Alan Dawson was an American jazz drummer and percussion teacher based in Boston.
11 Facts About Alan Dawson
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2.
Alan Dawson was an early teacher of drummers Tony Williams and Joseph Smyth, known for his work with the Sawyer Brown country music group.
3.
Alan Dawson began teaching at Berklee College of Music in 1957.
4.
Alan Dawson suffered a ruptured disc in 1975 which led to him halting his touring schedule, to leave Berklee and limit his teaching to his home in Lexington, Massachusetts.
5.
Alan Dawson's teaching style emphasized the music as a whole, rather than concentrating on percussion alone.
6.
Alan Dawson stressed the importance of learning the melody and structure of the tune to better fulfill the role of accompaniment.
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Alan Dawson constantly strived for balance between musical ideas and strict technique.
8.
Alan Dawson was big on rudiments and wrote extensive exercises intended to be practiced with brushes.
9.
Alan Dawson believed using brushes with his "Rudimental Ritual" would reduce stick rebound, allowing the sense of "picking up" the sticks.
10.
Alan Dawson was the house drummer for Lennie's on the Turnpike in Peabody, Massachusetts, from 1963 through 1970.
11.
In 1968, Alan Dawson replaced Joe Morello in the Dave Brubeck Quartet and continued until 1972.