The Rhythm Of The Worldbeat

by Cathy Miller

Music enters everyone’s life in some way. Consider the first music you remember hearing.

Hackettstown resident Chuck Wood musician, painter, and compendium of percussion remembers. His mother always sang around the house. “My early memories were ALL about hearing music.” He laughed, “I was a pots-and-pans-banger, table-player. From day one, I’ve been drawn to rhythm.”

As a youngster growing up in Mt. Tabor, when his parents sent him to bed, Wood recalled, “I’d crawl under the covers and listen to my little transistor radio with the cheap ear buds. Sly Stone or James Brown, that was the music that really touched my soul.”

He always knew he wanted to be a drummer. Around 16, he was gifted a snare drum, but there was a slight disconnect – he wanted to use his hands, not drumsticks! He vividly remembers going to the Rockaway Mall Midnight Movie showing of “Woodstock.” He said, “It changed my life when I saw Santana! Their performance floored me. I wanted to play those drums, the ones you play with your hands.”

He sought out percussionists. Dave Hedden, from Mt. Tabor, played timbales and showed Wood a few things on congas. He purchased his first set. For seven years, he listened to Latin music and practiced continuously. But with no formal instruction, when finally shown the proper way to play the congas, he essentially had to start over.

He began drumming with bands, and in his mid-20s, was invited to play on recordings.

Wood experienced a transformative moment playing in a bar in upstate New York when he met Andrew Bloom, a local percussionist. He invited Bloom to sit in with the band. He impressed Wood and even taught him some new techniques. After the show, he asked if Wood knew Babatunde Olatunji, an exceptional Nigerian drummer, educator and activist.

Bloom suggested he visit the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY where Olatunji taught. Visitors could stay on campus and attend classes all day. Wood registered for all of Olatunji’s classes.

It wasn’t long before he dove into African drumming, studying with teachers in New York City.

A major influence on Wood, Olatunji noted the two greatest things in music are the human voice and the drum. “You can’t hide behind either of them,” Wood explained. “With a guitar, you can turn up the amp, or use effects, and hide behind it. As soon as somebody starts drumming, you get a real sense of their personality – that’s the rhythm they’d speak, or the tempo they’d walk. When somebody sings, that’s coming straight from their body. There’s nothing between you and the voice. After I started to really listen to African and Latin music, I learned a lot more about how rhythm correlates to language and culture.”

As an example, the talking drum, originating with the Yoruba tribe of Nigeria, is played with a stick. The tone of the drum is manipulated by squeezing it. To play it correctly, you must know the language.

Olatunji created the “language” of the talking drum, representing the three basic sounds of the instrument – Goun (bass note), Go Do (open tone note), and Pa Ta (slap/high pitch note).

He and the African instructors taught a call and response. There’s no formal notation, language becomes part of the learning. They spoke or sang parts to their students, who played them back on the talking drum.

Wood understood the rhythm patterns, but there was something else to consider. He realized, “It’s not my culture, I didn’t grow up with these drums. So what am I going to do with them? There’s just as much Led Zeppelin as there is Olatunji in my music. I came to terms with that. I’ll never be a traditional Latin player or African drummer. Those people grew up with it, it’s in their DNA. I had a totally different experience. To honor my own experience and to honor what I was exposed to, I put everything into my music, and expressed myself that way – the only way I could be honest.”

Honesty in what he does is extremely important to Wood. “I really believe one of the reasons people respond to us when they see us play is because they feel that honesty. I’m not trying to be something I’m not. I love this music and do my best to honor its traditions.”

Wood picked up guitar long after he began drumming. While touring in Winston-Salem, NC, he met Colin Allured, a brilliant guitarist. They hit it off, collaborated on a few records, and did some touring. It also piqued Wood’s interest in guitar.

Around four years ago, he drove by Mr. Music in Washington. Noticing a beautiful blond Telecaster in the window, he thought, “I could hash out ideas on the guitar instead of trying to sing them to somebody. I could make short demos of the basic riff.” He bought it and practiced incessantly. He met Maria Haydon and Mary Rick, and they teamed up. “I went into the studio to cut some rhythm tracks, then Maria and Mary came in to play some parts. I invited several other local musicians to record too.” Wood was astonished. “I asked all these great musicians to play on my CD and they said yes!”

Once the CD was released, Wood assembled a band, and began rehearsing. Then Covid hit and everything shut down. He’d spend all day in his studio working on music. The band couldn’t play out, but they had plenty of masked rehearsals!

Come 2022, with Covid slowly fading, the band was finally able to play shows.

Wood loves to travel. “My instruments have taken me all over the country, gaining new fans and meeting interesting people. This year I’ll be playing for yoga classes and out-of-state retreats, teaching drum classes, and performing with the band.”

Things are slowly shifting in a natural, organic way, which is the way Wood likes it. He said, “There’s an innate sense of people wanting to connect again and just enjoy the music. I want to play music, share what I’ve learned, and put positivity out there. Hopefully people will feel something from it. If that’s what’s going on at our shows, then mission accomplished.”

Wood found the perfect way to balance music and a job. He established his own Hackettstown-based painting company in 1993. The nature of painting houses is rather meditative for him, another form of creativity. He explained, “It’s a great match because it allows me to play music and tour on my own terms.”

As Chuck Wood & Friends prepare for several live shows through the summer, they’ve added new compositions to their set, along with a couple fresh covers to keep things interesting.

Four musicians comprise the band – multi-instrumentalist Chuck Wood, Jeff Hambright (lap steel, electric and acoustic guitars, saxophone, and harmonica), Maria Haydon (guitar and percussion), and Cari Sanchez (percussion and vocals).

Chuck Wood & Friends’ latest CD, “A New Beginning,” and other recordings, will be available at all shows, as well as on Spotify and iTunes, or with download cards.

Wood advised, “If you enjoy the hypnotic sound of Worldbeat Music, this is a show not to be missed.” Join them at Habitat For Humanity Community Center, 31 Belvidere Avenue, Washington on April 15. Showtime is 7-9 pm.

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