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Artist History ==> Web Page 10 of 26
In May 1993, about three months after the dissolution of the PINK FLOYD tribute group ECHOES, Dombrovski, now 25 years old, became drummer for Wilmington, DELAWARE, U.S.A.'s own "THE JOHN DOUGHERTY TRIO," featuring seasoned and veteran virtuoso jazz guitarist, "MIN'D Pick" inventor, music teacher, and guitar theory/pedagogy author John Dougherty, himself a BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC alumnus like Dombrovski. Dombrovski studied music theory and guitar under Dougherty's tutelage before attending BERKLEE in Boston, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A. Dombrovski informed Dougherty he was back in DELAWARE; Dougherty contacted bassist Rich Meyers; the trio first rehearsed on May 12, 1993; and then they quickly hit live club stages on May 25, 1993, performing radical "battle jazz" renditions of jazz standards and classics. DELAWARE audiences were stunned, and the trio soon disbanded circa July 1993, after having quickly served its purpose for the three musicians involved.
DOMBROVSKI: Yeah, the interesting thing about John Dougherty is just about every guitarist I've worked with studied with John; among those guitarists were Antonio Panaccione, Vince Eoppolo, Dave Fox, and Mike Walker, all John's students at some point. I began studying music theory, harmony, and some guitar with John on September 29, 1990, when I was 22, because I noticed the guys who studied with John had good technique and a good understanding of music. It was obvious John showed these guys how to increase, and more potently express, their inherent musicality. Antonio Panaccione is the guy who first brought John to my attention. I quickly heard the improvement in Panaccione's playing and in his grasp of music.
DOMBROVSKI: Antonio Panaccione first exposed me to John's book John Dougherty: Guitar '80 & Beyond, which received an excellent review in the July 1981 issue of Guitar Player magazine. I'll quote the review:
"Guitar Player July 1981
Jim Schwartz
Bookpicking
JOHN DOUGHERTY: GUITAR '80 & BEYOND, by John Dougherty, is a 58-page softbound volume analyzing many significant and complex components of harmony, theory, and composition. Here's just a small sample of what John addresses in his book: intervals, tetrachords, diminished scales and chords, jazz minor scales, upper structure triads, root substitutions, modal transposition, and root motion. Advanced guitarists should discover hours of challenging exercises in Guitar '80, ..."
DOMBROVSKI: You know, it's not difficult finding someone willing to privately teach you how to play an instrument, but finding an excellent private music theory instructor was not easy for me. The general presumption seemed to be the college classroom was where music theory was studied, not elsewhere. Well, I saw some publications of John's, and they stated:
"John Dougherty, Guitarist, graduate Berklee College of Music/Arranging & Composition, Inventor -- MIN'D PICK, Author -- John Dougherty, Guitar '80 & Beyond, Theorist, Teacher and Clinician, Jazz Artist."
DOMBROVSKI: Upon reading, "... Guitarist, graduate Berklee College of Music/Arranging & Composition, ..." and "Theorist, Teacher and Clinician, ...," I knew John Dougherty was exactly the teacher I was looking for. Also, some years before, in the 1980's, guitarist Tony Panaccione and I heard John's music when John performed as a solo guitarist at a DELAWARE-U.S.A. high school. I remember John had impeccable technique, and his music was very sophisticated. I was amazed one man could generate so much music. The point being was I knew John understood the technicalities of music, but I knew the question "Does it sound good?" was the ultimate qualifier.
DOMBROVSKI: John also invented the "MIN'D pick," a stone guitar pick that added many qualities missing in existing guitar picks. Obviously, since John had demonstrably invested so much of his life into so many varied aspects of music, my making an investment of my time and money to study with John was logical. Basically, John received rave reviews from those who studied with him, and I'd been hearing the results with my own ears since the mid-1980's. I wanted to get beyond my extremely limited introduction to music primarily as a drummer. I needed to understand the algebra of music better to get accepted at BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC in Boston, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., and John was more than qualified to help me do just those things, plus John was a graduate of BERKLEE himself.
DOMBROVSKI: John's teaching style is provocative by his own admission. That's a good thing because although you may have some decent chops on your particular instrument, you quickly realize there's a whole lot more to music than that. I was in a "grow-or-stop-wasting-my-time-and-your-money" situation. It's good to find someone willing to make you confront your own limitations.
DOMBROVSKI: John and I first played together in John's basement in Wilmington, DELAWARE, U.S.A., on July 13, 1991. John and I talked a lot about music in general at my theory lessons, so I took it upon myself to bring my REMO practice pad set with me for one of my lessons with John. John picked up his guitar, and we jammed. I think John enjoyed my drumming because I avoided the standard jazz "DING-DING-DA-DING" cymbal paradigm, and I played with the aggressiveness of a rock drummer. I played a lot more notes than a normal rock drummer usually needs to; however, no matter what I played the fact remained most of my experience as a drummer came from playing in rock bands. Actually, that was in my favor with John because John was tired of polite drumming.
DOMBROVSKI: On July 20, 1991, John talked about paying me to go on the road with him, but I was already committed to attend BERKLEE in Boston in September 1991; however, the good thing was John and I established we were musically compatible. That would save a lot of time in the future.
DOMBROVSKI: On July 2, 1992, about a year later, I was back in DELAWARE, U.S.A., and I spoke again with John Dougherty. I'd been to BERKLEE in Boston, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A.; I'd returned from Los Angeles, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A.; and I was drumming with TRAUMA UNIT, a band with John's former student Vince Eoppolo on guitar. Anyway, John and I discussed many things, one subject being the possibility of performing together. I think the reason that didn't happen sooner was it was difficult finding a bassist functioning at John's level; moreover, there was probably concern on John's part about playing live again in DELAWARE clubs. I quote excerpts from a DELAWARE newspaper article that appeared 11 years before the July 1992 conversation John and I had:
"Sunday News Journal
Wilmington, DELAWARE
July 19, 1981
Music Makes Good Reading
Delaware authors pluck strings to get published
By Gary Mullinax, Staff Reporter
Wilmington guitarist John Dougherty rarely performs with his jazz combo in Delaware clubs and concert halls. ...
[EDITED]
... Dougherty's willing to perform, but he says club owners aren't willing to book him.
'I can hardly play at a club any more,' said Dougherty, a wiry 37-year-old man with short, receding hair and a clipped mustache. 'I packed Oscar's on Jan. 2 and 3, the most difficult nights to pack a club. But those guys (Oscar's management) hated my music. My music is perceived as being radical, but I don't understand why. I consider the audience and the context in which I play. I try to play what the audience would find acceptable, but without compromising.'
Dougherty does do some touring nationally, though, and has headlined at some major jazz clubs. ..."
[EDITED]
END ARTICLE EXCERPT
DOMBROVSKI: I finished my last gig with the PINK FLOYD cover band ECHOES on January 15, 1993. In February 1993, I began buying lots of recording gear to add to my little recording setup/project studio, but I wanted to balance out the time I planned recording music with time actually playing live music in a band situation. May 1993 rolled around, and I think I reconnected with John Dougherty on May 7, 1993. John was in contact with an excellent bassist named Rich Meyers, whom John respected and thought was fantastic. Rich was around my age. On May 12, 1993, John, Rich, and I became "THE JOHN DOUGHERTY TRIO," and we had our first rehearsal in the basement of The Church of the Holy City in Wilmington, DELAWARE, U.S.A. We rehearsed four or five more times, and we were playing live on May 25, 1993, at a bar called PECK'S PLACE in Wilmington, DELAWARE.
DOMBROVSKI: The set list included the following:
01. "Four" -- a MILES DAVIS-classic written by EDDIE "CLEANHEAD" VINSON
02. "Sugar" -- written by STANLEY TURRENTINE
03. "A Night In Tunisia" -- written by DIZZY GILLESPIE and FRANK PAPARELLI
04. "Summertime" -- written by GEORGE GERSHWIN
05. "Cissy Strut" -- a classic performed by THE METERS; Written by Leo Nocentelli, Art Neville, George Porter, and Joseph Modeliste
06. "Song for My Father" -- written by HORACE SILVER
07. "Footprints" -- written by Wayne Shorter
08. "Impressions" -- written by JOHN COLTRANE
09. "Mr. Clean" -- written by WELDON IRVINE
10. "Free Latin" -- probably written by John Dougherty and Rich Meyers
11. "Frog Boots" -- written by Rich Meyers, a funky and strange piece in a 7/8 time signature
12. "Prime Bossa" -- This was our version of the jazz standard "Blue Bossa," written by KENNY DORHAM. I remember I was playing a rhythmically dense and textural, 13/8-time-signature drum pattern, while John and Rich were playing DORHAM's song in 4/4 time above it.
13. "Freebird" (bass solo rendition) -- written by ALLEN COLLINS and RONNIE VANZANT of LYNYRD SKYNYRD; Rich would do a jazzy, bass-solo rendition of this song.
Et cetera"
DOMBROVSKI: Starting out, THE JOHN DOUGHERTY TRIO actually drew a decent-sized crowd considering we were really stretching on some of those tunes--sometimes extending the songs beyond 10 minutes in length with unorthodox, rock-funk-swing rhythms and alien harmonies and melodies. John had his guitar students, his old-time fans, and his devotees coming to check him out; Rich Meyers had aspiring bassists checking him out; and I think some of my 13/8-time-signature, textural rhythmic excursions aroused the curiosity of a few drummers. I noticed a few local jazz musician notables popping in and out of the club. I think the local jazz musicians were surprised any musical group in DELAWARE, U.S.A., was bold enough to risk commercial death by actually playing "outside" improvisational music in a DELAWARE club in the 1990's. They were probably surprised we even got booked.
DOMBROVSKI: Again, musically what THE JOHN DOUGHERTY TRIO was doing was boxing rather than ballet. John was the leader, and John was not at all interested in musical politeness. If that meant harmonically, melodically, and rhythmically pulverizing a tune beyond recognition because the spirit called forth in that direction, so be it--audience expectations be damned. Music is passion, and when conventional methods make music insipid and vapid, sometimes taking wild chances leads to happy accidents. Often you end up falling on your face, but that's the price of attempting to strive beyond the current norm enjoying moral sanction. In the end, you're still approaching a musical ideal, which is yours, but maintaining the faith while in the midst of the madness is difficult, even though it's worth it.
DOMBROVSKI: We had melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic equivalents of grandma falling down the steps and landing on her feet. We had musical equivalents of a man naked under his trench coat whipping it open in the middle of a court appearance to flash judge and jury. Of course, we had lots of tasteful moments, too.
DOMBROVSKI: THE JOHN DOUGHERTY TRIO played every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night at PECK'S PLACE in Wilmington, DELAWARE, U.S.A., for about a month, from May 25, 1993, through June 24, 1993--then we weren't booked anymore. We also did one gig in Rehoboth Beach, DELAWARE, U.S.A., on June 10, 1993, at a placed named SIDNEY'S SIDE STREET. Given the music we were playing, that's probably as far and as much a jazz-oriented, improvisational band in DELAWARE could get and expect.
DOMBROVSKI: John Dougherty eventually moved to Boston, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A.; Rich Meyers ended up in New York City, NEW YORK, U.S.A.; and I retreated further into my expanding home recording/project studio in DELAWARE, U.S.A., to work on music.
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Artist History ==> Web Page 10 of 26