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105 | CadenCe Magazine | april May June 2013<br />
Interview Dennis Mackrel<br />
spot, and late at night top professional musicians working in the show rooms and<br />
clubs would come by and play after they’d finished their jobs, at like The sands and<br />
the other big rooms. so earlier in the evenings, we, the students, would try out our<br />
music and work on ensemble playing and jam in smaller groups, then these top<br />
name musicians would join in, and that interaction with those guys was absolutely<br />
invaluable experience, and enormous incentive. When you hear first hand the<br />
charts you play in class played by those players you learn what you’re doing right or<br />
wrong very quickly, particularly when you’re there in among them!<br />
CAD: You did get to work in some of the big rooms around that time?<br />
dm: Yes i did. You know that working in the big show rooms requires real<br />
concentration and is pretty stressful, so most of the big rooms have a relief band on<br />
call. The top musicians work a six-day week and the relief band plays the seventh.<br />
i got lucky because being able to play drums and bass offered opportunities on two<br />
different nights, and sometimes more in different venues.<br />
CAD: Wonderful experience?<br />
dm: it certainly was, and not only that, but the hours worked didn’t encroach on<br />
my college schedule, so i could cope with the study, the jobs, and my practice<br />
schedule.<br />
CAD: You were still in your late teens?<br />
dm: Yes i was and my confidence was growing steadily, then i moved to nYc in<br />
1981 and although i was still only nineteen, i’d made some great contacts in las<br />
vegas, and having had that experience in the show rooms, i got into Broadway<br />
theatre work. There was a stage show in preparation based on the life of jackie<br />
robinson called The first and i got into the orchestra for that, and that was another<br />
learning experience for me. Things were getting altered all the time through<br />
rehearsals and i found out on the job how it all came together right up to the<br />
opening. Then after all that concentrated work, the reviews were not good, and the<br />
show only made a few performances. soon after that i was in the pit orchestra for<br />
a production of chorus line, once again some great experience, this time in a well<br />
established show.<br />
CAD: So apart from two matinees and a nightly show, you had time to check out<br />
other musical areas?<br />
dm: That’s what happened. i was able to meet and mix with a whole lot of great<br />
players, sit in with groups and start to play jazz gigs in different styles, and before<br />
too long i found that a lot of musicians knew my name, and i felt that acceptance,<br />
you know.<br />
CAD: Then Joe Williams came in to your life again?<br />
dm: Yes he did. joe knew that count Basie was looking for a drummer and joe<br />
recommended me to Basie.<br />
CAD: How did Basie hear you, did you audition?<br />
dm: no, it didn’t work like that. nobody auditioned. That’s why introductions and<br />
recommendations were so important. nobody would risk their own credibility by<br />
passing on your name if they didn’t know you could do the job. But doing the job
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