ART TRIPP III

It's Art Tripp III's birthday. One of my favourite percussionists of all time and I often confused Art and John French's drum parts on Beefheart music and only later understood the symbiotic relationship between the two. John speaks very magnanimously about Artie and as I consider him to be the worlds best drummer that is praise indeed. Happy Birthday Artie!

This from John French's Facebook page  

Thanks to Ron Dubas at Zappa First for this great collection of shots of Art Tripp. I ran across these earlier today and had to run out for a luncheon. When I got back, I couldn't find them, because I thought they were on Kitty Tripp's wall, but nooo. Anyway, after much searching, I found them. I recall back when we shared a house in Laurel Canyon. It was his place first, then I moved in when rejoining the band. One day, he brought his snare upstairs and gave me a little lesson in stick control. He used massive 3S sticks, which I thought was crazy at first, until I realized he was letting the sticks do all the work. I have a couple pairs of 3S sticks that I keep around just for certain songs. The first time I heard Artie play the xylophone ( which is what he used at rehearsal ) I was blown away by his playing, and completely surprised. I remember him saying phrases like, "And don't forget, take an eyebrow to lunch." And when something intense would happen, he would say "GULP!" really loud and we'd all laugh. He is a pleasant guy, master pool player, master percussionist, and never really one to call attention to his own flawless drumming and percussion. I haven't been around him for years, but occasionally, I have had the honor of speaking with him on the phone. His great sense of humor and wisdom rings through to this day. Happy Birthday, Artie!

Art with full kit

The Mothers - Frank, Jimmy Carl Black, Bunk Gardiner, Don Preston (in the back) and Art

Art Tripp III in full Beefheartian flow!

"GULP!"

Art, Don and Bill (Harkleroad)

The Mothers

Jimmy and Art - there were often two drummers in Artie's bands

The Magic Band early (Mark, Art, Don and Bill)

Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band

Arthur Tripp!

Ed Marimba focuses that monocle

Artie

Psychedelic mahn!

Ron Dubas

ZAPPA FIRST

Yesterday at 02:30  · 

Happy 76th Birthday Arthur Dyer Tripp III (aka Ed Marimba, Ted Cactus, Artie "With the green mustache" Tripp)! (9-10-1944)

Art is best known for his work as a percussionist with Frank and the Mothers of Invention along with Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band. He is credited on 20 Zappa albums and appears in Video From Hell, Uncle Meat, and The True Story of Frank Zappa's 200 Motels.

Born in Athens, Ohio and raised in Pittsburgh PA, Art started playing drums in 4th grade and continued throughout his grade schooling. He also became a student of Stanley Leonard, a timpanist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, with whom he learned to play other percussion instruments, including the xylophone, tympani, marimba and many others before enrolling in the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music in 1962 to study percussion. His private teacher at the conservatory, Ed Weubold, was a percussionist with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO). Tripp became a regular member of the CSO, performing with artists such as Igor Stravinsky, Isaac Stern, Leonard Rose, Jose Iturbi, Loren Hollender and Arthur Fiedler along with avant garde composer John Cage. Graduating with a Bachelor of Music degree in 1967 he then pursued a Master of Music degree at Manhattan School of Music.

In New York City, he was introduced to Frank through his sound engineer Richard Kunc who set up a rehearsal.

At the rehearsal at Apostolic Studio in New York’s Greenwich Village, Frank asked him to sit behind the drum kit (Billy Mundi’s drums who had just departed the band) and play. Art let loose whaling on the drums for a few minutes playing "rhythmic stuff and a lot of free form patterns, all over the kit". After playing Frank's mouth was wide open and he told Art, "Man you're a monster"!

Frank then asked, "Are you doing anything this weekend, we have a couple of gigs this weekend, we can pay you about $500." Tripp agreed to work with Zappa's band that weekend the day after his audition. "There was a lot of improvisation...I thought I'd died and gone to heaven."

Art played and recorded with Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention from early 1968 until the end of 1969 when he left.

After leaving Zappa, Art played with Beefheart and the Magic Band for 5 years as Ed Marimba and is credited on 12 albums.

In 1974 he joined Mallard, a band formed by ex-members of the Magic Band and is on their first self titled album.

Art has also recorded with Chad Stuart and Tarantula, Jean-Luc Ponty, Wild Man Fischer, Al Stewart, Jefferson Airplane, Tim Buckley, and played percussion on the Smothers Brothers Summer Special.

While musically successful, Art found that the business failed to offer financial stability. He briefly worked in his father's insurance business in Pittsburgh, but eventually returned to California and the music scene where he stayed with Ruth and Ian Underwood while working as a studio musician with artists such as Al Stewart and other commercial producers but it lacked the appeal of performing live and he eventually gave up music and became a chiropractor in 1983. Says Tripp: "I just lost interest in music" He currently practices in Mississippi.

Happy Birthday Art, thanks for the music!

— with

Kitty Marimba

.

Art and John - the best drummers in the world