Eddie, ( Chicago) Bimonte:
CLASS OF 1975
Piagentini Jones Intermediate School 192Class of 1975
Bronx, NY
Julia Richman High SchoolClass of 1979
New york, NY
Herbert H. Lehman High School 405Class of 1979
Bronx, NY
Senator John D. Calandra Public School 14Class of 1973
Bronx, NY
Eddie, ( Chicago)'s Story
Eddie, ( Chicago) is from Bronx, New York. Eddie, ( Chicago)'s schools include Piagentini Jones Intermediate School 192, Julia Richman High School, Senator John D. Calandra Public School 14, Herbert H. Lehman High School 405. Eddie, ( Chicago) works(ed) at Eddie's Pet Service, Self Employed.
Eddie, ( Chicago)'s interests include Crafts, Vintage. Music Eddie, ( Chicago) likes includes "Blues with a Feeling" on WUSB 90.1FM, Rick Derringer, Rob Mathes. Books Eddie, ( Chicago) likes include Does the noise in my head bother you?, Emotional Intelligence Daniel Goleman, The Road Less Traveled. Movies Eddie, ( Chicago) likes include Due Date, Get Shorty, Austin Powers movies. TV shows Eddie, ( Chicago) likes include The Sapranos, Nova, The Family Guy.
One of Eddie, ( Chicago)'s favorite quotes is:": Live & Let Live : The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions: : You Get What You Give : Make Love Not War : No Good Deed Goes UnPunished : Know Your Audience : Alway's know your place: It is what it is: Not Everything Is All About You: Sometimes Less Is More. Except When It Comes To Me Telling You About Myself Above and Below.".
More about Eddie, ( Chicago):"Up front I want to say this is not a complete biography. This is my story and what has been my life up until now in 2011. I know what appears below is perhaps too long for most readers. I'm always editing this somewhat, but in the meantime, putting my life down in words is very therapeutic for me. I must warn you, I am a very detailed and thorough person. I remember everything. The story you are about to read is true. This is a document of my life for the record. This is about my path and journey to Inner Peace, Fulfillment, Happiness, and Freedom!!
This Is My Story and I Want To Tell It.
I grew up in the Country Club section of Pelham Bay, Bronx NY. The youngest of 5 boys, my parents ran an Italian restaurant from 1949 to 1979 called The Pelham Log Cabin at the foot of Pelham Bay station where the 6 train ends. It's long since been renamed Villa Barone. As far as Mom and Dad go these days in 2011. They're still alive in Florida - Dad 92 and Mom 87.
I began playing the drums at age 4 after discovering the Beatles. In 1966 in the first grade at P.S.14, I knew that I wanted to be a drummer when I grew up. I devoted my whole childhood to learning music and practicing the drums. From around 1970 to ‘76 my parents would have me sit in with all the Wedding and Party bands that played in our Catering Hall located in the rear of the Log Cabin Restaurant, among them The Tear Drops, a throw back to the early 60's groups. I taught myself to play the piano starting around age 9, while spending many hours alone in the catering hall of my father’s restaurant. Before running a restaurant and being the best cook/chef in town, my father used to build pianos, and so there always was a piano in my life. We had one at the restaurant and one at the house on Waterbury Avenue. My older brother Andy plays the guitar and studied with Barry Galbraith, Albert Valdez Blane, Lou Volpe, Vinnie Zummo, and John Schofield. We played music our whole childhood together. We were best friends growing up, hanging out talking, listening, and playing music together constantly. Andy turned me on to so much at the time. I knew about Clifford Brown, Miles, Trane, CTI Records, Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, Jack DeJohnette, Art Blakey, Max Roach, Philly Jo Jones, Buddy Rich, Louie Belson, Sonny Payne, Papa Jo Jones, Roy Haynes, Blue Note Records, Wes Montgomery, and Charlie Parker, as well as all the Rock ‘n Soul of the day -- all by the time I was 12 years old! On my own, I was into The Beatles, Chicago, Blood Sweat & Tears, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Allman Brothers Band, Steely Dan, Sly & the Family Stone, Santana, Earth Wind & Fire and The Average White Band, among all the other great songwriting singing hit makers of the 60's and 70's, including fusion greats Weather Report, Chick Corea, Return to Forever, Herbie Hancock, and The Brecker Brothers. Out of that, I wanted to become a studio musician.
In 1969 I began to learn to read music. Constantly striving to improve my reading skills throughout my whole life, even to this day, I taught myself Piano, and studied Mallets and Trumpet, while honing my skills on my first instrument...the Drum set. On the Drums, I learned to play all styles as authenticaly as I could educate myself to do. That Christmas I received my first real grownup professional drum set - a used vintage 1965 Slingerland dark blue sparkle drum set. P.S 14 didn't have a music program, but one of my earliest experiences of being a performer and seriously taking on that responsibility was in April 1973 at the age of 12, when I performed John Lennon's "Imagine" on the piano and sang to a packed house of the whole school at an assembly of 500. On the drums I got really good at a very young age and was playing gigs with much older musicians by the time I was 14. I was too young to play in bars so everyone used to sneak me through the back door and cover me with all the club and bar owners. After they heard me play they all looked the other way. Because Andy and I were both in bands separately and together throughout the late 60's & 70's, our basement was always filled with Hammond B3's, with Leslie's, Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer's, PA'S, drums, Fender and other amps and instruments of every kind.
I started taking drum lessons at age 9 with Lou Bellisano from Palumbo's music store on Gun Hill Road. Then later with Joe Forte from Schylerhill music store on East Treemont Avenue. In Jan 1975, I studied through a Scholarship program at Turtle Bay Music School (E. 52nd street) for one year with Pete Dolger which was awarded to me through my music teachers at I.S.192 Richard and Edward Morris. The Morris Brothers along with Phil Bingham nurtured my desire to grow as a musician and involved me in every part of the music program at I.S.192 In 1974 & 75. Charlie Banante of the band Anthrax was a music classmate and friend briefly before I left to attend Lehman High school, where I met drummer Steve Adorno of The band's GQ and Seguida, who at that time was in a locally famous band called Devoshun. Lehman High School was brand new at the time and had a state of the art music department with the best music teachers and fully funded classrooms and instruments, all brand new. The auditorium was an oval dome type performance space that held well over 700 people and was directly connected to the music department. In the 1970's everything seemed better music wise to me personally. From the music on the radio to the funding for the arts in the public school system, it was a very inspiring time to be an up and coming aspiring musician. When I left the Lehman High School music program for Talent Unlimited at Julia Richman in Manhattan I had 36 credits in Music, all A's. I made a lot of good friends at Lehman but had to leave since I didn't go to Music and Art, I was trying to replace that experience with what ever I could catch as the next best thing citywide.
In January 1975 I appeared in a Coca Cola commerical that ran from April '75 to April '76 with Little House on the Prairie and Midnight Special, which was filmed at the old A & R Studios on 7th Avenue. The spot was called "Look up America". In Aug 1975, I left the Bronx for Manhattan to take private lessons from Sonny Igoe ('75 - '78). And later during that time, I studied with Jazz drummers Joe La Barbera, Kenwood Dennard, Freddie Waits, Charlie Persip (at Jazzmobile), Jimmy Madison, Narada Michael Walden and Hank Jaramillo at Drummers Collective (1977-78). That's where I first met then 12 year old Charley Drayton, West coast drummer Jim Blair of Howard Hewett & Shalamar and Tony Thomson of the band Chic. Charley & Jim are good friends of mine to this day. Moving on, I studied at The Third Street Music School Jazz Workshop, an after-school music program with Stanton Davis & Talent Unlimited, through which I received awards for excellence in performance at The Berklee School of Music in Boston. And where I first met and played with bassist Russell Blake, percussionist turned engineer Kendall Brown, singer/entertainer Carlton J. Smith, and dancer/actor Gene Anthony Ray, (Leroy from the movie and TV series “Fame”). We all went to Talent Unlimited together at the same time and performed together in concerts and shows all over New York City, representing the arts program we all belonged to, which was at the time just like being in the original version of the movie “Fame”. Talent Unlimited was ranked 3rd in the city to Music & Art and Performing Art High School. This is also where I first met now West Coast drummer Larry Aberman and Adam Rogers, the son of trombonist Barry Rogers (see self- employed section under education above and click see more). In Dec. 1974, I auditioned for Sesame Street and The Electric Company TV shows. This was my first screen test (age 14). In April '75 I was accepted into Music and Art High School. However, still living in the Northeast Bronx, my parents wouldn't let me attend.
In April 1977 I started taking lessons with Joe La Barbera and met and heard Steve Gadd play for the first time with Stuff. That moment and time changed my life forever. Studying their approach to music and drumming taught me a lot and inspired me beyond anything I'd ever known. I studied all their recordings and saw Joe and Steve play live more times than I can count over all these years. Steve and Joe have very different styles, and both in their own way took me under their wing at the same time. Hearing and seeing Steve Gadd play with Chris Parker with Stuff was very inspiring, because every time I saw them play together, I would go backstage and talk a blue streak to them, to learn as much as I could and analyze what I just saw them play. Meanwhile I totally remember it being a very, very stoned time for these guys, who couldn't have been more giving and gracious t...Expand for more
o me and whoever the drummer friend I might have brought along on any given night.
Around the same time I discovered Steve Jordan, who's become a very close friend going on 35 years now - and quite frankly, the person I look to for the most inspiration when I sit down behind a set of drums today. I hung around with the 24th Street Band a lot in those days and learned quite a bit from watching Steve play with Will Lee in the recording studio, live, and in rehearsal. Knowing Steve all these years has changed my life for the better on so many levels. Steve is smart, strong, slick & greasy at times in his playing, super funky and soulful, innovative, and Steve never stops striving to reinvent himself in music and in life. At the same time he is very business savvy and forward thinking while always growing musically and professionally. Did I leave anything out?? Oh yeah! - his deep pocket and solid groove!
In July 1977 I formed a band with my brother Andy called Musik Magik. We worked hotel lounges and night clubs & discotheques all over The Bronx, Central & South Jersey from Sept ‘77 to April ‘78, 5 & 6 nights a week steady, playing all the top 40 hits of the day. I was 16, just turned 17, and a sophomore in high school during this time making more money than my school teachers.
In May 1978, through a Village Voice ad, I hooked up with Kyo, a reggae/rock fusion band that used to rehearse at Richie Havens’ studio on Perry Street off the West Side Highway. It was Bob Marley meets Jimi Hendrix, with Gadd and Jordan on Drums on Steroids. Carlyle Cole, otherwise known as Zigi, and George Axis were the rhythm section from Electric God. The Broadway show about Jimi Hendrix was played by Jack Hammer. Carlyle turned me onto Buddhism and chanting through N.S.A. I received my own Gohonzon that still hangs in my home today. Fast forward to Oct. 1984. I recorded for Zigi on his own project, at Paul Griffin's Studio with T.M. Stevens and Onaje Allen Gumbs. My playing grew a lot during all this time because I was constantly jamming, rehearsing, recording and playing either at Richie's on Perry Street or at A Step Above on 5th Ave with Tight & Juicy. Also in May ‘78, I was recommended by Kenwood Dennard to Dennis Bell & The Mark of Aries. I auditioned, got the gig, and worked all over N.Y.C playing at clubs like Mikells, Eric's, Trudie Hellers & The Down Beat among many-- all clubs that are gone today. Dennis Bell was the head of and Coral teacher of The Bronx Borough wide Chorus in the early 70's and 80's. I was 17 and turned 18 while in his band, The Mark of Aries. Working with Dennis really taught me a lot musically and prepared me, on many levels, for the "real world". Through being in the Mark of Aries I got to play with a lot of very talented, older musicians. Among them was guitarist Chuck Loeb, saxophonist Steve Elson, and Jazz singer Lynnette Washington. The drummer before me one year earlier with Dennis was Anton Fig, currently with The David Letterman Show. All this time I was studying with 4 different drum teachers and attending Drummers Collective and Jazzmobile. The month I was supposed to graduate high school I went to Miami (June '79) with a Cuban Latin disco band called Tight & Juicy who were later renamed Palma. At that time, these guys owned A Step Above Rehearsal Studios on 5th Ave & 30th St. in Manhattan. In Miami, we all lived in apartments on Collins Ave across the street from the Ocean in Bal Harbor while we recorded around the clock at Coconuts. I had a total blast!! From this effort the record got pressed but never went anywhere...like so many other projects. Stylistically my favorite studio back beat drummers I followed were and are Steve Gadd, Steve Jordan, Jeff Porcaro, Bernard Purdie, Vinnie Colaiuta, Andy Newmark, Jim Keltner, and..... Everyone Else!!.. especially the drummers of James Brown and Motown. Tony Williams, Elvin Jones, and Philly Jo Jones are my top three Jazz drummers. Although Tony was the first fusion drummer with his album “Emergency”, I don't think of him as a back beat player. The Tony Williams Lifetime album, “Believe It” is one of my all time favorite record albums.
In August 1979, I got a call to audition as a touring drummer for Holiday On Ice featuring Olympic skater Peggy Fleming. My connection was Norm Freeman, Mallet teacher at Drummers Collective whose band I was in (called New York Potpourri), produced by August Darnell. Since I was under age according to the Musicians Union Local 802, drummer Buddy Williams signed me into Local 802 so I could go on the road with H.O.I. On Sept 4th, 1979 at age 18, two months to the day before my 19th birthday, I left the Bronx to embark on a 36 city tour of the States and Mexico, performing at arenas for a week at a time, a different city each week until June 1980. In that time I played 261 shows. Earlier that year in January 1980 I was performing at The Forum in Los Angeles for 3 weeks straight, when on the 8th I fell in the rain after a show, injuring my left wrist. The current # 1 first call Broadway Show drummer going on many years now, Perry Cavari, who is among my other Broadway drummer friends (Warren Odze and Ray Marchica who all are in the same league) flew to the west coast to fill in upon my request, and as it turned out, one of his earliest resume building show experiences. A friend I met earlier at an audition in the Bronx for a band called Nightjar was with the European club diva singer Lonnie Gordon. I stayed in North Hollywood Ca, with my drummer friend Skip Pittman while my wrist healed until mid-February. I returned to the H.O.I tour in Houston, Texas at The Summit arena on February 19th. Before I broke my left wrist on Jan 8th, I called John Guerin to schedule a drum lesson later that week, and later that day drove to union Local 47 to get the Ice Show road contract. I thought it might be a good thing to have. Little did I know I would need it later that night after I fell in the rain outside the Forum Club. The next night upon his request I showed up at Dante's to see John play a gig with Joe Farrell, with my left wrist in a cast. I remember John looking at me like, “What the %#&$?” Fast forward 2 years for a moment - the legendary conductor of the Ice Shows Ben Stabler called me back in April 1982 to tour again with the very different Disney's Ice Odyssey. I did, but only for the summer of ‘82, at The Nassau Coliseum, MSG and Brendan Byrne Arena New Jersey. That summer I played 36 shows in 3 weeks at Madison Square Garden. There's a big difference in playing a show like H.O.I. at MSG verses playing in a famous rock band or backing up a hugely famous artist at MSG. Just keeping it real…
Bassist Ralph Aurrichio 7 years my elder, who grew up on the block behind my fathers restaurant in Pelham Bay, formed an alliance with me to move to Manhattan when I got off the road in June 1980. He was on tour with Gloria Gaynor during her I will Survive hit that was just breaking big in 77 / 78 & 79. The two of us would be the next rhythm section {thing} in town. Ralph & I used to go to see Will Lee play and connected on that common ground, cause at the time as I remember, Will was our favorite bass player. He's still mine. Sorry.. ralph and everyone else. We moved into 67 West 71st Street apt # 8 on Manhattan’s Upper West Side on July 9th, 1980. Cafe La Fortuna was below our apartment, our windows faced a court yard behind the building that seated 40 plus. John and Yoko used to go there often. Two weeks before his death I met John Lennon outside my apartment. Funny, because he started the Beatles, and that's why I was inspired to become a serious musician in the first place, and here he is in front of my home right after I moved into Manhattan. I've moved into the right neighborhood right around the corner from The Dakota Apartments on Central Park West.
In January 1981, I took the entrance exam and passed, to attend Five Towns College on Long Island, to study music theory and drums with Stanley Spector. I declined the offer to attend. During this time I worked part time at Frank Ippolito's Professional Percussion Center on West 46th street alongside Joe Bonadio and Roger Squitero. I lived at 67 West 71st Street until 1996, but also lived at 32 West 83rd Street from late ‘81 to ’85. Richie Morales and Diane Scanlon were my neighbors a few doors down. I played in Diane's band that she co-led with Bette Sussman, from April ‘83 to Dec. ‘83, and hung with my drum brother Richie while he was in The Brecker Brothers Band, shortly before his SpyroGyra days. I had 2 leases in studio apartments in my name at that point on the Upper West Side. In 1996 I moved into 300 Mercer Street, Apt. #29E, a one bedroom 1 & 1/2 bath with a terrace and an outdoor pool on the roof. Then to 71 Broadway at Rector Street, #13F, for 1 year in 2000. Saw the Terrorist attack on Sept.11th from my apartment window from 2 blocks away. Now I’m in Gramercy Park in a 2 bedroom walk-up since Dec. 2001.
Throughout the late 70's to the present I freelanced as a touring, recording, and gigging club drummer for Screamin' Jay Hawkins, The Gap Mangione Quartet, The Drifters with Doc Green, the original Platters with the great Tony Williams, The Marvelettes, Bowser of ShaNaNa, The Diane Scanlon / Bette Sussman Band, Phoebe Legere, Linda Williams of Natalie Cole’s Band, August Darnell of Kid Creole & The Coconuts with Frankie Malabe & Angel Alliente, Holiday On Ice, and Disney's Ice Odyssey Touring Companies, Really Rosie - The Carole King musical Off Broadway. The Uptown Horns, Soundtrack to The cartoon Bandit's by Joey Album, singer Frankie Paris, Mick Taylor of The Rolling Stones, violinist Mark Wood & Tasmania, Dennis Bell & The Mark of Aries of The Rock Gospel Choir The New Voices of Freedom, musical director of The Arsenio Hall Show, Michael Wolff, Lee Curreri of the movie and TV series “Fame”, Jazz singer Irene Reede, Carol Williams of The Salsoul Orchestra with
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