Dino Danelli - featured drummer / The Rascals (part one) with video
Notes from an old drummer……
My long term-memory is still pretty good at the age of 73. My short-term memory may be questionable.
The fact is...I saw Dino Danelli play in the 60s. I didn’t drive myself there. I went with my good friend...Louie Simmons. Louie’s mom Olivia may have driven us there.
We became friends at Sanford Junior High School in 1965. I speak about out friendship in my book, Notes of a Young Drummer 1966-1969. Louie owned and played drums. His blue sparkle Ludwig Super Classic set was my first experience on a kit. I sat down and played the beats I’d been imagining in my head since...1957.
One of those tunes was Buddy Holly’s / Peggy Sue. That memorable drumbeat played by Jerry Allison...
Bobby Darin’s / Splish Splash with drummer Panama Francis.
Louie Simmons was a great friend. He was very positive...complimentary and motivated me in my music journey. Louie’s mom...Olivia spiritually adopted me. She gave me helpful advise for life.
I had a little money in the early 70s. Olivia was a real estate agent. She talked me into buying a single lot of land in Sanford. Instead of reinvesting it after the profit...I bought more drum gear. [The first of my horrible investment strategies’ with zero appreciation]
At the age of 15...going to The Young Rascals concert with my friend Louie Simmons...would be the first event we attended together. There would be others in our friendships timeline. I’ll save dropping the bands names––until I write about them.
When I saw The Rascals...I don’t remember if I had a drumset yet–––maybe I did. I got my first kit for my 16th birthday in 1966. The Rascals were a big name in the music business. I had seen a couple bands with hit records, Sam The Sham (Wooly Bully)
and The Kingsmen (Louie Louie)–– but The Rascals were more popular.
They had their big number one hit “Good Lovin” which was covered by every teenage band in America. When I became a lounge lizard musician in 1967... it was still a popular tune for bands to play.
I saw Dino Danelli on television, March 20, 1966. Ed Sullivan announces them as an American Combo - The Young Rascals.
His playing on this 1966 Ed Sullivan television performance is fantastic. Two handed stick twirling. He plays a Ludwig silver sparkle drumset with chrome snare drum that appears to be a Supraphonic 400. His mounted tom is on a floor stand...several pair of spare sticks on his bass drum. It was like a Buddy Rich setup...with his ride cymbal higher.
The drumbeat to “Good Lovin” resembles a Jazz-Mambo that Art Blakey, Elvin Jones, Philly Joe Jones and classic Jazz drummers were playing in the 50s and 60s. (Ray Charles - What’d I Say–– Dino demonstrates two handed sixteenth note chops in his fills and breaks.
His playing is powerful. His bass drum driving the bass- guitar...less band. [Solid quarter notes on his ride cymbal] Big drumsticks playing traditional grip...unlike Ringo...more like Buddy Rich. Dino’s left stick dancing and cracking rim shots. He occasionally crashes his cymbal from underneath.
___Great showmanship in the tradition of Gene Krupa___ ___Their Sunday night Ed Sullivan Show is live, they perform it
live___
[Felix Cavaliere - lead vocals + Hammond B3, Gene Cornish -
guitar, Eddie Brigati-vocals]
The band is smoking on this gig for millions of television viewers...[Still]...the most popular Sunday night music variety show since The Beatles appeared 2 years earlier in 1964.
I didn’t have Dino’s chops when I started playing Good Lovin...still don’t.
3
Most rock drummers played Good Lovin minus the Jazz Mambo style. They played straight quarter notes with the added eighth notes on the tom.
___That groove––Jazz Mambo...is well documented on records...Similar to a traditional jazz conga pattern.
“Good Lovin” also has “The Break”...sometimes it’s a two bar break. Bands would occasionally freeze on stage and turn the silence into a dramatic pause...count it back in. “That’s what I remember and I’m stickin to it”
Revisiting Youtube to watch (Ed Sullivan/Good Lovin/1966) this is amazing...even more impressive to me in 2022. The Rascals are tight and playing great.
The Orlando venue The Rascals played was called Kemps Coliseum...1640 North Orange Avenue. It opened in 1926. It was large enough for basketball games and political rallies.
Big bands played there including: Louis Armstrong, Tommy Dorsey, Sammy Kaye, Guy Lombardo, Count Basie and Benny Goodman. A long list of popular groups played there. It burned down in 1972.
I owned The Rascals debut album...The Young Rascals. It featured many RnB cover tunes including Mustang Sally and In the Midnight Hour. They also covered Bob Dylan’s...Like A Rolling Stone.
The few LP records in my collection in 1965 were British groups. “Help” by...The Beatles...The Kinks and Them. The Rascals record exposed me to a new sound and style. It wasn’t a sound dominated by guitar.