Behind the Kit

Stanton Moore returns to his origins as a traditional New Orleans jazz drummer.

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By: Josh Appelbaum
   There are few musical styles Stanton Moore has left untouched by his distinctive approach to drumming. He leads the funk band Galactic, has explored Jewish music styles with the New Orleans Klezmer Allstars, played heavy metal on the latest Corrosion of Conformity album, and provides the virtuosic back beat to French-inspired jazz with Garage a Trois.
   But his solo efforts, All Kooked Out (Fog City, 1998) and Flyin’ the Koop (Blue Thumb/Verve, 2002), have hewed closer to his roots as a traditional New Orleans jazz drummer. His trio, with keyboardist Robert Walter and guitarist Will Bernard, has recently come together to record an album slated for a fall release, and has been performing together for about five years.
   Speaking from his hometown, Mr. Moore, who has a slight southern drawl and uses the word "killer" (pronounced killa) in place of various adjectives, says performing with a trio allows him greater flexibility than touring with the larger acts. "The trio is really versatile for me," Mr. Moore says. "It’s a smaller band, so we can do a lot more gigs with less overhead."
   The Stanton Moore Trio will perform at the Dancing Wu Li Festival in Morrisville, Pa., May 20, one of only four Northeast dates. For those performances, Cranston Clements and David Torkanowsky will fill in for Mr. Bernard and Mr. Walter, due to scheduling conflicts.
   The personnel adjustments left Mr. Moore scrambling last week to prepare for the upcoming gigs. "We had some rehearsals this week, we’re playing (Snug Harbor in New Orleans May 12) and Boston (May 17), so we should be in decent shape by the time we get down to Wu Li," he says, laughing.
   But improvisation, both musically and logistically, has been common to the trio. Earlier this year, while recording, the group was ousted from its studio because the building was declared structurally unsound. Mr. Moore says he asked fellow musician Ben Jaffe if the trio could use the then-vacant Preservation Hall to record al fresco.
   "It’s one of my favorite rooms," he says. "It’s so intimate you can hear every nuance. It was killa — we just recorded in the empty hall."
   But outdoor stages like Wu Li’s let Mr. Moore’s trio stretch out a bit and play as loud as the members want. "We’re able to really rock out in bigger rooms and at outdoor festivals," he says. "It’s a change of pace from the more mellow sit-down gigs."
   Variety certainly is the spice of Mr. Moore’s life, and aside from his myriad musical projects, he is also a columnist for Drum! Magazine and has his name on a signature series of Bosphourus cymbals and Vic Firth drumsticks. Not to be outdone, he’s produced a series of instructional books and DVDs on drumming, and will host a master class at Bath Spa University in Bath, England, in August.
   Mr. Moore says his instructional approach is pretty hands-on, and he’s enlisted members of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and Neville Brothers bassist George Porter Jr. to illustrate his approach to drumming.
   "I try to make it as viable and authentic as possible, which is why I got those guys to be on the DVDs," Mr. Moore says. "I try to show how I use my basis in the New Orleans style to approach other musical styles, and how I ‘New Orleans-ify’ elements of other types of music."
   Killa.
The Stanton Moore Trio will perform at the Dancing Wu Li Festival, Morrisville, Pa., May 20, 3:45 p.m. Stanton Moore on the Web: www.stantonmoore.com