"I always revert back to me being that little boy, saying I see myself on big stages playing drums, or just playing music in front of thousands of people.  My belief in that and my belief in God have brought it all full circle.”

It’s exciting when you go to a concert, and you are surprised by something that happens there.  You know you’re going to enjoy seeing and hearing the headliner perform.  More than likely, they will put on a great show.  That’s why you bought the ticket in the first place.  But every once in awhile, someone in the band stands out in a way that just blows you away.   Such was the case when we saw Peter White at Blues Alley.

We already knew Greg Karukas on keys, Jaared on sax and David Dyson on bass for the talented musicians that they are.  We’ve seen them perform before, on their own and with other people, and we know what they are capable of doing.  They did not disappoint. 

Enter Christopher “Biscuit” Bynum, a drummer local to the DC area.  With very little notice (three days) and unfamiliarity with Peter White’s smooth jazz music, Chris Bynum took control and turned it out.  His first rehearsal with Peter White was the sound check for the first night’s show.  (This is one of the reasons we have such praise for the musicians who play alongside the headliners, and we love to bring you their stories.   Time and time again, they meet, or exceed, the goals and challenges presented to them in order to keep the music playing.)

Christopher “Biscuit” Bynum was born and raised in the Prince Georges (PG) County, Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC.  His interest in music began at an early age.  “Drumming has been a part of my life since the beginning.  I remember my Mom telling me stories of when I was three, tapping on the side of the crib.  My Dad has pictures of me.  In preschool, I did a bongo solo at the end of year recital. ” Like a lot of future drummers, he got his start banging on things around the house.  “If you take coffee cans and flip them upside down, they make some of the greatest toms and snare drums that you could ever hear.”  Chris Bynum was brought up in the church, and it was there that his interest in drumming really took off and began to take shape.  “My church is a Pentecostal church.   Musically, it’s very aggressive; anything from Walter Hawkins to some contemporary Christian alternative rock type of artists.  There is just something about it.  Being there is like getting free lessons.  I think a lot of drummers that come up in the church are musically a little more diverse because they’re hearing every type of music that’s coming across their ears.”  Clearly, the church is very good training for drummers.  Part of his early drum training took the form of just listening and studying how the music was played.  This was hard for an aspiring young musician to do.  “As a kid, you want to just play and play, but our church’s Music Director said, ‘Dude, if you want to play, you have to listen first.’  That was the biggest thing for me.  That’s really taken me far in terms of being a musician.  That’s ear training.  I couldn’t pay for that.”  More formal music education began to take place in school.  Elementary school was an introduction to music and learning rhythms.  Middle school was where he learned to read music.  High school is where things began to happen for him; Chris got into marching band, jazz band, and football.  His high school music teacher allowed him to put together a percussion ensemble called P-Phonic, that would compete with other PG County schools. 

There was also competition between his loves of music and football.  Marching band gave way to football, music practice overlapped football practice, etc.  He was able to do both, but, when it was time to go to college, he had to choose.  “I could have gotten a partial football scholarship or a full band scholarship to Bowie State University.  So there went the football after high school.  I had a lot of opportunities, and it was fun.  I loved it, but music won out.  I’m glad I went with the music.  It has taken me a long way.”  Not to mention the potential for a longer career in music versus football.

As a drummer, Chris was influenced by many of the great contemporary drummers: Omar Hakim, Dennis Chambers, Dave Weckl, Vinnie Colaiuta, and Clive Stubblefield.  “Literally, anybody I could get my ears on, who I thought at the time was amazing.  I would study and I would listen.  Then, I found out who their favorite drummers were and listened to them, and find out who their favorite drummers were and listen to them, and so on.  You go to the root of a certain style, and then from that, you develop your own style.  If you really want to get to the essence of playing, or the soul of somebody’s style, you have to go back to some of those cats that were doing it well before now.”  He absolutely practices what he preaches. 

Chris decided to make music his career in his last year of college.  He actually wanted to get into music therapy.  “I wanted to see how I could use music to teach or to heal from a different perspective.”  He began playing gigs.  One gig led to another gig, and so on.  Before long, he was a working drummer.   “The more I did it, the more I was able to understand that it was about having your own business, with me being the business.”  When I met Chris, he was playing the Peter White Blues Alley gig.  He is fairly new to the smooth jazz world, but he has played with Walter Beasley, David Dyson, and regularly plays with Marcus Johnson.  “Smooth jazz is something new that I’m really getting open to.” In addition, he has played and/or served as Musical Director for Ledesi, Chrisette Michelle, Stevie Wonder and Prince’s harmonica player Frederic Yonnet (“This dude is amazing, and off the chain with a harmonica.”) and the aforementioned Raheem DeVaughn.  There are still many musicians he would love the opportunity to play with: Herbie Hancock, Prince, and Sting.  He would have loved to have played with Michael Jackson.  “He’s a legend.  That dude was just amazing.”  And, he would like to someday sit in for Qwest Love with The Roots.  “That would be an honor to do.”

Not only does Chris play, but he also produces.  “That opened another door; working in studios, and learning how to maneuver around the studio.”  One of the songs he produced, “Super Hero,” was recorded by R&B artist Raheem DeVaughn on his album The Love and War Masterpeace – (Deluxe 2 CD), which was nominated for a 2010 Grammy for Best R&B album.  “We wanted to do our own version of the Tupac ‘Dear Mama’ song from a soul/R&B perspective, so, we did that.  We got nominated for a Grammy.  That was awesome.”

He has his own band as well, called Sound of the City.  “It’s an eclectic mix of hip-hop, funk, and soul, with a little church thrown in there.  We’re from DC, so we sprinkle some go-go in there too.  It’s a jambalaya, if you will, of different sounds.  It’s a nice blend, very high energy.  The other cats that play are phenomenal musicians.”   He is also learning to play the bass.  “That’s my next mountain to climb.  It’s ongoing.  I’m always learning.”

As stated earlier, Chris had only a few days to study the music and prepare for the Peter White gigs at Blues Alley.  During that time, he gained an appreciation for Peter and his music.  “Peter blew me away.  That guy was amazing.  Every time he had the people in the palm of his hand.  He showed night after night.  Since then, I’ve put so many other up and coming musicians on to him.”

When not making music, Chris likes movies, and he loves his sports.  He is the sole Dallas Cowboys fan in a house full of Redskins lovers.  “Washington, DC stands for Washington Dallas Cowboys.  I was always an against the grain dude.  Everyone’s going left, I’m going right.”  This makes for some very interesting family gatherings.
For now, Chris is staying busy playing lots of gigs in the DC metropolitan area and beyond.  He wants to concentrate on continuing to develop his own voice, his own sound, or, his brand, as he refers to it.  And, he is working with his band, Sound of the City, to release an album in the next couple of months.  Look for Chris playing throughout the DC area, and in the studio writing, producing and recording his band as well as other artists.