Will Calhoun

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Will Calhoun (2009)

William "Will" Calhoun (* 22. July 1964 in New York City ) is an American rock - and fusion - drummer . He gained fame as a member of the crossover band Living Color , but also worked as a solo artist, tour and session musician and as a producer.

life and work

Will Calhoun grew up in the Bronx, New York . After graduating from high school, he moved to Boston , where he received a Bachelor's degree in Music Production and Engineering from Berklee College of Music . He received the prestigious Buddy Rich Jazz Masters Award for outstanding performance on drums .

In 1986 he joined Living Color . Until the breakup in 1994, the band released three studio albums and an EP , the climax was winning the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance twice . Calhoun contributes to the band's sound with a mixture of improv and hard rock drumming. He is also the co-composer of numerous songs and wrote the titles Pride and Nothingness . Since the band's reunification in 2002, three more albums have been made.

In addition to his work with Living Color, Calhoun has worked as a tour and session musician for a wide variety of performers, including BB King , Jaco Pastorius , Harry Belafonte , Paul Simon , Lou Reed , Dr. John , Carly Simon , Ronnie Wood , Wayne Shorter , Pharoah Sanders , Run-DMC , Public Enemy and Mos Def . He took part in Herb Alpert's album Colors in 1999 as a producer, songwriter and drummer. Together with bassist Doug Wimbish he founded the experimental bands Jungle Funk and Headfake and participated in many other band projects.

As a solo artist, Will Calhoun has released five studio albums so far, on which, influenced by genre greats such as Tony Williams and Billy Cobham , he mainly interprets jazz , but also uses influences from the world , funk and R&B . His latest work, Celebrating Elvin Jones, is dedicated to drum legend Elvin Jones and was released in 2016 on the Motéma label.

Equipment

Will Calhoun plays a drum set from the Taiwanese manufacturer Mapex with cymbals from Sabian . At concerts he also uses a KORG Wavedrum as a synthesizer for recording and playing back loops and other electronic accessories.

Mapex Saturn IV drum kits

  • 20x16 "bass drum
  • 22x16 "bass drum
  • 13x6 "Nomad Black Panther Snare Drum
  • 8x7 "Tom
  • 6 "Farmer Tamborim
  • 12x9 "Tom
  • 13x10 "Tom
  • 16x16 "floor tom
  • 18x16 "floor tom

Sabian basin

  • 14 "Will Calhoun Series Mad Hats
  • 19 "Ozone Crash with Rivets
  • 20 "AA Bash Ride
  • 21 "Will Calhoun Series Lunar Ride
  • 19 "AA crash
  • 17 "Click Hats
  • 4 "/ 6" / 8 "Stacked Will Calhoun Series Alien Discs
  • 18 "Hammerax Boomywang

Remo skins

  • White Coated Emperor X (snare batter head)
  • Clear Emperor (tom head): 22 "
  • Clear Power Stroke 3 (bass resonance head): 20 "
  • White Coated Ambassador (bass resonance head)

Percussion

  • Gon Bops Chrome Cowbell
  • Gon Bops Red Rock Bell

electronics

  • Original KORG Wave Drum
  • KORG Wave Drum Global Edition
  • Mandala drum
  • mixer
  • Roland SPD-S sampling pad
  • Porter & Davies BC2 Throne Thumper
  • Pedalboard: Digitech Whammy, Pigtronix, Envelope Filter, Infinty Looper, Echolution 2, Prunes & Custard Distortion

In addition, Calhoun used Sleishman and Duallist pedals and Vic Firth sticks .

Discography (selection)

Living Color

Jungle funk

  • 1998: Jungle Funk (live album)

Headfake

  • 1997: Cycles (single)
  • 2003: Play by Play (Compilation)
  • 2008: Live in the Area of ​​Prague (DVD)

solo

  • 1995: Housework
  • 1997: Drumwave
  • 2000: Live at the Blue Note (live album)
  • 2005: Native Lands
  • 2013: Life in This World
  • 2016: Celebrating Elvin Jones

Awards

  • Berklee : Buddy Rich Jazz Masters Award (1986)
  • Modern Drummer : Audience vote for "Best New Drummer" (1988) and "Best Progressive Drummer" (1989, 1991 and 1992)
  • Rolling Stone : Critics' Choice for "Best Drummer" (1990)

Web links

Commons : Will Calhoun  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d wants CALHOUN - bio. Tool Fly Productions, accessed October 7, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Will Calhoun. Mapex, accessed October 7, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Drum! Magazine, Digital Supplement. Edition from August 2015, pp. 1–10. Online (English).
  4. ↑ Will Calhoun… Drummerworld, accessed October 6, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Calhoun, Will
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Calhoun, William (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American rock and fusion drummer
DATE OF BIRTH July 22, 1964
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City