Another media item: a 110 minute interview with the drummer Art Taylor. You’re certainly aware of him; he’s best known for playing on a lot of hard bop records in the late 50s. He also […]
Year: 2018
Daily best music in the world: Jack Walrath
Great record by trumpeter Jack Walrath, with Dannie Richmond, John Scofield, Ray Drummond, and Jim McNeely. Walrath was in Charles Mingus’s last band, and of course Richmond was a long time Mingus drummer and creative […]
Transcription: Frank Butler intro and fours
Maybe if I transcribe a bunch of drum intros and post them on the blog, I can guilt trip myself into finishing my Book of Intros. It’s still hanging around 95% ready to release. I’ve been blocked […]
Riley’n me
Anyone who follows this blog has certainly heard of John Riley— drummer and author of the book The Art of Bop Drumming, among other titles. He’s a leading authority, and one of the most influential […]
Transcription: Charli Persip solo break
This is a little solo break by Charli Persip, near the end of So Sorry Please, from Red Garland’s album Bright and Breezy. The tune is by Bud Powell. We’re just looking at the drum […]
Page o’ coordination: jazz waltz with syncopated 4:3
Here’s a jazz waltz page o’ coordination with a syncopated polyrhythm in the feet— if you must know, a 4:3 polyrhythm in half notes and dotted quarter notes, starting on the & of 3 of […]
A simple solo method
Here’s a simple, non-technical solo method I was just working on with a student… …a SKYPE student… did you know I teach lessons via Skype? I do. Anything you ever have questions about on the […]
MY NAME IS PABLO PICASSO
Digging through my old cassettes I found this rather hilarious avant-garde thing I composed in 1991 on a then-fancy HR-16 drum machine, doing with it things entirely unintended by the technicians at Alesis. It’s called MY […]
Figure and fills: Rover
Here’s a page of drum orchestrations and fills based on a rhythmic figure from the tune Rover, on my album Travelogue, along with a practice loop sampled from it. The fills/orchestrations start very simply, building […]
A great drummer
Clarence Penn These days I’m pretty insensitive to amazing drumming performances. I’ve seen a lot of people do a lot of amazing things, and I’m tired of it— I’ve actually never been into pure chops […]