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Bruce Rudolph, Drummer/Keyboardist/Arranger/Composer is a well-schooled, well traveled...well...total musical experience that is not commonly found among the ranks. As a 50+year veteran of the music business he has made his primary living behind his Drums. However, Bruce’s Keyboard ability and knowledge of music have always been a contributing factor in his performing, arranging and recording. With over 5 decades of experience at every level of the music business, this Minneapolis area native has worked with many artists over the years. Some you may recognize, such as The Diamonds (Little Darlin’, The Stroll), Fabian (Turn Me Loose), Johnny Tillotson (Poetry In Motion, Send Me The Pillow That You Dream On), Williams & Ree (The Indian & The White Guy), Clark Terry (Legendary jazz Trumpet / Flugelhornist formerly with the “Tonight Show” orchestra), & pioneering Conga / Percussionist King Errisson (former Motown & West Coast session player, & veteran of the Neil Diamond band since 1976). Bruce has also done arranging & scoring for film, video, & other artists (including some of the Miss Minnesota contestants of the past) and has produced many radio commercials while still living in the Twin Cities. Bruce moved from Minneapolis to Phoenix at the end of 2001 and met Pam Barker in 2002…she was already a multi award winning Vocalist. They got married on Feb 28th of 2004 and performed together until Pam’s cancer disabled her in 2021. She died on April 18th, 2024. They produced four CDs plus many more songs for streaming over the Internet and can be seen and heard on the ReverbNation website at: https://www.reverbnation.com/rockinmemories?profile_view_source=profile_box Bruce also has his own instrumental jazz CDs that feature his own compositions and his own unique arrangements of well-known tunes.


Important Note About This Site...

All of the music on this website and all links (Except in videos where Bruce is playing Drums with a Live Band) is Arranged and Performed by Bruce Rudolph on Drums and Keyboard. . There is NEVER any programming of parts, no Karaoke tracks, no Band-in-a-Box, and no sampling in of other musicians' playing. This is "old style" with absolutely NO artificial music addition or production of any kind. Bruce explains his Arranging process below...

From Bruce:

Here is how I explain how I do my Arrangements:

1. I play in my piano track first. That lays out the key(s), tempo(s), feel, chording and chord progression - and the basis of the Arrangement. 2. Next I play in guitar parts. I work the bender wheel to give the effect of bending strings. 3. Bass is next. Drums will be last – explanation later… 4. Brass instruments, Woodwinds, etc are played in now. I play every instrument in one at a time. I NEVER “Chord” my horns…playing them in “chord style” screams out “keyboard player” instead of sounding as close to how the real instrument is played as possible. I play ALL of my instrumentation in ONE Track/Instrument at a time. 5. I typically play in any and all String parts at this point. 6. Drums are last for me. Typically in most recording session work drums are laid down first with everyone else playing their instruments to the drum track. I play my drums LAST so I can hit all the punches and accents with the music. I always try to play my drums musically (Major Hal Blaine influence)…not just laying down “beats” as the amateurs call it. A final thought on my arranging:There's one last thing I need to address while we're on the subject. A very common misconception that occurs is this: Many people, when they hear the term "computer", believe that I sit at the computer keyboard, start typing away, and somehow, magically, all this music appears! I can promise you, if it were that simple, everyone would be doing it. Not so. Every note is played in real time. There is no "programming" of any kind. One artist I was playing drums for (and this is a true story) wouldn't listen to any of my work because he "didn't care for digitized music". I can only reiterate again that every note you hear is played, NOT "programmed". You can't program feel on a computer. An advantage I feel I have over other artists that use MIDI in their work, is that being a drummer, I can add to keeping the feel and sound real because I play real drum kits, and don't need to rely on programming drum machines.