Damien Schmitt Tribute to Michael Jackson

[Ralph Angelillo]

Damien Schmitt, French drummer who now lives in Los Angeles, played the Montreal Drum fest in 2009
and just about took the audience home with him ! Great discovery for everyone. Damien plays with the
Alain Caron Band as well as with legend jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty.

Those attending NAMM can catch Damien playing in several areas and shows.

Take a look at Damien playing at the Meinl Drum Festival in Germany. This
video clip is his tribute to Michael Jackson.

Enjoy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyzGeled ... re=related

[chris Hendrich]

nice chops and some cool ideas, but why do it over such a famous groove-based song? You automatically have to compare his pocket to Ndugu's and I that makes me just feel sorry for that guy. That being said, I wish I could what he can do.

[deseipel]

not much of a tribute to MJ, as one youtuber put it, it's a tribute to himself.

No one plays with any finesse anymore. Fast single strokes seem to be en vogue. I like flow, dynamics, depth and tasteful ideas, executed to send the message (not showing how fast you can execute it). He has a decent foundation though. He's got balls to call that a tribute though.

[gretsch-o-rama]

I like this... and I love his playing on Hadrien Feraud's album. Hadrien wrote some great tunes there that showcase Damien's playing well.

[DSOP]

I didn't like that at all. He sounds much more interesting here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGc8EIkS5ic#t=3m49s

[Sam]

not much of a tribute to MJ, as one youtuber put it, it's a tribute to himself.

Gas, i was literaly about to write the same thing. Really don't want be negative, but pretty much every video i've seen of video has been a bit too narcissistic for me to get the whole way through. He's got chops for sure, but so do a million players out there now. That's one of the reasons Gergo Borlai really stood out for me when watching his videos over the past year - the fact that he can throw out the same kind of hi-octane chops and not emanate self-adulation goes a long way, especially when there's some genuinely tasty simplistic phrases thrown in to break it up.

[Ralph Angelillo]

The Jackson thing is only a small portion of Damien's drum clinic.

how about this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJ_fpgL_ ... re=related

[Victor Lipman]

Damien is a crazy drummer.

Just watched this solo :



Lots of great stuff of Damien on Youtube.

Two tracks of his solo album, not released yet :
http://www.reverbnation.com/dadashow

Also a great singer.

[YamahaPlayer]

He's got that digital thing down. Can literally hear the gates on everything clicking off.

To me drums are more organic, at least that's the best word I can describe it, expression? Not that mimicking a machine isn't expression.


I just don't hear conversation in his playing though, it doesn't speak, to me it sounds like literally pages out of exercise books. Maybe that's because I've become too educated and can actually hear him cycling through the exercises...? but non the less... it's missing that organic, improvisational aspect, the human touch, call it soul.


Given the stage setup, hair do and the like I'm sure he's making his choice of luxury car payments easily. Respect to what he's done, but it's really silly after even a few minutes of it.

Since when did jazz mean double kick licks at absurd tempos with the gates turned to, about .2 seconds it sounds like from the click - sorry bass drum - it's a beautiful display of technique, but where's the music?

[Victor Lipman]

Extremely musical to me.