 | This article or section has multiple issues: - It does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by citing reliable sources. Tagged since June 2007.
- It may require general cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.Tagged since February 2007.
Please help improve the article or discuss these issues on the talk page. |
Virgil Donati is an Australia drummer currently playing in the band Planet X alongside many side projects. Recently, he has been touring with French superstar Michel Polnareff on the European leg of sold out shows in France. Image File history File links Nuvola_apps_important. ...
A drummer in Action A drummer is a person who plays the drums, particularly the drum kit, marching percussion, or hand drums. ...
Planet X is an evolution of keyboardist Derek Sherinians 1999 solo album Planet X. Sherinian has stated in several interviews that his intention when forming Planet X was to create a band that played their instruments so fiercely, that they would strike fear in the hearts of all musicians...
Background:
Virgil is perhaps most well known for his fast, highly technical drumming skills. He holds the drum sticks in the traditional style and is also proficient at the keyboard. Piano, a well-known instance of keyboard instruments A keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a musical keyboard. ...
His Pearl drum kit consists of a 22x18 bass drum, 10x9 tom, 12x9 tom, 14x12 tom, 16x16 floor tom, 18x16 floor tom, 14x5 Virgil Donati snare drum accompanied by a sopranino snare. He also frequently uses innovative 'air toms' which are toms that meet the players head height above the existing toms. Virgil also uses Pearl hardware. He plays Sabian cymbals, Remo drumheads and Vater sticks. The Pearl Musical Instrument Company ) is a world leader in the manufacturing of percussion equipment, including drum kits, hand drums, drum hardware, bass drum pedals, mallet percussion, and other auxiliary percussion instruments. ...
Virgil was born of Italian descent in Melbourne, Australia, and got his first drumset at age 3. Melbourne (pronounced ) is the second most populous city in Australia, with a metropolitan area population of approximately 3. ...
He started playing right away with his father's showband, and kept on doing these shows until he was around 6 years old. He began taking lessons at age 7 with Brian Czempinski and later Graham Morgan, now a legend in the Australian drumming community.
He joined his first rock band at the age of 15. The band was called Cloud Nine, later to become Taste.
Donati left school when he was 16, focusing mainly on the drums, but also piano, and practicing hard every day. These days he spends most of his time in the United States playing with a number of different bands. Playing 6 nights a week with Taste was what really “got his chops together”. Australia was very isolated as far as instructional books and big international tours, so he had to rely on self-motivation and listening to records.
With his father's choice of records, including Louie Bellson and Buddy Rich albums, Virgil quickly became a fan of those great jazz drummers, trying to emulate their solos. This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
Bernard Buddy Rich (September 30, 1917 Brooklyn, New York – April 2, 1987) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. ...
The first rock drummer to make a big impact on him was Ian Paice of Deep Purple. Donati was “blown away by his clarity and power”, something for which he later would become famous himself. Ian Paice Ian Anderson Paice (born June 29, 1948; Nottingham, England) made his name as drummer with seminal heavy rock band Deep Purple. ...
This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...
Practice became a way of life for Virgil, who tried to learn as many different styles as possible, enabling him to cope with any musical situation he was confronted with.
At age 19 Virgil travelled to the U.S. to study with Philly Joe Jones, and at Dick Groves School in L.A. He also took lessons from snare drum specialist Murray Spivack. Joseph Rudolph (Philly Joe) Jones (July 15, 1923 – August 30, 1985) was an American jazz drummer. ...
This article is about the largest city in California. ...
He returned to Australia at the age of 21 where his career finally took off. Playing jazz with Allan Zavod and Brian Brown, and rock with Peter Cupples' band, he was a busy touring and session drummer Down Under.
His own pop band, The State turned into Southern Sons, which led to Virgil's first taste of international fame, with their self-titled debut selling multi-platinum and producing the international hit single 'Heart In Danger'. Previously called The State, popular Australian pop/rock band, Southern Sons emerged after Phil Buckles collaboration with John Farnham on his Chain Reaction album. ...
The big break came in 1995 where Virgil's first solo album Stretch was released to a stunned community of drummers worldwide. In 1999 Virgil relaeased On The Virg: Serious Young Insects through Melbourne based record company Vorticity Music. With tracks like the timebending Native Metal this CD cemented Virgil's status as a progressive musical mastermind.
Virgil was voted the number 1 clinician of the year (2004) by the readers of the popular drummer magazine, Modern Drummer. Virgil's own band 'Planet X', formed after Virgil's collaboration on Derek Sherinian's 1999 solo album "Planet X", is one of the most advanced progressive fusion groups, setting new standards for other musicians to follow. They have released three studio albums; Universe,Moonbabies, Quantum and one live album, Live From Oz. Virgil has also made numerous live appearances worldwide with fusion leaders Scott Henderson and Tribal Tech. Modern Drummer is the oldest magazine (still being published) devoted to the subject of drumming and percussion. ...
Planet X is an evolution of keyboardist Derek Sherinians 1999 solo album Planet X. Sherinian has stated in several interviews that his intention when forming Planet X was to create a band that played their instruments so fiercely, that they would strike fear in the hearts of all musicians...
Derek Sherinian (born August 25, 1966 in Laguna Beach, California) is a ‎rock and fusion keyboardist based in Los Angeles, California. ...
Jazz fusion (or jazz-rock fusion or fusion) is a musical genre that merges elements of jazz with other styles of music, particularly pop, rock, folk, reggae, funk, metal, R&B, hip hop, electronic music and world music. ...
Scott Henderson (born August 26th 1954, West Palm Beach, Florida) is a highly acclaimed fusion and blues guitarist best known for his work with the band Tribal Tech. ...
Rocket Science by Tribal Tech . ...
Virgil's website, accordingly located at virgildonati.com, amongst other features presents an extensive gallery, videos, audio samples from his albums, and - pioneering the world of drummer websites - Online lessons + a rapidly growing message board of 10,000+ drummers from all over the world, talking and learning about Virgil and drumming in general.
On March 15, 2007, his website Virgildonati.com exclusively launched a special 2-disc DVD digipak from his clinic in Stockholm during the Bass n' Drum festival of 2005. Produced entirely by Virgil Donati and Christopher Nalbandian (also the webmaster for Virgildonati.com), it has been very well received by drummers and percussionists alike, with Virgil showcasing his most technical drumming to date.
Virgil's discography: As leader: - Virgil Donati: Stretch
- On The Virg: Serious Young Insects
- Just Add Water
As bandmember: Just Add Water is an instrumental album that was released by drummer Virgil Donati in 1997. ...
- Taste: Tickle Your Fancy
- Taste: Knights of Love
- Loose Change: Live At The Grainstore
- The State: Elementary
- Southern Sons: Southern Sons
- Southern Sons: Nothing But The Truth
- Southern Sons: Zone
- Planet X: Universe
- Planet X: Live From Oz
- Planet X: Moonbabies
- Freakhouse: Beautiful Misery
- Ring Of Fire: The Oracle
- Ring Of Fire: Burning Live In Tokyo
- Ring Of Fire: Dreamtower
- Ring Of Fire: Lapse Of Reality
- Soul SirkUS: World Play
As session player: - Jesus Christ Superstar: The Album
- Jon Stevens: Are U Satisfied
- Jon Stevens: Circle
- Garsed/Helmerich: Under The Lash Of Gravity
- Montreal Drumfest: Live
- Derek Sherinian: Planet X
- Steve Walsh: Glossolalia
- Joel Hoekstra: Undefined
- Mark Boals: Ring Of Fire
- Joel Hoekstra: The Moon Is Falling
- Bunny Brunel: LA Zoo Revisited
- Erik Norlander: Music Machine
- Alfie: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
- Joseph Williams/Vertigo: 2
- CAB: Live At The Baked Potato
- Sir Millard Mulch: How to Sell the Whole Fucking Universe to Everybody... Once and for All
Virgil's videography: - Virgil Donati: Live in Stockholm
- Visit Virgil's Online Store
Some of the other countless bands, projects or artists that Donati has played with are: |
Feeds |
Contact