David Garibaldi
Born and raised in the San Francisco bay area, David began playing drums in elementary school at the age of ten. At age seventeen, he started his professional career, and in 1966 joined the United States Air Force where he became a member of the 724th USAF band stationed at McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma, Washington.
Upon leaving the military in 1969, he returned to the bay area and on July 23, 1970 joined the legendary Tower of Power. It was in this setting that David became one of the most influential drummers of his generation and became known as an innovator in funk drumming.
As a writer and performer David has worked with such artists as Patti Austin, Natalie Cole, Mickey Hart’s Planet Drum, Boz Scaggs, The BBC Orchestra, Gino Vannelli, Talking Drums, The Buddy Rich Orchestra, Ray Obiedo, Wishful Thinking, Poncho Sanchez, and many others.
Currently, David is once again performing and recording with the Tower of Power. In
1998, after an eighteen-year “break”, he rejoined the group for some “unfinished business”.
- Modern Drummer Magazine – Readers Poll Winner “Traditional R&B/Funk” category eight times. Five consecutive years from 1980-1985, another in 2003, again in 2007, and yet again in 2009. His name now permanently resides in that polls honor roll category for his lasting contributions to the percussive arts.
- DRUM! Magazine – Readers Poll winner – 1998 Best Percussion Video “David Garibaldi featuring Talking Drums”. Readers Poll winner – 2007 Drum Book of The Year, “The Code of Funk”
- 1982-1989 percussion faculty at the Dick Grove School of Music in Los Angeles, California.
- International clinician since 1980.
- A featured columnist for Modern Drummer Magazine since 1979, and contributor to many other international drum publications.
- Drum Loop CD:
“Tower of Funk Classic Funk and R&B Drum Loops” - Educational DVD’s:
“David Garibaldi Featuring Talking Drums”
“David Garibaldi Tower of Groove: Complete”
“Lessons: Breaking The Code” - Drum set instruction books:
“Future Sounds”
“The Funky Beat”
“TimbaFunk” (Talking Drums, featuring Michael Spiro and Jesus Diaz)
“Tiempo” (Talking Drums, featuring Michael Spiro and Jesus Diaz)
“The Code of Funk”
“Of The Record” - David’s first book, “Future Sounds”, was rated one of the 10 greatest drum books by Modern Drummer Magazine (August 1993)
- Slagwerkkrant Magazine (The Netherlands) Readers Poll winner – 1997 Drum Book of The Year, “The Funky Beat”
- David was presented with the Guitar Center Legends Award in 2008.
- Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame 2012
- Artist-In-Residence:
Drummers Collective – New York, New York
Accademia Musica Moderna – Milan, Italy - Endorsed by the following companies:
Yamaha Drums
Sabian Cymbals
Vic Firth Sticks
Latin Percussion
Remo Drum Heads
Audix Mics
About the Session
Learning Through Creativity
Creating is how we really learn. Creating is how we learn to apply all that we’ve studied. In this session we’ll talk about some strategies for unlocking creativity to take our drumming to the next level.