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The drummer who introduced Woodstock's founders
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As the defining event of a generation, Woodstock has been documented, examined and pontificated over since it happened. The attendant film and three-LP soundtrack made it possible for those of us too young to go (and those not yet born) to relive the "three days of peace and music" — which celebrates its 40th anniversary this weekend — without getting muddy, stuck in miles of stagnant traffic or tripping on brown acid, although we all wished we had.
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Free World Ensemble: from left, Kenny Millions, Joe Zeytoonian and Abbey Rader
While such images are burned into the collective cultural consciousness, not many people realize that the roots of Woodstock are firmly entrenched in South Florida soil. The event's co-founder, Michael Lang, came to Miami in 1966 to open a head shop and went on to produce 1968's Miami Pop Festival, which was more or less a dress rehearsal for Woodstock. (You can read about it here.) What's more, one of South Florida's greatest avant-garde jazz drummers was responsible for introducing Lang to Artie Kornfeld, his primary partner in the Woodstock venture.
Currently based in Coral Springs, Abbey Rader grew up in the Bronx and Queens, before his dad relocated the family to North Miami. His earliest gigs were at places such as the Cadillac Hotel, Roney Plaza and the Knightbeat at the Sir John Hotel in Liberty City in a trio with his good friend, pianist Bob Lenox. Lenox eventually coaxed him back up to New York, where they shared a crash pad on the Lower East Side. The avant-garde jazz scene was exploding at the time, as Rader recollected when I interviewed him back in 2001.
"I lived in the Lower East Side in one of those tenements, with the floor sideways, and I practiced 10 hours a day. I was playing gigs and I went down to the Half Note on Spring Street, and there was a bar in the center. And in the center of the bar was a stage, and there was the John Coltane Quartet. Up to now, I’d been coppin’ licks — Philly Joe [Jones], Louis Hayes — and everything was smokin’ and I thought this was really bad. And I walked in and saw this quartet and I was honestly totally burnt. I ran out of the place and stood outside and said, 'Man ... what’s happening?’ I went back in and I sat there that night and my brains were blown. I was finished. It exploded inside me. I never saw four men play with that intensity, that high level of communication. You know, Trane never let up, man, nobody in the rhythm section ever gave up. They were all in the same place. It was a revelation to me." (Check out the live release One Down, One Up, which was recorded at the Half Note, for confirmation.)
Mightily inspired by Coltrane's innovations — as well as the explosive drumming of Trane's drummer, Elvin Jones — Rader pushed himself even harder. At Lenox's insistence, he joined up with his roommate's band, which, appropriately, was called Train (a big improvement from its previous incarnation as Mandor Beekman), a combination funk-avant-gade band with two rhythm sections. Rader played free-jazz drums, while Don Keider played more bluesy figures on drums and vibes. Distinctively voiced singer-songwriter Garland Jeffreys fronted the band.
Lang knew Keider from Miami, and in fact, sold his black-light posters out of his head shop in Coconut Grove. Keider asked Lang to manage the band, which was making the transition from straightahead jazz to fusion. According to Lang's new book, The Road to Woodstock, he brought Jeffreys into the band, having had prior dealings with the singer, who supplied strobe lights to the head shop.
Rader suggested Lang ring up Kornfield, who was vice president of A&R at Captiol Records, and even gave him the dime to make the call. The two set up a meeting to discuss signing the band.
"Train was terrible," Kornfield is quoted as saying in Lang's book. "But I liked Michael, so I gave him a $10,000 budget."
“I went to Thompson Square Park, and they were splitting up this advance, and they were sending over instruments for us, sponsorships and all of this," Rader said. "So, we started to play, and we played the Fillmore East and we played opposite The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, and we were out. I mean, it was pretty out."
When the band's rehearsal space/crash pad was broken into, and all of its equipment — vibes, drum sets, a Hammond B3 — stolen, Capitol supplied them with everything they needed. Not only was Train booked in some of the biggest rock venues, they were also sharing bills with avant-jazz heavies such as Cecil Taylor, Charles Mingus and Ornette Coleman.
But, like so many of their peers, Train derailed as its members' substance abuse took its toll. Lenox, in particular, fell hard.
"Lenox is my dearest friend, and he’s a very talented cat," Rader told me. "He was a cat that when it came close, he caved. He tried to commit suicide, he had a lot of drug problems ..."
Ultimately, the band's demo recordings were rejected by Capitol, and Lang didn't even book them at Woodstock. The experience was a harsh slap for Rader, who later moved to Germany, where he lived for 15 years before returning to South Florida:
"I was completely broken, I had nowhere to live. It was after two years with this band, I was on the street. That was a bad taste of the rock world for me. Honestly, we would have been at Woodstock, that’s the nucleus of what was happening. Whatever — coulda been, woulda been is not a very spiritual way of thinking."
"I enjoyed what we doing and being down there with all that was going on, but in the end, I was a little hurt. I didn’t even own an instrument. I went from this great Phibes deal where they sent over all these great chromium drums and they locked it up in the studio. So, I went from that to really nothing."
Since then, Rader has forged a remarkable career as a formidable free-jazz drummer alongside genre giants such as violinists BIlly Bang and L. Subramaniam, and reed players Dave Liebman and Keshavan "Kenny Millions" Maslak. He continues to tour Europe and also teaches meditation as well as drumming. Although he rarely performs in South Florida these days, his legacy of recordings and concerts demonstrates a fierce and uncompromising talent. And he can also take credit for putting together the two main forces behind Woodstock.
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