Drums and Music with Josh and Vinnie

Wayne Krantz, Elvis, Twin Peaks, Denis Charles, Joey Baron, Billy Hart.....

I’ve been talking about drums and music with Josh Dion for over two decades, and I learn something and feel inspired from every conversation. In fact, I got the idea for at least three different future Substack articles just from this one chat.

Josh’s energy is infectious, with valuable insights into the music and real candor about what the music means to him. Just like when he plays. I enjoy this so much, I had to share it with you— hope you enjoy!

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VS: I’d like to get some Josh and Vin back-and-forth about music in this interview. I’ll just talk about whatever, and we’ll just….let it go where it’s going.

JD: Alright, let’s do it!

VS: First off, I’m thinking that there’s sort of a musical line connecting all those folks you’ve played with, from Chuck Loeb, to Bill Evans, to Wayne Krantz, to John Scofield.

JD: Right, totally.

VS: Those four players all represent different aspects of something— I bet they’re all about the same age.

JD: Bill might be a tiny bit younger. But totally, there’s some connection there.

VS: Here’s a question: was Krantz a Mikell¹’s guy? Was he there for Stuff?

JD: Krantz? I have no clue actually. I know he released his first album in, I wanna say, the late Eighties?

VS: Hmm, maybe early Nineties?

JD: Maybe, well Signals is the only one I know.

VS: With Dennis Chambers.

JD: With Dennis, right. See, Wayne’s always maintained his own thing, always had his own projects and his own sound, from the very beginning. So I don’t know about him and Mikell’s and Stuff and that scene.

VS: Maybe he wasn’t there, maybe that’s before he was in NYC. Michael Formanek and John Riley talked about Krantz, they both played with him in, I guess, the early Nineties. I gather from what they said that Krantz at the time was almost like Craig Taborn now— everyone who heard him wanted him in their band.

JD: No way!

VS: Yeah, there’s a great Formanek record with Krantz. And Tim Berne!

JD: [exclaims] DAMN I gotta hear that!!!!!

VS: It’s on Bandcamp, I’ll send a link. Ok, well can we jump around, topic-wise?

JD: [laughs] I’m only comfortable when we jump around.