By Bill Milkowski

Drummers invariably come away from a performance of the Meta Rhythmic Orchestra, Kenwood Dennard’s incredible one-man band, shaking their heads in disbelief. Simply put, drummer Dennard has taken the concept of independent limbs to a higher plane with his extraordinary Meta Rhythmic Orchestra (MRO). By applying a concept he calls “Bilateral Drumming,” which relies on extended techniques he developed, like the Woodstroke for snare and the Toe-Ball Technique for bass drum pedal and hi-hat, Dennard is able to get several independent rhythms and lines happening simultaneously.

Picture a Pearl drum kit with Zildjian cymbals. Dennard sits behind the snare in traditional fashion, but spread across the floor are four Drummer’s Workshop (DW) pedal triggers that run to a Dynachord Digital Drum brain (ADD-1). One pedal triggers a crash cymbal, the second a bass drum sound, the third a snare, and the fourth a second bass drum effect. With his two feet alone he can get a solid bass drum/snare backbeat happening with his right foot while he reaches over with the left foot to cover the hi-hat. And utilizing his patented Toe-Ball Technique, where he rocks from heel to toe on two separate pedals he can activate the acoustic bass drum and the hi-hat simultaneously with a single foot. This is phase one in his bilateral drumming concept, creating a “Look-Ma-No-Hands” groove which frees up his hands for other chores.

On each side of him is a keyboard slanted at a 45-degree angle. With his right hand, he can comp chords and synth pads on a Korg DW-8000 while simultaneously running bass lines with his left hand on a Yamaha DX7. Or with one free hand he can reach up and traverse the kit with a single stick, layering polyrhythms on top of his feet-activated groove through use of his Woodstroke, a technique that allows him to get a double-stroke roll with one hand. “It’s a technique that uses rebound and gravity to your advantage, “ he explained. “The ready position for the Woodstroke is an inch above the playing surface. Next you lower the wrist but leave the stick up, letting gravity take it’s course to lower the stick. Then you raise the wrist and lower the stick, again letting it bounce freely. The Woodstroke is part of what I call my fifth-gear hand technique, which allows you to play extremely fast. That, along with my sixth-gear bass drum technique, which allows you to play 16th notes on the bass drum at 120 beats per minute, are devices that used to be perceived as just showing off. Now it’s crucial. You hear these kinds of bass drum sounds and snare patterns all the time with drum machines. I’m just keeping up with the technology, but in an organic way.”

Each of his drum shells is equipped with a Marc Black Knight pickup, which run to the four available inputs on his Dynachord ADD-1. This allows Dennard to either double the natural acoustic drum sounds or augment each stroke with more electronic-sounding effects.

So far, he’s got six ostinatos happening simultaneously (four on the floor, two with the hands). Add two more. Strapped to his left leg is a customized MIDI shaker which sends electronic impulses to an analog percussion synth that Pearl used to make, the Syncussion SY-1. As Dennard explained, “The SY-1 has two channels, so when I shake up I get one sound from the unit and when I shake down I get another. And the sounds change the harder I shake the MIDI shaker, so it’s more touch-sensitive and organic than any drum machine or sequencer.”

On top of that whole churning, polyrhythmic mesh he sings melody lines through a Shure SM-10A headset microphone. which is hooked up to a Korg DVP-1 Vocoder to give him one or two octaves up or down from the note he sings. His latest addition to the rack is a SynchroVoice Midi Vox. “It electronically reads the pitches in my voice and converts it to MIDI information.” he explained. “Apparently, the vocal chord are good conductors for electricity and this apparatus, which I wear around my neck, sends short-wave signals to the vocal cords. That’s how it knows how high or low you’re singing. And by turning the pitches into MIDI, it allows me to feed melodies that I sing into a Roland MC-500 Micro Composer to make voice- activated sequences. I couldn't do that before with just the Vocoder.”

On his left is a set of Roland Octapads, which trigger conga samples, bongo samples, assorted Latin percussion, and slamming hip-hop effects via the Akai S-900 sampler. He feeds all his signals through a Hill 16-channel mixer and uses a Yamaha SPX-90 for phase and echo effects. With this complex setup, a unique hybrid of electronic and acoustic sounds, Dennard is able to play all the parts on difficult tunes like Charlie Parker’s chops-busting anthem “Donna Lee,” Jaco Pastorius’ challenging “Teen Town,” or originals like his “ Work On Ourselves” all by himself.

Dennard’s bilateral approach to drumming evolved gradually, beginning in 1973 when he was attending Berklee College of Music. “I used to sneak into the practice rooms on weekends with my drums and my electric piano plugged into an amp. Somehow, from just fooling around I realized that I could handle bass lines and the drums at the same time.

A few year later, after playing with Pat Martino and Brand X, I decided to concentrate on developing the MRO. My first concert was in 1979, where I played three keyboards and drums at the same time. I eventually developed it to the point where I could play eight ostinatos at the same time, and that led to playing all the parts of a song where I could sound like an entire band.”

Between 1986 and 1988, Dennard’s MRO setup swelled to an unwieldy 39 pieces on stage. He paired that down considerably by incorporating MIDI programs and sequencers into the setup but now is going for something in between. “Having preprogrammed sequences and mixes is wonderful if you’re playing tightly arranged songs, but I found that too restricting, “ he said. “It didn't allow for variation or improvisation as much as I would've liked. Now my setup is more organic, which allows me to be more spontaneous with the music. I’m relying on improvisation to a much higher degree. I’m still playing set tunes, but now I'm able to change the arrangements, as so many of the artists that I've worked with over the years like to do. So although I’m utilizing a lot of technology, I’m am still steeped in the jazz tradition, which is improvisation.

Illustration of MRO Equipment List