Campbell Brings Drum Clinic to Hudson Valley

By Journalist Dr. Ms. Jones

WAPPINGERS FALLS – “I’m always counting, but I’m counting with my mouth closed so you don’t know I’m counting… After you know where the groove is, then you kind of fall into it… Sometimes I don’t count because it makes it more confusing. Sometimes I will listen to the groove of the song… So, if the baseline is going like Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom! I just play with that baseline. I just keep that in my head. So, even if they do a change, I’m just listening to musically what they’re playing and I just copy that,” said Gorden Campbell as he instructed drummers who came out to his Drum Clinic on Wednesday, June 26th at Alto Music.

Campbell has played with groups like Earth, Wind, & Fire and Shai. He’s been the drummer for American Idol and BET. He’s traveled all around the world working with Brandy, Faith Evans, Mary J. Blige, and more. He’s worked in the music industry full-time for over 30 years doing music gigs, playing at a mega church in Los Angeles, and teaching music. He started playing at the age of five at his grandfather’s church, Best Temple, in Newburgh.

“We grew up playing in church together. We all went to the same church at the same time… When Gorden… went to college, I was still here. I’m one year behind him. So, we all had the same opportunities to go out there and play professionally. He went [on tour] with Shai and I had an opportunity to play for Joe. I wasn’t as adventurous. He really has a lot of faith,” said Cleveland Best, known by Campbell as “Uncle Cleve,” who decided to work a “regular” job with a steady paycheck and health benefits. “He’s like our idol.. I’m just proud of him. He’s doing some awesome things… When someone’s good you learn and you glean from them… He did a seminar a couple of years ago out in Nebraska. And you know, because I still play and people still call me to play, I always want to get better. So, who should I get information from? My relative. So, I went out there and sat the whole weekend with him. He showed me rudiments… We were actually working some things out.”

Uncle Cleve taught Campbell to play the organ when he was a child. Campbell shared stories of how his grandfather, Pastor James Best had 13 kids, and six of them were proficient organists. Campbell learned quickly as he had an ear for music. Then Solomon Phifer sold him a bass and he started playing the bass at church.

“I play bass. So, we knew each other playing in the [church] district. Best Temple. There was Faith Temple. There was Kingston… We all played together. I had several basses and he wanted to buy one,” said Gospel Recording Artist Solomon Phifer who is proud of Campbell. “[It’s] incredible [to see his success]! I did a recording back in 1989 and he played drums. He was one of my drummers!”

Campbell didn’t just give advice on drums and tell stories about his journey during the Drum Clinic, he played. He performed drum improvs and played to songs like Kirk Franklin’s “Love Theory” and took everyone to church! He also demonstrated Yamaha products who is the sponsor of the Drum Clinic Tour.

“We’ve worked together for about 12 years… Gorden is one of those artists that we have that you immediately are drawn to because he’s so engaging, and he’s so friendly. He’s one of the most talented drummers on the planet! But he’s also very humble… He’s very easy to work with and very easy to talk to and work on collaborations. We’re talking about gear and talking about promotions and things like that. So, that’s what makes it just a dream.

So, when we were gonna do this, I knew that Gorden was from the area. And we said, ‘Hey, would you be interested in coming out and doing some Drum Clinics?’ He’s like, ‘Oh, yeah. That’s my hometown. We’re gonna be in there, too,’” said Greg Crane, Artist Relations Manager for Drums.

Campbell was right. The venue was standing room only! The crowd also participated and asked questions. One lucky drummer won a Yamaha drum set microphone system in the raffle.

“Today we gave away the [Yamaha] EAD10 [Drum Module with Mic Pickup]. So that’s the miking system for the drums… The EAD 10 is an electronic acoustic drum…It’s meant to be an easy miking system… If you’re getting out there and you’re trying to mike your drum set, it takes a lot of microphones to really do it right to do a good job and then once you have the mics you still have all sorts of other things you need to do. Inputs. Where are the mics going? You have the sound system and all this stuff. So, with the EAD10 we kind of solve all of these problems and it’s super easy to use. Anyone can just take it out of the box, put it on your drums, and you mic your drum set… It actually converts it to an electronic kit,” said Matt Rudin, Yamaha Product Marketing Manager for Drums.

Campbell is a drumming veteran. He loves giving back by sharing his gift. It’s his ministry.
“That’s my purpose… I like teaching…A lot of my friends don’t like teaching.. They don’t have the patience. But for me, I like it because I try to make sure they understand and they actually get something out of it and that’s how I do my clinics. A lot of drum clinics, it’s just a lot of flash and people go, ‘Oh man!’ You could say, ‘Did you learn anything?’ He’s like, ‘No, but he can really play!’ I don’t want that. I want him to say, ‘He can play, but I’m inspired.’ I can literally remember when I was in NFA there was a clinic in Middletown…There was a Drum Clinic [at OCC] and I won’t forget it because that was what [made me say], ‘Oh man, I can really be a drummer!’ said Campbell who is about to release a new music project.

“I have a new [project] that’s going to come out soon. [It’s called] “Conversations Live.” I got PJ Morton, BJ the Chicago Kid… [and] Alex Isley. Tonex/B. Slade is on the album. Sheila E. is on my album… I’m playing drums and I wrote and produced the songs. But they’re songs, sung by singers.”

Journalist Ms. Jones