Robby Ameen (born December 7, 1960) is an American drummer, composer, bandleader, and educator who resides in New York City. Although he is of Lebanese Druze origin, Ameen is best known for the unique and powerful Afro-Cuban style he has created. He is regarded as one of the world's most prominent drummers in the area of Latin Jazz.[1]
In 1985, he became a member of Ruben Blades’ Seis del Solar band. Other long-term band memberships include Dave Valentin, Conrad Herwig's "Latin Side of… All Stars", Kip Hanrahan, and Jack Bruce and the Cuicoland Express. In 2011, Ameen won a Latin Grammy for best Salsa record with Ruben Blades and Seis del Solar, "Todos Vuelven Live, Vol. 1 and 2." As a sideman he has recorded on other Grammy winning records including Ruben Blades and Seis del Solar's “Escenas” and Brian Lynch's “Simpatico”.[2]
Ameen was the drummer from the inception of the Paul Simon album Songs from The Capeman, as well as having been the drummer throughout "The Capeman" show's run on Broadway in 1997-1998. In 2012, Ameen was the subject of an episode of the Emmy Award-winning Detroit Public Television series "Arab American Stories".[3]
When Ameen was fifteen, he learned that the jazz drummer Ed Blackwell was teaching nearby at Wesleyan University and started going to his house for the next couple of years. While at Yale University, he studied classical percussion with Fred Hinger, longtime principal timpanist with the Metropolitan Opera. He earned a BA in Literature from Yale University in 1982.
As an educator, Ameen is the co-author with bassist Lincoln Goines of the best-selling instructional book “Funkifying the Clave: Afro-Cuban drums for Bass and Drums” (Alfred Music), and the follow-up DVD, “Funkifying the Clave: Afro-Cuban drums for Bass and Drums” (Alfred Music). He is an international clinician and percussion/drum festival participant, including the Modern Drummer Festival and PASIC and also serves as a faculty member of Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.
Ameen began playing professionally as a teenager in New Haven and moved to New York City in 1981. He joined Dave Valentin's band in 1983, with whom he recorded and toured until Valentin's death in 2017. In 1985, Ruben Blades decided to add drums on his second Seis del Solar record, Escenas, whereupon Blades asked Ameen to become a permanent member of his band. This was one of the first salsa bands to incorporate a drumset in what was primarily a percussion-based rhythm section.[citation needed] In the same year, Ameen started his longtime relationship with Kip Hanrahan with whom he would tour and record 17 records. Through Hanrahan he worked with Jack Bruce, eventually joining Bruce's Cuicoland Express band in the 2000's.
Ameen has also collaborated with trombonist Conrad Herwig, whom he met at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in 1975. While Ameen continues to work steadily as a session drummer and sideman, he has also been focusing on composing and working as a bandleader.
Discography
As a leader
Robby Ameen Live at the Poster Museum (2024) Origin Records
Robby Ameen Diluvio (2020) Origin Records
Robby Ameen Days in the Night (2015) Two and Four Records
Robby Ameen Days in the Life (2009) Two and Four Records
As a co-leader
Horacio "el Negro" Hernandez and Robby Ameen Robby and Negro at the Third World War (2006) American Clave/Enja
El Negro and Robby Onto the Street (2003) EWE
El Negro and Robby Band Live at Umbria Jazz (2004) Il Manifesto
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