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Terry Bozzio

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Terry Bozzio

Terry John Bozzio (December 27, 1950) is an American drummer best known for his work with Missing Persons and Frank Zappa.[1] Rolling Stone ranked Bozzio as the fifth greatest drummer of all time[1].

Biography

Terry Bozzio was born December 27, 1950 in San Francisco, California. He started at age 6 playing makeshift drum sets. At the age of 13 he saw The Beatles premier performance on The Ed Sullivan Show,[2] and begged his father for drum lessons.[3] During the 1960s, he played in the garage bands Blue Grass Radio, The Yarde, and Tamalpias Jungle Mountain Boys.

In 1968 Bozzio attended Sir Francis Drake High School in San Anselmo, California, where he received a music scholarship award, and later went on to the College of Marin. During this time he studied concurrently with Chuck Brown on the drum set and Lloyd Davis and Roland Kohloff on a percussion and timpani scholarship. He also played Bartok-Dahl-Cowell & Baroque chamber ensembles with the Marin and Napa County Symphonies.

In 1972 Bozzio played in the rock musicals Godspell and Walking in my Time. He also began playing in local jazz groups with Mark Isham, Peter Maunu, Patrick O'Hearn, Mike Knock, Art Lande, Azteca, Eddie Henderson, Woodie Shaw, Julian Priester, Eric Gravatt, Billy Higgins, Andy Narell, Hadley Calliman, Mel Graves, and Mel Martin. He became a regular in the Monday Night Jim Dukey Big Band at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall.

He recorded and toured with Frank Zappa beginning in 1975, and appeared in the concert movie Baby Snakes. He is noted for performing Zappa's "The Black Page", a piece of music designed to be a "musician's nightmare" a page so filled with notes as to be almost black.

In 1977 he joined The Brecker Brothers with long time San Francisco friend and guitarist Barry Finnerty. With The Brecker Brothers, Bozzio toured and recorded the album "Heavy Metal Be-Bop." Shortly after, he was dismissed by Zappa as he joined Group 87 with Mark Isham, Peter Maunu, Patrick O'Hearn and Peter Wolf. The group auditioned for and got a record deal with CBS,; Bozzio declined membership in the group and then auditioned unsuccessfully for Thin Lizzy.

In 1979 he joined the band UK with Eddie Jobson and John Wetton, replacing Bill Bruford & Alan Holdsworth. They recorded Danger Money and Night After Night and toured the US twice (supporting Jethro Tull), as well as Europe and Japan. Bozzio then quit UK to form the band Missing Persons with ex-Zappa guitarist Warren Cuccurullo and then-wife and vocalist Dale Bozzio. Missing Persons released the albums Spring Session M (in which they received a Gold Record), Rhyme & Reason, and Color in Your Life. They also toured the US & Europe and appeared on TV and radio shows.

After disbanding Missing Persons in 1986, Bozzio joined up with ex-Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor for his solo band. He also played on sessions with Robbie Robertson, Gary Wright, Don Dokken, XYZ, Paul Hyde, Herbie Hancock, Dweezil Zappa, and Richard Marx. During this time he also began touring as a clinician/solo drummer and recorded Solo Drums which was his first instructional video for WB. Bozzio also joined Mick Jagger and Jeff Beck to make the video Throwaway, and teamed up with Beck & keyboardist Tony Hymas to co-write/produce and perform on the Grammy Award winning album Guitar Shop.

In 1988 Bozzio married Ev Kvamme and in 1990 his son Raanen Bozzio was born.

Between the years of 1990-1995 Terry developed ostinato-based drum solo compositions and recorded his second instructional video Melodic Drumming and the Ostinato Volumes 1, 2, and 3, as well as Solo Drum Music Volumes 1 & 2 on CD. He also joined Tony Hymas, Toney Coe, and Hugh Burns to form the band Lonely Bears and record The Lonely Bears, Injustice, and The Bears are Running, while living in Paris, France. He also formed the band Polytown with David Torn and Mick Karn.

From 1995-2002 Bozzio did tours of the US, Australia, Canada & Europe as a solo drum artist as well as recording two solo CDs: Drawing the Circle and Chamberworks. He also teamed up with Chad Wackerman to produce the Duets video and Alternative Duets CDs. Bozzio was inducted into the Modern Drummer "Hall of Fame" and won the Clinician of the Year award twice as well as Drum Magazine's Drummer of the Year and Best Clinician. Internationally, he received Schlagwerkrant Magazine's (Germany) and Player Magazine's (Japan) Best Drummer Award.

Bozzio was inducted into Guitar Center's RockWalk in Hollywood on January 17, 2007[4] along with rock and roll icons Ronnie James Dio and Slash. Bozzio also worked with the nu-metal band Korn on their 8th studio album after the departure of their drummer David Silveria. He was scheduled to play on the road with the band during the Family Values Tour, but he left and was replaced by Joey Jordison of Slipknot and later Ray Luzier.

Since November of 2008 Bozzio has toured with guitarist Allan Holdsworth, bassist Tony Levin, and drummer Pat Mastelotto as the experimental super-group HoBoLeMa.

Musical innovation

File:Terry Bozzio 1.jpg
Terry Bozzio performing live with the SS Bozzio.

In most of Bozzio’s works, the ostinato is played using various bass drum and hi-hat permutations while he solos against these rhythms using his hands. Sometimes (often in the same composition) the opposite is true, where he will hold an ostinato pattern with his hands and solo with his feet.

Current drum kit setup

Drums

Vertical Low Timbre drums in olive ash burl finish with satin chrome lugs and black powdercoat rims. All heads are Terry Bozzio Attack signature in clear mylar

Cymbals

All cymbals are Sabian Radia Terry Bozzio signatures.

Foot operated

Other

Selected discography

Solo

  • Solo Drum Music I (1992)
  • Solo Drum Music II (1992)
  • Drawing The Circle (1998)
  • Chamber Works (1998)
  • Solos & Duets (with Chad Wackerman) (2001)
  • Nine Short Films (with Billy Sheehan) (2002)
  • Chamber Works (2005, with Metropole Orchestra)
  • Prime Cuts (2005)
  • Four From Ten Twenty Nine (2008)
  • Seven Nights in Japan (2008)

Frank Zappa

Missing Persons

UK

Dweezil Zappa

Other

References

  1. ^ Allmusic performance credits
  2. ^ Allmusic biography
  3. ^ Drummerworld Bio
  4. ^ http://www.rockwalk.com/inductees/inductee.cfm?id=172

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Terry Bozzio.
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