Drumming is the backbone of every musical band.
Although they play a supporting role in most bands, their role is one of the most important—especially because they set the rhythm and keep the pace for the rest of the instruments. For an example of how much skill it takes, just watch Larnell Lewis play a song back from memory.
Larnell Lewis, a Grammy-award winning drummer who played for the Brooklyn-based jazz fusion band Snarky Puppy, was invited on Drumeo’s set in an attempt to challenge him to perform a song on the kit after only having heard it for the first time.
The song’s name was “Chick’s Pain,” a jazz piece composed by Mathieu Fiset and is a commemoration to a classic composition called “Spain” by Jazz keyboardist, Chick Corea.
The song is a jazz composition with elements of Samba and other Brazilian musical genres, and the result is very funky.
Without a pen and paper, Lewis tried to dissect and understand each part with his imagination.
Before long though, he needs to take a few notes to keep up.
After such a ride, Lewis finally grabbed his pen along with a pad of paper to write his own drum sheet for the song.
The man wrote on his notes live on the set, in front of his drum kit.
He ran through the whole song once again and reviewed certain sections where he considers important and in need of more dissecting.
Once he gets through the writing, he finally announces that he is done and ready to perform.
Be prepared to be starstruck by his drumming skills!
With just a moment’s notice, Lewis sets into a nearly perfect rendition of the song—no words can describe the slickness and neatness of that intro passage!
Everything was on point and the transition to the next section was beyond clean.
Lewis played with only a snare and the hi-hat as he consistently kept the bass rhythm running.
The man maintained the funky beat with a cool composure while reading his freshly written notes.
Though the whole song was great, the finale was unbelievable!
After keeping it cool the whole time, Lewis goes all-out during the final loop and blows everyone away.
It was a passionate moment and he ended the song with the bang that it deserved. Considering it was his first time working on the song, everything was absolute perfection.
With years of performing on the kit, it’s clear Lewis knows what it means to be a drummer!
Some drummers think that playing flashy all the time is impressive, but Lewis in this video shows you otherwise.
For the first half of the song, Lewis played as if he was giving the other instruments the harmony and rhythmic support they needed.
Since in jazz there are tons of opportunities for one instrument to shine, he was careful not to steal the thunder during their own solos and waited for his shining moment at the near end of the song.
Using his years of experience on the kit, Lewis showed everyone what it means to be a drummer—and the results were awesome! If you liked this, be sure to check out his other work online and with Snarky Puppy.
Watch the full video in the link below:
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