University City drummer Grammy bound

DAVIS LAKE – As the camera pans across the star-studded 52nd-annual Grammy Awards this weekend in Los Angeles, University City residents might spot a local face in the crowd.

Michael D’Angelo, 22, a Davis Lake native and gifted drummer, was nominated twice with his jazz group, the University of North Texas One O’Clock Lab Band.

“It’s still all kind of sinking in,” D’Angelo, who graduated in December from the university in Denton, Texas, said. “I think it will all become real once we get there.”

The jazz band was nominated for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album for its “Lab 2009” album and Best Instrumental Composition for the song “Ice-Nine.”

His alma mater is paying for the entire 19-piece ensemble to attend the ceremony. If the band wins the award, it will be the first Grammy for the school, which has been nominated four previous times.

Although D’Angelo’s budding career could begin with one of music’s highest awards, his love of the drums began as a toddler, banging on pots and pans in his mother’s kitchen.

“I’ve always just been drawn to percussion instruments,” he said. “My dad is a country drummer, so I’ve always been around them. They’ve always been a part of my life.”

D’Angelo’s formal training didn’t begin until years later after a chance meeting with Rick Dior, a former Grammy nominee who is now a percussion lecturer at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

“I was judging some (drum) competition at a music store near SouthPark Mall, and I just thought he really sounded good,” Dior said.

“The kid had a lot of talent.”

Dior took D’Angelo under his tutelage and, for the next seven years, worked to improve his sound and timing. When D’Angelo began looking at colleges, Dior thought it was time for his student to find another teacher.

“A lot of my students come to UNC Charlotte to study with me,” Dior said. “But I always ask that my students at least attempt to find other teachers to learn from. It creates a better quality player.”

D’Angelo auditioned for a handful of schools, but after receiving a scholarship to the University of North Texas, which has one of the best jazz programs in the country, he made his choice quickly.

“I fell in love with jazz when I was about 14,” he said. “Jazz is all about communication. It’s musicians playing off one another, and it changes every time. Pop music will sound the same no matter when you hear it. A concert will sound the same as the CD. But with jazz, it’s always changing – some times just because of the way one of the musicians felt that day. It’s really an important thing for musicians.”

D’Angelo excelled at North Texas,. He immersed himself in his classes and checked out the maximum number of CDs each week from the school’s voluminous music catalogue. His idol is jazz legend Pat Metheny, whom he calls a genius.

Since he’s graduated with his degree in music performance, he plans to go back to school and some day start teaching and mentoring his own students.

His next big step, though, is making sure he and his One O’Clock Lab Band mates are camera-ready this weekend. Although the band’s awards will be announced earlier and won’t be televised, D’Angelo and his band will get to sit in the audience during the live broadcast.

“We’re either going to celebrate together or cry together,” he joked. “If you see a group of people cheering and smiling together and acting like kids in a candy store, we probably won.”