Vinnie Colaiuta
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Vincent Colaiuta (born February 5, 1956) is a highly regarded American drummer currently based in Los Angeles. Originally from Pennsylvania, he began playing drums as a child and received his first full drum kit from his parents at the age of 14.
After attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston for a year, Colaiuta relocated to Los Angeles and made a mediocre living playing with lounge bands. His break came in April 1978 at the age of 22, when he auditioned for Frank Zappa, an audition that involved performing the notoriously difficult piece entitled "The Black Page". The audition was successful and Colaiuta went on to work with Zappa as his principal drummer for studio and live performance until 1980. Colauita's performances on Zappa's albums Joe's Garage and Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar are considered by many drummers to be among the most astounding ever recorded. Joe's Garage was named one of the top-25 drumming performances of all time in a 1993 Modern Drummer article.
After leaving Zappa, Colaiuta went on to work with a long list of notable rock and pop artists, including Joni Mitchell, Barbra Streisand, Sandy & Junior and Chaka Khan. He has also appeared with many notable jazz musicians, including Chick Corea, Quincy Jones, the Buddy Rich Big Band and Buell Neidlinger.
In 1990, Colaiuta successfully auditioned for the drum spot in Sting's touring band in support of his album The Soul Cages. Colauita remained as a member of Sting's band for the next seven years. He declined the offer to go out on the road for the Brand New Day tour in 1999. Colaiuta's studio work with Sting can be heard on Ten Summoner's Tales (1993), Mercury Falling (1996), three songs on Brand New Day (1999) and two songs on Sacred Love (2003), and he also performs alongside Sting on the English Jam on John McLaughlin's album The Promise (1996). In September of 2003, Vinnie returned to Sting's touring lineup in a brief promotional tour of Sacred Love, but once again declined the offer to participate in the world tour.
Colaiuta released a self-titled solo recording in 1994. He remains one of the most in demand studio musicians.
Colaiuta has won a total of 18 'Drummer of the Year' awards from Modern Drummer magazine's annual reader polls. These include 10 awards in the 'Best Overall' category. Colaiuta was inducted into the Modern Drummer "Hall of Fame" in 1996. The publication also cited Colaiuta as being the most important drummer of our time.
More recently, Colaiuta toured with Faith Hill and recorded with the thrash metal outfit Megadeth on their album The System Has Failed.
A producer once told Vinnie Colaiuta that if you threw Tony Williams and Steve Gadd into a blender, Vinnie would be the tasteful concoction. He laughs modestly while he shrugs off the compliment, but it is probably an accurate description. Justifiably, he is the talk of the town and drummers pack into the L.A. club where he plays three nights a week. One drummer comments that Vinnie is the best drummer he's ever seen and another puts it simply, repeatedly exclaiming, "Monster!" November 1982 Modern Drummer interview
Innovative, colorful and tasteful, Vince Colaiuta began as did many, playing pots and pans while growing up in Pennsylvania. After graduating to toy sets with paper heads, his parents finally bought him a semi-professional Japanese set which he'd play with the neighborhood kids.
Colaiuta is regarded by many as being the greatest drummer of all time, with blistering technique and a unique polyrythmic style that he developed during lessons with Gary Chaffee at Berklee College. Vinnie completed repetoire work in these lessons during one semester, spending time in the second semester listening to records with Chaffee and developing/working out riffs and technique. During his time at Berklee, Vinnie also met up with Steve Smith, who by chance was moving through the town with a big band. Vinnie and Steve would have double lessons with Gary Chaffee, often working on ride cymbal patterns late at night for long periods of time until one of them got more tired than the other.
A genuine innovator, Colaiuta frequently predated all his peers in accomplishing technical feats, such as alternating hand/foot triplets (Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar - 1981). Though it is only a point of view, it is a widely regarded point of view that Colaiuta is the most skilled drummer of all time.
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