Robby Ameen | |
---|---|
Born | December 7, 1960 |
Origin | New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. |
Genres | Jazz |
Occupation(s) | Drummer, composer, bandleader, educator |
Website | www |
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 PaulSimon 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]
Ameen was born in 1960 in New Haven, Connecticut. [4]
Studied drum set with CJ Everett, Ed Blackwell, and classical percussion with Fred Hinger.
BA Literature, Yale University, 1982
As a sideman, Ameen has appeared on hundreds of records with such artists as Ruben Blades, Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Valentin, Eddie Palmieri, Paul Simon, Jack Bruce, Kip Hanrahan, Conrad Herwig, Carly Simon, Mongo Santamaria, Hilton Ruiz, Kirsty MacColl, and many others. As a session musician Ameen has recorded numerous jingles, film scores, and TV music, including the popular HBO series Sex and the City .
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. He is currently on the faculty at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.
Ameen uses Pearl drums, Istanbul Mehmet cymbals, and Vater drumsticks.
Drums: Pearl Masters Maple Gum in hand rubbed natural maple:
Pedals: Pearl Redline Eliminator
Sticks: Vater:
Cymbals: Istanbul Mehmet:
With Dizzy Gillespie
Eddie Palmieri is an American Grammy Award-winning pianist, bandleader, musician, and composer of Corsican and Puerto Rican ancestry. He is the founder of the bands La Perfecta, La Perfecta II, and Harlem River Drive.
Giovanni Hidalgo a.k.a. "Mañenguito" is a Latin jazz percussionist.
Songo is a genre of popular Cuban music, created by the group Los Van Van in the early 1970s. Songo incorporated rhythmic elements from folkloric rumba into popular dance music, and was a significant departure from the son montuno/mambo-based structure which had dominated popular music in Cuba since the 1940s. Blas Egües was the first drummer in Los Van Van, but it was the band's second drummer, José Luis Quintana "Changuito", who developed songo into the world-wide phenomenon it is today.
Lee Conrad Herwig III is an American jazz trombonist from New York City.
Oscar Hernández is an American pianist, arranger and producer of Puerto Rican descent.
David Sánchez is a Grammy-winning jazz tenor saxophonist from Puerto Rico.
David Peter Valentin was an American Latin jazz flautist of Puerto Rican descent.
Brian Lynch is an American jazz trumpeter. He has been a member of Eddie Palmieri's Afro-Caribbean Jazz group and has led the Latin Side of Miles project with trombonist Conrad Herwig.
Horacio "El Negro" Hernández is a Cuban drummer and percussionist. He has played alongside Latin jazz pianists such as Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Michel Camilo, Chucho Valdés, Eddie Palmieri and Hilario Durán.
Mario Rivera was a Latin jazz saxophonist from the Dominican Republic. Besides saxophone, Rivera played trumpet, flute, piano, vibraphone, congas, and drums.
Jerry González was an American bandleader, trumpeter and percussionist of Puerto Rican descent. Together with his brother, bassist Andy González, Jerry Gonzalez played an important role in the development of Latin Jazz during the late 20th century. During the 1970s, both brothers played alongside Eddie Palmieri and in Manny Oquendo's Conjunto Libre, and from 1980 to 2018 they directed The Fort Apache Band. From 2000 to 2018, Jerry González resided in Madrid, where he fronted Los Piratas del Flamenco and El Comando de la Clave. In October 2018, he died of a heart attack after a fire in his home in Madrid.
Tenderness is an album by Kip Hanrahan that was released in 1990. It includes guest work by Sting, Alfredo "Chocolate" Armenteros, and Giovanni Hidalgo.
Milton Cardona was a percussionist, vocalist and conga player from Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.
Simpático is an album by the Brian Lynch/Eddie Palmieri Project, released through ArtistShare in 2006. In 2007, the album won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album.
Lincoln Goines is a double bassist and bass guitarist from Oakland, California.
Caminando (Walking) It is the name of the 10° studio album by Rubén Blades with Son Del Solar, his first album after moving from Elektra to Sony International published on May 28, 1991. The album was a critical and commercial success with Latin and salsa audiences, marking a temporary return to Blades earlier coro-heavy style which marked the collaborations with Willie Colón of a decade earlier on Fania. The album also reinstated the political content of his music, though some listeners still found the social criticism lacking. Blades new band for Sony, Son del Solar, includes four of the Seis del Solar members from his Elektra albums: percussionists Ralph Irizarry, Eddie Montalvo and Robby Ameen with pianist Oscar Hernández. The album reached number three on the Billboard Tropical Albums chart and received a Grammy nomination for Best Tropical Latin Album in 1992.
Original Music from the Soundtrack to Piñero is the soundtrack to the 2001 film Piñero by producer Kip Hanrahan. Released in March 2002, the album includes performances by Horacio "El Negro" Hernández, Robby Ameen, and Milton Cardona.
Rubén Blades y Son del Solar... Live! or also known as Live! is the third live album by Panamanian singer Rubén Blades and the first with the band Son Del Solar released on March 20, 1990. For WEA International Inc. and Elektra Records. The album contains all the featured songs from Blades albums from 1984 to 1988, with songs like Decisiones (Live), El Padre Antonio (Live) and also including his hit Pedro Navaja (Live). A song that was not in his stay in Elektra but was in Fania Records on his 1978 album Siembra.
Edwin "Eddie" Montalvo is an American percussionist and bandleader of Puerto Rican descent. Born and raised in the Bronx, he best known for playing the Congas for Hector Lavoe, Rubén Blades as well as with the Fania All-Stars.
Jon Evan Fausty was an American multiple Grammy Award-winning sound and recording engineer best known for his work on some of the most successful Latin albums ever recorded.
Modern Drummer February 2023, January 2010, January 2004, April ’94
DrumHead issue #22
Downbeat March 2010