I was in that Casaloma band. We hung almost every day. His wife Denise, my wife Marie, Claude & me. Melting crayons was a passion of his. He made art with it, his paintings,so to speak. We played all the time. He was in my group for a long time as well as being my friend. His elbow hurt and everyday he would consume a full bottle of 222s. Each pill had an eighth of a grain of codeine in it. They were legal in Canada. He played as if his life depended on it. Great player! Alvin Pall
This is a good doc, but what is missing is interviews with HIS bands. I hung out with them, followed them to Mtl. made recordings with a reel to reel...it was an amazing time and in some ways those young musicians has a really interesting take on him. I love Claude. He was always very kind to me.
Took lessons from him. Can confirm the full bottle of 222s. I had the 'privilege' of watching him warm up before my lesson OMG!! He showed me the Four Way Co-ordination method taught by Alan Dawson and used by Tony Williams. My dream was to bring my son, also a drummer, to hear him play live. But now he's gone and nobody knows where he is. Claude j'espere que tu es en paix mon ami. Tu seras toujours mon idole.
I saw Claude Ranger in the early - mid 70's a number of times. Lenny Breau, Moe, the various "mafia" members and more. Always at one of the "George's". He was that good.When I share "great musician stories" with friends I often mention Claude Ranger. I'm almost relieved this documentary exists.
I only ever saw him play once and he was amazing! I have seen many great drummers and place Ranger up there with them; Elvin Jones, Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa, Jack DeJohnette, Victor Lewis and Pheeroan Aklaff.
Woah! In this documentary, one interviewee mentions Claude's feeling that he'd reached his musical high point with Dewey Redman in Saskatchewan. I'm pretty sure I saw that show -- it was with Jane Bunnett's band, in which both Dewey and Claude were playing. And it was a pretty amazing concert. I even talked to Claude that night for a few minutes, outside the club. Wow.
nothing but gratitude that I got to hang and play with this superlative mf, and nothing but love for him. As for the doc, the anecdotes are cool and all, but why are the music clips so short, play some of his damn music!
I met Claude once and had a brief chat. He was a great guy, I knew I was in the presences of greatness. I hope I didn't embarrass myself.
I was in that Casaloma band. We hung almost every day. His wife Denise, my wife Marie, Claude & me. Melting crayons was a passion of his. He made art with it, his paintings,so to speak. We played all the time. He was in my group for a long time as well as being my friend. His elbow hurt and everyday he would consume a full bottle of 222s. Each pill had an eighth of a grain of codeine in it. They were legal in Canada. He played as if his life depended on it. Great player! Alvin Pall
This is a good doc, but what is missing is interviews with HIS bands. I hung out with them, followed them to Mtl. made recordings with a reel to reel...it was an amazing time and in some ways those young musicians has a really interesting take on him. I love Claude. He was always very kind to me.
do you still have those old recordings? And can you digitize & post them to youtube?
Took lessons from him. Can confirm the full bottle of 222s. I had the 'privilege' of watching him warm up before my lesson OMG!! He showed me the Four Way Co-ordination method taught by Alan Dawson and used by Tony Williams. My dream was to bring my son, also a drummer, to hear him play live. But now he's gone and nobody knows where he is. Claude j'espere que tu es en paix mon ami. Tu seras toujours mon idole.
I saw Claude Ranger in the early - mid 70's a number of times. Lenny Breau, Moe, the various "mafia" members and more. Always at one of the "George's". He was that good.When I share "great musician stories" with friends I often mention Claude Ranger. I'm almost relieved this documentary exists.
I only ever saw him play once and he was amazing! I have seen many great drummers and place Ranger up there with them; Elvin Jones, Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa, Jack DeJohnette, Victor Lewis and Pheeroan Aklaff.
Woah! In this documentary, one interviewee mentions Claude's feeling that he'd reached his musical high point with Dewey Redman in Saskatchewan. I'm pretty sure I saw that show -- it was with Jane Bunnett's band, in which both Dewey and Claude were playing. And it was a pretty amazing concert. I even talked to Claude that night for a few minutes, outside the club. Wow.
nothing but gratitude that I got to hang and play with this superlative mf, and nothing but love for him. As for the doc, the anecdotes are cool and all, but why are the music clips so short, play some of his damn music!