shop when you try it out.
Here’s another demo by a famous drummer, Zoro, dig his face when he crashes it the first time…
If I bought this I’d have to get a new bag.