From Ted Panken’s 1986 interview with Ed Blackwell on WKCR NY: So when you got to New York, you found yourself in the midst of the scene that was shaking New York’s art community to […]
Author: Todd Bishop
Half-time feel funk: the “Syncopation” section — a small tweak
Continuing with my late Reed funk method here, which now has its own label— click on that link to get the whole series. It’s becoming quite substantial— I see a book in our future… If you’ve […]
Species of ride cymbal interpretation in jazz
Following up on George Collligan’s commentary on this subject: The way you play the cymbal pattern is really the center of your artistry as a jazz drummer, so let’s do a little survey of the […]
Transcription: Vinnie Colaiuta — Beat It With Your Fist
It is law that I must do an ultra-hairy Vinnie Coliauta transcription every time I do a fund raiser [Have you contributed yet? Please do. -tb], so here’s Beat It With Your Fist, from Frank […]
Daily best music in the world: Don Pullen
This is wild; a melody composed seemingly entirely of wrong notes, alternating with a groovy pentatonic vamp. That’s actually a hallmark of Don Pullen’s thing; bright, happy tunes, and a whole lot of playing the […]
Linear phrases in 5/4, mixed rhythm — 02b – inversion
Moar Chaffee phrases in 5/4! This is an inversion of the last set: we’re offsetting the phrases, so the listed phrase starts on the second note of each measure. The attraction there is that it […]
Groove o’ the day: Terry Bozzio with Group 87
This is not the Bozzio thing I was talking about in that last post— this is just a teaser for the big-Bozzio thing yet to come. This is Sublime Feline, by Group 87— a band […]
Transcription: Billy Higgins — Shimmy Shewobble
Let’s start the fund raiser with something amazing I never knew existed: Billy Higgins and Ed Blackwell playing Mississippi Delta drum-and-fife style, performing Othar Turner’s classic Shimmy Shewobble, on Stanley Cowell’s album Regeneration. You may have […]
Bozzio’s Roto-Tom set
Remo Roto-toms, Tama Fibrestar bass drums, Tama snare drum, Paiste cymbals, Camco pedals, surely a Synare in there somewhere The calm before the storm, here— there are some big, cool, things coming starting Monday, as […]
Milton Banana
Here’s a video of Milton Banana, one of my favorite Brazilian drummers, performing near the very end of his life. I don’t know how much he was slowing up chops-wise at this point, but the fundamentals of […]