Drummer Adonis Rose, born in 1975 in New Orleans, is at the vanguard of the city’s modern jazz scene, performing in trumpeter Nicholas Payton‘s band and leading his own ensemble. He is on the road nine months out of the year. We encountered him at his home in Metairie while he took a break from mowing the lawn.
My father’s a drummer-his name is Vernon Severin. My grandfather was a drummer-his name was Wilfred Severin. They both played jazz and were well known by a lot of local musicians around town. My uncle is a bassist- Chris Severin. I come from a musical family.
I started out when I was real young playing the drums. I was actually two when I first starred. I got my first little kiddie drum set and I would practice all the time on the porch. My friends would come out in the projects and see me practice. My mom and my dad took pictures and I still have those pictures to look at from when I first starred. It was cool.
My dad showed me everything. He played in the Marine Corps with different bands In the ’70s. He still plays now. He taught me pretty much everything- my rudiments, grooves on the drums-when I was real young.
Eventually I ended up playing in a marching band, playing in Mardi Gras parades, until my dad finally decided he wanted me to go to NOCCA.
So I went to NOCCA and I started playing jazz. My dad was real good friends with James Black at that time. He was studying with James Black and everything he would learn from James, he would teach me. James would always come to the house and get on the drums. I was learning all of James’ beats when I was in high school. I learned different African rhythms, New Orleans grooves. It was the first time I was really introduced to that because I never really played in a brass band as a young kid. It seems like brass bands became even more popular as I got older. Basically everything I know about the drums now I started out getting the concept from James Black.
The New Orleans beat is really hard to explain. It’s just something that’s inside you. It’s just the whole thing about being in New Orleans, the whole feel, the food, the buildings, the people, the whole atmosphere. Just growing up always listening to that music, it becomes part of you. It’s like learning how to walk or talk.
You tend to get attitudes from people sometimes when you’re from New Orleans. It seems like New Orleans musicians-as far as jazz is concerned they’re always at the forefront of the music and dictating a lot of what’s going on. Louis Armstrong started it-he was one of the greatest musicians in the world ever. A lot of young musicians came out of New Orleans-Terence Blanchard, Harry Connick, Jr., Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis.
When they got on the music scene, they made people actually want to play like they were playing. They actually said something and they were on such high level compared to other musicians that kinda made it hard on other New Orleans musicians. When we go around, especially with New York musicians, it’s like a certain vibe that they have towards you. It might be a jealousy thing.
If somebody says they’re from New Orleans, people will definitely pay attention to what you’re doing. By coming from a lineage of great New Orleans musicians, it makes it easier for you to be out here and have people look at you a certain way about the music.
I first met Nicholas Payton at NOCCA. I was just starting to learn how to play jazz. I was a sophomore in high school. I learned a lot from Nicholas—even in high school.
Mr. Clyde Kerr was our instructor at the time. He would say, “Play an Elvin Jones beat over this tune.” And I was like, “Elvin Jones? What kind of beat is that?” And Nicholas would get on the drums and show me the beat. He would do that all the time. He’s a great drummer. He was always a serious musician and that’s one thing I respected about him.
Mr. Kerr—you can’t get better than him because he’s not just a teacher. He’s a father figure. He deals with every aspect of life. Mr. Kerr took me on my first gigs. A lot of musicians that went to NOCCA—Jason Stewart, Mark Braud, Nicholas, Irvin Mayfield—Mr. Kerr brought us out on our first gigs.
He would let us play with him at the Jazz Festival—you can’t say that about a lot of musicians. They won’t have high school musicians playing with them. Mr. Kerr-that didn’t bother him. He had us playing on real gigs with him. He was putting us out there, giving us the experience.
He taught us everything—dressing well, being on time, how to conduct yourself, being serious about the music, knowing tunes, everything. Plus just the having the experience of playing in front of a live audience, which is the most important thing.
When you’re entertaining people you feed off the reaction. That helps us. In the studio, you don’t have that. You’re trying to get the same feeling that you would have if you were playing live. You could never get the same effect as a great gig in a studio session. Live on the bandstand is where you really want to catch it.
In New York,you can go and see people that you can’t see in New Orleans. Herbie Hancock might be at the Blue Note. You can go see Joe Lovano. It’s cool. The big jazz artists are always in New York where as they’re not always in New Orleans. But as fur as a local scene goes, I think New Orleans has a lot more to offer for a musician that’s living here to work. Especially if you play different kinds of music,you could work every night. It’s just booming with clubs and places to play New York is three times the size of New Orleans maybe more—and New Orleans has just as much going on.
I would encourage any kid that wants to play the drums. I would say,”Go ahead and do it. Don’t let nobody discourage you. Go out here and do what you want to do. If you’re really serious about it, it’ll happen for you.”
I always had a chance to see music firsthand. My uncle would have rehearsals over at the house and I would see people.They would be at the house all the time rehearsing and getting music together. And I was young. As I got older and my love for the music increased, I knew I wanted to play music. I knew I was a drummer. I was ready to do it.
