10-year-old drummer has the beat of an old soul

By Jim Daly, Globe Correspondent, 10/23/2003

To singer Shirley King, it takes a lot for a white boy to get a reputation as a cool cat on the Chicago blues scene.

But that's the way the daughter of famed blues guitarist B.B. King sees Daniel Banks: already a cool cat, and he's only 10.

"He may be the young person that leads many other young people into our music," King said in an interview from Chicago, her hometown.

Daniel, a fifth-grader at Hobomock Elementary School in Pembroke, is about 4 foot, 9 inches tall, with big green eyes underneath a wiffle haircut. He is the only child of Douglas and Christine Banks, a British-born couple who run the Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Hanover.

He has been playing the drums with local blues bands since he was 6. He takes weekly drum lessons at DiCenso's Drum Shop in Quincy Center. On Sundays, he plays at the Yardrock Blues Club in Quincy Point, where an open mike session for young musicians is regularly held.

When Daniel plays, other musicians sit up. His drum teacher at DiCenso's, Chris Rivelli, says Daniel plays like an old man. He means it as a compliment.

King said most young musicians attack their instruments. Not Daniel. She said he has a laid-back style that other musicians appreciate.

"For some strange reason, he has gotten used to playing an older style," she said. "I think he's just a drummer who knows what he's doing."

King met Daniel and his parents at the Chicken Bone Saloon, a Framingham blues club, this spring. When she heard Daniel play, she said she had to meet him. They later played together and became friends. They plan on making an album together over the winter.

To begin planning the album, King invited the Banks family to Chicago over the summer. She shuttled them to blues clubs so Daniel could sit in on sets with Windy City bands.

King was amazed at how comfortable Daniel was playing with adult bands. During one set that Daniel sat in on, he seemed distracted, she said.

"He was looking out the window, but he didn't miss a beat," she said. She laughed when Daniel told her he had been watching a car accident outside.

Like most 10-year-olds, Daniel enjoys climbing trees, racing go-carts, and dressing up for Halloween.

Unlike most 10-year-olds, though, Daniel has frequent gigs, such as one on Halloween night. After trick-or-treating, Daniel plans to play with The Chris Fitz Band at Mount Blue in Norwell. Rivelli, Daniel's drum teacher, is the band's usual drummer. He often invites Daniel to sit in with the band.

Daniel's parents are song and dance people. They used to compete as dancers before retiring to teach in dance studios.

The Bankses enjoy driving Daniel to blues clubs around New England, but say it sometimes gets complicated. Some clubs won't let Daniel in after 9 p.m. because of his age. They say people often give him strange looks, as if to say, "What are you doing here?"

But those looks usually disappear after Daniel plays, his parents say.

Daniel said his favorite blues songs are "Black Cat Bone," "Walking the Dog," and "Mojo Working." He played two of the songs at a recent blues festival with Sweet Roy Jones, a popular blues musician from New Hampshire.

On a recent weekday afternoon, Daniel did his math homework and ate chocolate-chip cookies at his kitchen table. He was anxious to get outside even though a reporter was trying to interview him. He wanted to ride his go-cart. Sitting at the same table, Daniel's parents said they hoped he would meet people his own age who had the same level of musical talent.

"He wants to be in a band," his mother explained.

The family recalled the night they met B.B. King after he performed this summer at the FleetBoston Pavilion in Boston. Shirley King had arranged the meeting.

She was surprised and pleased that Daniel, a drummer, wanted to meet her father, a guitarist.

"What did B.B. tell you?" Daniel's father asked, knowing that the 78-year-old blues legend had told his son to stay in school.

Daniel repeated what King had said but preferred the advice Sweet Roy Jones had given him.

"He said to play gospel, country, jazz, and the blues," the 10-year-old said. "And don't keep playing rock because you'll get it stuck in your head."

Daniel Banks is playing at Mount Blue in Norwell on Halloween night. His website is www.danielbanks.net.