On 12/22/07 we had the great Les DeMerle here for a clinic at our shop. Most of you may know that Les spent 12 years with the great Harry James, and Harry himself said that Les was the perfect drummer for his band, which is no small compliment considering that Buddy Rich and Louie Bellson held that chair before Les. Les brought a trio of Chicago's finest players with him for the clinic, including the great Richie Cole, whose fantastic alto work is just as great as ever. Some of you may remember Richie from his days with Buddy Rich in the 70s. Richie is as great as ever and his work, including his composing and arranging, is still fabulous!

Les's clinic was very well attended and spanned two and a half hours, during which he demostrated his suberb technique, excellent musical taste, and hard swinging style. Les started with a solo, and then spent considerable time explaining techniques and taking questions. He also had audience members come up for some first hand experience with these techniques. Les has an excellent teaching style and the clinic showcased this. He is very informative and very helpful in explaining techniques in a manner that all can understand. Les then did several numbers with the ensemble, and he and Steve Maxwell shared the stage for a little drum duet, and then the band closed with two more numbers, the last of which was a rousing, break-neck speed version of Cherokee with Les and Steve having fun together. (And a great honor for Steve to get to share the stage with such fantastic players!).

Les stays very busy from his Florida hoime base and performs quite a bit with his wife, Bonnie Eisele, who is a tremendous vocalist. He has ensembles ranging from trios up to his 15 piece big band. Check out Les at his website below. He has several CDs available and they're great.

http://www.lesdemerlemusic.com/

We're hoping to get les to do a clinic at one of Rob Cook's Midwest Drum Shows in the future. In the meantime, if you get the chance to see Les do not miss it.