Robby Ameen continues to build a solid reputation of a professional drummer with a unique and intriguing drumming style. He is truly a veteran of Afro-Cuban drumming, a music style to which he is dedicated with an active repertoire in the United States and Latin America. We caught up with Robby upon his return from Peru last week at the start of his US and Latin America tours with the renowned Ruben Blades Seis de Solar. The tour will span cities such as Miami, New York, Caracas, Lima, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Hato Rey and Valencia.

Coffeebreaklessons: Glad to catch up with you in between performances and thanks for your valuable time.

Seis de Solar have a unique Latin American music style; Afro-Cuban; a blend of traditional Latin American music and Jazz. Considering Seis de Solar is New York based, how did the band’s following develop in Latin American countries and how is the band’s music style perceived in such countries were they might be used to the more traditional style of their own native music ?

Robby: Well the popularity of Seis del Solar is really due to the popularity of Ruben Blades; it was the band that he formed over in 1984 when he first embarked on his solo career. He is considered a latin icon all over the world (and especially in Spanish-speaking countries, of course!) He is responsible for mixing Salsa genres with other indigenous latin & world styles, as well as jazz and rock. At the same time, lyrically he is a true poet and storyteller/philosopher; I must say there are very few popular singers that reach this level of profundity, and still make the music danceable! This is a wonderful tour; a reunion tour for him and the band after a rather long hiatus of his having been, among other things, Minister of Tourism for Panama. Everybody in the band is either Puerto Rican or “Nuyorican”; I love it that every night he introduces me as “el arabe”! in front of 20,000 people !

Coffeebreaklessons: Robby, your career is most amazing, and your artistic integrity and talent helped you achieve a degree of professionalism that is not easily attainable. We heard you play Latin American, Jazz and Funk music. Also we heard you playing and producing music with the likes of Ruben Blades, Paul Simon, Kip Hanrahan, Eddie Palmieri, Paquito D’Rivera and Jazz giants like Dizzy Gillespie. To what extent your exposure to those musicians played a role in shaping your existing drumming styles and what was the strongest influence to the style that you are most comfortable playing ?

Robby: It’s been a dream come true and an honor to play with all of these people; and of course they have all influenced my playing in many different ways. I am primarily known as an afro-cuban jazz type player but I have been fortunate to have recorded and toured with a large variety of artists of different styles. You bring with you your life experiences and what you have accumulated musically as well, which for me has also included many different musical elements.

Coffeebreaklessons: When you recorded New Faces with Jazz giant Dizzy Gillespie, there was a phrase that Dizzy Gillespie said and coined by Jazz Times

Just the other day I made a record with a Lebanese drummer  b-a-a-d! He had so much happening, and it keeps going, you know?

This statement truly demonstrates your varied experience and speaks a lot about your abilities. Can you describe to us how one gets enriched and learn from working with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie ?

Robby: To me it was beyond belief I got called for that record, I mean I had basically just moved to New York and only recorded a few records! I remember Dizzy, who truly was an ambassador to the world in every sense, telling me his favorite place to play was Lebanon!

Coffeebreaklessons: Your working relationship with Latin American musicians like the renowned Ruben Blades is long standing and for someone who is not born nor lived in Latin America you must have such a strong feel and admiration for Latin American music. Where do you see yourself in the next coming years in terms of performances and recordings ? any desire to do your own music ?

Robby: Actually I lived in Mexico City for 3 months! Well I’ve spoken Spanish since my teens – my wife is Cuban by the way – and I’ve been in the Latin Music environment most of my life. As for my current and future plans, I have recorded many records as a co-leader but I’ve just released my first solo record Days In The Life where I wrote and arranged all but two songs and I am really pleased with the way it came out and of course it represents the direction I want to go in for now.

Coffeebreaklessons:How does a musician realize his potential and how being in New York helped you progress with your music career ?

Robby: New York has helped me immensely, it truly is a place where the best arrive from all over the world on a daily basis, so you’re always being inspired. As a kid, I lived near enough to the city that I could come in and see the legends play up close, something for which I am forever grateful. That being said, I think it’s important to realise that the world is so different now in respect to information; with Youtube it doesn’t matter where you live; you can see almost anyone playing dead or alive! and study them to your heart’s content which is why I am seeing more and more fantasticly well-rounded players all over the world.

Coffeebreaklessons: You wrote a few books teaching drumming styles, any plans on teaching or producing more books/DVDs in the future ? Are the published books for intermediate to advanced drummers ?

Robby: Not for now; I did include some recent material when my video was transferred to DVD format; I guess I’m too busy, but I might do something in the future. The things I’ve done are more at the intermediate to advanced level.

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Coffeebreaklessons: Can you name some of your most favourite traditional Latin American musicians ?

Robby: There are too many! Mostly Cuban music. Rumba: Los Papines, Los Munequitos de Matanzas. Timba bands: NG La Banda, Charanga Habanera.

Coffeebreaklessons: You continue to perform as a session musician playing for TV music, film scores with such composers as Dave Grusin, Carlos Franzetti, and Howard Shore, as well as, having been the drummer for the “Sex and the City” series. What is your most recent work in this sphere ?

Robby: Not so much these days! Much of the whole recording industry, especially TV and film – has left the studios of NY and LA and is being recorded on computers in people’s bedrooms! A more recent commercial project I did was the pop singer Carly Simon’s latest record.

Coffeebreaklessons: You seem to have dedicated a music piece to Baakline, a Lebanese town in the Chouf mountains of Lebanon, and the birth place of your grandparents. What made you dedicate this music piece to Baakline ?

Robby: Well I went there in my early teens and needless to say it has remained with me all my life! I am really hoping to return to Lebanon to play the song at one of the festivals and another song from my record called “Skateboard Intifada”.

Coffeebreaklessons: Robby, many thanks for your time, hope to catch up with you on Coffeebreaklessons in the near future.

Robby: THANK YOU GUYS!

Visit www.robbyameen.com for albums and samples of his music.