I don't know you but Ralph MacDonald is my grandpa...or was rather. He passed away a few years ago and it is awesome to see his music has touched many people. Thanks for making this video. I am just stumbling across this now!!!
I used to work as an assistant audio engineer at A&R and Ralph played on many jingles and records at A&R. He was an inspiration to me and to many others.
Erick❣️ Thanks for doing this tutorial on my cousin Ralph❗️I enjoyed it so much I decided to share some behind the scenes info you may not know about him and his music‼️ 😉👍🏽💛 Ralph was taught to play by his favorite uncle “Urias (Uncle Bougs) Fritz” (my Dad - Rest In Peace❣️) who you’ll find playing a Heineken bottle on “Calypso Breakdown”. As someone already pointed out not only was Ralph a great musician, percussionist, and producer but he was also a prolific songwriter. Some of the songs he wrote/co-wrote include “Where is the love” by Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway, “Mr Magic” & “Winelight” by Grover Washington Jr, “Tradewinds” by The 3 Degrees, and “Just the 2 of Us” by Bill Withers (which is a song about Trinidad & Tobago). “The Path” is our family history in music as told to Ralph by my grandmother Albertha Fritz, which tells the history of my family migration from Africa to Trinidad to the United States. Ralph was able to complete the suite and play it for Grandma before she passed away. When he played it for her she cried for an hour saying it was the most beautiful thing she ever heard❗️ I could go on with so much more but I’m getting emotional so I’m just going to say thanks again for spotlighting Ralph. He single handedly changed the music industry and made percussion important while paving the way for percussionists today like you & me, and most of today’s cats - whether they realize it or not❗️ Thanks & Rest In Peace Ralph MacDonald❣️😉👍🏽🌈 ✨🌞🙂💛😇 Peace & Blessings, 🎶Gary Fritz ✨
I just listened to Hubert Law's No More with headphones. I could hear Ralph Macdonald playing this rhythm. I loved it. Thank you for teaching this and recommending a beautiful song.
Thank you for recognizing a great musician & song writer. His style was felt in every track he played on, didn’t matter the artist, he would lay that distinctive beat that would let you know Ralph was present. He was a huge influence in my playing days. He and Paulino DeCosta are two of the best session players ever.
He was the first percussionist I learned from and still use his style of conga playing and hand percussion style that I still incomplete over 40 years later. RIP Ralph.
I was a budding baby drummer in Ralph MacDonald’s heyday. He’s the first percussionist I knew by name. Just the Two of Us is classic deep groove. Beautiful. Thanks for the post!
another master from that years , Mr. Leon Ndugu Chancler .. ... Mr. McDonald ... the brothers Recov . many many many right handed sorcerers ...Angá ... gracias compadrito por recordar las raices ...del funk ...
Thanks for doing the Ralph MacDonald. His grooves and pocket playing was his signature. His groove on many of the CTI recordings was show case with many of the top musicians. As you stated him and Steve Gadd was the percussion section for many folks. Excellent presentation.
Thanks for recognising R.M. and I recomaned everyone to explore his LP called " The Path " which also features the fabulous Brecker Bro's on horns. It is a multi cultural exploration and adventure in the roots of Afro rhythms into the entire American ( Las Americas ) musical experience. It is polyrhythmic to the bone ! It is very groove oriented, so is very dance oriented. He is very under recognized by most congueros yet he was a masterful and tasty percussionist that everyone interested in percussion needs to be influnced by. As usual...Eric, you do a great job and a great service to all percussionist and musicians in your videos, you even inspire an older percussionist like me to revisit all the players and their aproaches to percussion and continue adding to my own experience and abilities. It is said... "there are no masters, we are all students " ( para phrased from John Coltrane ) and we must always be open to all aspects of our art and continue learning and doing. We are all ambassadors of the cultural arts, the human arts to share to the rest of our human family and enjoy personally. Thank YOU Bro ! :)
The Path album traces musically the forced migration of African people to the Caribbean and Las Americas. Ralph McDonald's family photos adorn the cover. Ralph McDonald was also a master of the "pans" or steel drums of Trinidad, a truly relevant and major contribution to the world family of musical instruments. Then, there is his other intense album, Sound of a Drum. Mr. McDonald must also be recognized as a preserver of and innovator in the field of Afro music and culture. As I go through my old vinyl collection, I now ponder on the numerous songs and tracks that Mr. McDonald appeared on? I am motivated to now see if I can find his discography and satisfy my curiosity .
The Path is actually a musical version of our family history as told by my grandmother to Ralph. She did get to hear it completed before she passed away❗️😉👍🏽🌈🎶✨🌞🙂💛😇
Had to come back to watch this one! A lot of people don't know:. Ralph played with Jimmy Buffet, for a couple decades before he (Ralph) passed away. I play in a lot of acoustic rock/pop duos, in MI. Alot of gigs require: Buffet, Seger, Eagles, etc. Ralph helped me to appreciate the tunes, which I was hesitant to appreciate, at first. Very groovy!
Very melodic groove. Thanks for hipping me to this cat.
6 лет назад
Great vid and personally, I love the lead-up talk. Knowing the history is super important .... and there's always the timeline scroll for those who just want the mechanics :-)
Always adore what you put up. And while talking about Ralph it was just in my practice paus.... studied Ralph whit GW just 5 minutes ago. It would be amazing I you should put up something about Paulinho da costa. Y muchas gracias por lo que haces. Sincere Peter Plynning from Sweden.
Brother, I thank you for this. Wow, you just explained my approach to playing percussion. I’m a producer who primarily plays keys but now I’m playing percussions at the church that I attend. I noticed that most of the tutorials I’ve watched to expand my skill-set, focus on Latin based styles. That means that most times you’re going to make each song sound Latin (which isn’t a bad thing but it doesn’t always fit). So I had to pick up patterns from older music that I listen to, (and Bill Withers is one artist, lol) and apply them to my playing. This makes me feel more like an artist/musician than just the guy playing patterns. Keep up the good work 👍🏾
Yooo!! As a kid, I had a record that I took from my dad (all his records were not to be touched us kids😬) George Benson “On Broadway Live” with Ralph McDonald. That solo he did on there pretty much had me playing it over and over again practicing on a living room glass table😂 until I got it down!! Him and Candido were my inspiration ✨
Ralph McDonald was a staple in our house, especially since our family was a big fan of Grover Washington, Jr, and Roberta Flack. Check the Grover albums Winelight and Come Morning. Every song on those two albums are classics!
Thank you! Latin playing is not the only thing out there. Ralph would bring a triangle into a session and that's it, because he thought that it was the only "accent" needed. He didn't overkill a song.
Thanks very much. I like this groove a lot and have begun to incorporate into some of the tunes we do. When I first came across your tutorials, I was "yeah, talk a little less" but after listening to a few, I really enjoy the history, your perspective, and the commentary. Keep up the good work. You have helped me on my continuing journey with these great instruments. PS - love the steer skins.
You know when I first bump into your video's I said I like, but he is playing more than showing in a slow pace for us beginners. but I went back to looking at your video and I notice how you started teaching with your hands at a slower pace I said that's what I'm talking about and I'm glad I went back .now I'm learning more as you getting better at teaching with history and all.. I want to thank you for that. and the way you don't respond to the negative . you know what the good book says " The man who conquers himself is greater than a person who conquers a mighty city" ..Peace Eric.
Ralph Anthony MacDonald (March 15, 1944 - December 18, 2011) was a Trinbagonian-American percussionist, songwriter, musical arranger, record producer, steelpan virtuoso and philanthropist. His compositions include "Where Is the Love", a Grammy Award winner for the duet of Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway; "Just the Two of Us", recorded by Bill Withers and Grover Washington, Jr.; and "Mister Magic" recorded by Grover Washington, Jr.
Ralph was on so many records ... since I use to read the credits I noticed his name again and again. Thanks for pointing out Hubert Law's record "Morning Star" ... great music and Ralph is phantastic. Interesting to read, that Billy Cobham played the drums. Another master. ❤ His chemistry with Steve Gadd can be heard in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-94oL1e7YG5I.html
Ralph was a true inspiration his grooves were partially rooted in his Afro caribbean heritage in Trinidad which were also pronounced in his bell patterns .Jam on the groove is one example of this where he use a dud dup which is a two note low pitched steel drum.I shared the stage with him in trinidad in 2005.May he live on
Who is Ralph MacDonald???!! Since I first came to percussion has an American teenager in the 70s, who is everyone else?? MacDonald was such a huge influence, to this day, on my approach to percussion along with Bill Summers, Airto, Paulino DeCosta and George Jinda. I've just discovered, over the last five years or so, the connection to Afro Cuban, Mexican and South American tumbaos and the fullness of these traditions. It's changing my playing quite a bit, I will never sound like a true Latin percussionist because my influences started here in the states. MacDonald is the main reason for this. His groove, his taste, the way he would sparsely use just the right instrument for the song taught me a lot about how to take a band to another level. I'll always be grateful for that lesson.
I love this one Eric. I was diggin' RM way back when. So cool that you break down what cats like this play/played. Maybe you'll breakdown some Luis Conte one day. There's a cat with one foot squarely in traditional and the other in contemporary playing (I met him after he gave a lecture/performance/clinic with Steve Gadd that they did between some shows with James Taylor here in the Berkshires).
Hey Eric, if you are going to branch out into more non latin players how bout the great Sam Clayton of Little Feat and Chicago's Laudir de Oliveira (specifically his grove on Joe Cocker's Feelin' Alright)
I remember all the Latin guys putting him down because he didn't know "the way," how ironic because he was closer to Africa than they were with their sacred "tumbaos" played to their strict "formula."
@@donaldosborne2530 Some are and others are not, but they share culture. There are many different styles of hand drumming. But basically, West African drumming and so-called Latin drumming are more similar than different. Both have a spiritual basis, too. But time, distance, and oppression changed that. Eric is correct in examining and explaining diverse perspectives on the conga. It's a basic drum and it can be played many ways, but with similar techniques and different cultural perspectives. However, I know there is a lot more happening than what we expect and have seen and heard. And the various tools of mankind have always found new uses when in the hands of others. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kNj8U9sVFZU.html
Ralph McDonald - sound of the drum. No mystery bro. But I have some years on you. He was a studio musician like Barretto before the latter became A Latin monster
Very nice man. I love you featuring all the great Congeros from different genres. Did you do something about Henry Gibson? "Master" Henry Gibson?....He let them talk those drums with Curtis Mayfield man....
He was a huge influence on me in the beginning and I didn't even know it. When I joined my first band as a percussionist, a funk band, I stumbled onto the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack which he wrote a few songs on. That really helped me, especially on my band's first EP. Really pulled me away from what I call the "tumbao trap". It's a sign of a creatively lazy drummer. Because you can play a typical salsa tumbao over almost anything.
I know about what you call the "tumba'o trap" all too well. It turns out that tumba'o works so well for so many different styles of music that it is possible to get through entire sets playing nothing but tumba'o. And if you are sick of playing tumba'o, you are running a high risk of your audience getting sick of hearing it. So what's the solution? I have several suggestions: The first is that there is an entire world full of great grooves out there. Find a real teacher and learn some new rhythms. My second suggestion is to give yourself and your audience a break from the tumbadoras altogether. For certain songs plan to play bongó, or güiro, or pandeiro or chéquere. Audiences love to see musicians switch up their instruments. Along the same lines, even if a song absolutely demands tumba'o, play that perhaps only in certain sections, and plan to play other instruments for other sections of the song. Once again, audiences enjoy a nice multi percussion concept. Finally, once you have replaced tumba'o with some new rhythms and/or instruments on a bunch of songs, plan your set lists so that you don't end up playing too much of the same thing back to back. Make sure you don't put too many songs in a row where you play tumba'o. For that matter don't put too many songs in a row where you play the same instrument. Likewise don't put too many songs of similar tempo or dynamics or style in a row. Think of your set like a TV program, and try to give it a beginning, a middle and an end.
Thank you for your calm and laid back relaxed state and your love and appreciation for each rhythm. The tone from the steer skins are amazing! It is your method brother(from a different mother) that is real easy to follow. My first teacher Michael Smithe from Cal Tjader was as good as you. Have you shown the rock rhythm, funk,samba?
Hey Eric, this pattern is so so great! It fit with most of funk music I like to listen and play, and of course I made some of my little thing, here and there. Is there any chance to show us something that will fit in some of the popular disco songs, let's say, some universal pattern that we can change and adapt to the song that we are working on Thank`s :) Nik
I believe that Ralph MacDonald's most distinctive groove was not what was demonstrated on this video. Instead, I believe that his most distinctive groove was his adaptations of calypso rhythms in both the jazz/funk fusions and a wide variety of pop musics. In the 1950's the studio percussion scene was dominated by Cuban percussionists (such as Patato), and Puerto Rican percussionists playing Cuban instruments and rhythms (such as Ray Barretto). In the 1960's a bunch of Brazilian musicians came to the US, looking to cash in on opportunities created by the Bossa Nova fad, and to escape the military dictatorship in Brazil after 1964. The Brazilian percussionists brought a whole bunch of different instruments and rhythms to the table, and it wasn't long before people like Airto Moreira, Paulinho da Costa and Laudir de Oliveira started getting a ton of session work. And then there was Ralph MacDonald. Ralph's father Patrick (also known as "Macbeth The Great") was a real-deal calypsonian from Trinidad. Ralph grew up in the vibrant West Indian community in Harlem. When he started getting calls to do sessions he brought rhythms and concepts from Trinidad to a studio percussion scene that had previously been dominated by Cubans and Brazilians. Ralph became one of the most recorded session percussionists of all time, right up there with Paulinho da Costa and Airto. Ralph MacDonald's approach came from the "Engine Room" -- the rhythm section that rides along on a flatbed truck to accompany the marching steel bands during Carnaval in Trinidad. The signature sound of the engine room comes from the steel brake drums salvaged from trucks and turned into percussion instruments. In the studio Ralph MacDonald transferred rhythms from those brake drums onto commercially manufactured cowbells and wood-blocks. He overdubbed multiple tracks of intertwining cowbell and woodblock parts into a dense rhythmic bed that implied the complex energy of the Engine Room. To me, that was Ralph MacDonald's signature sound, and it can be heard all over his work with Grover Washington Jr., George Benson, Jimmy Buffett and many others, as well as on his own great recordings. To go along with that metal percussion Ralph MacDonald also had his own way of playing calypso on the tumbadoras. Those drums provided a smooth and warm voice which contrasted and complimented the metal percussion of all of those bell tracks. So that was Ralph MacDonald's signature sound. That sound and concept was unique in the recording sessions of the time, and gave Ralph MacDonald a sound that was pretty much all his own.
Nice video !! Question do you know anything about Randy Jackson of the Jackson 5? There's like one video of him ripping it on a conga solo on RU-vid and that's it. There are no more videos nor info . I wonder what his style and Influences where, and how respected as a percussionist he became or did he just quit all of a sudden
Great tutorial my friend , but what about the Ritmo Guason from Cuba ( now that is really rare ) nobody played it here on RU-vid is from the 1960's - 1970's from the great Cuban musician Pacho Alonso .
Because of inspiration from you I now have four drums - super tumba, tumba, conga and quinto. But now I am now baffled as to how to tune them. I'd like to get that melodic sound like you get with your four Paladiums. Thanks for all that you do!
Being that your on expert on almost everybody, how about Master congueros like Milton Caldona, Frankie Malabe, Jerry Gonzalez.. Etc. It's my 50th year playing congas and I'll be waiting for your response on how these Master Congueros play!
George Perez hahaha I’m not an expert! Trust me! But those are already on the list! And just letting you know... Jerry has been one of the hardest I’ve studied simply bcuz of his unorthodox style and feel! But I LOVE IT!
To A Percussion Life... Wishing you well on your video teaching on Drum Styles. Must commend you on using video and social media to reach out to the up and coming Conga Drummers of this generation. God Bless to you and all here!!
Here are prime examples of Ralph MacDonald with Steve Gadd. Enjoy! Percussion solo from a Richard Tee concert in NYC, 1990: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-94oL1e7YG5I.html [Gadd is a fucking beast at the end...as always] (Zildjian Day 1985)....MacDonald stays out of Gadd's way, but grooves and just makes him sound better. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-31-8jGa0eEI.html I like your work...God bless!
hello i m french and i m not agree with vic denton .i think it's very important to have a little bit some explaination about the musician you are tlking about . so talk and learn us about congas,we have fun thanks for four video
