By Ken Micallef
Photos by Alex Solca
Vinnie Colaiuta
Beyond Black and White
In this EXCLUSIVE interview, Modern Drummer DIGS DEEP into the mind of
one of drumming's GREATEST masters
Vinnie Colaiuta has a message
for you: Kill your idols. And that may mean killing every notion of technical mastery or
virtuosic artistry that you associate with the drumming genius from rural Pennsylvania.
For Colaiuta is passionate about many things, but nothing fires his ire like the
overindulgent, lazy, non-musical thinking that he believes permeates many corners of
the popular drumming community. He has long since tired of those who approach him
with eyes wide, demanding answers of the eternal questions: "How did you possibly
play that, invent that, create that, accomplish that, and master that?"
"My outlook on drumming is very visceral and sort of conceptual and
wide now," Vinnie explains from Madrid while on tour with pianist/composer Herbie Hancock.
"It's not tunnel vision. And because of that, my concept is, 'Look, if you hear
me play, you're going to get it or you're not going to get it.' You're going to get what you're
going to get out of it. And the rest of it is, we're all human and we all have the same challenges
and processes that we have to go through."
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