Like
most young musicians setting out to learn their craft, drummer DEAN
MUCETTI had plans to earn a living playing music. Little did he
know he would become a full-time music educator and a mentor to many
young people who may not have had access to a music education
otherwise. Mucetti is now releasing his debut album, ISOLATE//INTEGRATE,
with his band called RHYTHM REAL, which has featured some of
his students who have grown up to become top-notch musicians. ISOLATE//INTEGRATE
comprises six songs constructed collectively by the band with Mucetti
at the helm.
Mucetti
was born and raised in Southern California’s San Fernando Valley. His
mother came from Cuba and his father was born in Italy but raised in
Argentina. Although his parents came from countries with rich musical
heritages, it was his older sister who instilled in him the love of
music. He looked up to her and got into music because she was into
music, especially the British rock band Duran Duran. The band’s
popularity in the 1980s was abetted by the then new music video
station MTV. Mucetti watched Duran Duran videos with his sister and
was particularly fascinated by the drummer.
Mucetti
was an athletic kid and playing the drums appealed to his
physicality. His mother, however, was not interested in hearing her
young son play drums in the house and refused his request for
lessons. But that did not diminish his interest in the drums, and a
few years later he began learning to play when a neighbor, who had a
garage band, gave Mucetti a pair of drumsticks. Mucetti still did not
have drums to practice on, but he did have an old barber’s chair that
he used as a snare drum while air drumming the high hat to rock
music. By the time he was in high school, his passion for drumming
was apparent to his parents, and his mother eventually relented.
Mucetti finally got a real drum set to practice on.
In
high school, Mucetti started to seriously develop his chops by
jamming with guitarist Errol Cooney, who went on to work with Stevie
Wonder for several years and is now in Janet Jackson’s band. Dean
also became obsessed with drumming, watching instructional videos of
the day while being a devoted reader of Modern Drummer magazine. He
was into funk music, especially James Brown, Bootsy Collins, and
Maceo Parker, but everything changed when he heard the album Rich versus Roach.
Dean was
blown away both by Max Roach’s and Buddy Rich’s playing and became a
devotee. He also began listening to more and more jazz.
Mucetti
went on to attend The California Institute of the Arts and became
involved in a program called the Community Arts Partnership, where
students taught drumming and music in community centers in
underserved communities. In 2008, Mucetti learned of an opening for a
music teacher at a middle school and took the job. Although he was
unsure about his future as an educator, his commitment to community
service runs deep, and he has been there ever since.
Mucetti,
who teaches drums and piano, has mentored many young musicians and
has followed several throughout their high school years and beyond.
He formed Rhythm Real in 2015 as a workshop ensemble for some
of his former middle school music students to gain playing experience
after graduating. Mucetti invited more experienced musicians,
including friends from his days at Cal Arts, to work with the group.
His students got so proficient by engaging with musicians from
diverse socioeconomic, cultural, and generational backgrounds that
they were soon good enough to perform at some of L.A.’s best jazz
venues, such as the Baked Potato, the Blue Whale, the World Stage,
and Catalina Jazz Club.
The
band on ISOLATE//INTEGRATE is Mucetti (drums), MIGUEL
ORTIZ (bass), DORE WALLACE (guitar), JON APARICIO
(guitar), ALEX WILLIAMS (piano), and BRIAN HARGROVE (keyboards).
The music on ISOLATE//INTEGRATE combines the funky,
groove music of James Brown, Clyde Stubblefield, and Bootsy Collins
with the spontaneous music tradition of Charlie Parker, Thelonious
Monk, and John Coltrane. The music was composed over a couple years
by the rhythm section of Mucetti, Ortiz, Aparicio, and Wallace.
When
Covid shut down live performances, Mucetti and the band decided to
focus on creating an album. Building on their years of performing
rhythms, melodies, and harmonic structures, Rhythm Real tried looking
at their work from different angles. They started playing the parts
backwards, sideways, upside down, or inside out, all with the goal of
seeing where it would take them musically. Some of the material they
previously developed in live performance would be isolated and
eventually integrated into whole new pieces of music.
The
original Rhythm Real band was an octet consisting of horns as
the frontline, but Mucetti thought it was safer, because of Covid, to
pare back the original configuration and eliminate the horns while
recording in the post-vaccinated pandemic.
The
title of the album, ISOLATE//INTEGRATE, reflects the
trajectory of the pandemic, from the isolation of the lockdown to the
methods they used to construct the music. The rhythmic structures of
the six compositions on the album were developed over time and were
set down as through composed orchestrations with Williams on piano
and Hargove on keys improvising over the complex polyrhythms.
Inspiration
for the tunes came from various sources. “Steps West” was inspired by
Coltrane’s “Giant Steps.” “Bell Bud” was inspired by two works, “If I
Were a Bell” and Miles Davis’ “Budo.” “Mother Alone” is a
ballad reflecting on Mucetti’s mother who was living alone and
struggling with the onset of Alzheimer's. The song title “Licking
Myself,” which employs looping rhythmic and harmonic structures,
refers to the band licking their wounds after the isolation and
challenges brought on by the Covid lockdown. “Loose Satin” is very
loosely based on “Satin Doll.” “Got Lush,” inspired by “Lush Life,”
is built on multiple rhythmic cycles.
Dean
Mucetti’s love of drumming and his commitment to teaching and
mentoring have helped turn young, aspiring musicians into genuine
artists, as reflected on this release. ISOLATE//INTEGRATE is
a funky jazz outing with fascinating complex polyrhythms and a unique
instrument configuration.
# # #
ISOLATE//INTEGRATE is set for release on March
30, 2023 on Orenda Records and will be available everywhere.
Online:
Facebook.com/deanmucettiandrhythmreal
IG:
@deanmucettiandrhythmreal
Orendarecords.com
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