Long Road Back for Jazz Drummer Tommy Campbell

World-renowned jazz drummer Tommy Campbell will play his first Delaware Valley concert in more than 30 years. The Tommy Campbell Trio—which includes Noah Jarrett (bass) and Bill Gottshall (piano)—will perform four shows over two nights at The Underground, 408 W. Main Street, Lansdale, PA 19446, on February 2nd & 3rd. The Underground is owned and operated by micro-brewery Round Guys Brewery Company. Campbell’s trio will be joined on stage by guest stars Ed Etkins (sax), Lloyd Debonis and Peter Neu (trumpet).

Campbell has traveled a long, circuitous route back to performing near his hometown, but not nearly as difficult a journey as his road to recovery, after suffering a brutal beating during a mugging, on May 4, 2017. “The attack happened at 12:30 AM, during a routine trip to the 7-11 store, near my apartment, in Lower Manhattan,” says Campbell. “I’m not able to say much more about the attack, as the investigation is still on-going. In fact, I visited New York’s Fifth Precinct Police Headquarters a few weeks ago, to pick suspects out of a line-up. After all these months, it looks as if something might be happening, to bring these guys to justice.”

The two attackers did a tremendous amount of damage. Both of Campbell’s kneecaps were pushed up into his thigh bones, severing tendons. In addition, he suffered a broken foot and damage to one of his wrists, all serious, career-threatening injuries for a drummer. Campbell says, “I never gave up hope that I’d make it back to playing drums again, but I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t have my doubts, at times.” Campbell was hospitalized for eight days. Because he had no medical insurance at the time, he faced not only a long road to recovery, but a massive amount of debt. Friends, fellow jazz musicians, and fans rose to help Campbell meet the challenge. Legendary jazz keyboardist Chick Corea got things started with a large donation. A GoFundMe page was created, which has brought in donations totaling $55,000, to date.

“So many friends have given support,” says Campbell, “People have given money, food, advice; you name it, they’ve given it.” The list of contributors reads like a Who’s Who of American Jazz: Ron Carter, Billy Cobham, Mike Stern, Randy Brecker, Charles Mingus, III, and Sue Graham Mingus. Campbell’s longtime bandmates and former roommates at Berklee College of Music, Kevin Eubanks and Jerry Moore, provided much support. “A lot of great people associated with my days playing for Dizzy Gillespie helped me out: John Lee, Frank Moten—who was once Dizzy Gillespie’s next door neighbor—they all did so much.” A former drum student of Campbell’s, Roger Brown, who currently serves as Berklee’s president, stepped up to assist his former mentor. Campbell adds, “So many musicians and friends from abroad made generous contributions, too, especially musicians and fans from Japan and France.”

While Campbell has returned to performing and teaching full-time, his physical rehabilitation is nowhere close to being done. “I do physical therapy three times a week. It’s only been a month or two that I can jump up in the air. Not too high, of course, but it feels good to do that again.” According to his fans and to music critics, Campbell’s playing is as good as it ever was, perhaps even better. Pianist Bill Gottshall, who will be performing alongside Campbell for the first time in 40 years, says, “When Tommy and I were freshman in college, he was already the most gifted, physically-active drummer I’d ever heard or seen. Watching him play now, it’s hard to believe that he’s suffered those catastrophic injuries. He’s incredibly active while he performs. But seeing him ice his knees between sets makes me believe he’s paying a heavy price for all that activity.”

Born in Norristown and raised in Willow Grove, Campbell is the nephew of Hammond B-3 organ jazz pioneer, Jimmy Smith, who bought Campbell his first set of drums. Campbell’s father was an organist as well. “I was surrounded by music, from the time I was two years old,” says Campbell. “My father and drummer Mickey Roker would often rehearse at our house. And whenever Uncle Jimmy had a new record, he’d come over with a pre-release copy. We’d listen to it together as a family. I used to play along with those records for hours.”

“Uncle Jimmy and my mother were very close. He would come and visit often, in between gigs and tours. In the early to mid 1960’s, he’d drop by in either a Jag or a Mercedes-Benz, always with a TV in the back of the car,” says Campbell, with a laugh. Later, in his teen years, Campbell met Philadelphia native Kevin Eubanks, and his brother, Robin. “We started a band, inspired by groups like Chicago, Blood Sweat & Tears, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, and funk bands, of course.” Just a few years later, Campbell and two other members of that band, Kevin Eubanks and fellow guitarist Jerry Moore, enrolled at Berklee, where they immediately formed a new band. “We got a booking at a jazz club, called Pooh’s Pub, in Boston’s Kenmore Square. The club owner named the band ‘T.C.B.,’ the Tommy Campbell Band, even though Kevin wrote 90% of the music. I’d written one song at the time!” He adds, “Much later, that same band recorded a Kevin Eubanks CD, called “Sundance.” I also played on Kevin’s very first CD, entitled, ‘Guitarist.’ What an experience! Three drummers on that one: Roy Haynes, Ronnie Burrage, and I. Kevin allowed me to finish a 42-date tour, with guitarist John McLaughlin. The tour ended in California. I took the red-eye flight from LAX to JFK and went straight into recording, the next morning.” Eubanks would eventually go on to become the bandleader on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Campbell has circled the globe, touring not only with McLaughlin, but with trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and saxophonist Sonny Rollins. Campbell also toured extensively with vibraphonist Gary Burton and the vocal group Manhattan Transfer. “One of the last gigs I played in Philly was back in the early ‘80s. After completing a tour with Sonny Rollins, I came back home, to Willow Grove. A few days after I arrived, a friend called, to ask if I’d be interested in playing a gig, fronted by Bootsie Barnes, one of Philly’s great sax players. My friend was asking if I was up for the challenge. I remember thinking, ‘I just toured Europe with Sonny Rollins. I think I can handle this with no trouble!’ I was just a young guy, all full of myself. Well, let me tell you: Bootsie gave me a real education! He rode me all night long, not letting me get away with anything! I really learned a lot about music on that gig. It’s helped keep me open-minded and humble, ever since.”

After more national and world tours and many recording sessions throughout the 1980s and ‘90s, playing as a sideman for big-name jazz performers that included Stanley Jordan, David Murray, Ray Anderson, The Mingus Big Band, and The Great Saxophone Quartet, Campbell decided to make a change, a big change. “For years, friends I’d made while touring in Japan, people like Sadao Watanabe, Terumasa Hino, Makoto Ozone, and Mama San, had been asking me to come back and to stay, to be part of the great jazz scene there. I’d been playing in New York with the same people for a very long time, playing a lot of the same songs, so in 1998, I decided to move to Tokyo. Body & Soul, the famed night club there, became my jazz home, in Japan. I’d only planned to live there three or four years, but then ‘9-11’ happened, in New York. It was a no-brainer, at that time, to continue living in Japan. I ended up staying there for 13 years. I had a great time, with no regrets. But then ‘3-11,’ the tsunami, struck. The Japanese economy suffered, just like New York’s had, after ‘9-11.’ So, I figured, after a divorce, it was time to go back to New York City. And it’s been great… except for the mugging.”

Campbell is excited about his upcoming, two-night stay at The Underground, in Lansdale. “It’s been half a lifetime since I last performed in this area,” says the 60-year old drummer. “Last summer, a fundraiser was held, in Willow Grove, to help me with my medical expenses. At the time, I was unable to travel back home and thank all those people in person. Now, I’ll get to perform for them, right in our old backyard! It’s going to be just a small token of appreciation for all the support folks in and around Philly have given me, not just recently, but my whole life long. I can’t possibly hope to re-pay all those people for their love and support.” Local jazz fans disagree with Campbell on that point. When he takes the stage, on February 2nd & 3rd, they feel the pleasure will be all theirs.

Show times for The Tommy Campbell Trio will be: Friday, February 2nd, 8:00 and 10:00 pm; Saturday, February 3rd, 8:00 and 10:00 pm. Tickets are $12, available through TicketLeap. A link to the event can be found at http://underground.roundguysbrewery.com/