Dave Matthews Band

As the rhythmic catalyst in the Dave Matthews Band, Carter Beauford is the driving force in one of this country`s most popular and eclectic touring and recording groups. But for the first four years of DMB`s existence, he led a double-life, at least musically speaking.

From 1991 to 1995, Beauford juggled DMB performances with TV studio sessions as the house drummer for Black Entertainment Television`s "BET On Jazz" series in Washington, D.C. Playing in a group led by veteran pianist Ramsey Lewis, he performed on BET with a Who`s Who of jazz, funk and Latin-jazz musicians.

"It was an awesome experience," Beauford said, speaking from a recent concert stop in Denver.

"I got a chance to play with (trumpeter) Roy Hargrove, (pianist) Michel Camillo, (saxophonist) Paquito D`Rivera, (singer) Abbey Lincoln and a lot of other great artists on BET. Being able to play with some of my heroes, I was like a kid in a candy store. And it was the same thing with the Matthews Band; I could play anything I wanted."

Happily for Beauford, a onetime high school teacher in his native Virginia, his BET house band adventures paid musical dividends in his work with DMB.

"Playing jazz and Latin music is like getting a master`s degree, and you can apply what you learn to any setting," said Beauford, who started drumming at age 3 and began sitting in with straight-ahead jazz groups when he was just 9.

"And that`s one of the reasons for the Matthews Band`s popularity now. Because a lot of these kids weren`t exposed to any jazz or Latin music. It was rock, rock, rock, which was great, but my focus was to expose a lot of people to different styles of drumming and applying that to the Matthews Band. Our emphasis on improvisation is one of the key reasons this band has had so much success. Our audiences know and appreciate that it`s different every night, and that it`s not like on our records."

The mustachioed drummer`s resume also includes recent recordings with Blues Traveler frontman John Popper, Bela Fleck & The Flecktones` bass virtuoso Victor Wooten and rap act Boy Wonder. In addition, he and Matthews were featured together on Santana`s multi-Grammy-winning 1999 album, "Supernatural."

Beauford`s multifarious drumming with DMB mixes elements of jazz, funk, rock, Afro-Latin, Middle Eastern and more into an intensely syncopated blend. Simultaneously sophisticated and propulsive, he performs contrapuntal accents, shifting time-signatures and pinpoint percussive flurries with equal fire and finesse.

"The odd time-signatures and beat displacements come from having played in (other) bands with percussionists for so long," said Beauford, an avocational pilot and the happily married father of a 14-year-old daughter.

"When the Matthews Band started it was strange, because I felt like I had to fill the (percussion) void. I`ve been accused of overplaying, and, yeah, point taken. But it all stems from the percussion thing, and trying to enhance and complement some of the licks and phrases the other guys are playing. I think a lot of people confuse that with overplaying, and don`t look at the whole picture.

"You have to tell a story - you can`t just beat out licks."

(c) Copley News Service

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Author: Emily Friedlander