Forum > Keith Cronin - Q & A

Your boy Shawn ...

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Matt Self (Gaddabout):
... was killing it at the RnR HOF Awards tonight. I think we'd all like to here some Shawn Pelton stories.

 ;D

Mister Acrolite:

--- Quote from: Gaddabout on March 15, 2010, 09:54 PM ---... was killing it at the RnR HOF Awards tonight. I think we'd all like to here some Shawn Pelton stories.

 ;D

--- End quote ---


Shawn was a year or two behind me at Indiana University, where we were both enrolled in the School of Music. Shawn was a major jazz snob at the time, with an extremely delicate touch, focused mostly on cymbals, not so much on drums. He thought of me as rather bombastic, and gave me grief about listening to Steve Gadd, a drummer who Shawn didn't want to "contaminate" (his own word) his playing.

Despite our differences, we got along well, and spent a lot of time together. According to Shawn, a timpani exercise I came up with called "Timpani Sucks" was still in use years after I left the school.

There were three jazz bands in the music program at IU, and when I graduated, Shawn inherited my spot in the number one band, led by David Baker. But even more exciting was the Passing Of The Cart. There was a wheeled cart at IU, basically a sheet of plywood with four casters on it, that the drummer in the top band got to use for transporting his drums around the school. It was a big school, and we were always moving our kits from one rehearsal room to another, so the guy who had custody of The Cart had it much easier than the rest of the drummers - he could move his whole kit in one trip. I inherited The Cart from Larry Banks after he graduated, and when I graduated, it was Shawn's turn.

So on my last day in town, Shawn and I arranged to rendezvous at the music school so I could hand him the key to the storage closet I used, and - far more importantly - The Cart. Shawn gleefully accepted, locked his drums and The Cart away once I had vacated the storage closet, and then helped me take my drums down to the loading bay, where my dad waited to take me home.

Dad took this shot of me and Shawn walking out of the school - me for the last time. Shawn is carrying my drum rug (and like me, still sporting a full head of hair).



I ran into Shawn a few years ago  at a festival in Canada where we were both playing, and we had a great timing remembering old times together. That's when he told me the story about my "Timpani Sucks" exercise. And he lifted his trademark hat to show me how he had inherited Kenny Aronoff's hairline.

Anybody who's seen Shawn play knows that he long ago abandoned his light touch and jazz snobbery. He studied with Kenny Aronoff after I left town, and the difference Kenny made in Shawn's playing is unmistakable.

Now Shawn is one of the elite players out there, and the success he's enjoying couldn't happen to a nicer guy. He was always incredibly passionate and serious about music, and his conviction shows in every note he plays.

Matt Self (Gaddabout):
He was playing Be My Baby with Roni Specter and just totally nailed it. I think recreating that Motown drum sound and feel is one of the hardest things to do. And doing it with one of THE original Motowners? Unthinkable pressure. He had a shaker out and was hitting the floor tom (hard!) with it in between shakes, just dancing behind the kit and making it feel really, really good.

I was watching it (enjoying it!) and was thinking, Man, that attitude is soooo Mr. A. ;)

Thanks, man. Good stuff. Love the photo!

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