Drumsville!: The Evolution of the New Orleans Beat (Hardcover)
Drumsville The Evolution of the New Orleans Beat traces the history of drums and drumming in the Crescent City, exploring more than three centuries of the instrument and the art form that transformed New Orleans into the musical powerhouse it is today. Created as a companion to the New Orleans Jazz Museum exhibit of the same name, Drumsville examines the drummer's role in the evolution of brass bands, Black masking Indians, traditional and modern jazz, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and funk.
Robert H. Cataliotti is a music critic and historian who teaches at Coppin State University in Baltimore. A contributing writer for Living Blues magazine, he has also published two books, The Music in African American Fiction and The Songs Became the Stories: The Music in African-American Fiction, 1970-2005. He is the producer and annotator of Classic Sounds of New Orleans from Smithsonian Folkways (2010). Herlin Riley is a preeminent drummer on the contemporary New Orleans music scene. He has released four albums: Watch What You're Doing (2000), Cream of the Crescent (2005), New Direction (2016), and Perpetual Optimism (2019). Riley is the coauthor of New Orleans Jazz and Second Line Drumming and is adjunct drum instructor at the University of New Orleans, Northwestern University, and The Juilliard School.