Quentin Dennard Senior
PASSING ON THE PERCUSSION

Dee Dee McNeil -  

PASSING ON THE PERCUSSION

A Jazz Feature by: Dee Dee McNeil

Quentin Dennard Sr. is a virtual musical chameleon, making his moves with ease from straight-ahead jazz to R&B; from low-down blues to fusion; from polka to pop. I've seen Quentin play with such Motown-greats as legendary saxophonist, Teddy Edwards, jazz & blues recording artist, Barbara Morrison, bassist and former Detroiter, Thomas Gargano, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin and Freda Payne. Without blinking, he put tasty R&B licks behind the silky, smooth vocals of Eddie Kendricks and was the percussionist who pumped up the band for The Temptations and The Supremes. Quentin Sr. also toured with Edwin Starr and later became a driving force at Invictus Records. When Holland, Dozier and Holland were just giving their fledgling record company wings, it was Quentin's flying drum sticks that backed up the hit group Honeycomb, as well as Chairman of the Board.

During a recent visit to California, I ran into Quentin Dennard Sr. He's still one of the busiest, most diversified drummers I know! Our children grew up around the same time and today, his son Quentin II, is gaining musical recognition in Detroit, Michigan. I decided to interview Quentin Sr. and his son, to show how the love of music can filter from generation to generation, and to explore the concept of 'passing on the percussion'.

Dee Dee: Who were your jazz inspirations on drums?

Quentin Sr: Art Blakey, Philly Jo, Max Roach, Louie Bellson. I like Buddy Rich. I like all of these guys for different things. To this day, I owe Art Blakey twenty dollars.

Dee Dee: How come?

Quentin Sr: The jazz station (in Detroit) used to be WCHD. They used to do a live broadcast up there on the Avenue of Fashion on Livernois and 7 Mile Road. Ok! The DJ who did it was a good friend of my brothers. They went to high school and college together. I was going home one day and he said our in-store guest is Art Blakey. So I walked down there, cause I didn't live that far. I met Art Blakey. He said come down to the gig. So I said, “Yeah! I'll be there!” I ended up on the gig, because the opening act was Barbara Mason. Remember her? (He sang…” Are you ready, for love?…”)

So she was held over, but all she had was her musical director, which was her guitar player. So she was using Art Blakey's band as hers and they weren't really R&B players, so Art said, “You wanna do the gig?”

I worked with Art Blakey for a week. I played his drums and sat in with the Jazz Messengers one night. Oh Shoot! Hey, I was about seventeen. I just wanted to see if I could do a press roll. See, he's (Art Blakey) got one of the baddest press rolls in history! Sounds like thunder. So I wanted to see if I could do it on his drum set. Nope. Little more practice! I was seventeen … (He chuckled remembering.)

Dee Dee: How exciting!

Quentin Sr: He asked me a couple of nights into the gig, … “Do you need a draw?”

I said yeah. I was broke! So he gave me twenty dollars. The night before I got paid, they left and I never got to give him his twenty dollars back, and I never saw him again. So to this day, I still owe Art Blakey twenty dollars. But he was a beautiful cat, man. I wanted to ask him so bad if I could sit-in. Then he said, “You wanna play on this?”

Dee Dee: One thing I've noticed in this music business is that drummers really stick together

Quentin Sr: Oh Yeah. It's kind of a bond. That was a drummer friend that just called me and gave me some more work. And Kenny Elliott just came bye. But sometimes I have a hard time finding a sub for myself, you know. ‘Cause some guys don't do certain things. So I can only send certain kinds of guys to my job. I've gotten calls the next day saying , “don't you ever send that so-and-so in here again.” You know what I mean? So now I have to be picky and choosy about who I send to my gig.

You know, I tell my little young students whenever I teach them; it might not be your favorite music to play, but listen to it. ‘Cause it's about the style of what you have to play. Rock ‘n Roll's got a style. Reggae's got a style. So if you're not playing it right, it's not going to feel right. You know everything's gotta swing.

Even a polka swings if you play it right. Everybody has a certain part to play and then, if you're not playing your part, it ain't gonna groove. It's a groove to everything. … So you gotta find the groove.

I pride myself in that. ‘Cause some guys say, I'm a jazz drummer. OK. So tomorrow night, if somebody calls for an R&B gig, they aren't gonna call you. ‘Cause you can't play that. Some guys say, I'm just an R&B drummer. So you ain't getting' no jazz gigs. I do a lot of ‘Casuals', where you can go from Jumpin' at the Woodside' to “Boogie-Oogie-Oogie”. That's the whole gamut. But whatever you need, that's what you're supposed to be able to do. A lot of cats get it wrong. They think they're playing for themselves, but they're not. They're supposed to be playing for the people. So when they ask you for “Don't it make My Brown Eyes Blue”, even if you don't know it, somebody in the band is gonna know some of it and you can fake it enough where it's gonna come across. But if you have no idea what it is? (He shrugs) Oh well!

Dee Dee: You were born and raised in Detroit on what side of Town?

Quentin: I was born on the Eastside. Our family church was on McDougal and Arndt; People's Baptist Church. They built a new church, but it's still right there. But I did most of my growing up on Collingwood, between Linwood and Lawton. I went to Central (High School).

Dee Dee: Were you always attracted to the percussion instruments?

Quentin Sr: I started playing percussion you know. Bongos, before I thought about playing trap drums. Congas and Bongos. It was a natural thing, ‘cause my brother had a set of bongos in the house. “Fingertips” turned me on.

Dee Dee: Stevie Wonder's Hit record! I just found out that Dr. Beans Bowels wrote that hit for Stevie. So when did you get the actual drum set?

Quentin Sr: For my birthday in '65. ... I started playing and then my Uncle asked me to play at church. My favorite Uncle is Brazeal Wayne Dennard. He's pretty heavy into the gospel scene. He's been doing that forever. We've got the same middle name. It's weird. My uncle was teaching at Northeastern (high school) at the time and there was a man named Al officer from Indianapolis teaching at the same school. My Uncle made me go to summer school. So I had to go to his school instead of Central. I started taking lessons then. I was standing up and playing. I didn't even have a set. I had a cymbal, a snare drum and a tom tom. This guy, Mr. Officer, talked my dad into buying me my first drum set. He said I had a natural thing. So they surprised me on my fourteenth birthday.

I went to Coleman School of music on the Boulevard. I went there first. Then I went to the Detroit Music Settlement and studied with Robert Pangborn. He played with the symphony forever. Got all the record dates. I think it was like a conservatory for music. It's off of Woodward, close to the library and in the Wayne State area. I took lessons over there for about a year. Then I had a private teacher. His name was Mr. Butler. I can't remember his first name. He lived across the alley from one of my aunts. So after drum lessons, I could just go to her house and wait for my folks to pick me up.

Dee Dee: So you were obsessed. You really wanted it!

Quentin Sr: I've always been listening to music! You know, my parents, my dad especially, thought I was retarded.

Dee Dee: Why?

Quentin Sr: Because I wouldn't talk. I was very shy. But when the record player was on, I was into it. So they thought I was just looking at the thing (turntable) spinning around. But I was listening to the music. They figured it out later. They said, Oh he's absorbing the music. But at first, they thought I was retarded. Ask them. They'll tell you the same thing. I was just shy. I didn't talk. I just loved music.

Dee Dee: What kind of music were you listening to?

Quentin Sr: Well, my mother is a piano player. To this day she still directs the choir at church. She directed the postal choir … ten or twelve years. She took over my uncle's position at the church when he left and she's still director of that choir right now at People's Baptist.

She used to belong to the Columbia Record Club. When those records came to the house, I couldn't wait 'til she got home to open them and see what was in it. She liked Johnny Mathis. All kinds of stuff. That's why I know a lot of songs now. She listened to big bands, Bill Doggett and Arthur Prysock. Then she listened to this radio station that played all of those hokey tunes, so I just learned all of these tunes that people don't expect me to know. Then I was always into R&B. I always liked Jazz. My uncle is classically trained, so I listened to classical music. I was in the band in school, so I read.

Dee Dee: When did you get with Motown?

Quentin Sr: Off and on. I would do an occasional record date in the sixties. …. My first real gig was with Edwin Starr.

Dee Dee: So you were doing one of my tunes I wrote for him; “I'm still A Strugglin' Man”. Me and Johnny Bristol wrote it.

Quentin Sr: Yeah. (He hummed a little of the tune, remembering) I was in High School. I thought I was big stuff. You know, had the music folder with the name on it! I had to take it up to Central with my little Edwardian suit on. Braggin' about I been on the road. … that was like my Senior year. Most of it, I was gone. I walked in (high school) about three or four days before the semester was over. The cats in the class said, “Why'd you come back now?” I said shoot! I been out makin' money.

My dad and I fell out for a while.

Dee Dee: I guess so. He wanted you to get an education. And you were gallivanting all over the country chasing the music.

Quentin Sr: Yeah. I moved out and started staying around the corner with one of my friends over there on Boston and Dexter. I was still going to school, but I had a six night gig at the Twenty Grand, downstairs in the Fireside Lounge with Charlie Harris … the organ player. But I was doing what I wanted to do and making money at that time.

Dee Dee: The blessing is that you knew early what you wanted to do.

Quentin Sr: Yeah. A lot of people to this day still don't know what they want to do. That's why they're still standing in front of the liquor store.

When you look at the list of people Quentin Dennard Sr. has performed with, it boggles the mind! Roy Ayers, Della Reese, A Taste of Honey, Willie Bobo, Les McCann, The Originals, Linda Hopkins, Jean Carne, Issac Hayes, Phil Perry, Michael Henderson, O. C. Smith, B.B. King, Scherrie Payne and Dionne Warwick. He has performed with all of them. He even worked with Billy Eckstine, Actor/singer Robert Guillaume and the unforgettable Cab Calloway. That's Quentin Dennard's unique percussion work on the motion picture soundtracks of Body & Soul, JoJo Dancer and Another 48 Hours. Not to mention he performed in the Los Angeles cast of the world renowned play, Jelly's Last Jam and shuffled along at the Fullerton, California Light Opera's presentation of Ain't Misbehavin'. His professional accomplishments and musicianship led him to a teaching position in the Jazz Studies Program at the University of Southern California from 1990 to 1991. But perhaps the best tutoring he did was when he passed on the percussion to his son, Quentin Dennard II.

Quentin Sr: That's why I'm proud of my son, ‘cause he's already into what he wants to do. He's got his own business going now.

Dee Dee: Really? What's his business?

Quentin Sr: He's recording bands live. … doing good. … bought his own ride. … He's playing all the stuff. From day one, ... I used to hum bass lines on his mama's stomach when he was still in there. And I'd tap some rhythm. I did that and before he could even say his own name, he thought his name was tape. He doesn't believe me. I said , you ask your mother. I'd say, “What's your name? He'd say, “Tape”. Because he was just that fascinated with tape machines and all of that. I used to take him to sessions with me and he would sit up there with the engineer and they would let him push buttons and show him what to do.

One day I was doing a session for Herb Alpert (Jazz Trumpeter and also the "A" of A & M Record Company). And I took him with me. Soon as he walked in, his eyes lit up. Herb said, “Come here". That's the first thing he said. Come here. He sat him on his lap, right at the tape machine. Yes. He's always been fascinated by the studio!

Today Quentin Dennard II has been accepted to Berkley School of Music in Boston, where he will be majoring in Music Engineering. But he's not waiting on a degree to get started. Young Mr. Dennard has already opened up his own Engineering and Recording Company. He calls it "52 Recording".

As a plus, Quentin Dennard II is also a very excellent, young drummer. I saw him this year at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Detroit. He appeared with the Metro Montreux All-Stars. Ibrahim Jones was on bass, Mario Sampson on piano, Kyle Strand on saxophone and on trumpet, Solomon Parham. They played everyday on the stage located in the downstairs-mall area where they were selling CD's and tapes.

QII: Yeah. We played down there everyday except for the last day. I used to work Montreux every year. I was Assistant Stage Manager at the Main Stage. ...When it started out, I was in the Summer Youth Arts Employment Program with Clyde Harper. ... He worked the Jazz Festival at one of the smaller stages. I worked there a year with him. Then they saw how good I was and they called me down to the main stage. So that's how I worked down there. It wasn't just to be with the musicians. It was kind of both. It was great that I could meet the musicians, but they knew I was a really hard worker and they needed me down there. I wanted to be down there too. ... I like the stage atmosphere. I'm a people person.

When I put a small band of excellent young jazz musicians together behind a young singer I heard, who calls herself Ashaki, I had the opportunity of working with Quentin Dennard II. The group featured Charles Wilson on piano, Marcus Belgrave Jr. on bass, Jerome Ford on saxophone and Quentin Dennard on drums. So I know what this young man can do! Surprisingly, he's already traveled half way around the world chasing the music. At the ripe old age of 16 and under the direction of one of his mentors, Edward Quick, he traveled to New York City. Performing with his Detroit High School for the Finer Performing Arts Symphony band, guess where they played? None other than the prestigious, world-renowned Carnegie Hall!

Quentin II says he didn't start studying music until he was in the fifth grade, thanks to the effort and inspiration of Dennis Parker, his band teacher at Luddington Middle School.

QII: In 7th and 8th grade, I went to Spain Middle School and that's where my bulk music study began. It's a nationwide recognized school for their marching band. Spain Middle School is right across from Children's Hospital. Their band went to Africa twice. I didn't go ‘cause I was sick. But they went to Ghana and performed. Victoria Miller is the director at Spain. So between Dennis Parker and Ms. Miller, that's where I got my technical skills. They taught me. Then I went to the Performing Arts School for four years. During those four years, every summer I participated in an All State Band. The first two years, I was second chair. It was an All-State Marching band. They traveled every year. Our first year we went to Montreal, Quebec and Quebec City. … We performed at parks and mental hospitals. Our second year, we did the spirit of American Tour. Then we went to Virginia. We went to Washington, DC. We traveled up through Michigan and we went to Philadelphia. My third year we went to England, Scotland and France.

We played at the Eiffel Tower, but we didn't really do that much playing that year, because there were so many things to look at and listen to. ... Being over there was so different from America. So that's why we didn't get to play much. We were observing. … We went Scottish dancing and we heard the bagpipes and how they play over there and their renditions of music over there.

DD: Are you familiar with Rufus Harley?

QII: Yeah ... We heard his music over there in a lot of stores we went into. My fourth year we went to San Diego. We performed at Disneyland (in Anaheim, Ca) and in San Diego at the San Diego University and at Balboa Beach. We stayed at the University. I was trying so hard to get first chair in the section. It took me a while to do it. The guy who was first chair was really great. My last two years, I got first chair.

It's no wonder that young Quentin Dennard II is infected with the music bug! Not only did his dad pass on a love for the percussion, but Quentin Sr. is a fine singer too! On several occasions when I worked with Quentin Sr., he played drums and sang background vocals. As a plus, Quentin II's mother, Dee Dee Dennard, is an excellent singer/songwriter too, with a long list of recording credits.

QII: She did a lot of cartoon (voices) you know ... like the Chipmunks. She was one of the Chipmunk girl cousins. ... She did a lot of commercials; a lot of movies like the Care Bear Movie and DC Cab. ... I've been working and recording my music ever since I got (recording) equipment. My mom taught me how to form songs. She taught me how the verses combine with the choruses and stuff like that. She has a lot of songs that I want to redo. I started writing music when I was in the 6th grade and I haven't stopped yet. ... I try to put everything in the music when I write. In my music I try not to have a category. I don't like to have just an R & B album or just a jazz album. I want a lot of variety. In the stores, they may be kind of confused where to put me at. ‘cause I write jazz. I write R&B. I write Afro-Cuban music and Latin music. I write it all.

Here is a young man with a burning desire to grow. Quentin Dennard II is only 19, but he's already working on his own recording, full of original music. Using a key-board synthesizer, Quentin II plays every instrument on the demo he's made. He is also singing, and I was very impressed with his vocal ability. Currently studying the bass, this young man looks forward to learning how to play guitar. However, his main instrument remains percussion.

Perhaps his former mentor, Mr. Edward Quick at the Detroit Performing Arts High School, summed it up best when he told me:

"He (Quentin Dennard II) could do it all. He's quiet and unassuming. Not the type to say look at how good I am. He's modest. He not only excelled at playing on the set, he's good with mallots and tympini's. He's a complete percussionist, who understands the stylistic approach on his instrument."

Quentin Dennard II loves music and playing the drums, but he reminds me at the end of our interview that his ultimate goal is to own and operate an internationally respected recording studio. I have no doubt at all that he will attain any goal he sets for himself. He has all the most important factors of success sparkling in the palm of his hands; The dream, the goal, the steps of how to get there, and the desire to succeed! Plus he's just a genuine and nice young man.

They say the fruit never falls far from the tree. In Quentin Dennard II's case, he's a living example of this old, popular proverb.

 
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