FYI Dennis and I talked 4 times for about 6 hours trying to cover this historic event. I have the complete transcript and the audio. What an awesome time I had speaking to Dennis and I thank him so much as I am the biggest fan of this drum solo. But I still can’t play
YET!
This is a brief summary of what we were able to capture.
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“The Best Thing I Ever Did”
An interview by Steve Hecklinger with Dennis Delucia on the
Black Market Juggler Drum Solo by the Bridgemen Drum Corps 1982-1983
My very first drum corps show was in 1982 at Evansville Indiana featuring the many corps but the one everyone said I had to see was the Bridgemen. Being a drummer in the era I wanted to see the best, the Bridgemen were 2 time DCI percussion champions and I couldn’t wait to see them. What I experienced changed my life forever, matter of fact, what I saw I could even comprehend since it was so over the top
Please allow me to preface the stage. The age groups reading this will have very different relevance to this. If you the reader is from the pre-DCI era, then this style of drumming is not traditional. If you the young reader didn’t experience this, then this is not traditional. I thought this was something different, and when the interview was done, I learned this was a BEAST!
Black Market Juggler is a percussion drum solo played by the Bridgemen Drum Corps from Bayonne NJ in 1882-83. It has been unmatched in drum corps history even to this day. The solo was a jazz fusion style music putting with a drum set impression, played by the drum line. The solo featured 8 snare line players, 5 tenors/bass drums and pit. The snares played 16th notes with the index finger and thumb for 12 measures while playing on 9 rot-toms with their right. The snares had to use the 5 snares/rot-toms around then to play in unison. The tri toms ripped a very fast solo unmatched at that point with Bass and Pit accompanying the whole drum solo. The Drum line achieved a 19.8 almost perfect drum score in the tick system! Then they had to do it blind folded in 1983! So let’s take a trip and see how to NAIL THIS BEAST!
Dennis Delucia
25 years later I was lucky enough to have the utmost honor to interview Dennis Delucia about what I had witnessed that night. We taped over 6 hours of conversation and I have to thank Dennis for the time and patience to output this, it’s one of the best things I ever did! I’m not a professional interviewer/writer so please forgive any shortcomings since this has been a lifelong passion to find out how a beast like this could come to pass. I asked Dennis a few initial questions. Black Market Juggler was 25 years ago and I’m a big fan, do you even listen to it? Dennis said, “I do from time to time”, “it’s probably my favorite drum solo”, “thank you for doing this and it’s a shock for me to think it’s been 25 years already”. I asked “do you still get people asking about Black Market Juggler?’, he said, “ALL THE TIME!”
Dennis Delucia is a legend in drum corps history and his legacy will always be cherished. His contributions have been marked by so many achievements such as, DCI Hall of Fame, 3 in a row time Top Scoring Drum Line, 1st place drum line in Class A, DCI and Senior Corps all in the same year, and has been at every drum corps finals! Yes, he’s that good and that important yet so pertinent to stress where the credit is due to his success. Dennis stresses that he, his staff, and the unbelievable talent from the kids he worked with brought to life their creations. Dennis said “It was a very special combination of circumstances, the right writer at the right point in his career (Dennis), a style of the corps and a perfect assemblage of talent to do that”.
Dennis grew up in Bergenfield NJ. He was influenced by Dr. Bernard Bags and Donald Angelica also musically by Jazz and Latin. Rudiments were taught by legendary drum corps great Bobby Thompson in the late 50’s and 60’s. Dennis became a drum set player where rudiments didn’t work on the drum set. The first drum corps teaching experience was in 1968 at Poughkeepsie Pacers in NY. He taught the Hawthorne Muchachos from 1970 to 1975. Dennis taught groove music with 8 snares being a perfect number and his first experience with roto-toms. All of this was the genesis of the writer who created Black Market Juggler.
The Bridgemen
1976 was the transition phase for the Bridgemen when they hired Bobby Hoffman to run the corps. Bobby was a good friend of Dennis and called him and asked… “hey I’m gonna do the Bridgemen, Come do it with me”. Larry Kershner was hired for brass so Dennis said “Okay”. Bobby wanted to transition the corps in to a very unique and different corps. He wanted to break away from the military style. Bobby said to Dennis, “I have a vision for the whole corps being in long black coats with high black boots and a hat. They went to a hat manufacturer and Dennis saw the genius of Bobby. What Bobby saw was history, and a key part in 82-83. Bobby had the cowboy hat brims front and back go down instead of the normal sides going up. The Bridgemen were now NY-NJ Big City corps with an attitude! The St. Andrew’s Bridgemen colors in 75 were white gold and black. The style of the corps was set!
The talent of the drum line was formed over the initial 76-79 where the Bridgemen had carved a niche. This was helped by Dennis hiring Bob Dubinski (Dubi) in 1977. Dubi had his masters in percussion which was very rare at that time. He was the right hand man of Dennis. Pat Scollin and several others were part of the staff. The combination of what Bridgemen created drew in increased talent level from the local areas and across the nation. The Bridgemen were leaving the 70’s as a top drum corps and drum line.
It’s very important to understand the origins of the Bridgemen elements. Everything had to come together from the writer, the style and the talent to finally present the Black Market Juggler. It was only right then in there that this BEAST could happen and the reason this has never been tried before, or after till this day.
The origins of Black Market Juggler
Dennis also taught at the Sunrisers senior corps, Long Island NY in the late 70’s. He was at a marching rehearsal, sitting on the side playing with his sticks, when he stumbled across another part of drum corps history! Dennis was bouncing his left drum stick on his tennis shoe. He would play 16th notes so that the index finger played with one bounce motion and got 2 beats out of it or 1, e out of the one index finger motion. Then the finger lifted up and out of the way so the top of the thumb came down and did the same double bounce with one motion or the &, a to form continuous beats. Dennis thought, “Wow this would be—if I could get the guys in the Bridgemen to do this, this would be pretty cool”. In Dennis’s own words, “I think that singular moment, and that singular device, is the hardest thing that’s even been tried by any drum line ever to this day”. So what was the name of this historic drum device, Dennis said “we just called it the finger thumb technique”!
The Bridgemen drum line worked on the finger thumb technique in 79 for a whole year before they were ready to try it. During that time Dennis and Dubi were listening to a jazz fusion group called the Weather Report. This is where they thought the finger thumb technique could be used with a Weather Report song, Pursuit of the Woman in the Feathered Hat. The drum corps record covers in 1980-81 didn’t list the drum solo name. They just called it “Pursuit”. The snares played the finger thumb technique for the first time in 1980. It was 12 measures of 16th notes for 48 beats of the alternating technique with all the snares in unison very clean and they did it perfect. The Bridgemen drum line won the top drum line trophy in 1980 and 81 with the same drum solo.
The 1981 season was going alone very well as Dennis and Dubi were kicking around ideas for the future. Dennis said, “we had developed this finger thumb technique, I wanted to go over the top with it.” “I wanted to do something truly extraordinary”. Dennis signed with the Slingerland company that year and had them make the untraditional black drums with gold colored hardware. During the 81 season, they listened to more Weather Report and chose a song that would be a good vehicle for 82. Dennis started writing the 82 solo in the fall of 81. He had the song, the finger-thumb technique and loved roto-toms and said “I thought it would be a neat way to combine these two things”. The fall 82 talent level was there with Drum Captain Pat Petrillo for 82-83 who said “Pride was our name, and clean was our game!”. The elements were set!
Black Market Juggler, The Name
***BREAKING NEWS***, ***AN EXCLUSIVE FROM DENNIS DELUCIA NEVER REVEALED TO THE PUBLIC UNTIL NOW!!! I asked Dennis, So how DID you come up with the name “Black Market Juggler”? He said, “in all the interviews I’ve done over the years about that drum line and drum solo, nobody’s ever asked me where the name came from”. So here’s the exclusive right here from Steve Hecklinger! Weather Report was still a favorite to the guys. They chose a small, 8 piece bar set from the Weather Report song called…….BLACK MARKET. The bass part in the song was played by the tympani during the solo “dum, da dum, da dum dum, da dada” which formed the underlying tune for the solo.
Dennis said, “We didn’t want to start our drum solo right there, we felt we needed some kind of intro”. They chose another Weather report song called The Juggler. A two measure motif was picked out of that song for the intro. I said “so the name is really The Juggler Black Market” chronologically. Dennis said, “Yeah, that didn’t make any sence so I just called it Black Market Juggler”. Now you know, the rest of the story! Dennis wrote the drum set piece for the snares, toms, bass and cymbals while Bob Dubinski wrote the mallet piece for the pit. All ya have to do is get 30+ people to play it!
Playing Black Market Juggler Fall 81
I asked Dennis, “Did you ever think about changing this since it was so difficult”. Dennis said “No”, “I never second guessed, I said, we are doing this”, we’re gonna learn this drum solo today and you’re gonna play it and that’s the end of that. And when you play it, you will make HISTORY!” Did anyone leave after he said that? “Nobody left”.
Teaching the drum solo was secret. Dennis said…“Well by my choice and design, we did not play the drum solo not even for other members of the corps.” “We taped the windows, nobody saw it, NOBODY! except the drum line and staff” because they knew they were onto something very special. They rehearsed using practice pads on tables. They would have the snares go very slowly, odd number snare guys go first, then the even numbers so they wouldn’t beat up each others knuckles. They would go over and over until they got the snare choreography down. You would have one more roto-tom than there were players with each person between two roto-toms and his snare the center. The snares would have 5 surfaces to play on 2 roto-toms, his own snare and the two snares on either side of him. Except that the 5 drums don’t exist on the same plane. The roto-toms were a liability being so fragile and directional. So the roto-toms had to be angled severely to face the audience while the snare line lent forward to make up for the players height difference. “It’s an amazing tribute to those players that they could’ve played that thing so well.”
The Bridgemen uniform ended up being an interesting part of the Black Market Juggler. The hat captured a lot of sound of each players instrument so they would wear it during practice. Some snare line payers pinned the sleeves to prevent movement. Visual moves were done via hand gestures from the snare line to point to the tenors to show the audience where to look. The tenors would hold their nose as to take a deep breath going under water when the bass drums were featured. The snares would raise their hands and point down with the index finger when the solo was done.
Lost fact: The 82 drum line started with 10 snares and 11 roto-toms, but 2 had to leave as the season just started
The fall turned to winter, and three months later they were ready to unveil the beast!
The Bridgemen were having a rehearsal February 1982 in a small, private Jersey City auditorium for Bridgemen people only. Dennis said to Bobby Hoffman, “Okay, it’s time for you to see this thing.” The audience was full of parents, helpers, staff, members etc.
Dennis said…”And we played it and to this day it’s one of the greatest memories I’ve ever had in my life.” “The reaction was unbelievable.” “A five minute standing ovation ensued and it didn’t stop. It was just—it was beyond description.” “I remember tears and hugs, Bobby was speechless, laughing, crying, hugging. It was I mean, ‘cause I knew this was a special event.”
The 82 season:
There was very little changed to Black Market Juggler starting the 82 season and from that point on. I asked what Black Market Juggler was referred to internally. Bob Dubinski named it “The Beast.” Every single competition he would yell at the top of his lungs “Nail This Beast”. You will ALWAYS here Dubi yelling “Nail This Beast” before the drum solo on the 82, 83 DCI recordings. There wasn’t much news on Black Market Juggler starting the season. News traveled through Drum Corps World magazine before the masses caught on to what was going on.
The Bridgemen’s season started in Bayonne, NJ early June on a Saturday. It featured the eastern corps such as the Garfield Cadets, 27th Lancers and more. The Bridgemen went last since they were the host of the show. Dennis went to the top of the stands to watch the other corps being the fan he is of the activity. Bob Dubinski would warm up the drum line and motivate the guys before entering the field. So how was Dennis that night? He said, “A nervous wreck.” “We knew we were sitting on something really special. We had some new members in the drum line, who’s going to choke in front of the audience.” “I remember having to say to myself YOU HAVE TO BREATHE.” The audience erupted four or five places during the solo which was rare. The corps comes on the field and does a remarkably good job and the audience response to the drum solo was unbelievable. Dennis felt exhilaration! “We played from the perspective of emotion first, because I believe cleanliness came out of the inner spirit.”
The season would continue all season with overwhelming audience reaction winning top drums nightly. The visual component worked every night no matter how well they played! The Bridgemen drum line and Black Market Juggler, the Beast, had become legendary! They were playing with such emotions at a consistent high level that they would go see movies to keep things in check. Dennis believes in the concept of diminishing returns. You can over work the emotions and erode the very basic thing that was working. Dubi would be drilling the guys and Dennis would say “That’s enough, we’re not playing anymore”. Dubi would want to play forever and Dennis would say “No, we’re stopping here.”
Finals week in Montreal progressed just as the season had. Prelims were outdoors where one set of the large roto-toms blew down in the solo. One pit member picked it up and knelt on it during the solo to save the day! Finals was the payoff for all the hard work. The audience loved Black Market Juggler and gave a long standing ovation. Dennis thought they were clearly the best drum line. A DCI judge came up to Dennis saying congratulations! Dennis said “What do you mean”, the judge said “Well you won drums again” and Dennis had a feeling of ovation and he turned to his mentor Dr. Baggs who had a big smile and gave Dennis a hug, “I remember very clearly” Dennis said. A historic 3 top drum awards in a row, historic 19.8 score in the tick system, historic drum solo and history was made. The Season was such a huge success.
1982 The Unknown Finally!
The success of the Bridgemen drum line and Black Market Juggler brought an unusual off season request. Slingerland drums was the Bridgemen drum line sponsor and invited the whole 82 Bridgemen drum line to PAS Percussive Arts Society in Dallas TX. PAS is not just about drum corps it so much more. At that time, drum corps wasn’t exactly high on PAS because of the different art form. Dennis knew he had a lot on his shoulders. They had to represent the drum line, Black Market Juggler, Bridgemen, Drum Corps, Slingerland and everything was on the line. The Bridgemen drum line was the main act of the show. The 82 season ended in August, but the show was in November and the drum line had not seen each other for 3 months. They rehearsed the Sunday before they left in Bayonne then Slingerland paid to have the entire drum line to Dallas Thursday night. The practice was at midnight on Thursday and it was just awful according to Dennis. 30 hours away and it was awful! They practiced Friday morning and late afternoon. Saturday the performance was just amazing according to Dennis! “It was incredible, unbelievable, it was scary!” The Bridgemen were hero’s the rest of the time!
This was video taped and Dennis has a copy, ProMark has it too and they’re going to feature this on their website soon hopefully!
1983
The talent level was still high enough in the 1983 drum line to do the beast one more time. Dennis felt that Black Market Juggler just doesn’t come along every day. Not much was different from the previous year except the tempo was a little faster. Still a great drum line, great drum solo and effective results through the 1983 season. Dennis had to go over the top once again and the unthinkable. The hardest drum solo was about to get harder and more crazy. BLINDFOLD THE SNARES! The drum line toyed with the idea of a blindfold on the snares in the late 82 summer. The decided not cause it was too risky. But they just had to turn it up a notch and exhibit the Bridgemen attitude, in your face, even more crowd pleasing! The 83 season didn’t start with a blindfold. They waited until the last 10 days going to Finals in Miami to Blindfold the BEAST! The Bridgemen’s home show, starting the trip to Miami, was the first time the world saw a blindfolded snare line. This happened at the later part of the solo right before the final roto-tom choreography. During a downplayed tympani feature, the snares backed up angled to their original positions. They flipped the Big City Cowboy hats off and pulled down a hidden scarf over their face. They marched up a little while playing a snare lick solo and blew everyone away! Again, HISTORY!
Lost Fact: The Blindfold was originally black but was changed to red to show better!
Jim Miller of the Bridgemen drum line and staff gave me a copy of the on field percussion judge Len Carey from a show on the way to Miami. As Len saw the Bridgemen make history playing blindfolded, and talked into his tape saying “Wholly $hit, what next?” At the end he erupted in laughter and said “I think it’s great, good job guys.” DCI finals had the drum line blowing away the audience again and at the end of the solo that standing ovation was so loud, so elated, so long that Dennis remembers having goose bumps all over! Then the season was over and that was the end of the Black Market Juggler. Everything had come together over decades to make history.
I asked Dennis about the Bridgemen alumni corps. I said are you bringing back Black Market Juggler? Dennis said “If and when we have enough talent, to play it note for note, then I will CONSIDER it. I asked Dennis, what was the Black Market Juggler to you after all these years, after hesitation for a long while, the answer was………
“It think it was the BEST THING I ever did!” Dennis Delucia February 2007!
Thanks to Dennis Delucia, Bob Dubinski, Pat Scollin, all the drum staff, the Drum Line members over the years! Thank you for making history. Now we have…
NAILED THIS BEST!
BUT WAIT! I have one more ULTIMATE secret never revealed to the public.
The blindfolds! The Secret! Here it is, I asked Dennis Delucia, “Dennis, tell me after 25 years the secret of playing Black Market Juggler with blindfolds. How did they do it? Could they See?”………………………………………………………………..
The reply from Dennis was………………………………………………….
“the blindfolds? YOU’LL NEVER KNOW!
I have so much more material from the interview, the complete audio tapes, the transcription and more. You can contact Steve Hecklinger at info@blackmarketjuggler.com also I’m building www.blackmarketjuggler.com and I’m looking for all pictures, tapes, video stories etc. to help build a historical collection for all to see. Also, I’m seeking any items from the Black Market Juggler such as the blindfolds, drums, sticks etc.