Linda and Clint

"One of the best things about Clint is his passion for life. It translates to everything he does. He plays the drums with fire and energy and with great joy. It's a known fact that all anyone in the band has to do is bring up a current event that has some controversy, and Clint is right there ready to dig right down to the heart of the matter. He has heart. It's a lucky singer who gets to have someone like Clint at the drums. He's a true artist who will always give you one hundred percent of his talent and his heart."

Anyone who wants to catch up with Clint de Ganon had better be turbo-charged. Drumsticks in hand, he can often be seen jumping into a taxi to get from a rehearsal to a recording session… find him three hours later on the number one train heading uptown to make the downbeat of the Broadway smash hit, HAIRSPRAY… call him on his cell phone and you might get him when he's on a five minute break at an early morning TV shoot. Clint's resume includes more than one thousand recording sessions and seventy-five tours. No wonder he's hard to keep up with.

Clint began studying drums at the age of six in his hometown of Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. His early musical education included lessons with the New York Philharmonic's Roland Kohloff and Buster Bailey. He was tutored by legendary jazz drummer, Mel Lewis, and then studied extensively with Sonny Igoe and Gary Chester. Before he finished high school, Clint had logged countless hours on the bandstand, played for Buddy Rich and Elvin Jones, and was even presented with Gene Krupa's drumsticks.

After high school, Clint was awarded a scholarship to continue studies with Kohloff at Manhattanville College. It wasn't long before he became one of the most sought after drummers in New York City. Clint's natural versatility helped to create his resume, and his resume certainly reflects that versatility; he has been associated with everyone from The Colorado Symphony to the Blues Brothers Band. Marin Alsop, conductor of the Colorado and Baltimore Symphonies, describes Clint as "an exceptional musician, a rare artist who is a joy to work with and collaborate with."

In addition to all of his freelance work, Clint splits his time on the road between two accomplished artists: The great Linda Eder, of course, and the legendary Art Garfunkel. 2007 was a year full of travel with Art, consisting of multiple tours of the States, Europe, and even Hong Kong.

Some of the other artists with whom Clint has worked include: Billy Preston, David Pack, Kid Rock, Dionne Warwick, Mark Cohn, Ann-Margret, Tom Chapin, Judy Collins, Cissy Houston, Edgar Winter, Fantasia,Tom Scott, Michael Franks, Blood Sweat & Tears, and the Saturday Night Live Band. Says pianist and composer Bob James, "He's a great musician. He's played with New York's best and enhanced the music of many, many diverse artists. I'm proud to count him among my favorites of the true pros that I've worked with over the years."

Guitarist Hiram Bullock featured Clint on five recordings with his band, a power trio that presents the playing and singing of Clint, Hiram, and David Letterman bassist, Will Lee. The band has toured the United States, Europe, and Japan.

John Tropea, another guitarist, has a New York all-star ensemble that features Clint as well as Blues Brothers saxophonist, Lou Marini, and bassist, Anthony Jackson. John describes Clint as "a most special musician who never forgets the musical side of the drums. He's an asset and I am proud to have him at the drums in my band."

If you want to catch Clint after playing HAIRSPRAY, you will have to chase him down 52nd Street to his car. He has to get home to pack his bags for a four-day tour with Linda Eder & the Boston Pops. Says Linda, "The day Clint joined the band we all got an infusion of life and energy and heart. There is so much talent and joy in his playing that it radiates and affects us all. I am always amazed when I watch and listen to Clint play; he makes it look so effortless, even when he is bringing down the house. And when the song calls for just the caress of subtle rhythm, he's there... he is a dream to sing with." (above bio by David Finck)

THE VOICE EDER-tors recently had the pleasure of chatting with Linda's multi-talented drummer/vocalist, Clint de Ganon, as he traveled to New York City for an evening performance of the Broadway musical, HAIRSPRAY.

VOICE: Hi, Clint! Thanks for taking the time out of your commute to talk with us!

CLINT: Oh, no problem… it's my pleasure.

VOICE: So what's new and exciting? Have you been working on Linda's new album?

CLINT: Yes. I just finished a session for Linda recently. Billy Stein was producing, and a Grammy-award winning engineer named Neil Dorfsman was there too. Both of them were doing a great job and were a pleasure to be around. As was Linda, of course. She was even-tempered and productive, which is what you want in the studio. And very much hands-on with this one. The record's coming along, and I think it will be a good one.

VOICE: That's great news! Will we hear you quite a bit on the new album?

CLINT: To the best of my knowledge I'll be on a few tunes. Billy used another drummer as well that he's worked closely with over the years.

VOICE: Linda's fans have been very positive about hearing your recent duet with Linda on "Both Sides Now." Did you ever have any formal voice training?

CLINT: Yes, I have. I've studied several times over the years, starting in college. There's a teacher that I still go to from time to time in Manhattan named Greg Drew. I'm due to go back.

Linda and Clint "goofing off" backstage at Westbury.

VOICE: Were you part of a band when you were first starting out? Did you sing and also play drums?

CLINT: Yes. The truth is that I've always loved to sing and I always sang a lot as a kid. I did have a band when I was in my early teens, and I once sang "Mississippi Queen," a song by Mountain. It was a battle of the bands. There were four bands, and we came in tied for third! I wonder if it was my voice?! But the playing/singing thing didn't really happen much until I joined a New York area band called NiteSprite. It became a useful skill for me in that band. I could bring in virtually any tune of any genre that I wanted to sing. They were good musicians, and they'd transcribe it into my key, and we'd do it on the job. Almost never a rehearsal. Trial by fire. I did that for years — all kinds of songs — and it was my best vocal training.

After that, I sang background vocals while playing drums for singer Michael Franks, and then for saxophonist Warren Hill. When I joined the Hiram Bullock Band, which was a power trio featuring Hiram on guitar, David Letterman's bass player Will Lee (who's also done some singing/playing on Linda's records), and myself, 90% of the material was vocal. We all sang, each of us some leads, and lots of 3-part stuff. It was a great band. We did about 20 tours to Japan and Europe.

VOICE: Did you do any recording with them?

CLINT: Yes, I did five or six records with that band. Even when I was no longer with the band, Hiram would still ask me to record on whatever the next reord was… a nice compliment.

Occasionally I'd do a recording session just as a singer, but most people obviously know me as a drummer and that's what's been the most active and the most developed. Sometimes, unfortunately, the singing thing takes a hiatus, and it's always a little sad for me when it does. Any gig I do is much more interesting to me if I can sing as well as play.

VOICE: How did Linda discover that you are such a brilliant singer?

CLINT: You are very kind.

VOICE: You're great!

CLINT: Linda had some songs that she wanted to do live where it required background vocals. I don't recall exactly what the first one was that she brought in and how that came about. But I do remember it was at a time when Peter Calo was in the band, and he sang, as did Billy Stein. On this particular song, there was a vocal that echoed her lead, and my voice sat well with this part. There was one time when we did that particular song on The Rosie O'Donnell Show and it was just Linda, piano, cello, and me singing the background vocal. No drums at all.

VOICE: Was the song "If I Should Lose My Way?"

CLINT: Was there a background vocal in it, do you remember?

VOICE: At parts… not throughout the whole song, but at parts.

CLINT: It's entirely possible.

VOICE: It's a really soft, slow song so it wouldn't really require drums.

CLINT: Right. I think that was the song. I wish I could say for sure, but that was a number of years ago. Since then, when there's a song introduced that had any harmony at all, I would jump on it. There was a point when Linda started to do "Both Sides Now" with Michael Feinstein in their show as a duet.

Because that song was her suggestion, and because she felt stylistically she could move that song into her own show, she simply asked me if I wanted to sing it with her. I said yes, of course. So she continues to sing it as a duet in both shows, with a revolving male vocalist!

Clint jammin' on stage at Westbury, NY.

VOICE: We were going to ask you if Linda had a hard time convincing you to sing a duet with her, but I guess we already know the answer to that!

CLINT: Again, like I said, the more that I can sing on any gig, the more I will. I really love to sing so she didn't have to try hard! [All chuckle!]

VOICE: Was it intimidating to sing with Linda's amazing voice at first, or was it very comfortable?

CLINT: I remember being intimidated at first. But not by Linda. It was because one of the first times I sang it was at Feinstein's, and Michael was in the audience listening. I'm not sure if he even knew the song was going to be sung. And he sings it beautifully. So the most intimidated I felt was in Michael's presence, not Linda's.

The other hurdle to get past, and I mostly have, is that people come to see Linda Eder. They want to hear this "Herculean" vocalist, and I am anything but that. However, Linda's incredibly graceful and supportive, and the song is a kind of gentle one anyway, so I became increasingly comfortable with it.

I guess I'm a little more confident now. People within and outside of the band have said positive things, and make the comment that our voices blend well. I came to realize that there actually was a nice blend, which is something that's either there or it's not.

VOICE: Can we expect to hear any more duets with Linda in the future?

CLINT: Well, it has been discussed. Linda has mentioned that she would like to do more duets, and time will tell. It would be fun for me if she did.

VOICE: That would be great! You two sound amazing together!

CLINT: Well, thank you! It's entirely her call. If she wants me to sing, I'll sing.

VOICE: Do you sing with other performers right now or are you a "Linda Eder exclusive?"

CLINT: Yes, I'm singing with Art Garfunkel in his band. And there's a contemporary jazz group led by guitarist John Tropea. In Japan, where we'll be going again in October, I sang several duets each night with Kenya Hathaway, daughter of the late, great Donny Hathaway.

VOICE: Is it challenging singing and playing drums at the same time? Kind of like walking and chewing gum?!

CLINT: … which hopefully most of us have mastered by this time. [All laugh!] Singing and playing drums is the only way that I have ever done it. If I've sung 1,000 times, then 995 of them have been behind the drums. So if I'm singing and not behind the drums, it's really weird. With no drums to hide behind, I feel like I'm standing there with no pants on. [All laugh!]

VOICE: Can you tell us about some of the drum solos you've done in concert? (a la "Some People") How do those come about? Is it your idea creatively? How much freedom are you given when performing in concert?

CLINT: Lots of freedom. With "Some People," I could basically play whatever I wanted. Linda would say "play a solo in this part," and then it's up to me as to what to play. It's been a while since we've actually done that song, however.

There are a couple of different bands that I get to solo in, including Art Garfunkel's band. With him, I play a solo every night on the famous Simon & Garfunkel tune, "Cecilia."

VOICE: We were wondering if you might be doing any more drum solos with Linda.

CLINT: With Linda, there's been no discussion of that. I don't know whether there'll be one introduced or not. Linda is leaning a little more toward pop-based material, and there's a little less likelihood of a drum solo. But who knows.

VOICE: We'll stay tuned. How long have you been playing HAIRSPRAY on Broadway?

CLINT: I've been playing HAIRSPRAY since its inception. It came to Broadway just over five years ago, and I did it prior to that… where there was a rehearsal process and then six weeks in Seattle. I created the drum book for the show, as I did for (the musical) FOOTLOOSE. Both soundtracks won Grammys.

From that, there have been other projects with the composer, Marc Shaiman, not the least of which was the HAIRSPRAY movie.

Linda and Clint duet "Both Sides Now."

VOICE: We were going to ask you about that… that was one of our questions! Can you tell us a little more about the movie?

CLINT: Approximately a year ago, Marc wanted to have the core rhythm section of HAIRSPRAY the show be the rhythm section for HAIRSPRAY the movie. So he brought us to Toronto, Canada, last year, and we recorded for a week.

We did all the music that we could do at that point. They'd just hired Chris Walken and Michelle Pfeiffer, and not all of the keys were set nor all of the choreography complete. So we did about 90% of the music that appears in the soundtrack. (By the way, our own David Finck is quite an aficionado on Broadway choreography. Over the years, he's had many collaborations with choreographers, and he's got some very evolved opinions about the subject. You should ask him about that in your next interview.)

Anyway, that soundtrack reached No. 1 on iTunes, No. 1 on Amazon, and No. 2 on Billboard. I'm very happy with how it all came out, and I'm proud of that work. It's not just underscoring; it's a collection of songs, which alongside the screenplay, define one half of a hit movie.

VOICE: Have you been able to see the movie yet?

CLINT: I have seen the movie. In fact, I went to the premiere. Somebody described it as "Hairspray the musical on speed." Fast moving without a second of downtime. It's very good.

VOICE: Did you get to talk to Christopher Walken at all? Did you tell him he needs more "cowbell?" [All chuckle!]

CLINT: It's funny that you mentioned that. The "cowbell" skit from Saturday Night Live is such an inside skit for musicians. It's funny to many, but it's hysterical to musicians, precisely because it is so inside.

Anyway, during rehearsals for the finale in the movie, Marc Shaiman went up to Chris Walken, stuck a drumstick and cowbell in his hands, and told him to play. And he did, but it just didn't make it into the final cut.

VOICE: That's great! Did you record with any of the stars?

CLINT: No. It was only the instrumentalists recording with the composer, the musical director, and various people from New Line Cinema.

VOICE: Going back to the Broadway show, how do you keep it fresh for yourself night after night… keep it from becoming boring?

CLINT: There are two things to do. The first is to make sure I'm not there eight shows a week. You simply have to get out of there, no matter how creative you are about approaching the show.

The other is that, because I've been lucky to do pop-based shows that require real playing, I can be creative with beats, drum fills, and little solo passages. That helps to keep things fresh not only for me, but hopefully for the other musicians and actors as well.

VOICE: How does the hierarchy of subbing work when you're doing gigs other than HAIRSPRAY? How do you sub out when you are going to be performing with Linda?

CLINT: The process is for me to call and train subs I think would be capable. They come in and are deemed acceptable. At that point, I can have one, two, or more subs that the conductor is fine with. Then I can leave and do what I need to do somewhere else. That's how that works.

VOICE: How does it work when you need subs for Linda's gig?

CLINT: Well, for example, when Linda played Wolftrap this past Sunday (July 29th), I had just finished a concert with Art Garfunkel in Peoria, Illinois. While at the airport, a road case fell on my foot, and incapacitated me. I couldn't walk.

So now I have a situation where I can't play even if I wanted to… what do I do? There are two drummers who have subbed for me before on Linda's gig, and thank God one of them was free that day. So it becomes necessary from any number of different standpoints to make sure that there are people who can cover for you.

VOICE: What effect has the increasing use of digital music had on you as a drummer as opposed to other musicians?

CLINT: It depends on the music. Studio work in general has decreased for all musicians by about 95%. Drummers were the second to be replaced in that world, preceded only by string players. It's quite sad, but mechanized music seriously infiltrated records, television and movies. The truth is that many of us who once enjoyed a healthy dose of studio work, now consider it icing on the cake.

I do a lot of live playing. I guess I always did. And gigs like Linda's are rare and something to be valued. She hasn't sacrificed size or quality with her band; it's still a full band of high level players. She's exceptional in that regard.

But because of the devolvement of studio work, the bar was dramatically raised for musicians doing Broadway. This is because many of those same musicians became available to the "other" work that allowed us to stay within our own zip code. For better or worse, some of the best musicians in the free world can be found sitting in orchestras playing those shows.

The mechanization of music has indeed threatened Broadway, however. It's been a weapon that producers like to scare us with during negotiations. Very few producers would resist the idea of replacing a live orchestra with a pre-recorded one.

However, as it stands, the live orchestra still continues on Broadway. That's because the ticket buyer still wants and expects it and actors want and expect it. So given all of this... outside of the conductor, the drummer is still the most scrutinized player in the band during the hiring process. And that's to the producer, the composer, the musical director, and the director/choreographer (see Finck). The drummer's also in on the whole development process prior to the hiring of the rest of the band.

A friend of mine once used the analogy of Amtrak to describe the relationship between a musical director and a drummer. He would say, "There's a conductor, and then there's an engineer." Conductors dictate queues and tempos, etc., but drummers engineer the entire feel of a band at almost every moment of the performance. So as long as they're hiring live musicians, it may be a long time before you see a drummer being replaced.

VOICE: That's great for you!

CLINT: Yes. Not being extinct is a good thing. But all of these things change rapidly… you never know what's going to happen.

VOICE: The last time that we interviewed you, you told us your favorite Linda song was "The Bells Of Saint Paul." She really doesn't sing that any more, so do you have a new favorite song?

CLINT: She still sings it when we have Christmas concerts.

VOICE: That's true. So is it still your favorite song?

Clint takes a bow in the spotlight at Westbury, NY.

CLINT: You know… I couldn't really tell you what my favorite song is. I'm sorry… that's not a good answer… but I really don't have a specific favorite. Linda's show seems to be in kind of a transition today, and I'm not sure where we're going. I have a feeling that she would like to bring in some of the songs she's been recording, and I hope she does do that.

VOICE: We're sure all of the fans hope that too! [All laugh!] Thanks again for your time today… before you go, would you like to give the fans any additional updates on your career?

CLINT: Let's see… I have a tour of Japan coming up in October with John Tropea's Band. And I just finished recording for David Finck, who did an amazing job as a player/producer on a jazz record for guitarist John Basile. Prior to my sessions for Linda, I did a workshop for a different show in the making, CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, based on the movie. That could happen as early as next summer.

About four or five months of this year, I was on tour with Art Garfunkel. And, of course, Linda has some busy months down the line. I'm toying with doing my own record. I get charged and then I get distracted by just being a side-man for everyone else. We'll see what happens.

Fellow musician and friend, David Finck, had this to say about Clint... "Clint de Ganon is one of the most sought after musicians in New York. And for good reason. He has impeccable rhythm, a clock-like accuracy that you can rely upon. He has a rich, full, clear, sound on every voice of his instrument. And, most importantly, Clint has great ideas. He is one of the very few drummers who hear an entire composition rather than just his part. He effortlessly makes subtle changes in sound and feel from one section of a piece to another, always understated, feel oriented, and song oriented. And the result is always a more powerful rendition of a piece of music. Clint's vocabulary is rich. He is comfortable in more musical situations than you can count. It is no accident that his skills have been requested by literally dozens of artists for recordings and tours. In the last year alone, he has played for Art Garfunkel, Linda Eder, John Tropea, John Basile, and the list goes on. Among Clint's most impressive credits are the hours he has logged on Broadway. His enthusiasm and skill have made him the most requested drummer in that arena. Choreographers simply love him. The relationship between choreographers and drummers is a special one. Clint's ability to meet their needs and the needs of dance captains has never left him without employment in the theater. It isn't easy. While still holding the responsibility for maintaining a great rhythmic feeling in the pit, he must accurately accentuate the hits, kicks, and falls of the dancers as requested by the choreographer. Only a handful of players are truly masters of this skill and without question, Clint is at the top of the list."

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