Donald Clark Morgan

I love jazz because...The spontaneity and animation of the music! When I'm playing, it's as if I'm Dr. Frankenstein...breathing life into empty air and filling it with notes, patterns and harmonies; using the still air as a canvas to create a portrait. And with jazz/fusion, I can draw the image and color inside AND outside the lines and it's just as much of a masterpiece as the 'Mona Lisa'... I was first exposed to jazz...listening to my dad play the great vocalists like Sinatra and Bennett, to name but a couple and after a while, I began listening through the greatness of those voices (and man, was it hard to ignore them!) and listening to the bands behind them! How cool was that?!! The bands were just as incredible as the singers they were backing! After that, I was hooked and thus I began an extensive music collection! Elton John, BTO, Sabbath and Van Halen are early inspirations. Then one night, dad woke me up so I could watch Buddy Rich duel with Ed Shaugnessy on Johnny Carson. I knew then that the drums were my instrument and every day was my muse...I later delved into hard rock and metal and became a complete music geek! I like everything from Abba to Zappa and damn near everything in between! Now here I am many years later, still a kid in a candy store EVERY time I get behind a drum kit! I met [musician name]...I've met several over the years but drummer Charlie Benante made a huge impact on me with not only his playing style but also his personality. An all around great guy to hang with! The best show I ever attended was...hmmm, Frank Sinatra in '94 or Return to Forever in '08 The first jazz record I bought was...Return to Forever: "Romantic Warrior" My advice to new listeners...Listen to everything, soak it all up like sponge and then wring that sponge out into your instrument...never stop being inspired by everything! Or whatever else you have in mind. My two favorite genres are metal and jazz/fusion. Metal for the aggression, jazz/fusion for the spontaneity and both for the expressiveness that can be displayed.