Music

Jazz guy Peter Gaudioso’s move from drumming to singing came with its challenges.

NO SKIN IN THE GAME: Tendinitis cut short Peter Gaudioso’s drumming career.
Maria Pouchnikova

When Peter Gaudioso introduces his “Crooners” showcase to the Art After 5 crowd on Friday, it’ll feel pretty natural. “Singing has always been as much a part of my life as drumming,” he says. But ditching the drum kit for the mic didn’t come easy.

The now 40-year-old lifelong drummer made his name playing post-Bop with Keith DeStefano’s Puzzlebox and Matt Davis’ Aeriel Photograph in the late ’90s. By 2000, Gaudioso added open-mic host at Fergie’s Pub to his resume, playing behind a rogue’s gallery of Philly singer/songwriters. The versatile rhythmist had a way with the acoustic cats, just as he had the jazz-bos. “My forte then was playing brushes and soft jazzy backbeats,” says Gaudioso.

No matter what music he was playing, Gaudioso always sang — not sneakily in the shower, but out loud as a serious form of practice. “I used that as a method to learn bebop tunes and standards, to ‘keep the form’ in my head while the soloist was stretching. I sang back-up in a cover band for four years, too. My voice was always well received, but drumming dominated.”

It’s a good thing Gaudioso kept his vocal cords limber, because by 2007 his left hand was declining in dexterity and control due to tendinitis. “Finally, it just stopped being worth it,” says Gaudioso of the pain that came with drumming. “That was 2008, into ’09.”

After the tendinitis diagnosis, he threw himself into yoga every day of the week, both for his physical form and for his sanity. “I was crushed thinking that my art and career were being taken from me.”
Things didn’t get easier for Gaudioso in 2010, an emotionally charged year due to the death of his father and a bad relationship break up. With drumming off the table, all he could do was sing. And that became his savior — before it became his new calling. “I sang my way through it all,” he says. “I was a social recluse, listening to music all day, feeling my heartache matched with the characters in song.”

Sting, Bobby McFerrin, Jon Hendricks, Paul Simon, Johnny Hartman, Bjork — these were Gaudioso’s influences. “All extremely rhythmic musicians with expressive, ethereal and magical songs — the kind of music I most enjoy creating. Soundscapes that invite and enthrall the listener.”

After getting his yoga teaching certification, Gaudioso did one other thing to stretch his potential: In 2012, he sought the instruction of McFerrin, the improvisational vocal legend (with a suburban Philadelphia address) who teaches singing skills in workshop settings.

From McFerrin, Gaudioso learned consistency, creativity, endurance and freedom in improvisation. “Studying with Bobby in the Circlesongs Vocal Retreat was an eye opener, or should I say ‘ear-opener?’” teases Gaudioso. “We would sing 30-minute pieces with 200 people, hypnotic lines, repeatedly, with focus on intonation while maintaining a freshness. We concentrated on improvisation, something I had forever on drums. Switching to my voice, it took some time.”

Gaudioso was a Tenor 2 to begin with, a good high range with a nice round bottom. Studying with McFerrin gave him an extension of “two steps down in my low range,” he says. “But mainly I have to say improving my intonation has been the victory.” He also learned about sound and breathing (especially when beat-boxing) from Dave Worm, one of McFerrin’s Voice Orchestra members. “I’ve been vocalizing rhythms my whole life. When I couldn’t be near a drum set, I thought it was the next best thing. Now it’s the best thing.”

For the last five years, Gaudioso has been singing (and playing conga so that he doesn’t re-injure his hand) for his supper during weekend dinnertime and happy hour at TIME Café on Sansom Street, using a loop station, layered vocals and beat-boxing. “This is where years of drumming has informed my singing,” he says.

Gaudioso likes to mix the slow with the sophisticatedly sprightly — the familiar songs of Cole Porter, Lerner and Loewe, Jimmy van Heusen, Gershwin, Rodgers and Hart — along with something somber and sad from Billy Strayhorn. His “Crooners” show features classics from the Great American Songbook.

“I’m also being careful with over-singing,” says Gaudioso. He takes a break from speaking once a week. “I don’t want to damage my voice the way I did my hand. It’s only getting stronger.”

Fri., Aug. 29, 5-8:45 p.m., free with museum admission, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2600 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy., 215-684-7506, philamuseum.org/artafter5.